He was no longer a threat, so my attention shifted to my injured mate.
My wolf walked around, sniffing and nudging her. She was in pain and losing blood, but she would live.
I lowered my head and nudged my nose under her until I found enough leverage to hoist her up on my back.
Pain shot through me from my own injuries, but it didn’t stop me. Caleb and Oscar flanked me on either side as the others dealt with the two wolves. A few of my brothers shifted and carried them out of the woods a good distance behind me.
Caleb kept trying to assist and take Zoey from me, but I just snapped at him each time. I understood he only wanted to help, but it felt like this was my burden alone to bear as I silently carried her all the way back to campus and straight to the clinic. Somewhere along the way, she passed out, but I could hear her steady breathing and feel her heartbeat.
She was going to be okay. She had to be okay.
As I strode into the clinic, there was a flurry of activity around me.
I growled when they tried to take her away from me, but Oscar’s powers washed over me, calming me and pissing me off at the same time. Still, I refused to leave her side, persistently following the doctor back to an examination room despite his protests.
Caleb shifted to his human form and explained what happened and that I was her mate and still very much on edge. The doctor conceded and allowed me to stay with her—not that I was giving him any other choice.
As the others arrived, he had to call in additional help for my victim. But every time he attempted to leave to check on him, I growled, and guarded the door.
I didn’t care about that asshole. He was lucky to still be breathing after what he’d done. I demanded the doctor keep his focus on Zoey as he sedated her and stitched her up.
“There’s nothing else I can do right now. She’s alive and safe. She’ll be sore for a few days and needs to remain in her wolf form to maximize the healing process. You too from the looks of things. Can I take a look at those cuts on your back now?”
I had forgotten all about that, but hearing that Zoey was going to be okay, I nodded.
“Good thing you didn’t try to shift. This too will heal faster in your wolf form. It’s not as deep as the bite on your mate, but significant enough to need stitches. I’m going to numb the area and give you a little sedation so I can stitch you up.”
He sedated me first, then opened the door and yelled down the hall for a bed and an assist. Someone else arrived quickly and the doctor instructed her to push the bed against Zoey’s.
I didn’t know how to thank him for that, but once they had me up there and I could reach over and touch my mate, my body relaxed. I closed my eyes as the sedation kicked in and allowed them to get to work on me.
*****
Sometime later voices nearby grew from whispers to overbearingly loud.
“Be quiet,” I tried to mumble, not realizing I was still in my wolf form.
I don’t know what it came out sounding like, but it worked as the room quieted.
When I opened my eyes it all came crashing back to me. I must have dozed off. I was still on the gurney in the clinic. Stretching, I realized Zoey was still with me.
Zoey.
My eyes sprang open as I scooted closer to her and licked around the gauze covering her wound. I could still hear her breathing and the steady beat of her heart. She really was okay.
Then I looked around. There was standing room only as people crammed in, some even through the open door and down the hall. It was a mix of my brothers and her sisters, all with worried faces.
My heart dropped as I tried to get someone to tell me what the hell was wrong and frustrated to be stuck in my fur unable to ask.
“Everything’s okay,” Caleb said, but I had a bad feeling that it wasn’t. “See, Zoey’s going to be fine.”
I turned back towards her and my heart filled with relief. Her eyes were open and staring right at me. She was awake, alive, and everything was going to be okay now. She was safe.
The doctor pushed his way through to check on us.
“I thought I told you all to wait in the waiting room. This is too many people in here and you’re blocking the hallway.”
“Then let us take them home,” Chloe begged.
