Sean met her gaze.
Clenching her teeth against the pain, she jerked her head toward the opposite end of the hallway. “Go check on Seong-Su and Amani. Make sure they aren’t injured. The asshole who shot me was firing blindly.”
His eyes widened. Crap. He’d been so concerned about Nicole that he’d almost forgotten about them.
Rising, Sean raced up the hallway and burst through the door.
Amani and Seong-Su both grabbed 9mms and swung around in their seats.
Sean quickly threw up his hands in surrender. “It’s okay. It’s just me.”
Relaxing, they turned back to their respective computers.
“Is it over?” Amani asked.
“For now.” Sean didn’t know if more mercenaries would follow. “Are either of you injured?”
“No,” they replied absently.
“Are you almost done?” he asked hopefully.
“Yes.”
Satisfied, Sean hurried back to Seth and Nicole.
Seth’s hand covered the wound on her torso. Pain creased her features as the flesh knitted itself back together and healed.
Though Sean kept his expression impassive, inwardly he growled with fury. Those bastards had hurt her!
Nicole glanced up at him. “It’s not that bad, Sean.”
Hmm. Had he outwardly growled with fury?
She consulted Seth. “Is it?”
“The arm wasn’t,” the immortal leader announce impassively. “But Sean’s thoughts tell me the bullet that passed through your leg came dangerously close to nicking your femoral artery. And this one damaged your kidney.”
Sean glared at her for underplaying it.
“What?” she demanded. “I didn’t know.”
“Too bad. You get no pizza tonight.”
Her laugh twisted into a grimace as Seth’s hand began to glow. A muscle in her cheek jumped as she ground her teeth together. Soon she blinked furiously to dispel the tears that rose in her eyes.
Sean rubbed his palms against his thighs. Not being able to touch her and comfort her was killing him.
Then the creases in her forehead and lines of agony in her face smoothed out as her face lit with relief.
Seth withdrew his touch and rose. “All healed.”
Sean held a hand out to Nicole and helped her up. “How are things upstairs? Is Cliff okay?”
“He’s good,” Seth said.
Nicole smiled. “What about Darnell?”
“He’s fine. Neither received so much as a scratch,” Seth told her. “When we return to network headquarters, make sure you visit the infirmary. You need a transfusion to replace the blood you’ve lost.”
“I will. Thank you.”
Nodding, Seth gave Sean a quick inspection. “Any wounds you want me to heal?”
“No.” Now that he’d stopped healing Nicole, his injuries mended quickly. “I’ll be as good as new once I score a quick infusion.”
That Nicole needed blood worried him though. And his mind was full of what-ifs that soon made him tremble.
What if that bullet had nicked her femoral artery?
What if that mercenary had tossed a grenade instead of a flash-bang?
Yet again, Sean had come terrifyingly close to losing her.
Too shaken to worry about Seth watching them, Sean drew Nicole into a tight embrace and rested his chin on her hair.
“I’m okay, Sean,” she assured him softly, and wrapped her arms around him.
Closing his eyes, he shook his head. “If one of those bullets had hit you in the head…”
She gave him a squeeze. “It would’ve bounced right off. You know how hard my head is.”
Chuckling, he held her as close as he could without harming her. His eyes met Seth’s over her head. I can’t lose her, he thought.
You won’t. Smiling, Seth clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. Once she transforms, she’ll heal as quickly as you do. Even faster if you ask Roland or Aidan to transform her for you.”
Sean sucked in a breath. Was he saying…?
Stiffening, Nicole turned her head against his chest so she could look up at Seth. “You would be okay with that? With me transforming? With us wanting to spend eternity together?”
“Of course,” Seth said simply.
They stared at him.
Her hold loosened. “Reordon specifically told me to steer clear of intimacy as a Second, that sex was not part of the job. Many, many times.”
Sean nodded. “Me, too. He basically said Keep your hands off her or else.”
Seth shrugged. “Chris’s mother was sexually harassed by an employer, so he tends to be more protective of women who work for the network. And unlike me, he didn’t have prophetic visions of you two falling in love.”
Shock tore through Sean. “You what?” He and Krysta were still new to the Immortal Guardian family. Sean wouldn’t have thought he rated high enough to land in one of the illustrious leader’s visions.
Slipping out of Sean’s embrace, Nicole gaped up at them. “Who did what now?”
Seth laughed. “A prophetic vision showed me the two of you would fall in love.”
Sean exchanged a disbelieving look with Nicole. “When?”
“The night Étienne and Cam brought you and Krysta to David’s place after your rental home was destroyed and I shook your hand for the first time.”
“That long ago!” he nearly shouted.
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” they demanded simultaneously.
Amusement lit the immortal leader’s face. “For the same reason that Sean’s father didn’t. So you wouldn’t question whether getting together was your idea or ours.”
That wouldn’t have been a problem for Sean, but when he looked at Nicole…
She bit her lip as uncertainty furrowed her brow. “I hate to admit it,” she said slowly, “but I could see myself wondering somewhere down the line if you would’ve chosen to be with me if your father or Seth hadn’t told you we were meant to be together.”
The confession spawned neither anger nor resentment. He’d been privy to his father’s visions his entire life and was accustomed to them. He knew they didn’t cause events to happen. They merely foretold them. And his parents and grandparents loved him and had always ensured he knew just how much he meant to them.
Nicole’s hadn’t. Sean was the first person in Nicole’s life who had truly loved her. So he could understand how part of her might’ve wondered if he hadn’t pursued her simply because a vision had told him to. “But now you won’t question it?” he asked.
Smiling, she shook her head. “I won’t.”
He brushed her lips with a kiss. “Then take pity on me and transform as soon as possible. If I weren’t immortal, I swear the last few weeks would’ve aged me forty years.”
She laughed.
Amani stepped into the hallway. “We’re done,” she announced.
Seong-Su followed, carrying the bulky briefcase.
Rafe joined them, looking a little worse for wear. Multiple bullets had hit him. And his wounds weren’t healing as swiftly as Sean’s.
Seth took a minute to heal Rafe, then motioned the tech whizzes forward. “I hear no more mercenaries. Let’s reconvene on the fourth floor and let the network move in so they can start cleaning up this mess.”