"We were able to get some water into him yesterday. And a bit of Tylenol. That's it." That was Javi.
Elise nodded. "That won't hurt him, at least. The saline will hydrate him, which should help in general. But I need you all toback offwhile I take a look. Got it?"
Javi and Reece looked to him, and Nico nodded. "She knows what she's doing." He hoped.
Elise muttered something, but even with his superior hearing, he couldn't quite make it out.
He found the bag of saline and the IV kit and handed it over. Elise set it aside and then stood. "I need to wash my hands." She held them up. "Bathroom?"
Nico nodded towards Cole's en suite on the other side of the room, the door cracked open an inch.
She nodded and walked that way.
Javi and Reece took the opportunity to pounce. "What the fuck, man?" Reece said. "She's a fucking human. What are you thinking?"
He couldn't tell them hewasn't.That he'd seen Elise and knew he had to take her. This was possibly the most reckless thing he'd ever done. But they were his fellow betas, his equals in the pack, and he had to say something. "I'm thinking Coleis going to die if we don't do something. Or has one of you managed to track down Mark?" He raised his eyebrows.
"Hugh's out looking," said Javi.
"Until we have Mark back, we have Elise."
"You trust her with Cole?"
Yes.
He didn't say it out loud. The instinct was almosttoostrong. He didn't understand it, but he felt it deep in his veins. "She's the best we got."
"She needs to be supervised every second she's here," Javi said.
Nico nodded. That was just common sense.
"And when Cole wakes up, he decides what we do with her." Reece's voice was hard. He crossed his arms like he was waiting for a challenge.
"Cole is our alpha," Nico said, and those words sounded like he was agreeing.
Their alpha was a fair man. He wouldn't want to harm someone who'd helped him.
When Cole woke up, Nico would make damn sure he saw it that way.
Chapter
Seven
Elise had never pretendedto heal someone before, and she certainly hadn't pretended to heal someone while two angry shapeshifters looked over her shoulder with one slightly less angry but distractingly hot shapeshifter standing in the corner.
Before today, she hadn't actually spent any time alone around shapeshifters, and she was beginning to wish that things had stayed that way.
She had done what she could to make it look like she was treating Cole. He didn't look good. Under his fur he was too pale, too sweaty. His chest rose and fell with shallow breaths, and every so often, he'd twitch. She had figured out how to put in an IV, and she was pretty sure she had done it right. She had managed to give him some Tylenol, some antibiotics, and a sponge bath, which had caused one of the werewolves to growl, but she wasn't sure who.
It wouldn't do anything to help, but it wouldn't hurt him. And that was the important thing.
She knew that if Cole died, she was next on the chopping block. Unless her sisters could get to her in time.
Did they even realize she was gone yet?
She didn't know what time it was, but it had to be late. She had been working in this room for hours, and it had already been close to midnight when she’d sneaked into the zoo. When was it? Four a.m.? Five?
None of her sisters were early risers, but someone would realize she wasn't at breakfast, and no one would think she had gone home with a man and forgotten to call.
