“We’re okay,” Jake shouted. He put a hand to his side and when I saw it come away with blood, I gasped.
“Oh god, were you hit?” I asked.
“It’s okay,” Jake said. “I think the bullet just grazed me.”
Xander appeared by our sides. There was a rifle in his hand and he was panting, probably from running to get to us. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Jake said, as he cupped my cheek. “Yeah, we’re okay.”
He helped me to my feet and I automatically began patting down my coat to make sure Boo was okay.
“Boo!” I cried as everything came back to me all at once. “Where is she?” I screamed.
“Here,” someone said, and I looked over my shoulder to see a man I didn’t recognize bent over my dog, who was huddled in a ball at Bear’s feet. Bear was licking her and whining. The man carefully picked Boo up and held her to his chest. I didn’t miss the sight of the gun in his hand, but I didn’t care.
I hurried to him. “Boo,” I whispered. She whined but wagged her tail. I gently took her from him and ran my fingers over her. Bear was nuzzling my hands. “I think she’s okay, buddy,” I said to the big dog as I lowered myself to my knees so the dogs could sniff each other. Boo perked up and began wiggling her body happily as she alternated between kissing Bear’s muzzle and licking my nose. Relief went through me.
“Is she okay?” Jake asked as he dropped down next to me.
“I think so,” I said. Then his arms went around me.
“Thank god you’re okay,” he whispered in a broken voice as he clung to me.
I had the same exact feeling about him, but as it sank in that we were safe, my body began to crash as my emotions took over. “I’m sorry, Jake, I tried to run—”
That was as much as I got out before he kissed me. “Don’t care,” he breathed against my mouth. “You’re safe. That’s all that matters.”
In the distance I heard the sound of a snowmobile, but since none of the men around me reacted, I could only assume it meant the escaped gunman was using the machine to make a run for it.
Jake held me for a moment longer, then helped me to my feet. It wasn’t until we were standing that I felt him go stiff with tension. When I looked at him, I saw that he was staring at the man who’d picked Boo up.
He was a bit younger than Jake, with short dark hair and a slightly heavier build. But other than that, the resemblance between the two men was uncanny, and I knew why long before Jake spoke.
“Zach,” Jake said in disbelief.
Jake’s brother was staring at Jake like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing either. But he seemed incapable of speech. Jake stepped around me, and then the brothers were in each other’s arms.
Xander stepped up to my side. “You okay?” he asked as we watched the two men embrace. Neither seemed in any hurry to let go, and I felt the tears I’d been trying so hard to hold back finally begin to fall.
I didn’t know the how or the why of any of it, but I knew enough.
And as I watched my man get another piece of his life back, I gave Xander my answer, which was one hundred percent true.
“I’m perfect.”
Chapter 32
Jake
“Hold still,” my brother reminded me as I once again turned to check on Oz. He was asleep on the couch, Bear lying across his lower legs and Boo curled into a ball on his chest. I’d urged Oz several times to go lie down in the bedroom, but he’d refused, saying he was fine and that he just needed to sit down for a few minutes. He’d passed out five minutes later. I hated that I’d have to wake him up as soon as Zach was done stitching me up so I could check his shoulder to make sure his own stitches were holding.
“Sorry,” I murmured and averted my eyes back to Zach.
“Do we need to switch seats so you can keep an eye on him?” my brother asked with a small, knowing smile.
“Shut up, brat,” I responded. I let my eyes sweep over my little brother, who wasn’t so little anymore. The last time I’d seen Zach had been nearly five years ago when he’d left for his first deployment overseas. I’d been in Colombia when he’d finished the first deployment and he’d already left for his second by the time I’d gotten back to the States. So for me, he’d gone from an average twenty-five-year-old who’d just started a stint in the army after graduating from college to a beefed-up thirty-year-old tank.
A tank who was about to stitch me up.