I was sitting at the kitchen table eating some lunch when Nero, my boxer dog, got to his feet quickly and started growling. I froze, the fork halfway to my mouth. Nero was my more placid dog, so it was unexpected to see such a reaction from him. It also told me something was wrong.

My fork clattered to the table when dropped. I quickly stood and followed Nero to the front door. Astro picked his head up off his bed, stretched and then went back to sleep. He didn’t care what was going on, and thankfully the others were out in the backyard or I was sure Nero’s reaction to whatever was happening would have got them worked up.

At the door, I peered out the glass panels on each side of the door. There was no one out there, not even a vehicle coming in the drive.

Nero sniffed under the door and growled low again. He then scratched at it.

My pulse kicked into panic mode and my hands started to sweat.

I grabbed his collar in a tight grip and opened the door. “Shit, Nero, settle,” I demanded as he fought to run. Maybe it was an animal he sensed and he wanted to hunt. There was no way I’d let him go to find out though.

My body tensed when a scream ripped through the air. My head spun towards my neighbour’s house, and so did Nero’s. Then his body followed.

A gun fired.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Without a thought to protect myself or Nero, I dropped my grip on his collar, and he bounded forward. I quickly ran after him. I headed for the fence between the properties. Nero jumped it first, and I followed. Before I could make it to the front door, Nero was there scratching, snarling, and nipping at the wood.

My heart sat in my throat, but still, a need to help urged me on. I opened the already unlocked door and stepped in. Nero made a beeline for the hallway to the right, his nails slipping and sliding over the polished floorboards. I bolted after him when I heard his bark, people yelled, something fell to the floor. Another gunshot. Glass shattered.

All of it happened before I made it into the room.

A growling, snarling Nero had someone cornered in the room. Another pushed past me slamming me into a wall. “Nero, guard,” I ordered and made after the one running down the hall, ignoring the cry of “No” from someone.

I neared him, reaching out to take him to the ground, but then I heard roared, “Easton, don’t.”

I stumbled, shock reverberating throughout my body over someone knowing my name. I glanced at the front door to see the man, who had dripped blood along his way, already disappearing.

I spun back to the room and stalked down the hall, where I had the perfect sight of Lan Davis bloody and beaten, struggling to get off the bed.

Bugger the fuck out of me.

As I raced back towards the room, I heard a female scream, but Nero’s snarled growl overpitched her. Rounding the doorway, I saw a girl trying to climb out of the broken window, but Nero had his jaw wrapped around her leg.

“L-let her go,” Lan panted.

“What?” I cried.

“Do it,” he barked.

“Nero, heel.”

Nero released and sat his butt down on the floor, and we both watched the girl scramble the rest of the way out the window and limp away.

I swung my gaze back to Lan.

Blood.

All I could see was blood.

My chest ached. I went to Lan’s side, and my training kicked in. I picked up his phone I found on the floor next to the bed. “We need to call the police, an ambulance.”

“No,” he yelled, and lurched forward, only to groan and fall back against the mattress. “No,” he gasped. “No police.”

“Lan—”

“No. Call Parker.”

“Who?”

“Parker. In contacts. Code 451784.”

My jaw clenched. He’d rather me call his boyfriend than the damn law enforcement. “Lan, at least let me call an ambulance—”

“No,” he growled out. “Parker.”

Sighing, I bit out, “Fine. Let me check you over first.” He didn’t say anything as I threw back the sheet. I winced when it stuck to his leg, causing him to grunt. My hands glided over him, checking his injuries. I ripped the sheet apart and tied it around his leg and his lower arm where there were a small stab wounds’. His shoulder held a gunshot wound, only there was no exit, so the bullet was still inside. His hip was bleeding obviously grazed by another bullet. His left eye was swollen and would probably keep going. There was a cut to his chin, one to his arm, and another to his chest.

I felt sick to the stomach at seeing it all.

Especially on someone I knew.

He didn’t say anything as I examined him, but his good eye stayed on me as I worked. I could feel it. Thinning my lips, I stood back and looked at my piss poor job of a patch-up. Better supplies were needed. With the bullet still in his shoulder, his blood started to soak through the sheet. I leaned forward and pressed my palm against it. “You really should go to the hospital,” I said again.

“No,” he grunted.

Shaking my head, I used my free hand to pick his phone back up, unlock it, and find Parker’s number. I pressed his name and placed it against my ear.

It was answered with a gruff, “Yeah?” A charming way to answer the phone to someone he knew. It could even be Lan’s boyfriend.

“This is… Lan Davis’s neighbour. I just caught a group of people in Lan’s house. He was beaten badly before I could come to his aid—”

“What?”

I continued, “He’s asked me to call you. He’s refusing to go to the hospital which I advise against strongly.”

“I’m on my way,” he stated coldly and hung up the phone.

I glanced down at Lan. “He’s on his way.”

“W-what are you doing here?” he whispered, his eye still on me.

Then it clicked.

Screw me with a sledgehammer. Lan and I were neighbours.

“East?” Lan pressed in a gruffer tone.

Sighing, I shook my head and left my gaze on the wound and held the sheet there. “We’re neighbours.”

His eye widened. Then he winced and settled again. “Neighbours?”

“Yes.”

“You’re the one who moved in recently.”

“Yes.” I glanced to Nero sitting at the side of the bed on the floor and then back again to the wound. “Nero heard something. I followed him over here.”

“You could have got hurt.”

I shrugged. I didn’t care if I had. I was happy I stopped what was happening before it was too late for Lan.

Too late for Lan.

I couldn’t think about that.

“I’m surprised they ran when I came.”

Lan coughed, his eyes closing fully and staying that way.

“Lan,” I snapped. He couldn’t sleep until he’d been checked over. “Lan,” I barked. Nothing. “Lan, dammit you prick, open your damn eyes.”

His lips twitched. “Just restin’.”

“Jesus,” I muttered.

“Not so shy now,” Lan uttered.

My body stilled.

“You were—”

If he was rehashing things from the past, I wouldn’t let him.

“Why did they run?” I asked instead.

His mouth closed, his lips dipped down into a frown. “Heard you coming. Already shot Miller in… hand. His gun on… floor… tired.”

“Lan Davis, you stay awake or I’ll kick your arse.”

He chuckled, then groaned. “Could be fun.”

Darn this man.

“You knew one of the people in here?” I asked.

“Yep.”

“Lan, you really should go to the—”

“No. We’ll deal with it.”

I sighed and clenched my jaw, not only from annoyance but for fear they could come back and finish the job.

“Fine.” I wished the Parker guy would hurry the fuck up. “Are you still a cop?” He’d been in plain clothes the day I saw him when we attended a gunshot wound to Jarrod Blackcomb a while ago.

“No. Detective.”

“How long you lived in Melbourne?”

“While now.”

“Why’d you move?” I asked, not wanting to, but if questions kept him awake, then I was willing to ask meaningless ones.

“Wanted a change.”

“Nice area to move to.”

“Yeah.” He shivered.

“You cold?”

“Hmm.”

“Lan!”

“Can’t a guy get some rest?”

“Not yet.” I needed someone to hold his wound so I could get some supplies, though I wasn’t sure I had the right stuff at home for it either.

He licked his lips. “You like your place?”

I did. I wasn’t sure if I still did since knowing I lived next door to the man I never wanted to see again.

“It’s okay.” I settled for instead.

He scoffed, then coughed and groaned. After a couple of breaths, he commented, “Sure you liked it more than okay before you knew I lived here.”

Observant bastard.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“You got more dogs?” he asked. I appreciated the change in topic.

“Yes. Six in fact.”

“Six?”

A smile slipped onto my lips. “Six. All rescue dogs, all different in their own way.”

“How bad?” he whispered.

I knew what he was asking. “Not too bad. A few cuts and scrapes.”

His lips twitched. “You could never lie well.”

And damn him for knowing that.

Nero stood and turned towards the door; a low growl dropped from his lips. People were coming. Finally.