Page 22 of Unforeseen Mate

He didn’t have to ask twice. Fallon fell onto the seat on the opposite of the wheel in the cockpit, holding her side andknowing it was ineffective. Hayden focused on doing something before running below deck and coming back up with a first aid kit.

“I can do it. You need to drive the boat.”

“It’s fine. I engaged the autopilot and set the coordinates for our boat. I think if Strode was back or had any dragons hanging around Lundy Island, we’d see or hear them. Dragons are noisy in pursuit or on the attack. Now, let me look at the wound.”

Fallon moved her hand away and the bullet hole gushed blood.

“It looks like a clean through and through, but you’re losing blood. I need to get that slowed down. I need you to stay awake.”

He cleaned the wound thoroughly, but with a gentle and deft touch. Once he’d slowed the bleeding, he bandaged her up and dressed her in a pair of sweats he had before putting on a sweatsuit himself.

They rounded an outcropping of rock and Hayden took the boat off autopilot and made a beeline for a sleek sailboat that was anchored out of sight from the open sea. He idled up next to the other boat, lashing them together before he jumped aboard the other craft and checked it, she supposed, for intruders.

“I think we’re good. There’s no one on board and nothing looks as if it was tampered with,” he said as he returned to her, lifted her in his arms and boarded the sailboat, carrying her into the cockpit and settling her on a comfortable seat.

“I don’t want you below where I can’t see you. I’m going to scuttle the boat we took from Strode. It was already leaking and by the time we exit this cove, it should have sunk underwater and out of sight.” He kissed her again. It was brief, but full of passion and concern, and Fallon felt it warm her to the marrow of her bones.

The sailboat rocked as he jumped back to Strode’s powerboat. He was only gone briefly before she felt him jumpback aboard their boat. Fallon had expected him to unfurl the sails, but instead he started an engine and moved them away from the boat they’d stolen from Strode. Hayden walked over to her and handed her a device with a red button on the top.

“I thought you might like to activate the explosive that will send Strode’s boat to the bottom. It’s not much in the way of payback…”

Fallon grinned up at him and pushed the button. “Maybe not, but it’s a start, and I’ll take it.”

“That’s my girl,” said Hayden, returning to the wheel, and pushing the throttle forward.

The boat picked up speed rapidly and soon they seemed to be skimming across the waves as if they had wings. It was exhilarating, and Fallon might have enjoyed it had it not been for the fact she could feel that her wound was now bleeding more profusely.

“Hayden?”

He turned and saw the blood soaking through the bandage. “Damn it!” He reached for more padding and added it to the entry wound as well, binding the wound tightly. When she winced, he kissed her forehead. “I know. I’m sorry. I need to get you somewhere safe where we can get this looked at. It seems to have slowed again. Let me know if it starts back up.”

“Hayden, I just wanted to say thank you. Whatever happens, I want you to know I’m grateful—not just for the rescue but for you coming to be with me. If I live…”

“You will live,” he growled. “I will not allow you to do anything else.”

Fallon smiled. She was feeling very benign and forgiving. “Whatever. I just wanted to say thank you, and tell Nora she is not to feel guilty.”

“You will tell her yourself. Do you hear me, Fallon?”

“You know, you’re a lot nicer when you’re fucking me.”

He grabbed a phone from the duffle bag at his feet and began texting someone. It didn’t really matter. He could be as angry with her as he wanted. She was fairly sure she wasn’t going to survive. She settled back and watched the way he moved. Everything he did, he did with power and grace. He was like some kind of large predator—aware and moving all the time.

Well, she couldn’t say her life had been boring. She’d been on some exciting digs, and her best friend turned out to be some kind of highly trained assassin. She’d moved between what seemed like two worlds. She didn’t know which worlds, but she had definitely not been on the normal plane of existence as they’d moved down the dock. And there were dragons—real live, fire-breathing dragons. Madness. And yet, her curiosity demanded that she stick around and puzzle it all out. She closed her eyes. Maybe, just maybe she could pull that off. After everything else that had happened to her, that couldn’t be too difficult, could it?

CHAPTER 10

HAYDEN

Damn it; she was bleeding again. And now she was settling down and accepting that she was going to die. Well, she wasn’t. He’d commanded her not to, and she bloody well better get used to doing what she was told.

He dialed Colby. He didn’t wait for the lynx-shifter to speak. “I have Fallon. I need medics waiting at the dock in Swansea. They need to stabilize her.”

“What the fuck happened?”

“We almost got away without a hitch…”

“Almost? What do you mean almost?”

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