Stolen Heart

Chapter 4

She knew there was no hiding the wound from Seonghwa. Not only was she visibly bleeding, but he would smell the blood on her regardless. Moving to stand in front of him, she acted as if nothing at all hurt, as if she wasn't in pain.

"It's not a big deal, Mother. I just need to get cleaned up. Maybe a stitch or two but then I'll be fine. Nothing at all to worry about. Besides, we don't need you to stress right now."

Without a word and a blank expression on his face, Seonghwa reached out to place a hand on each of her shoulders, pressing his lithe fingers into both ends of the wound while also pressing into where the other shoulder was dislocated. Once he pulled the one hand back, staring down at his bloody fingers as he rubbing them together. He brought them closer to his nose breathing deep as he continued to prod at the dislocated shoulder, feeling how exactly it dislocated and ensuring she didn't do any other damage.

"Oh, if you wouldn't give me a reason to stress, I wouldn't be." He stared her down, daring her to say something else. "I smell gunshot residue. So, you're telling me getting shot at is no big deal? To top it off,  you went and ripped your shoulder right out of it's socket. You're lucky you didn't tear anything and it can easily be popped back in."

Finally, he withdrew his other hand, confident there were no other issues before he reached out to Hongjoong for the washcloth he already had held out, wiping the blood from his fingers. He stared her down with that same blank expression, the only sign of what he felt being held in his scent. While there was only a hint of burnt chocolate, it was overpowered by the overly bitter smell of stale, old coffee, highlighting his stress and upset at the fact that she was injured.

"Have Mingi fix you up. You're benched until I say so."

She looked down with a sigh, nodding her head. "Yes, Mother. Sorry Mother." Her gaze flickered over to Mingi, tilting her head towards the door that lead to where they kept all their supplies. With a nod, he silently followed her out into the next room.

"He's just worried about you, you know."

"Yes, I know." Another sigh left her lips. She began trying to tug off her hoodie, getting one arm free while wincing every now and again. Likely tired of watching her struggle, Mingi stepped forward, helping to pull the other sleeve off of the arm that was hanging limp from the dislocated shoulder.

"It all just felt off from the get-go. I know all of you are more than willing to jump in as well, but I didn't want to risk it when it seems like such an obvious trap. The less of us in direct contact, the better."

Rather than cause her more pain by lifting her arms again, he cut her shirt off before slowly undoing her bindings himself. She had zero issue with him doing so, leaving her bare-chested before him. Being one of her mates for the last few years, they had seen every part of one another. There was no need for embarrassment or modesty.

"If it was so obvious, we all could have just pulled back."

His fingertips gently prodded at the bullet hole in her shoulder, seeing the placement of it, how close it was to her chest. His breath hitched for a moment, his eyes welling up as they flicked over to meet her own.

"Look at this, Y/N. If they had been any better of a shot, you could've just been gone. To top it off, you turned off your comms, so we wouldn't have even been able to find you. Woo can't track it if it's off. We wouldn't have known where you were or if you were even..if you were.."

She ignored the pain and took one of his hands and hers, pulling him closer.

"I'm sorry. You're right, I wasn't thinking it through from your perspective. I just didn't want one of you hurt. I'd rather put myself at risk instead of letting it be any of you. Next time, I'll be sure to keep the cameras on."

He puffed out a laugh, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, taking a couple slow, deep breaths.

"That's if mother will ever let you go out again."

She clicked her tongue, annoyed that he was right. Seonghwa wasn't going to let her out on jobs again anytime soon.

"Well, that's what you get for going in alone. Now, let's start with getting that one popped back into place."

She nodded, turning so he had a better angle of that arm. She was ready for it, but it didn't stop the yelp of pain from leaving her lips as he lifted her arm and snapped it back into place with quick movements.

"You're wearing a sling by the way. You need to rest this shoulder. You've done that too many times now." He stopped for a moment, placing his hands on his hips as he looked down at her. "Actually, you will be getting a sling for the other as well. You need stitches and I don't need you popping them. So, have fun not using both arms for the next few days." He flashed her a smug smirk, as if he could actually make her keep them on.

She glared at him, but kept the growl out of her throat. That was one thing she was thankful for, their kind were quick to heal. While, it may take weeks or even months for your average human to heal it would only take mere hours or days at max for one of them. Once the skin was stitched together, a bullet hole in her shoulder would likely be scabbed over by morning.

"You and I both know I won't need it for that long."

He grumbled and let out a huff, muttering something under his breath. Mingi reached into the cabinets, pulling out the disinfectant, needle, thread, and bandages, bringing everything he needed back over to her and placed the items on the table.

"All right, well you know the drill. Need help up?"

He held his arms out, clearly intending to pick her up, but she had other plans. Using just the muscles in her toned legs, she sprung up and back, so she plopped down onto the table without using her arms and jostling either shoulder.

"Yeah, all right show off."

With a smirk on her face, she stuck her tongue out at him.

"You know damn well I hate being picked up.  You should have just expected it."

He pinched the bridge of his nose, once again, muttering inaudibly to himself. Carefully, he removed all the packing out of both sides of the wound, noting that it had mostly stopped bleeding. She watched as he poured disinfectant on a cloth before pressing it into her wound. A loud hiss of pain seeped through her clenched teeth at the sting of it. He repeated the process on the other side of the wound, being sure to pour some of it into the wound itself to be sure it was clear of any debris.

"Now the fun part."

Y/N watched as he prepared the needle and thread before pinching her skin, getting a good hold of it before running the needle through. She bit down on her lip, accidentally drawing blood before she released it. Her tongue flicked out to catch the drops of blood and sooth the small puncture mark from her fang while Mingi continued to work. There was another wince, feeling the tug on the skin each time he pulled the stitches closed and drew the skin closer together. The pain was manageable, she just wasn't really a big fan of needles and that's the bit that had her squirming.

Once he was done with a few stitches to close up the exit wound, he shifted around her back, doing the same with where the bullet entered her shoulder. Careful fingers gently placed bandages over top both sides before lifting her arm just enough so he could wrap her shoulder, ensuring everything stayed in place.

"Now, don't fight me on this, because you already agreed."

She rolled her eyes as the man grabbed a pair of slings with a smug smirk on his face. With a groan, she allowed him to put on each sling, setting her arms up to be cradled in front of her chest, restricting movement of her shoulders and preventing her from popping any stitches. She was sure  he only added the one for the dislocated shoulder just to be an ass. They both knew she didn't need it so she glared at him with her nose wrinkled and brow furrowed in mock anger."

"Don't give me that look." That smirk on his face told her he was enjoying her misery, which only brought a growl from her. "Alright, princess treatment it is then."

With zero warning, he scooped her up into his arms bridal style, keeping the shoulder with stitches away from him and the no longer dislocated shoulder pressed against his chest. She squirmed at first, genuinely not fond of being carried, until he spoke up again and stilled her movements.

"Quit squirming or I'm telling Mother you said you weren't sorry and would do it again."