The first two days, they'd managed to dissolve some Tylenol in water and ease that down Cole's throat. But today, no one had been able to get him to drink.
And it wasn't like Tylenol could do more than ease the mildest of his pains.
Someone needed to dosomething. And, unfortunately, Cole had appointed Nico to that task.
Nico really wanted to point out that the alpha had been delirious. There was no way to trust a decision he had made. In his most desperate, sleepless hour, he'd almost been tempted to call the Iron Runner Pack and beg assistance from their team of healers.
Because that was how big the Iron Runner pack was. They had a dozen healers and apprentices, and they were more than willing to hire them out.
If it had been one of the pack youths or one of their non-combatants, Nico might have truly considered it. But Cole's illness was an existential threat. And if the Iron Runners smelled blood in the water, they'd attack. Their alpha, Dawson, was a tough son of a bitch, and they couldn't afford his attention right now.
Which meant it was time to be a fucking idiot.
They neededsomethingthat could help Cole. And Cole had forbidden human doctors.
Nico was following that order to the letter.
Because the alpha hadn't said a damn thing aboutanimalmedicine. He probably hadn't thought of it, what with the blood loss and delirium.
It was a tricky thing. Witches and vampires and all other non-weres liked to throw "animal" around like it was an insult to shifters. But theywereanimals. Weren't all creatures?
And, according to Google at least, most animal medicine was the same as human medicine. It was all in the dosage.
Besides, vet clinics were easier to break into than hospitals.
At least, that's what Nico had hoped as he'd sat in the parking lot of the Stewart Central Zoo. He saw a few other cars parked along the end of the lot near the street, but no one was walking around, and the streetlights were his only company.
Werewolves didn't usually get harmed permanently. They healed quickly, and what they or their healers couldn't heal killed them.
They didn't get stuck in stasis, moaning and groaning and covering their sheets with blood and other bodily fluids for days.
There was another vet hospital he could have tried, but Nico figured the zoo had a wolf exhibit. Maybe they had drugs that could specifically help wolves. Maybe that would be better than whatever dog and cat medicine they had up the street.
Besides, he'd been to the zoo before. It had been years, back on a school field trip when he'd been a kid. But how much could a zoo change?
A lot, it turned out. Especially when he was sneaking around in the dark in places visitors were never meant to go.
He winced when the first door slammed.
Ask Nico to bust heads and he was good to go. This thief shit wasnothis brand.
But he just had to find the drugs. He wasn't exactly sure what he'ddowith those drugs when he found them, but that was what the internet was for. Unfortunately, he hadn't yet been able to find any TikToks about"how to heal your werewolf alpha,"but he wasn't giving up hope yet.
A scent tickled his senses, and he paused, breathing deep.
Lilacs. Shampoo. And something … effervescent that curled deep in his gut and made his whole body stand at attention.
Someone was here.
And she smelledgood.
His wolf jolted to attention, and something pulsed and whined deep inside of him as the wolf homed in on the scent. Now was not the time to get distracted.
Nico opened his mouth and forced himself to breathe shallowly. The last thing he needed was to be found by someoneworking late, even if she smelled like dessert and dreams. It was probably just some perfume. And hopefully the scent was old.
But he hadn't risen to be the highest-ranking beta in a growing pack by mistaking the age of a scent.
This one was fresh.
