"Don't worry about it. Cole left me in charge."
"You don't think I'd question Cole too?"
He heard a knocking on the large window opposite Cole's bed. It opened up onto a gabled roof that he sometimes used as a makeshift balcony and quick route out into the forest behind the house if Cole didn't feel like using the balcony. Right now, Reece was knocking against the glass, more shadow than man, nothing more than a broad shadow illuminated by moonlight.
Fuck.
Seeing Reece threw him off enough that Javi was able to bust the door open behind him. Elise let out a yelp as Javi bounded across the room and flipped the latch on the window to allow Reece in. Javi was bristling with energy, his brown skin gleaming with a hint of sweat and his dark hair held back with one of those stupid thin headbands he used when he worked out. Reece was dressed for work in thick jeans and a plaid shirt that strained against his broad shoulders. His red hair was mussed, and his dark eyes wereangry.
Then both betas turned their attention to the woman at their alpha's bedside.
"Who the fuck isthat?" Javi demanded.
Reece stalked forward and got between her and Cole, getting in her space until she was backed up against the wall and he was only inches away from touching her. Elise hadn't seemedthatshort until Reece towered over her. But Reece even had a few inches on Nico, and he liked to use that height to intimidate. But Elise didn't shrink away from him.
She had no idea how much danger she was in.
Nico didn't think. He sprang at Reece, putting himself between Elise and his fellow beta. He used himself as a barrier, wedging his body between the beta and the vet, ready to shield her from fists … or claws. He spoke quickly, as if the explanation could possibly help. "She's a vet, she works at the zoo. And I brought her here. You don't touch her." He reached back and blindly swiped his fingers against her arm, as if he was reassuring himself she was alright.
To his surprise, she brushed her fingers over his hand, squeezing lightly, before she let her own arm drop.
Reece glared at him. His eyes had gone wolfish, shifting from brown to a glowing yellow, and Nico caught a hint of fang before Reece took a deep breath and got himself under control. "Cole said no doctors."
"She's not a doctor. I just went to the zoo to get supplies. I found her there. We need the help. The witches would probably call this fate or something."
Behind him, Elise coughed, and he realized he shouldn't have said that. But humans understood theconceptof witches, even if they refused to believe in magic. He hadn't given the game away.
Yet.
He had to be more careful.
Javi came around the bed and flanked Nico, getting close enough to Elise to breathe in her scent. His nostrils flared for a moment as he leaned close.
Nico wanted to growl. That scent was forhim, damn it. And he'd tear Javi's throat out if the guy did more than smell. But Javi didn't seem to think anything of the way Elise smelled, or if he did, he wasn't showing it.
"Cole won't be happy about this," Reece insisted.
"If she helps Cole, I'll be ecstatic when he skins me." Nico wasn't joking. He'd takeanypunishment, if his alpha would just wake the fuck up.
"I'll skin you for bringing in an outsider," Reece reached out and clamped his hand around Nico's throat, and his eyes glowed yellow as his wolf rose closer to the surface once more. His grip was tight enough to make black spots dance in Nico's eyes.
It was a challenge. It was beyond every line of acceptable. And if Nico hadn't been trying to keep his species a secret from Elise, he would have shifted right there and donerealdamage to Reece.
Instead, he tore himself out of his grip and shoved the man backwards. Reece almost went sprawling over Cole's prone form but righted himself at the last second. He clenched a fist around the bed frame and jerked himself back up as he regained his balance.
Reece growled and breathed deep.
Elise threw herself in front of Nico and put a hand on his chest and shoved her other hand out like that would do anything to keep Reece back. His little warrior. "I don't know what thefuckis going on, but that man isunconscious. You donotfight in this room."
She sounded just like Mark when he was in the middle of an intense healing.
Maybe all healers were like that, even if they were human.
To Nico's shock, the glow faded from Reece's eyes, and he looked away from Elise. Javi whistled low but didn't say anything.
"What do you need?" he asked the woman in front of him.
Elise looked pissed, and she wore her anger well. Her cheeks had gotten a little flush, her hair was falling out of its tie, and her shoulders heaved up and down. "Let's get an IV running. Did you grab saline? Hopefully you grabbed an IV kit too. Have you given him anything for this? What have you done other than bandaging the wound?" She sounded more like an angry general than a kidnapped woman.
