He made his way carefully back to the mansion. Twice, the remaining thugs came after him instead. Ottis had to kick them in the face; Doc breathed fire on those who tried to grab him.
Finally, he was back in the mansion, dressed and with Marcie in his arms.
Ottis went downstairs to search out Hijinks. The butler was in a small garage lined with plastic drums and a few workstations, wiping down the cock cannon.
“See? I told ya everything would turn out alright,” Hijinks said.
All of this felt unreal. Ottis could still smell the fresh blood and charred flesh; he could smell the strange chemicals that made up the cock cannon’s cum.
“Does Doc need to go to the hospital?” he blurted. “He was stabbed.”
Hijinks looked out at Doc hunting down the last few stragglers. “He’ll tell you if he does.”
“Okay.” Ottis perched on a stool and tried to focus on Marcie, but it was difficult. His attention kept drifting back to Doc. Doc had done all this to protect him; he had incurred severe damageto his property, and to his own body. Why would he want to keep Ottis around?
When Doc strode into the garage as a man, with a wad of cloth pressed against his side, Ottis leaped to his feet.
“Doc,” Ottis squeaked, his stomach churning. “Are you... You’re not alright. You were stabbed.”
Doc gave a crooked smile. He was completely naked, including his face—because all his clothes had ripped when he shifted. “I’ll be fine. He didn’t hit anything vital.”
“But you got stabbed because of me,” Ottis said, hunching his shoulders. “If I’d just kept my mouth shut, you would’ve been fine.”
A few tears leaked down his face; he swiped them away.
“You didn’t know.” Doc curled his warm hand against Ottis’ nape, squeezing him. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay!”
Doc leaned in, his hand moving up to cup Ottis’ jaw. He tipped Ottis’ face up and brushed away his tears. When Ottis chanced a look up at him, he found Doc much closer than he thought.
Doc closed the distance between them, pressing a soft kiss to Ottis’ lips.
“It’s really okay,” Doc murmured. “You didn’t do that intentionally. I should’ve discussed it with you beforehand, but it wasn’t something that occurred to me. If anything, it was my fault.”
Ottis frowned. Doc kissed him again, light and chaste.
“Sit tight,” Doc said. “Hijinks will help me, and I should heal without much issue.”
“Okay,” Ottis said uncertainly.
He followed Doc and Hijinks to the living room couch, watching closely as Hijinks cleaned and stitched up Doc’s wounds.
“Just how bad were your brothers’ injuries?” Doc huffed. “You haven’t batted an eyelid at this. Have you stitched them up as well?”
“Yeah. They let me practice on them, and when the wounds didn’t heal perfectly, they were especially proud.” Ottis rolled his eyes. “Alphas.”
“Alphas,” Doc agreed, his mouth curving.
“How can you say that, when you’re an alpha too?”
“It’s precisely because I’m an alpha, that I can mock my own gender, sweetheart.” Doc grinned.
Ottis finally cracked a smile. Then it faded. “Well, I guess my skills might come in handy if you’re at work, and the pups get into scrapes.”
“I could teach you first aid,” Doc said. “Things you don’t already know.”
Ottis didn’t like to think about his pups hurting themselves. But it was inevitable; he had gotten into plenty of scrapes himself, as a pup. “Hopefully they won’t get too hurt.”
