Free Untamed by Ciana Stone Page A

t-shirt and used it to press down on his shoulder. He groaned and gripped her wrist holding the compress. “Help Clint, I’m okay.”
    “You need to get to a hospital!”
    “I’m—”
    The sound of sirens brought a sudden cessation to the sounds of gunfire. Clint kept his gun trained on the car. They heard voices, demanding that someone lay down their weapons.
    In moments, a voice called out, “Clint? Cam? This is Dave Billings. You okay in there?”
    Clint hurried to the door. “We need an ambulance. Cam’s been shot.”
    With that he hurried to his brother’s side. “Hang in there, bro.”
    Cam nodded, his face pale and lips tight with pain. Clint looked at Lily. “I’ll take this.” He put his hand over the compress. “Go grab a shirt.”
    She nodded and rushed to the bedroom, grabbed a t-shirt from the dresser and pulled it on as she ran back down the hall. The next fifteen minutes passed in a blur. More police arrived, along with an ambulance and two fire trucks.
    By the time Cam was loaded into the ambulance, she and Clint had answered questions on what happened. They’d been informed that one of their attackers was dead, and had been told they could follow the ambulance to the hospital, but that an officer would follow to finish up taking their statements.
    Lily insisted that Clint go in the ambulance with his brother. She’d follow in Clint’s truck. She knew he was torn, feeling he should be with her, but wanting to be with his brother. In the end he agreed.
    She could barely remember the drive. All she could think was that if Cam died, it would be her fault. By the time she reached the hospital, she was sick with fear. She hurried into the emergency room and spotted Clint talking with a police officer.
    “How is he?” she asked as she ran over to him.
    “They’re taking him straight to surgery. EMT’s said the bullet passed through but they’re worried an artery was hit. He’s lost a lot of blood.”
    “Oh god.” All at once her legs gave way and she reached out for Clint’s arm to steady herself.
    He caught her. “You okay? Are you hurt?”
    “No, no, I’m fine. Just worried.”
    “Come on, let’s sit,” he suggested and led her to a seat.
    They spent the next hour answering questions. When the officer finally left them, they both were silent for a long time. Lily was fighting not to cry. This was all her fault. If Clint hadn’t tried to help her, if she hadn’t let herself get involved with him, none of this would have happened.
    She’d screwed up his life and Cam’s.
    “I’m so sorry,” she whispered and reached for his hand.
    “It’s not your fault, Lil,” he responded, giving her hand a squeeze.
    “Yes, it is.”
    “No, it’s not.”
    “Clint, if anything happens to Cam…”
    “He’s going to be fine.”
    She could tell his words were of hope and not certainty. He was as scared as she that someone was going to walk in and tell them Cam hadn’t made it. She didn’t know if she could face that and if she couldn’t, what in the world would it do to Clint?
    Nausea bubbled in her stomach. She leaned back in her seat, gripping Clint’s hand and praying. Two hours that felt like an eternity passed before she heard a man’s voice calling Clint’s name.
    Clint jumped up as a doctor approached. “The surgery went well,” the doctor said. “The bullet passed through, but nicked an artery. We’ve repaired the damage and he will be fine.”
    “Oh thank god,” Lily breathed.
    “Thank you.” Clint shook the doctor’s hand. “When can we see him?”
    “One of you can come back now to recovery. But only for a few minutes. He’s just starting to come around.”
    “Go,” Lily encouraged Clint when he looked at her.
    He nodded, gave her a kiss on the cheek and followed the doctor. Lily watched as they passed through the double doors leading from the waiting room. Cam was going to be okay.
    For now.
    She tried to ignore the voice in her head reminding her that he