by Jana Downs
The mystery as to why they’d risked exposure by bringing Steve here instead of keeping him in his holding cell back at the Alpha’s land and calling Billy to come to them like they usually did.
The back door of his office opened up into the clinic so he used that entrance to get back to the Alpha. He pushed his door open and then slipped quickly inside before closing it behind him.
“What the fuck is going on?” he demanded, uncaring that he was being disrespectful to his superiors.
Mustang stood behind the two chairs in front of his desk. They’d righted some of the wreckage which had ensued during the fight, though the broken lamp was still sitting where it fell.
His Alpha was looking pissed, which was impressive considering it hadn’t been his things that were broken. Despite being a whole six inches shorter than his mate, he was the one who was infinitely more intimidating. Grayson looked like he wanted the world to open up and swallow him whole. He was pale, clearly shaken. Steve, in human form, sat on his other side.
The blond-haired former frat boy looked as remorseful as Grayson. “I’m so sorry, Billy. I got freaked when I saw someone come in and I lost it.”
Billy tried to soften his expression, but he was still so upset that JP had been injured and he turned out to be his mate that he didn’t think he quite managed it. “It’s all right. Why are you here instead of at the Alpha’s house?”
“That was my decision, Carrigan,” Mustang rumbled. “I couldn’t get a hold of you on your cell—”
“I was in surgery!”
Mustang continued like Billy hadn’t said a word. “And felt like it was better that we come right away.”
“For what?”
“Steven decided it would be an awesome fucking idea to swallow a handful of silver bullets like a fucking idiot.”
Billy sucked in a breath. “Jesus.” He was surprised Steve was looking as good as he was. He sniffed the air and the faint smell of illness wafted up to greet him. Yeah. He was in some pain.
“Just let me die!” Steve snapped, tears tracking down his face. “I can’t live like this anymore. I can’t keep shifting over and over. I’m hurting people.”
“Steven, you will get through this if I have to kick your ass all the way to well,” Mustang said, his voice so guttural that it was almost a growl.
“Sir,” Grayson whispered. “Please, be nice to him.”
“I’d love to be nice to him, but there is a time for nice and a time for hard. Now is a time for hard.” Mustang leveled a glare in Steve’s direction. “The only reason the boy hasn’t passed out yet is because he’s stubborn and has shifted forms a couple times since ingesting the damn bullets.”
“I need to get an OR prepped ASAP,” Billy said, going into action. It was only a matter of time before Steve passed out as the allergic reaction irritated his stomach, his throat, and anything else they touched. Leaving them in wasn’t an option. Steve would be dead before he was able to pass them out of his body naturally.
He looked at Mustang. “We’re going to have to talk about an alternative solution. He’s right in that what we’re doing for him isn’t helping. I’m going to call some colleagues in Germany and see if they can offer any recommendations.”
“No,” Mustang said. “You’re not calling anyone with Circle connections. They’ll take him away and do gods know what to him.”
“They might be able to offer suggestions we haven’t thought of.” Billy turned from the group. “I’ve got to go prep. I don’t have time to argue. Steve, I’m going to send some of my nurses in to get you ready. Is that okay?”
“I don’t want it,” he said, stubborn as ever.
“I’ll make sure that he gets where he needs to be,” Mustang rumbled. It sounded like a threat.
Billy wasn’t going to worry about it. He was Alpha for a reason. It was his job to take care of the pack. It was Billy’s job to make sure their bodies got the best treatment.
He had to call his surgical team and cancel all his evening obligations.
As he came into the main part of the room, he hollered at his head nurse. “Take Steve down to the X-ray and get me the films ASAP. I need you to get the OR prepped, cancel my evening appointments, and call my surgical team. I need everyone ready to go in an hour.”
“What do you want me to do with the human?” she asked, phone already in hand as the other two nurses all but sprinted toward the operating room.
“Lock him in his room and load him up with sedatives.” He hated to do that to his mate, but he had little choice in the matter. He needed time to explain, and time was not a luxury he had at present. “He’ll be all right until I finish up. Call everyone in that you can. I’m going to need all hands on deck. Is Dr. Maynard still in town?” He wasn’t a Circle-appointed physician, but he was a general physician who ran a family practice a few towns over.
“As far as I know.”
“Good. Call him in to take general cases for me. If he gives you lip about it, tell him he owes me from last July Fourth.”
“Yes, Doctor.”
“Billy?”
Aw, crap. Clearly he hadn’t given him enough sedative to keep JP in his room. His mind raced with multiple possibilities. “JP, I’m sorry. The person who attacked you is very sick. I’ve got to get him into surgery immediately. A friend brought him in and I didn’t know he was in my office.”
“That was not a person,” JP said, following after him, dragging his IV pole behind him. The blood on his scrubs made Billy see red. He tamped down on the emotion though. He couldn’t afford to get upset. Not yet.
“I know what people look like. That was fur and fangs and something else.”
“Trauma—”
“Don’t try to sell me on some bullshit that it was trauma that made me hallucinate. I might not have gone to med school, but I know a thing or two about trauma reactions and what is atypical.”
Billy sighed. “I don’t have time to explain things to you right now.” He held up a hand to stop the protest that was already forming on JP’s lips. “I promise I will explain everything to you, but you’re going to have to give me a minute. I have to perform a laparotomy.”
“I can assist.”
He looked over in surprise. “I just stitched you and administered a sedative. You’re in no condition—”
“I’m fine. It’s just stitches.”
“But—”
“You could use the extra help to prep even if I don’t assist on the procedure.” JP put a hand on his shoulder. “Let me help.”
He made a snap decision. “Fine. Follow me. Leave your IV in. You can help me prep.”
“Then afterward you’ll tell me about what’s going on?”
Billy nodded. “I promise.”
* * * *
“He’s human,” Mustang said as they waited for Steve to get out of the room where he was being X-rayed. “He has to be dealt with. His memory will have to be modified.”
“Don’t be like that, Master,” Grayson cautioned. He loved his Alpha and tried to be a good submissive to him but sometimes he needed a kick in the ass. “You have no idea if that man is Billy’s submissive or his friend or his mate. Let’s get more info before you start making people disappear like an extra from Men in Black, huh?”
Mustang’s brow lowered in a manner characteristic of his stubborn streak rearing its head. “He’s human. The rules are clear. Have I not made the rules clear?”
Grayson chuckled. His mate was so fierce when he wanted to be. “Did you miss the fact that your beta just mated a human?”
Mustang harrumphed. “Well, if the human is Billy’s mate, that’s one thing.”
“Did you see the way he jumped in to protect the human? He cares a great deal about him either way. You’ve made the rules a little lax for our pack. Give him some time to come to you.”
“Hmph, what makes you the love expert?” Mustang asked.
“It’s my privilege as an Alpha’s Mate.” Grayson winked. “I
t’s getting easier to spot these mate bonds.”
Mustang snorted. “I would be careful how loud you say that. Everyone and their brother will be banging on our door tomorrow asking you to see if their match is true mated bliss.”
Grayson and Mustang shared a laugh over that. They loved their pack, their family, very much, even if they were pains in the ass sometimes.
After a moment, the laughter died away leaving behind all the worry from before. Mustang reached out and gave his neck a squeeze. “It’ll be okay, love,” Mustang said. “We will find a way to save Steve. I don’t care if I have to hire every physician, psychiatrist, and witch doctor in the world, I will heal your friend.”
Grayson leaned into his lover, taking comfort from his steady, warm presence. His friend had been through so much trauma in the past few months. He deserved to be happy and to be whole again. He just prayed that whoever was listening heard his adamant wishes. If it was a matter of will alone, Mustang had it covered but they were looking for a miracle.
* * * *
“How is he?”
JP jumped as he came out of the OR and was immediately confronted by a towering man well over six and a half feet tall. The blond-haired giant was a terrifying person to walk into.
“Uh, are you his family?”
The big guy nodded. “Yeah. We brought him in.” His gaze flicked to JP’s arm. “I’m sorry about your arm. He’s very…”
“Sick,” JP finished. “Billy told me.”
He’d been shocked to see how normal looking Billy’s patient was. He’d half expected the half monster beast to be waiting in the hospital bed when the team rolled him in. He still didn’t know what to make of the whole situation. He half believed what Billy had been trying to sell him about it being all in his head. However, it hadn’t been human teeth that had ripped into his arm and made him bleed. He’d examined the holes himself.
He’d seen a dog bite once that had looked similar.
So either Billy’s patient was some kind of half-dog man or he was some sort of alien creature. The word “wolfman” came to mind. Late night horror flicks had prepared him for the possibility. His logical brain wouldn’t quite get there. However, he was prepared to accept Billy’s explanation as being some sort of good will go-between humans and the “other” things that ran around in this wide, wide world.
The big blond nodded. “I’m Grayson. He’s my brother.” They shook hands. “How is your arm? I know he tore into you pretty good.”
“Nothing a bit of rest and some stitches couldn’t handle.” He pulled his hand back. “So are you one of them?”
Grayson frowned. “One of what?”
He had the sneaking suspicion he was going to be considered rude for asking. He lifted his arm. “You know, can you do this?”
“Bite you?”
Now he was being deliberately obtuse. “Be a dog thing.”
“Ah.”
Ah? What did that mean?
“Perhaps you should ask your boyfriend that,” the tattooed guy behind Grayson said. “It’s his job to keep you informed, not ours.”
JP’s eyes widened. “Um, I don’t have a boyfriend…Are you talking about Dr. Carrigan? We weren’t even through with our first coffee date yet.” He glanced back and forth between them as their eyes met in some silent communication. He felt like he’d just said the wrong thing. He took a step back. “I won’t tell anyone. I mean, who would believe me anyway?”
Silence.
“Um, well, I’m getting back to the OR now. I need my IV bag replaced.” And to get the hell away from you two. He suddenly felt like he was being hunted and he really didn’t like the feeling.
The tattooed guy waved him on. “Go ahead. We’ll be waiting out here when you’re done.” AKA guarding the door so that you don’t escape.
For very obvious reasons, JP was not reassured by the promise. He shivered as the fine hairs on his body rose. He hadn’t ever been cornered by a predator, but he certainly felt like that now.
One of Billy’s nurses met him as he came through the doors of the prep room. “I was just coming to your room,” she said. Her warmth was obvious and instantly calming. “Are you all right? Do you have any pain? Dr. Carrigan said that you were due some pain medicine.”
“I’d really like for you to take out my IV.” He wanted to be free to move around.
“Dr. Carrigan wants you to have one more bags of fluids before I take it out.”
Annoyance flickered. “I really don’t want them anymore.”
“You can discuss that with the doctor.”
Of course. He’d seen nurses do that before, but it didn’t help his aggravation. “Is there a room back here where I can lie down for a little bit?” The surgery was liable to be another hour or two at least and since Billy kicked him out of the OR he had little to do but twiddle his thumbs.
“You’re welcome to grab a nap in the on-call room. It’s seldom used unless we have a really busy night, but the sheets are changed regularly.” She took him through another set of doors that dumped them into a small room with a set of bunk beds on one side and a couch in the center of the room facing a small flat screen. “I’ll bring your bag in and hook you up while you catch your nap.”
“Thanks.”
He crawled into the bottom bunk and stretched out, arm hanging over the edge so it didn’t get tangled. She changed out the banana bag and then left him alone.
He closed his eyes as the full impact of what had happened hit him. He’d been attacked by some sort of wolfman on his date with a doctor who may or may not be one of them. The two big men in the lobby were probably some sort of hush unit designed to make sure humans didn’t find out about their kind.
He could really be in a dangerous situation. He bit into his bottom lip as he watched the IV drip. There wasn’t a way out. Hospitals weren’t exactly known for their easy escape routes, and this suite was an internal one at that. The windowless areas had never felt oppressive until now.
Billy, what the hell did you get me into?
Chapter Three
The last bullet dropped into the tray and Billy breathed a sigh of relief. They were still going to have to be careful of infection because of the damage the silver had done to Steve’s tissue, but at least the threat of death wasn’t hanging over the younger man’s head. He couldn’t believe Steve actually tried to kill himself with silver poisoning.
“Let’s close,” he said. His surgical team was the best in the country as far as he was concerned and each had a great deal of talent to offer up. JP had been a natural fit with them despite the fact that he was human. Billy had sent him out of the room only when he’d started seeing the fine tremor JP was developing in his injured arm. Whether the man wanted to admit it or not, he’d been in some pain.
He wished like hell he could’ve taken the time out to explain things properly instead of just moving into the surgery but time had been a pressing matter. Like all things of a social nature in his life, the conversation had taken a backseat. He just hoped he hadn’t completely ruined things for them.
He finished the last stitch and sat back to admire his work. There would be fairly limited scarring. “I think we’re good.” He stepped back from the table as his team started to clean up and sterilize the area so Steve could be moved into a sick room. The guy would have to be monitored closely.
Since there was still one unit of omegas still hanging around, he figured he’d ask them if they knew of any physiatrists that would be comfortable treating a wolf that had been through as much trauma as Steve had. He wouldn’t have to go directly to the Circle that way. Of course the idea would have to be run by Mustang before he even did that much. Maybe if he talked to Titus, the new beta and former Circle enforcer, he would be able to gauge whether going there was even a remote possibility.
“Is JP in the room I treated him in?” he asked as he peeled off his gloves and threw them into a nearby trash can.
Crystal, his lead, shook her head. �
��I think he’s in the on-call room, actually.”
Billy frowned. He didn’t mind him being there or anything, but it seemed strange to him that he would change rooms after he’d told Billy that he was going back to the original room. He mentally shrugged. He was probably making a mountain out of a molehill. It could’ve been something as simple as the beds in the on-call room were more comfortable than the patient beds.
He needed to change his clothes and sit down with JP. He deserved an explanation.
After changing clothes, he looked up to see Mustang standing in the doorway to the prep room.
“I think I scared your pet,” Mustang said. The deceptively calm way he lounged in the opening masked the tension that was wafting off him in waves.
He frowned. “Why would you do that?”
“He wanted to leave. I think the whole situation made him nervous and, as my mate is apt to remind me, I’m not the cuddliest of Alphas.”
“I wish you wouldn’t have done that. He’s probably freaked out as is,” Billy said.
Mustang shrugged. “Give me a good reason I shouldn’t just hand him over to the Circle to have his memory modified.”
Shock sloshed through Billy’s chest in an unexpected wave. “What?”
“You know the rules, Billy. Either he’s your mate and you bring him into the fold, he becomes an available, or we send him to be scrubbed.”
Billy bared his teeth. “He’s my mate. I just haven’t gotten around to pursuing him yet.”
Mustang raised his eyebrow. “You’ve been working around the boy for how long?”
“What’s with the interrogation, Mustang? I told you he’s my mate. That should suffice.” He never made waves, never made trouble for Mustang in any other way. If anything, he was the pack’s greatest asset.
“He doesn’t seem to have any clue about your connection.”
“That’s because I hadn’t even gotten to the “I like you” part before Steve took the choice out of my hands.” Annoyance was renewed all over again at that reminder. “I was attempting a human courtship with him. I know most wolves don’t, but JP is a sweet man with a lot of potential. He deserves a courtship that makes him feel at ease.” He’d just figured out that their attraction was mutual. Throwing out the “by the way, you’re my mate” speech this early in the game was a guaranteed way to freak him out.
