ANIMALS

Twenty-Eight || Gun Shots Go Forward

~Mason~ 

"Mase?" 

I groan hearing his sweet voice calling my name as I slowly open my eyes and I can't tell which hurts more, the pain of being shot or the bright lights stabbing my eyeballs. 

"Please tell me I'm drunk," I groan and the room goes dark but not because I passed out again. 

"Sorry, didn't mean to blind you, I'm sorry," Tristan sniffles and I can focus on his tall lean figure in the dim light. 

"Hey, it's okay," I try to take back his apology but he shakes his head as he looks down at me.

"I never should have left you," He whimpers slightly and I reach out for his hand but he doesn't take it. My wolf gets a little agitated at his rejection and makes it known. 

"Tristan, come here," I growl using my deep alpha voice instead and Tristan's eyes nearly glow neon green in the dark. The alpha in him tries to cancel mine but he's weakened by his emotional state as the tears stream down his beautiful blushed face. 

"Tris-" I don't even get through his full name when he finally comes to me and once he's close enough I pull him into my arms using all of the strength I could muster. 

"Mason! You're going to hurt yourself!" He argues as he thrashes around while I hold his body tight to mine. 

"Not as much as you're hurting my ears with all that bitching and moaning," I groan into his shoulder, careful to hold out my arm with the needle stuck in it until he calms down and finally stop moving. 

"I shouldn't have left," He cries into my chest and I wrap my arms around his muscular upper back, kissing the top of his head as I took in a deep breath of his calming scent. 

"If you didn't leave it would have been you here instead of me," I tell him the truth and he nods, nuzzling his head to my chest opposite to the gunshot wound. 

"And I don't think I could live with myself if that happened," I told him as I buried my lips in the depths of his ruffled brown hair. 

"At least I wouldn't be a jerk about it," Tristan huffs and I give him a small squeeze. 

"You're right, you'd be the sweet little vanilla bean you are and I would probably get so annoyed by your pettiness that I'd leave," I tell him outright now that he's back to his usual self and his head snaps up. 

I thought he was going to curse me out with his innocent tongue but instead, my mate somehow manages to fuck me up with three words. 

"I love you," He confesses and I stare at him in awe. 

"You must not know what love is then," I say back and his mouth opens slightly in shock. 

Right as he uses my bullet wound to sit up. 

"AH! FUCK TRISTAN!" I gape in pure white-hot pain and he quickly pulls his hand back as if he didn't mean to do it. 

"Sorry," He mumbles as he looks over at the screens on the wall recording my rising heartbeat from the pain.

"No you're not," I groan as I hold the bandaged side of my chest like that was going to radiate the pain away faster. 

"You know you're heart skipped a few beats when I said those words. I just had to check and make sure this is accurate cause it's hard to believe you have one sometimes," He says and I wanted to choke him out for testing me. 

"You think I'm heartless?" I asked and he tilts his head away from me. 

"No, yes, maybe. I think there's a lot of things you haven't told me," He says and I nod, clearing my throat as I try to relax now that he's here with me and he's safe.