Page 34 of All Night Long

“What’s wrong?”

He liked that about her. She was straight to the point. “I mated a human and I will stand before the council, but I need help. He’s been shot and you know he can’t go to a human hospital. Not now he’s mated to me.”

“Gray,” Alma sighed. “Where is he? Is he at a hospital or en route?”

“He’s in a shop. They were robbed, and he was shot in the process. The bullet went through the shoulder, but the bone is a mess. He’ll need surgery.”

“I see. Can you bring him here? I’ll need to know his blood type so I can ensure we have some ready for him.”

“O positive and I’ll teleport him straight there. I need to get him out of here first. There’s a crowd.”

“I’ll send some people over to create a diversion. Make sure the cameras are off. Oh, and Gray? You’ll be spoken to as soon as he’s out of danger.”

Alma hung up and Gray quickly called Key. “I need you to mess the CCTV up here. Some vamps are coming to help me get Henry out.”

“On it.”

Gray shoved his phone in his pocket and as he approached Henry, he heard banging and shouting coming from the front of the shop. “Stop them!” he ordered. The humans all ran over to the front door just as the glass shattered. Gray ignored it, leaned over Henry, and picked him up in his arms.

Henry cried out, but the sound didn’t travel far. One second they were in the shop, and the next Gray stood in the emergency room at the vampire hospital. A bed quickly appeared and Gray lay Henry on it. He watched his mate as they wheeled him inside, and when he went to follow, a nurse shook her head.

“We need to take some of your blood in case your mate needs it.”

“Why?”

“If he’s lost too much blood, your blood will sustain him until we can replace his and it will help speed up his recovery. Councilwoman Alma called to inform us you would be arriving and what blood type we would need. We have some here for another human mate, so you’re lucky we didn’t have to borrow some.”

“Borrow?”

The nurse shrugged her shoulders, her long black hair flowing down her back. “We don’t normally carry human blood, but with a human mate living among us, we felt it wise to have some just in case, otherwise one of us would have to drop in at the local blood bank and borrow some.”

“Ah. You mean steal some?”

The nurse shrugged again, then pointed to a door. “I need to take some of your blood. Follow me.”

Gray went through the double doors and followed the nurse down a hallway and into a side room. He sat where she pointed and rolled up his sleeve, watching as she grabbed what she needed to take his blood. He glanced away when she approached with the needle and hid the wince when it pierced his skin. Gray had been in fights, had knives and guns shoved in his face, but a needle? Fucking hated them.

Once the nurse finished, Gray rolled his sleeve down and left the room. In the waiting room, he paced until a nurse sighed. “Sit down. You’re making the place look untidy.”

“Where is the wonderful bedside manner I hear about?”

“See a bed around here?” The nurse scanned the waiting room, arched an eyebrow and returned to the paperwork in front of her. “All you can do is wait. We’ll let you know how he is when we can.”

Gray sat and dropped his face into his hands. He could have lost his mate and the last words they spoke were ones said in anger. His mate could have died and Gray would never have been able to apologize, to treat Henry the way he should be, to tell him he’ll try harder.

He was an idiot.

Chapter Fifteen

Henry woke alone, in a room he didn’t recognize. The scent told him he was in a hospital of some sort, but not one he’d ever been in before. It looked like one of those expensive ones that only the rich could afford. The sheets on the bed felt so soft and smooth, the furniture appeared to be solid oak.

It was a nice place to recover after being shot, which made him think about Gray.

Hearing a sound in the corner of the room, Henry glanced over, seeing his so-called mate asleep in a chair. Gray had come for him and brought him to this place, and now he was here in the room with him. Kinda made Henry feel warm inside. If only that feeling would last.

When Gray stirred, Henry closed his eyes, ignoring the sounds Gray made as he sat up. “Henry.”

He should have known Gray would know he was awake. The difference in breathing in his heartbeat would have been picked up by Gray. “Yeah.”

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