“I already told you I’m a surgeon. What the fuck were you expecting it to look like?”
Paul spun around to face him, arms held out wide. “Well, it seems a little like overkill, considering we can heal ourselves most of the time.”
“I don’t only help shifters. I have humans in my pack too, as you so eagerly pointed out. And I’m closer for some than the big hospitals, so I get a lot of human visitors from outside the pack too.”
Paul frowned. “Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why bother helping humans?” Paul looked genuinely curious, like he found the idea confusing. “After everything they did to us?”
Isaac stared at him, momentarily lost for words, until he remembered who he was talking to. For all his faults—and Paul had many—he’d lost more than most in the shifter’s fight for power. Not that it excused him being a wanker or taking his job to the extremes that he did, but it went a way to explaining it.
Choosing his words carefully, Isaac said, “Most of those I treat had no part in the fighting.”
“How do you know?” Paul gestured angrily, pacing the length of the room. “And even if they didn’t, they were more than happy when we were treated like shit and forced to do exactly as they said.” His eyes flashed. “How can you bear to help them when they would never have offered you the same fucking courtesy?”
Isaac sighed. There was nothing he could say to justify his actions as far as Paul was concerned, but he also had no wish to antagonise him further. The last thing he wanted roaming around his house was a pissed-off HRU leader. “Because I’m not like they were, and I don’t want to be.” He walked over to the operating table and ran a hand over it. “I treat a lot of children and teenagers. They had nothing to do with the war, Paul. Why should they suffer for something they had no part in?”
Paul closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose like it pained him to even contemplate that Isaac maybe had a point. “I couldn’t fucking do it,” he murmured, so quietly Isaac wasn’t sure he was meant to hear.
No, because you’re a sadistic bastard who gets off on making them and anyone who helps them suffer.
“Have you seen enough?” Isaac asked instead.
Paul gave a sharp nod and marched out of the room. Isaac followed, wondering what delight he had in store now.
“I want to go check on my team,” he said with a look at Isaac that said he fully expected Isaac to lead.
“This way,” Isaac muttered and walked across the hallway to the front door.
The August sun beamed down on them, the last wisps of morning mist long gone by now. Isaac tilted his face up to the sky, the soft sea air a cool counterpart to the warmth of the sun. He took a moment to centre himself, to calm his wolf, because he had a feeling he was going to need every ounce of restraint he possessed while Paul and his team were there.
The homes that housed his pack had once been holiday cottages back when the Flete Estate had been a tourist destination. As such, they were uniformly dotted about the grounds, all within easy reach of one another. Isaac heard the arguing well before the cottages came into view, Alice’s low growl setting his nerves on edge.
“What the fuck is going on?” His own voice came out rough, the alpha in him rising to the surface at hearing one of his pack in trouble. He set off at a run, Paul cursing up a storm behind him as he hurried to catch up.
“Wait,” he yelled, grabbing Isaac’s arm and hauling him to a stop.
Isaac spun around to face him, fangs out, claws drawn. “Get your fucking hands off me.” He snarled in satisfaction when Paul let him go and took a quick step back.
He didn’t go far though. “Careful, Isaac. My team are just doing their jobs.”
Taking a deep breath, Isaac forced himself to shift back before calmly walking the rest of the way to where three of his pack faced off against six HRU. Others were quickly joining them, and Isaac needed to sort this out before it escalated into a full-on fight.
“Alice!” His voice cut through the air like a whip, silencing everyone. It was almost comical how all eyes turned to him at once, like they were synchronised. Callum jogged up the road from behind Alice and hurried to stand beside her, glaring at the HRU in front of them.
“Fuck.” Isaac ran the rest of the way, eyes tracking everyone’s movement, ready to jump in if necessary. He pointed to the two HRU who stood closest to Alice and growled. “Back the fuck up.”
They glanced behind him at Paul who must’ve nodded or given some indication because all the HRU team as a whole moved back several paces, putting a significant distance between them and Isaac’s pack.
Isaac stepped in front of Alice, set a hand on her throat, and rested their foreheads together. Tension radiated off her, and Isaac breathed slow and steady until her breathing fell into synch with his. Her shoulders relaxed, and when he was certain she was no longer in danger of killing some HRU members, he let his hand drop and stepped back.
Paul walked behind him, talking to his team in harsh whispers, but he ignored them, focusing instead on Alice. “What happened?”
Her lips curved back into a snarl, her gaze slipping past him.
“Alice.” He didn’t raise his voice, but the command in it snapped her attention back to him.
