Page 27 of Silent Fire

Noel hung suspended in freefall, his mate snarling, anchoring Noel to him as he thrust, then Tomas followed over the dizzying edge, grunting fiercely as he buried himself.

Tomas drew his head back, extracting his teeth, then slid his tongue over where he’d bitten Noel. Holding his mate close, Tomas brushed his lips over Noel’s face in a series of tender, reverent kisses. They clung together, chests heaving, bodies slick with sweat as their harsh pants slowly evened out.

When Noel finally drifted back to awareness, it was to find Tomas gazing at him with a look of such naked adoration that it stole his breath all over again. Those rugged features were softened by an open vulnerability, a rawness that mirrored the yearning Noel felt echoing in his own chest.

“Mi alma. Mi elegido,” Tomas murmured, voice rough but brimming with a depth of emotion that had Noel’s heart squeezing. “You own me, cariño. Mind, body, and soul.”

Instead of being terrified of what he’d just done, Noel felt—

A sharp pain hit his side before he heard a loud pop, followed by two more. Tomas flipped them over, and they crashed to the floor, Noel’s elbow slamming into the nightstand.

Something wet caught his attention. Noel’s gaze drifted downward. Why did his side feel like it was burning? Blood. Lots of blood smeared his skin, and Tomas’s too. His mate lay motionless on the floor. Noel’s legs still curled around him, but Tomas wasn’t moving. “Tomas?”

Noel looked down again and saw it. A hole in Tomas’s stomach. He checked his own body and saw a matching hole. A scream tore out of him as blood seeped from his wound.

The door burst open, men shouting, chaos erupting, but Noel couldn’t focus. Tomas.

“He’s n-not m-moving.” He pulled away from his mate, shaking him. “Tomas! Wake up, please!”

“Get the doc here, now!” Diablo shouted.

“Noel.” Santiago crouched beside them, draping a sheet over Noel’s shoulders. “Need you to move, cariño.”

“I’m-I’m not leaving him.” Noel reached for Tomas. “I’m not leaving my mate.”

Santiago’s expression softened. “Not taking you away from him. We just need to check your wound.”

“My wound?” Noel tried to concentrate and saw Matias at the room’s entrance. His face was grim, jaw tight.

Matias turned to the others. “Find the shooter!”

The men scattered, but Matias approached with calm steps. He cursed when he saw Tomas but didn’t ask what happened. A ringing started in Noel’s ears, getting louder, drowning out the voices around him.

“I-I don’t feel so good,” Noel murmured as the room spun before he collapsed.

Chapter Nine

Tomas just sat there, hands resting on his thighs as he watched the steady rise and fall of his mate’s chest.

This shouldn’t have happened to Noel. Tomas knew in his busted gut that bullet had been intended for him. It wouldn’t be the first time Noel was caught in the crosshairs. That was just part of pack life.

But the bullet wanted a two-for-one. Went straight through him, a clean shot. What a joke. How was an unnatural hole in your body clean? It should’ve stopped there. Shouldn’t have tried to take out Noel. Tomas was the one who’d gone down, but the bullet had lodged in Noel’s body.

Sighing, Tomas sat forward, resting his elbows on the side of Noel’s hospital bed. The stitches in his side pulled. Dr. Martin had stopped the bleeding and sewn Tomas up. As bad as new. It still hurt like a son of a bitch though. Every wrong twist or lean and Tomas was cursing.

He raked a hand through his hair, biting back the curse when pain shot up his side.

“Need you to show me your eyes, little flower.” Tomas dropped his hand. “Need you on the back of—” He swallowed the tears down his burning throat. “You open them eyes and I won’t argue when someone says you kicked my ass, cría de foca.” A small laugh snuck out past the pain. “I pulled you into that room the night we met, my whole fuckin’ world realigned.”

Tomas picked at a loose string on the inseam of his jeans, listening to squeaky wheels of the meal cart as it made its rounds.

“Let you in on a little secret.” Tomas glanced up, his gaze slowly sweeping over every soft curve and hard angle of Noah’s face. “Been doing this life thing on my own since I was a kid. Mom bailed, Dad was just there, you know? Maybe I didn’t know how to always get it right with you, mi amor.” He shrugged and looked away, blinking back the tears as he sniffed. “I just wanna do right by you, Noel. Hate to see you hurting, to see that fear in your eyes.”

Tomas stood and walked to the window, watching the traffic below through the partially open blinds. “If I got it wrong, I’m sorry,” he murmured. “Didn’t mean to scare you this morning.”

Seeing that wedding band had screwed him up in ways he’d never felt before. It wasn’t just about Brian being there. It was about the connection that ring represented. A connection Tomas didn’t have with his elegido, not until he’d claimed Noah.

Jealousy was a son of a bitch, and Tomas had turned as green as the Hulk with it. But he would’ve never hurt Noel. You didn’t put your hands on people you cared about. You just didn’t.

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