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“I’m on my way. That fucker does not get to die before I have the chance to talk to him.”

Emari hung up before Roark could answer, leaving him to stare at his phone, wondering about the mix of fury and concern he’d heard in his brother’s voice. Emari, in a fluster, moved like a bat out of hell, so Roark headed inside to get an update before his brother came crashing through the door.

Please let it be a good one.

As soon as Rusty spotted him, Roark had his arms full as his mate squeezed him so hard it felt like his guts were about to pop out of his nose.

“Any word yet?” he rasped, gasping when Rusty finally eased up a bit.

“Not yet, and it’s starting to piss me off,” Rusty growled.

“Emari is on his way here,” Roark said. “I thought about waiting but…”

“He would never have forgiven either of us,” Rusty said. “I get it. It’s okay. He should be here if things go south. Well, further south. Flame was alive when we found him, but he never responded to us out on the ice.”

Roark barely got him seated beside Logan before Emari charged in and Roark was forced to settle him down too, while explaining that Doc was still tending to Flame. Cage sat across from Roark, tapping his thumbs together, the waiting room full of Howling Devils waiting for news.

“It’s gonna get to a point where we’re going to have to build our own waiting room onto this place with how much time we’ve spent here in the last few years,” Cage muttered.

“Or at least start paying rent,” Doc Graham said as he stepped from the back in scrubs, paper hat still covering his hair, while his mask dangled around his neck. “He’s stable. I set his leg and have it immobilized until he starts healing on his own. Same with his collarbone and his left hip. He fractured his left foot too, and broke his ankle, but that should mend without too much trouble. Right now, my biggest concern is the head injury and the swelling it caused. While there is brain activity, he has not responded to any sort of stimulation, physical or verbal.”

“What do we do, Doc?” Rusty asked.

“Wait. Talk to him. No more than three of you in there at a time, please and try to keep the cussing to a minimum, there’s a family at the other end of the hall who are having a rough enough day as it is.”

“Understood,” Cage said. “What happened?”

“Pup was climbing on a counter and tumbled off. Today is the day for head injuries. Dad came running in here frantic, carrying the pup, with the mom opening doors for him the whole way. She had two smaller pups on her hips and a frantic mate who showed up ten minutes later, with the entire hunting party on his heels. I barely got them out of here before you all showed up.”

“Cor, catch up to that hunting party. They are a wolf down and you’re the best damn hunter we’ve got,” Cage declared. “Has anyone let Mama G know so she can reach out to her circle? They’ll get someone over here to help the family in any way they need.”

“No, like I said, I’d just wrapped things up with them and sent Sasha home for the day when I got your call,” Doc said. “The only wolf I had time to contact was Zane to let him know I wouldn’t be home on time tonight.”

“Shit, now I need to let him know I won’t be home either,” Cor said, pausing with his hand on the door.

“I’ll take care of it,” Doc said. “Wild is already over there helping him out with the twins.”

“Bless that owl,” Cor said.

“Be safe,” Doc said.

“Always.”

He left a pile of clothing in the entryway before plunging through the door in fur, disappearing as he took off down the block towards the forest.

“I’ll take care of Mama G,” Cage said. “Rusty, I know you’re staying. I want the rest of my crew to head back to the garage, you’ve got work to do. Send two guys down in a couple hours to sit with him. I’m sure we’ll all need a break by then. We’ll keep the rest of you updated through the group chat. Colton, stop over and see Atlas, have him prep a care package to take out to Baz and the guys out there. They’ll have their hands full with all the pups tonight.”

“On it, I can take it out there and stick around and help too,” Colt offered.

“Thanks, man, I appreciate it,” Rusty said.

“Anything for family,” Colt said as he headed out the door.

Rusty’s grandparents and cousins clamored in moments later. That door was going to be worn out before the end of the day, Roark was convinced of it. Soon a repeat round of explanations was underway. Somewhere in it all, Emari slipped away. Roark looked around for him and realized that he’d either crept out the door or into Flame’s room.

Rusty solved the mystery a few minutes later, when he started to go in, then backed out again, nodding to someone before he returned to the row of chairs to sit beside Roark.

“Emari’s in there, isn’t he?” Roark said.