There was blood pooling under her and she thought that strange. She hadn’t been shot in the back and yet when she’d been laid down, there was already a huge puddle of blood. She was lying in someone’s blood. She was certain of it. She forced her eyes open and did an anxious scan of Alonzo again.

Mitya’s large body trembled and then he sat abruptly. Her gaze jumped to his face and it was nearly gray.

“Oh, God,” she whispered, “he’s been shot.”

Alonzo turned to look at his cousin. The others did the same. Timur immediately was at Mitya’s side, carefully easing him down and finding the wound. He swore in Russian. Evangeline didn’t like the look on his face, or the one he shot to his cousins. She especially didn’t like the way they all looked at each other. Timur pressed his hands tightly to Mitya’s thigh while Sevastyan gripped his hand.

“Not like this, Mitya,” Alonzo whispered. “We survived all that shit. You can’t go out like this.”

“Don’t you fuckin’ die on us, Mitya. Not like this. Not with some lame-ass attempt that shouldn’t have happened,” Sevastyan added his demand.

Alonzo was calm again, his features frozen into their carved lines. His eyes were so gold she was afraid the leopard would break free, but his voice was absolutely under control, low and commanding as he spoke on the phone.

“A helicopter’s in the air, both of you just hang on.”

The bell hadn’t worked when they’d opened the door. Evangeline relied on that bell. There was a motion detector over the door outside. That hadn’t lit up either. She ran her hand along her hip and down her thigh until she found Mitya’s arm and then she did the same to his arm until she found his hand. She gripped it tightly.

The world around her faded in and out, but she concentrated on feeling Mitya’s hand in hers. “Hold on,” she whispered softly. He had flung his body over hers. That was why she was hit on one side and not her back. He’d taken the bullet or bullets for her as well as Alonzo. He could have tackled Alonzo from the side and taken him down, leaving her to be shot, but he hadn’t. “Just hold on.”

She didn’t know if he heard her, but Alonzo’s hands moved on her body and it hurt. She would recognize his touch anywhere, but usually he was so gentle. “Hurts,” she whispered, trying to move away from him.

“I know, solnyshko moyo, I’m sorry. Just hold still for me. We’ll have help soon. Jake’s sent a helicopter and the doctor is on standby. He’s a friend of Jake’s. He’s leopard, one of us, and his team is as well.”