Luca pressed his lips together, tucking them in. He clenched his hands and then shook them out as he followed Rob into the house. He wasn't freaked out by the way the two men lifted their noses into the air and sniffed. He'd grown up with shifters. He knew what they were doing. He just wished he could do it, too.
He was freaked out when Rob frowned and then tore up the stairs to the second floor. Luca hurried to keep up, his heart pounding in his chest so hard, it hurt. Rob went to the third door down, but he didn't try the doorknob this time. He just kicked it in.
The sound of the door shattering was like a thunderclap in the silence in the large house. As soon as the door flew open and Rob stepped into the room, the heavy coppery scent filled Luca's nostrils.
"No, no, no," he whispered as he raced in after the alpha. His worst nightmare came to life right before his eyes when he saw Randal lying on the floor in a pool of blood. He ran over and dropped to his knees next to him. "Randal!"
Luca didn't know where to touch him. His face was mottled with bruises, his lip split. Blood matted his hair and stained his shirt, front and back. One arm lay at an unnatural angle.
"Are those whip marks?" Jeb asked in a low voice.
Whip marks?
Luca scanned Randal's body until he saw what Jeb was referring to. He sucked in a shaky breath as he lifted the edge of Randal's shirt. Long red strips lined his back and sides, one mark after another, crisscrossing Randal's skin until the skin broke and started bleeding.
Rob dropped down to the floor on the other side of Randal and reached down to press his fingers against the side of the man's throat. Luca didn't understand what he was doing until the alpha's shoulders slumped. "He's alive."
Luca didn't see how that was possible. "He's been brutalized."
"Harvey, tell Dwayne to get the blankets out of my truck and make a bed in the back and then I want you to search the house. I want to know who did this and if they are still here."
Harvey nodded before walking out of the room.
"Jeb, I need you to get me a door, something strong enough for us to carry Randal out of here."
Luca's nostrils flared as a blinding rage filled him. He glared up at Jeb. "If my mate dies, you'd better believe I'll be getting restitution from you, and I'll be taking your mate from you just as you took my mate from me."
"I didn't do this," Jeb insisted. "You can't demand restitution for something I didn't do."
"Why not?" Luca snapped. "You did."
Jeb's head snapped back. Indignation covered his face. "I did no such thing."
"By keeping me and Randal apart, you punished me as much as him, only I never harmed you or yours. I was innocent in all of this, just as Erik is. You could have allowed us to stay together even if we couldn't claim each other. If you had, maybe this never would have happened."
"You expect me to believe you could spend forty-eight hours together and not claim each other?" Jeb snorted. "Come on."
"What part of ‘we've known we were mates for two years’ didn't you understand? Forty-eight hours together, even unclaimed, would have been heaven versus what we've gone through, having to deny each other for the last two years. We could have spent time holding hands and talking, getting to know each other better. We didn't have to claim each other just because we were in the same room together."
"I've never met a shifter that could deny claiming their mate for more than a few hours if they were in the same room. Why should you be any different?"
"Maybe because I'm human and not ruled by my animal instincts."
Jeb rolled his eyes before walking out of the room.
"You know you can't seek restitution from Jeb because of this, right?" Rob asked.
"I know," Luca admitted. "I just want him to understand what he did. It's not like he told Randal and me we had to go to bed without dinner. After you told us we could be together, he still kept us apart. There is a long list of things he could have had Randal do. He didn't have to do that."
And it wasn't something Luca thought he could forgive, not now. Maybe, before Randal had been attacked, he might have, but not now.
"You do understand that Jeb is angry because his mate was taken from him?"
"I get that, but what he did wasn't restitution. It was revenge. He wanted Randal to feel the same pain he did. Where's the lesson in that?" Luca carefully brushed the hair back from Randal's bruised face. "I know he didn't do this, but he had a hand in it. That, I can't forgive."
Rob grimaced. "Well, the important thing is that we got here in time. Now, we just need to get Randal to a doctor." Rob pushed to his feet. "I'm going to go find something to clean him up."
Luca nodded absently as he leaned down close to Randal's face. "Hey, Randal. It's Luca. Can you open your eyes for me?" He wasn't even sure Randal could hear him. He reached down and grabbed the hand of his good arm. "I'm here, baby. Can you feel me?"
