Page 92 of Caged Hunger

“What? Let me see that,” Marcus huffed, pushing through the gathering crowd of Shadow Vipers and lifting up Basher’s shirt without his permission.

“Six! Check that out! Six fucking bullets to the stomach, and the beast is still standing!” Caden cheered. He sounded both impressed and a tiny bit in awe. “Like, seriously, dude, how are you not pushing up daisies?”

“’Cause he’s a fucking alpha!” Blade shot back, looking over Caden’s shoulder at the bleeding mess that used to be Basher’s abs.

A wave of lightheadedness fell over him.

“I… I think I’d better sit down.” Basher moaned, reaching for the floor beneath him before he passed out or did something embarrassing, like puking his guts out.

“I’m calling the police,” Ace blurted.

“Better call Officer Burke. We may need him to spin this our way,” Marcus muttered, helping Basher down to the floor.

He sat down, with Basher resting between his legs, and wrapped his arms around Basher’s body.

“Pass me your shirts,” Marcus ordered the guys around him. “We need to put pressure on these wounds to stop the bleeding.”

All the guys around them quickly tore off their shirts and knelt down, holding them over various wounds.

If anyone were to witness the scene, they would think a cult of shirtless bikers was in the middle of worshipping one of their own—a man so buff that not even a barrage of bullets could bring him down.

Basher liked the thought of that—being worshipped as an unkillable god.

“We got you, brother. You’re not fucking dying on us tonight,” Marcus whispered into his ear.

Hearing Marcus’s words, Basher began to feel something he hadn’t felt in a long time—belonging.

The guys were all here for him. They had all fought this war for him. And now they were all working together to try to keep the last of his blood inside his body, where it fuckin’ belonged.

Cameron took Basher’s hand and squeezed it. “You’re not fucking dying on me either. You’re going to grow old, doing whatever I say for the next eighty years.”

Basher liked the sound of that as well. Getting to spend a lifetime with the guy he loved sounded like the perfect life.

“Think of the grandpa nutsack he’s going to have on him by then,” Blade uttered, turning to look at his buddy Caden.

Caden shook his head. “Not the right time, dude.”

Ace slapped Blade across the chest as he spoke on the phone with Officer Burke.

“And the other guys?” Basher whispered, using all the energy he could muster to think and speak.

“Lucas and Gavin are holding them at drone point.” Marcus chuckled. “I don’t think those gangsters know what to make of those two.”

The whole group laughed.

Pain shot through Basher’s stomach as he took in the room full of laughter.

These guys had risked their lives for him.

These guys were now here, holding his guts in place so they didn’t fall out and he didn’t die.

Then Basher looked over at Cameron, who was staring at him with so much love and concern in his eyes.

“God, I fuckin’ love you,” Basher whispered up at Cameron.

The last thing he remembered was Cameron smiling down at him as the world around him fell silent and darkness finally overtook him.

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