“I want that bastard,” Elijah snapped, looking down into her face as he ran with her through the trees toward the clearing where the helicopter had landed. “I want ten minutes with him before he dies.”

Jake was silent, keeping pace. They’d left the keys in the car, and he’d barked an order into his radio so Trey had made his way through the trees to get to the vehicle.

“Too much blood,” Elijah said.

“Don’t think, let’s just get her there.”

Elijah tried to keep his mind blank. He didn’t slow down when he reached the helicopter, he just ducked and ran, leaping at the last moment with Siena in his arms to get inside. Jake was right behind him. Both threw themselves into seats and Joshua took the bird into the air.

Siena moaned softly as the helicopter banked and then moved fast toward the hospital. Jake covered her naked body with a blanket, dragged on headphones and talked into the radio, obviously communicating with the doctor, relaying as much information to him about Siena’s injuries as they could see.

Elijah wanted to brush away the bloody strands of hair that hung in chunks over her face, but the thick strands were helping to stop the flow of blood. Instead he ran his finger along her eyebrow. “I’m here, baby. Right here with you. Hang on for me. Can you do that, Siena? Promise me you’ll hang on.”

Her lashes fluttered. His breath caught in his throat, but she didn’t open her eyes. Everything after the landing felt like a terrible blow. The gurney waiting, the team of doctors racing her to the operating room where Doc was waiting for her. He couldn’t go with her—he tried—but four huge security guards blocked him from the room.

He would have gone right through them had it not been for Jake and Joshua. The two men moved up on either side of him, and Jake backed him up with one hand. With three words. “You’re not helping.”

It was the longest wait of his life. Hours. He didn’t sit down. He paced. His leopard raked at him savagely, needing to get to his mate, to ensure no harm was coming to her—to ensure she lived. Elijah found he couldn’t pace away the rage that rode him so hard, or the need to go find Paolo and Alonzo and retaliate in a way that would make them suffer for a long time before they died.

He pushed both hands through his hair and stopped moving, going completely still, his breath holding there in his lungs as the doctor came through the doors. Jake and Joshua immediately were there, on either side, caging him in. Not touching him, but close just in case.