With a howl like a wounded animal, the killer sank to the floor, the pistol falling from his hand as he clutched at his groin and a puddle of blood began to spread. Lu Han used the barrel of the shotgun to sling the door away and chambered another round, stepping closer, raising the to his shoulder, sighting on his face.

                “Lu Han!” Yixing called. “He’s down. He’s done.”

                Maybe so, Lu Han thought. But he wanted it over. He wanted to make damn sure this man would not get up. Ever. Except in a bag. He squeezed again.

                This time it was Yixing’s hand, not the closet door, that deflected the barrel. Just enough that Lu Han saw the hardwood floor beside the man’s head splinter.

                “Lu Han, no!” Yixing said, gripping the barrel, stepping in front of him. “He’s down. He’s done. And dead men can’t talk,”

                He finally met Yixing’s eyes. He nodded. “You’re right. Dead men can’t talk.” He looked down at the man on the floor. “And that’s the only reason you get to live. So start talking. Before I change my mind.”

                At that instant, he heard his front door bang open with cries of “Police!” at the same instant, adrenaline deserted him and he began to shake and shake hard. He couldn’t fight when Yixing took the shotgun from him, and then he couldn’t stand, as his legs turned to rubber.

                Yixing slipped his arm under his shoulder, holding him up. “Up here,” he shouted.

               Helpless in the wake of shock, he could feel only more shock as Yixing tossed his gun onto the bed and then a pistol. He kicked the assassin’s weapon across the room.

                “No,” he said, feeling another surge of adrenaline, struggling to escape his grip so he could get his shotgun back. That man could still do something.

                “Shh,” Yixing said, wrapping both arms around him. “Shh. You don’t want to be holding a gun when the cops burst in.”

                At some level he recognized he was right, but he was shaking so hard, and terrified now that the adrenaline that had supported him had abandoned him. “Oh, God,” he said, his voice taut with terror.

                His bedroom door was open, and a horde of cops poured through it.

                “Down! Down!” they shouted pointing gun barrels and flashlights in every direction.

                Yixing started to ease down with Lu Han in his arms, but then a voice stopped it all.

                “I think,” Kai said from the doorway, “that our bad guy is already down.”

                He was answered by an agonized groan from the floor.

Red, blue and white stobe lights filled the usually quiet street in front of Lu Han’s house. With a blanket around his shoulders and Yixing supporting him, he stepped out into a swirl of activity that must have attracted attention for several blocks.

                But there they were, lined up at the curb, taking on two injured police officers and the man he had shot.

                I shot a man. He couldn’t absorb the thought and wondered if he ever would. I wanted to kill that man. Ugliness he had never before found in himself.

                One of the ambulances was apparently for him, and no one heeded his protests that he was just fine. “Just go,” Yixing said. “This is going to hit you harder than you think, and probably very soon.”

                He would certainly know about life-altering events, he thought a bit hazily.

                So he let them put him on a stretcher and wrap him even more in blankets. When he didn’t want to let go of Yixing’s hand, they lit him climb aboard, too.

                He clung to his hand, annoying the medics who were trying to get readings. “You saved me,” he said.

                “You saved yourself.”

                “No.” He shook his head and tried to raise it.

                The EMT tut-tutted and pushed him back down. “Stop fighting,” he said.

                But he was focused on Yixing. Completely and totally. “You believed the impossible, and you saved me. Remind me to tell you what a miracle that is.”

                “I think you just did.”

                The EMT elevated his feet just as the world swam out of the view and darkness caught up.

Kai had to step in. the NIS had arrived, along with some even more serious-looking guys who were from the Defense Department, and none of them wanted to let Lu Han out of the hospital bed until he’d answered all their questions. Not even the doc could persuade them to wait, nor could Yixing, who tried to make himself a human wall between Lu Han and the invaders.

                It was Kai, wearing his uniform for once, who turned the tide. “Look, he said, “I’ve got an envelope of information on my desk for you guys from Mr. Lu Han. You can spend the night looking over that. Meanwhile, he’s just been through hell and needs a little time. I’m sure he’ll talk to you tomorrow. Go bother the guy he shot.”

                As he shooed the last of them away, he turned to Lu Han. “I’ve got a deputy standing by to take you wherever you want to go as soon as you’re released.”

                “Thanks.” He was feeling so drained now that he could hardly move. “What about the killer? Is he talking?”

                “Let’s just say that he doesn’t have medical insurance. Apparently it doesn’t come with his job.”

                “So?”

                “So I told him that if he ever wanted to be in any condition to father children, he’d have to rely on the city to pay his medical expenses. Fast. And I’d only authorize that if he talked. Otherwise he could settle for basic emergency treatment before he got transported to my jail.”

                A snort escaped Yixing, but Lu Han wasn’t laughing. None of it felt laughable. “So he’s talking?”

                “He’s singing. You may not have meant to hit him there, but good job!”

                He was discharged after only a couple of hours. When they were in the patrol car, Yixing instructed the deputy to take them to the hotel.

                “But I want to go home,” Lu Han said.

                “No. you don’t. Not until I get someone in there to clean up the mess and make repairs.”

                Oh, God. Oh, God. He felt another tremor pass through him. “Yangshim. . .”

                “Yangshim’s at the vet’s. He’s okay, but he must have been drugged.”

                He looked at him, feeling the breath out of him. “That means. . .that means. . .”

                “That the guy got into your house when you drove me to the hotel. Very likely. How he got past those cops I don’t know.”

                “Maybe. We’ll find out. We’ll figure out everything.”

                With that, he sighed and let Yixing pull his head onto his shoulder. He couldn’t sort through all this now. No way. It was going to take time. For now he was just going to let himself enjoy the comfort of Yixing’s nearness. He had years ahead of him to deal with what had happened tonight, what he had done tonight.

                At the hotel Yixing tucked him under the covers to keep him warm. He lay on top of the covers fully clothed and Yixing drew him into the circle of his strength, holding him close.

                “Thank you,” Lu Han said.

                “Don’t thank me.”

                “But you saved my life.”

                His answer was simple. “You saved mine.”

                “You would have gotten that safety off. . .”

                “I wasn’t talking about that.”

                “Oh.” Hazily, he realized he was talking about the whole thing. His grief, his guilt. He had atoned. That made him feel better and he snuggled closer, loving the smell of him, the power he could feel in his chest.

                “But if you want to talk about tonight. . .” Yixing squeezed him. “I think I saw a lion protecting his pride. But for you, he’d probably have managed to shoot me.”

                “I wasn’t going to let him do that.”

                “No kidding. You erupted out that closet like a Berserker.”

                “I’m not exactly proud of what I did.”

                “I understand. Sometimes, though, we have to do things we’d never want to do under ordinary circumstances. There was a killer in your bedroom and he’d already shot at you. You don’t have to feel good about what you did, but you shouldn’t beat yourself up, either.”

                “No. . .” Oddly, his eyes were growing heavy.

                “Sleep now,” he said quietly. “You need some rest. I’ll be right here.”

                And Lu Han did exactly that.

He awoke with a start to the brilliant light of morning. It took full half minute for him to realize where he was and that there was no longer any reason to be afraid. He heard Yixing speaking and turned to see him on the telephone, talking quietly. When he saw him looking at him, he smiled and waved.

                He waited patiently while he talked, not paying attention to what he said, just glad to look at him and be grateful that he hadn’t vanished along with the nightmare.

                He hung up and crossed to sit on the bed beside him. Reaching out, he first his tousled hair, then clasped his hand. “Do you want the update?”

                “Sure.” He clung to his fingers, wanting never to let go.

                “The two deputies who