39. Barret

Chapter thirty-nine

Barret

C haos.

That's the only way to describe the commotion that follows straight after the gun goes off, and now everything moves in slow motion.

Oliver. Mila…

I have to protect them.

Security rushes past me, apprehending the one who fired the gun, but I don't stop or dwell.

I shove the crowd aside as I rush forward, a bad feeling deep in the pits of my stomach. Lachlan is right by my side, flinging people out of his way.

My heart is pounding through my ears.

Please, let them be okay.

When I reach them, a strangled sound escapes my lungs. Lachlan skids to a halt beside me, his face pale with dread.

Our Omega lays in Mila's arms. Alive, but wounded.

Blood pours from his right shoulder.

No vital organs, thank goodness, but he is still hurt.

Oliver. My Oliver…

And Mila.

She appears to be okay.

"What the hell is going on?" a familiar voice roars close by, and I barely register the familiar scent of Gryphon as he stops beside me, all the blood draining from his face.

"Oliver…" he whispers.

I don't move. Lachlan is frozen beside me.

Gryphon growls, and then he pushes me aside, rushing to Oliver's side.

All I can do is stand in total shock, and some Alpha I am.

Lachlan still hasn't come to life yet. It seems we are both numb with shock.

"Move!" Gryphon snaps, trying to drag Mila away, but she growls at him.

"Don't fucking touch him!" she shrieks.

Finally, she looks up. It appears she has created a tourniquet with a piece of her dress, and my heart plunges.

Oliver got her that dress. And now Mila uses it to stanch his bleeding.

She barely seems to realize that she just screamed at Gryphon — an Alpha. All she cares about is protecting our Omega.

Meanwhile, Lachlan and I just stare in shock, completely useless.

And we call ourselves soldiers…

I was trained for moments like this. But it's different when it's someone you love.

Mila bares her teeth at Gryphon, and something has come over her. The Alpha goes numb with shock, and it looks like he has joined the useless club.

Maybe that is why I couldn't come another step closer. My Alpha must have sensed the protective energy coming from the Beta.

Someone called for help. Sirens sound outside, and now paramedics rush into the room, laying my Omega onto a stretcher.

That's when I snap back to life.

"Where are you taking him?"

A paramedic looks up. A woman. "Stay back, sir."

"No, that is my Omega!"

The woman barely flinches when I tell her that fact, and I suppose she is doing her job. Oliver's life is on the line, and he needs surgery immediately to remove the bullet from his shoulder.

He's lucky to be alive…

Mila pines for Oliver when they load him onto the back of an ambulance, and she and Gryphon fight about who gets to go into the vehicle with him.

In the end, Gryphon wins. However, she wasn't afraid to look him in the eyes the whole time she challenged him.

She hasn't been since he got shot.

It looks as if Oliver's injury is making her bolder.

She won't take Gryphon's shit anymore. ***

Oliver is rushed off to the operating room, and Mila won't stop pacing back and forth as we gather in the hospital waiting room.

Gryphon hasn't turned up. We have no idea where he is, and none of us seem to care.

We're too fixated on Oliver.

Lachlan is still a ghost. He hovers in the corner, his back to us as he faces the wall, looking as if he is a schoolboy on time out.

Anxiety and grief do the strangest things to people.

I lounge in the most uncomfortable chair that my ass has ever had the misfortune of sitting on.

You would think they made these seats more comfortable. Considering we could be here for hours…

Mila doesn't even deign herself to sit or face the wall. She just paces, over and over, wearing a groove into the ugly, blue linoleum floor.

The walls are beige. There is a hideous watercolor picture of a kite on the wall. I think it is a kite…

My brain doesn't know what it is seeing.

"What's happening in there, do you think he will be all right? Oh, God…"

Mila finally stops pacing, crouching down on the floor. In her big blue dress, she looks like a cupcake, and it's a stupid thought to have when one's mate is having surgery to remove a bullet from his flesh.

But I smile. Even though I shouldn't.

What is right or wrong in this situation? Grief is weird…

Fear is weird.

I get up off the floor, approaching her side. It seems I have come out of my own body long enough to make her feel better. I felt trapped for a moment.

Only hearing my own dreary thoughts.

I kneel down with her, taking her shoulders. Despite myself, I purr for her. "Come now, Mila… it will be fine…"

She covers her face, shaking her head back and forth. Her beautiful updo hair falls around her shoulders.

"It won't. This is all my fault. Because of me, Oliver is…"

I can't help myself then. A growl tumbles from my lips, and I rip her hands away from her face, staring into her bloodshot eyes.

Her makeup has smudged, and her tears create smears through her foundation, but God, she is still the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.

I won't have her blaming herself.

Someone shot Oliver. We don't know why yet, but it is not her fault.

"Hey. Don't ever let me hear you say that again…"

My voice is a growl, and I sound like Batman, but I don't care what she or anyone else thinks.

Mila is not the one to blame.

She closes her eyes and tears gush from her lashes. "It is my fault… it's obvious that bullet was meant for me!"

Her shout rebounds off the wall. Meanwhile, I don't move my iron grip from her.

My fingernails are creating crescents on her fair skin.

"We… we don't know that…"

"But we do! Everyone hates me. I'm Frederick's little pet. Gryphon was right from—"

"Fuck that prick. Mila… It. Is. Not. Your. Fault."

Her big, green eyes capture the lights of the waiting room as she gazes straight at me, and I mean every word I say…

"Not your fault. And we will find the one who shot Oliver and protect you both. You may not like to hear this, but you are a part of this pack now…"

Her eyes widen, and stray tears slip down her cheeks. I wipe them away.

"So, please… don't blame yourself…"

I don't know what happens next. One moment, she's looking at me, and then the next her face contorts as she wraps her arms around me, burying her face into my neck.

Her sobs fill the waiting room. All I can do is place my arms around her and purr while she cries in my arms.

She may be able to skin a rabbit, but she is still vulnerable. This little Beta…

It feels good to comfort someone else when I am dying inside myself. It takes my mind off my own fear and grief.

Makes me feel useful.

Lachlan finally comes away from the wall, and he joins me in comforting Mila.

The poor thing shakes with sobs, and my heart breaks just hearing the anguished sounds coming from her mouth.

Who could want to hurt this thing? She's so small, and I swear I will visit the shooter in prison myself and blast a bullet through his head.

Who was he working for? Or was he acting on his own?

We will find out. Just after Oliver pulls through.

For now, all we can do is wait.

Until then, I will comfort my Omega's Beta.