LEVIATHAN
My body ached and burned from cuts, tears, and bruises across every inch of me, but that pain was secondary. Primary? The realization that I was once again the alpha of Idlewild. After a hundred years, things had come full circle.
“Hey!” Rainier cried. “Somebody get a nurse or a fucking doctor over to the house Levi’s staying at.Hurry, goddamn it.”
“I’m fine,” I said, though I was a little disconcerted by how swollen my jaw felt.
My enhanced healing was already working, but slowly, too slowly to stop most of the bleeding. My neck was the worst, where Anders had torn the flesh. Even an eighth of an inch deeper and he would have shredded an artery, then this would have ended differently. Shifting while he had jaws clamped on my neck had been a dumb move, one brought on by desperation and fear, but otherwise he would have choked me out.
Something else that irked me was how difficult it had been to defeat him. I hadn’t fought such a strong alpha in a long time. As weak-minded and weak-willed as Anders was, he most assuredly wasn’t weak in body. I needed to remember that.
“You aren’t fine,” June said, her voice a hushed whisper. “Jesus, look at you. You’re a mess.” She reached up to touch my face but hesitated. “Your whole face is covered in blood.”
“Honestly?” Rainier grunted, adjusting my arm on his shoulder. “It’s an improvement. You should think about covering that ugly mug of yours more often, save us all the horror of looking at you every day.”
A laugh burst from my lips, and I winced as pain shot through me. “Shit. That hurts,” I muttered.
They got me to my house and onto the bed, and June was in the process of using washcloths and sponges to clean the blood from my seeping wounds when a doctor arrived.
“Afternoon,” the old man said, absently fiddling with the zipper on a bright orange backpack. “I’m Doctor Haynes. How’s the patient?”
The man had graying hair cut close to his head and a silvery goatee. His skin was dark umber, but he still looked somehow pale, his eyes wide with shock.
“I don’t know, Doc. How do I look?”
He gave me a once-over. “Like twice-baked dog shit, if I’m being honest.”
“Hah,” Rainier barked. “I like this guy.”
The doctor spent a considerable amount of time checking the wound on my neck, as well as the spot on my side that ached like hell. While he did that, June finished cleaning the blood from me.
“Well,” the doctor said, “I’ve seen worse, but not often. You’ve got a cracked rib, but it looks like your body is already fixing that. If you were a human, I’d say you’d need around fifty stitches, but most of these lacerations and cuts have already clotted and are mending together. You’ll have a few new scars, but I don’t see anything that your shifter healing won’t take careof.” He grinned at me. “We can take a hell of a beating and keep going. How’s the neck?”
“It’s fine,” I said.
He smirked. “The whole crowd thought we were about to see you get your throat ripped out when you pulled that trick.”
“You’ve got that right,” June grumbled beside me.
“Had to pull out all the stops,” I said, hoping my false bravado hid my exhaustion.
“That you did.” Doctor Haynes patted my leg. “Between you and me? The whole town is electric with excitement.” He threw an awkward glance at June. “Anders Burnell wasn’t a…well…he wasn’t beloved. Not by a long shot. He was respected and honored for his position and the protection he provided, but not many loved him. Nearly everyone is thrilled for you to be the new alpha.”
“They aren’t terrified that the Demon Wolf of the Shadow Forest is their new alpha?” Rainier asked, one eyebrow raised in question.
The doctor chuckled. “Well, I suppose I should say most of the town is excited. I’d be lying if I said there aren’t some who are nervous. You, sir, have been the town boogeyman for years.” He barked a laugh. “When I was a boy, my mother told me I needed to eat my vegetables or you’d come drag me into the woods and eat me.”
“Holy shit,” I muttered, rolling my eyes.
“It’s okay,” he said. “You’ve been in town long enough that people have realized most of that was a story and nothing else. You’ve already gotten a reputation. You’re kind to the servers at the restaurant, pleasant to everyone in the stores… Plus, how you handled Anders? People are coming around. Also, change is always exciting,” he added with a shrug. “As for me? I think you’re going to do great. Welcome home.”
“I appreciate that.” Despite everything, my eyes stung, tears threatening. All these years of living in the wilderness, and now my town had not only welcomed me back, but they were happy I was the alpha. The only thing that was better than that was having June by my side as my mate.
Rainier chewed on his lip as he looked at June, then at me. He stood abruptly. “Hey, Doc, let’s go check on the other guy. We aren’t bastards. Asshole he may be, but he deserves medical treatment. Let’s find out where they took him.”
“Anders is in the drunk tank,” Haynes said, sighing wearily. “I suppose we should check on him, he was pretty beaten up.”
Rainier nodded at me. “See you later, boss. I’ll be back in a while.”
