“She’ll have to wait,” she said. “This is a mass casualty event, folks. We’re about to get slammed like you’ve never seen before.”
They hooked Gage up to a bunch of beeping and pinging machines. I couldn’t see exactly what they were doing with so many people coming and going, but I sure as hell felt it when the unrelenting pain pouring across the mating bond was abruptly snuffed out, leaving echoing nothingness in its wake.
I shot to my feet, aware of the pain of my own injuries in a way I hadn’t been before. “Gage!”
Hands grasped my shoulders and urged me to sit again. I resisted, trying to look past the body looming in my field of vision and see what was happening.
“Please calm down, ma’am,” said the nurse. “Your mate is unconscious, but we’re taking good care of him. He had ID in his wallet; can you please confirm that his name is Gage Huxley?”
I stared at her. I was mated to Gage, and I hadn’t even known his last name. Slowly, I nodded.
“Thank you. And does he have medical insurance?” she went on, oblivious to the stillness in my mind where there was supposed to be pain.
“I... don’t know?” I rasped. “Probably?” His pack leader was rich... but maybe rich people didn’t need to bother with insurance?
She let my shoulders go and picked up a clipboard. “Okay, we’ll deal with that later. What’s your name, please?”
“Jez,” I whispered. But that wasn’t right anymore. “I mean... Jess. Jessica.”
“Jessica what?”
I couldn’t remember the last name Knox had told me. It hadn’t seemed real then; it didn’t seem real now. Or was IJessica Knockley already? But that wasn’t Gage’s last name... or Heath’s.
“I... I don’t...” I stammered, beginning to panic.
The doctors leaning over Gage backed away, and orderlies started pushing his gurney toward the door.
“Wait!” I cried, trying to push past the nurse and follow them. She grasped me by the shoulders again.
“Jessica!” she said sharply. “Please try to stay calm.”
“Let me go!” I yelled, shoving at one of her forearms, then yelped as the pain in my palm flared.
“Ma’am!” Her grip tightened. “You need to calm down! If you try to get physical with me, Iwillhave you sedated! We’ve got enough to deal with already!”
I reared back, my panic overflowing at the idea of being drugged and helpless in this unfamiliar place, with Gage and Tony being taken who-knew-where, to have who-knew-what done to them.
“Dan! Jorge! I need some help over here!” The nurse’s voice grew alarmed as I tried to jerk myself free of her hold.
Two large men turned toward us. One of them was an alpha. A whine of fear lodged in my throat.
A protective presence stirred in the back of my brain, someone else’s alarm joining my growing terror. Not Gage.Heath. I drew in a sharp breath, straightening and leaning toward the door like a dog testing its chain.
A pair of tall figures appeared in the doorway—one limping heavily, both coated head to toe in dust. The smell of cedar and campfire smoke, whiskey and oak tickled my senses.
“That’s our pack’s omega,” Knox called, his voice still hoarse, but pitched to carry across the confusion in the room. “Please step away from her.”
The two orderlies hesitated. The nurse’s grip on my arms loosened. I took the opportunity to twist free and duck past her.There wasn’t a rational thought in my head as I shoved through the crowd of medical personnel and threw myself at the source of fierce protectiveness coiled on the other end of my mate-bond.
Heath caught me with a smalloofof surprise. He tensed for a moment, then his arms tightened, pressing my face against his battered tuxedo jacket to shield me.
“We’ve got her,” Knox said, still with infuriating calmness. “I’m Matthew Knockley. You may recognize the name from the new wing in the biomedical research center, which I paid for three years ago. We’ll need a private room suitable for a pack of five people, and regular updates on the status of Gage Huxley and Anthony Scalise. Aside from that, we’ll stay out of your hair.”
Everyone in the room went quiet and still.
“Um...” said the nurse who’d tried to restrain me. “Yes, sir. I’ll, uh, see what I can do. If you’ll follow me to the nurse’s station, please?” She eyed Knox warily. “Do you need medical assistance?”
“Not badly enough to take personnel away from the seriously injured,” Knox said. “Thank you. Please lead the way.”
