Chapter Nineteen
The front of Philip’s body was charred, little flames dotted the walls of the entryway, and there was a large smoking hole where the front doors once stood.
In the blink of an eye, Liam was out the front door and down the driveway then out into the road. As he turned the corner, out of my sight, I turned to Philip. He looked dead, but he was breathing. I lifted his head into my lap and brushed some of the ash from his face. It took me a few seconds to realize it wasn’t ash. It was the damaged skin peeling away as his injuries healed.
“Philip? Can you hear me?” I asked as I brushed his sizzled hair from his face. Even that was repairing itself. He really was a handsome man when he wasn’t trying to portray himself as an ass.
He moaned and his eyes moved, they didn’t open but they moved so that was promising. Better still, he was reacting to sensations. So, I kept touching him. Running my fingers through his hair, over his face, along his neck.
“Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?”
He moaned again and this time he moved his head toward me. “I can hear you,” his voice was weak.
“Can you open your eyes? Move your arms and legs?”
He moved his arm to motion for me to lean in closer. His hand slipped behind my neck, and he pulled me until my face was an inch from his. “I’ll be okay. I think I just need another kiss.”
I pulled out of his grasp and smacked his chest. “Ass,” I said as I stood letting his head fall to the floor.
“Ouch. Come now, have a heart for the wounded,” he said, rubbing the back of his head.
Liam came back in and took in the situation of me glaring down at Philip while he laughed.
“Well, I’m glad a bomb doesn’t kill your sense of humor,” he said to Philip as he held out a hand to his friend, but Philip refused it and leapt to his feet in a way no human or shifter ever could.
“Mr. Fraser.” He bowed his head, and his eyes twinkled in response to Liam’s growl. “Did you see anything?”
“No. But I should ask you the same thing.”
Philip shrugged before bending to pick up a card from the floor to hand it to Liam. Seeing as how it was unharmed, someone had to have thrown it there after the bomb went off. “There was a knock. I answered it. There was a box. I opened it. There was an explosion. I went flying.”
Liam read the card and passed it to me.
My dear Philip,
Please tell your Alpha and his mate to back off. I look forward to seeing you again.
Yours, Stella.
“Well, she seems to have her eye on Phil here.” I rolled my eyes at Philip’s grin.
“She certainly is a blast,” he said with an odd, dreamy look on his face.
“That was really lame, Phil,” I said, but still laughed a little as I handed the note back to Liam. “For evidence, I guess.”
We all seemed at a loss. Or maybe it was shock. Whatever it was, we just stood there staring at the mess the bomb had created. I wasn’t sure how long we stood there but the sun was setting when a familiar noise pulled my attention to the driveway. Isaac’s truck pulled in and stopped in front of the hole in the wall.
He jumped out of the driver’s seat and ran to the passenger side to pull out a man with his arms and legs bound with extension cords. The sight of it made me laugh again. And I couldn’t stop.
“What’s gotten into you?” Isaac asked. “And what the fuck happened here?”
“At this point, it’s laugh or cry. What do you think happened? Stella happened.” I pointed at the man Isaac was holding on to. “Extension cords? Really?”
He shrugged and shoved the man at Philip. “I was on site. These were handy.”
“What happened?” Liam asked.
“I was working on Em’s house and found this douchenozzle trying to put explosives in my truck. He had a second bomb. I assume for the house itself. Check your vehicles.”