“Oh my God,” I said and clutched my head so I wouldn’t faint.
The wolf strode confidently into the house and collapsed onto the floor breathing heavily. I quickly realized that the wolf was seriously injured. Huge lacerations ran down the wolf’s body, like claws, one was so deep I was sure I could see bone.
“Oh, dear,” I said. Blood was quickly pooling on the hardwood floor that I had just polished. I looked in panic at the wolf. “I don’t know what to do!” I cried to whoever the shifter on my floor was. The huge wolf lifted its shaggy head and then plopped it back down on the floor. Its fur was a beautiful silver gray color but the silver was quickly turning red as blood oozed out of the wolf’s wounds. The wolf’s very human blue eyes bore into mine.
The wolf lifted its head again and motioned me back. “You want me to go into the kitchen?” I asked.
The wolf nodded its head yes. I put my hands on my hips. “I don’t see how I can help you from the kitchen but fine. I’ll go. Just bleed to death on my floor for all I care,” I said throwing my hands in the air. “Stupid, stubborn, wolf,” I muttered going into the kitchen.
A moment later a very human hand clamped down on my shoulder, startling me, and making me let out a blood curdling scream.
I turned around to face Caeden. “A little warning would have been nice,” I said. “Where are your clothes?” I added noticing the fact that he was completely naked except for a blanket draped haphazardly around his waist. His chest was well defined and his biceps were huge. Unfortunately, for me, the image was destroyed by the deep cuts on his right side. “Oh my God!” I said, my fear of blood suddenly gone, I tentatively touched the skin at his side. He flinched. I could see dirt and gravel caked into the five deep cuts. “Caeden,” I whispered “What happened?”
“Travis and his idiotic father,” he growled and sat down in one of the kitchen chairs. “As for my clothes, when we shift, our clothes don’t shift with us. When you’re a shifter you have to be comfortable with nudity. It’s a fact of life.”
“Oh so this,” I said motioning to the blanket. “Is for my benefit?”
He blushed and ignored me. He lifted his arm up and poked at his wounds wincing. “Where’s Lucinda?”
“She left for a council meeting this afternoon. She said she wouldn’t be back until late,” I answered him.
“Great,” he said rolling his eyes. “I’m going to need you to help me then. I don’t have much time. We heal fast, but,” he said looking at his deep wounds. “Sometimes not fast enough. Go to the hall closet and pull out the large black case on the floor.”
I did as he said but the box was too heavy to lift so I had to drag it into the kitchen. The lock was a set of numbers, which he quickly rattled off, and the trunk unlocked. I looked up at Caeden and I could see that his eyes were growing foggy and that he looked close to passing out.
“Let’s get you to the couch,” I said and wrapped my arm around his uninjured side. Slowly we made our way to the couch where he collapsed. I had to pull the heavy trunk into the living room. Caeden’s eyes were closed and his breathing was abnormal.
“Stay with me Caeden,” I whispered. He looked close to death and as if my heart sensed it, it began to thump erratically in my chest. Suddenly my feelings for Caeden came to the forefront of my mind. He was my mate. My mate! And I was going to lose him! We hadn’t even gone on a date! I hadn’t even kissed him! I had been too wrapped up in my discovery of shifters to even think about a relationship with Caeden or the fact that we were mates; we were made for each other and here he was dying underneath my fingertips.
I opened the lid of the large black trunk and found what looked like a mobile hospital. There were gloves, masks, syringes, all kinds of medical liquids, sutures, bandages, and other items that I had never seen before that I assumed were specifically for shifters.
I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and rang Gram. It went straight to voicemail. “Gram, it’s Sophie. Caeden’s here. He’s hurt. It’s bad Gram. He seemed fine one minute, alert, and now? Gram, I think he’s dying. Please get this, hurry!” I said into the phone and hung up. I only hoped she got my message soon enough.
“What do I do?” I said to myself looking into the case. I pulled on a pair of surgical gloves, grabbed some gauze, and alcohol. I figured the first order of business was to clean the wound.
I poured the alcohol into the wounds and Caeden came to life with a furry. He started screaming and cussing. “I know, I know,” I murmured. “It hurts. I’m sorry. I have to clean the wound.”
He growled through clenched teeth. A few tears leaked out of my eyes. “I’m sorry, Caeden, I don’t want to hurt you,” is sobbed.
His breath hissed in and out through his teeth. “You’re doing a great job,” he said. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
“No, you won’t!” I cried. “I can feel it,” I said and touched my heart, not caring about the blood I smeared on my sweatshirt.
He looked away and then met my eyes with a steely resolve. “I’ll be fine, for you.” His breath hissed in and out again. “I’ll make sure of it.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know what I’m doing! I’m not a doctor!” I cried.
He collapsed back against the couch. “Do you see that small vial of gold liquid?”
I began pulling out the different vials until I found one that was gold. “Found it,” I said holding it up.
Taking a few strangled breaths he said, “You’re going to need to pour that into each wound and then stitch it up.”
“Okay, I can do it,” I said. “What did they do to you?” I asked not expecting an answer.
“Normally, we heal fast, the only thing that… kills us is… an attack from… another… Alpha… or silver…”
I could tell he was fading fast so I poured the gold liquid into his wounds. The raw skin sizzled and popped. I grabbed a needle and sutures and pulled his skin together. He groaned and bit his lip. “Do it quick,” he moaned.
“I’ve never done this before,” I whispered.
He groaned.
To distract him while I stitched him up I said, “So silver? I thought that was werewolves?”
He groaned and it was a minute before he finally answered. “Silver is deadly… to werewolves too, more so, than it is to us… For shifters it gives us an injury… that doesn’t heal fast… which can lead to death… whereas if silver… enters a werewolf’s system… it kills them… And… for shifters… only another… Alpha’s attack… can kill… an Alpha…”
“So, is that what happened? You were attacked by another Alpha?” I asked. I had the worst laceration stitched up and so I moved on to the next most severe one.
He growled as the needle entered his skin and his breathing turned rapid. Sweat drenched his body. His eyes slowly closed and didn’t reopen. “Caeden? Caeden? Caeden!” I screamed and shook his shoulder. His eyes slowly opened. “Stay with me,” I begged. “Don’t leave me. Talk to me, please?”
He grunted and had me repeat my question. Slowly he answered, “Yeah, Travis’ dad… Peter… is the Alpha of the Grimm Pack… and he did this,” motioned to his wounds.
“And since you’re an Alpha?” I prompted him to get him to keep talking. I was scared of what would happen if he stopped.
“It won’t heal on its own,” he answered. He took a couple of breaths. “In fact it wouldn’t heal at all if it weren’t for that,” he said and pointed to vial of gold liquid.
To keep him talking I said, “Oh, really. What is it?”
“You really want to know?” he asked with a quirk of his brow. I was pleased that he still found some amusement despite the dire situation he was in.
“Yes,” I said as I finished the final stitch on his the third claw mark.
It’s… fairy dust.”
“Fairy dust? Sounds kind of Peter Pan to me,” I said starting on the fourth one.
“That was pixie dust,” he said and tried to smile but it turned to a grima
ce.
I could see some color returning to his cheeks and his speech was getting better. His eyes didn’t look fuzzy anymore. “Well, you’ll have to remind me to thank the fairies because this stuff is working. You look like a new man.”
He gave me a look. “Well, maybe not a new man,” I conceded, “but you do look better,” I said and shrugged my shoulders.
“Better’s good,” he said.
“Why did they do this?”
He huffed and said, “I was patrolling the woods when they snuck up on me, Travis and his dad, I was alone...” he looked at his wounds. “And you know the rest.”
“Why were you patrolling the woods?” I asked.
“To keep people safe. Normally we go in pairs. Me and Bryce, Bentley and Chris, and Logan and Charlotte. But I got the bright idea to be the big shot Alpha and go out by myself. Look where it got me?” he said rhetorically.
“But why do this?” I asked. “They could have killed you.”
“They did it to prove a point. That I don’t deserve to be Alpha. Peter thinks that if he kills me he’ll gain control of my pack. He’s wrong. First, because my pack is too stubborn to follow him... and second because you’re the rightful Alpha.”
“Me? I know you said I have Alpha blood because of my dad but… I know nothing about being a shifter. I only found this out a couple of weeks ago. I’m no leader,” I said.
“It’s in your blood,” he said.
“Really? Because I’ve had my blood tested and ALPHA never came back in the toxicology.”
He tried to laugh and then winced.
“Sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have tried to make you laugh.”
He sighed. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine in a couple of hours.”
I clipped the final stitch and sat back on my heels. “You’re going to be okay?”
“Yes,” he said. “I’ll be back to normal in no time.”
“Good,” I said and hit him as hard as I could on his uninjured arm. I stood up and glared down at him. A few tears came cascading down. “Caeden Williams don’t you dare do that again! And just so you know I can’t stand the sight of blood.”
“Sophie,” he whispered and tried to grab my arm.
“Promise you’ll never do it again,” I said softly.
“I promise.” he said and then whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“You better be, Mister. I’ve been worried sick. I may have acted calm but I was far from it. I’ve never…” I paused. “…been so worried for another person… I thought I was going to lose you… I can’t…” I said. I ducked my head shaking it back and forth.
His hand gently caressed my cheek and I realized that I had collapsed against the flower print couch. Silent, choking, sobs escaped my chest.
“I’m sorry, Sophie. I’m new at this… I haven’t ever had someone… I mean, I know we’re not together but…”
“Stop Caeden,” I said. “I can feel it too. We’re mates. We’re supposed to be together. I can’t deny it anymore. I want to be with you. When I thought you were…” I choked on the word, “dying, I thought I was dying too. I felt so helpless.”
“You want to be with me?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “I have ever since I first saw you. I just… I didn’t want to think it was because of some crazy wolf stuff. But… I know that my feelings would be there anyway… despite us being mates.”
He smiled. “I want to kiss you now,” he said.
I laughed. “You almost die and you want to kiss me.”
He smiled even bigger. His white teeth glimmered in the dim lighting. “All the more reason,” he said and finally, after months, pressed his lips against mine.
A fire consumed me, starting at my center and moving up. His lips devoured mine. I pressed my body as close to him as I could without hurting him. My fingers tangled in his hair.
Visions swam past me. One was of Caeden holding me, we were both crying, and I was covered in dirt and grime, my clothes torn. In the next one we were in the woods and Caeden was telling me that everything would be okay. Another was of me in a white dress walking down the aisle to a dashing Caeden. Then there was one of Caeden carrying me through the front door and into the bedroom of a tiny little cottage. And the last… in the last one my stomach was large and round and Caeden was touching my stomach with a look of wonder on his face.
Slowly, he pulled away from me.
“Did… did you see that?” I asked breathlessly.
He nodded his head, “Do you think… that was our future?”
“I think it was,” I said and put my fingers to my still tingling lips. They felt warmer than the rest of my body.
“Wow,” he said and settled back down against the cushions.
“Yeah, wow,” I echoed. I stood up and grabbed the blood soaked bandages and other assorted pieces of trash. “I’ll be right back,” I said. “Don’t go anywhere.”
He chuckled and then winced, “Don’t worry. I’ll be right here.”
I threw away the trash and pulled off the surgical gloves and tossed them in too. Blood soaked my sweatshirt so I took it off and tossed it into the trash, it was beyond saving. I puttered into my room and put on a long-sleeved black shirt over my cami.
“Are you okay?” I asked coming back into the living room. His naked chest stared me in the face and already I could see that his wounds were disappearing.
“I’m fine,” he said and grimaced.
“Liar,” I said and bent down to peer inside the trunk full of medical supplies. “How does Gram even have this thing?” I asked motioning to the trunk.
“We get injured, a lot. Most of the time we heal fast but bigger stuff takes some time, like broken bones, or this,” he said pointing to the claw marks. The five lines were now completely closed, the stitches I had just put in were gone, and an angry red.
“Well, is there any pain reliever in here? You can give me the tough, ‘I can handle anything’, Alpha spiel all you want,” I said.
“Right there,” he said pointing to a bottle of little white pills.
“How many?” I asked.
“Two,” he said.
“Let me get you a glass of water,” I said.
He took the pills from me and swallowed them without any water. I rolled my eyes. “I still won’t be satisfied until you drink a whole glass of water. Don’t you know you’re never supposed to take any medicine without water?”
“Sophie,” he said. “I’m tired.”
“Oh no, Mister, you’re not getting off that easy. You know, I kind of like this. It’s empowering getting to boss you around like this.”
I disappeared into the kitchen and came back with a full glass of water, “Cheers,” I said and handed it to him.
He rolled his eyes, downed it all in one swallow and said, “Happy now?”
“Very,” I replied.
I closed up the trunk and had to push it back into the closet. The thing was either entirely too heavy or else I was entirely too weak.
Caeden cleared his throat when I came back into the room.
“Yes?” I said.
“Will you lay with me? I just… I don’t want to be by myself.”
“Oh,” I said and paused. “I guess so.”
“Thanks,” he said and blushed. He pulled the back cushions off of the couch and scooted over to make room for me. I blushed and laid down beside him, careful not to jostle him, for fear of hurting him. He grabbed an extra blanket from off the back of the couch and draped it over us. His arms snaked around me and pulled me closer. I was suddenly very aware of the fact that I was lying next to a nearly naked Caeden. My cheeks flamed but in the dark room he couldn’t see it.
I must have fallen asleep because the opening of the front door startled me. Somehow in my sleep I had turned to face Caeden. My face was pressed into his warm muscular chest and his arms held me close. He snored softly in my ear. He looked completely at ease in his sleep.
A light flicked on and G
ram appeared. “Sophie,” she said startled.
I realized the compromising position I was in and tried to pull away but Caeden’s arms only tightened around me.
I gave Gram a sheepish look. “He didn’t want to be alone,” I defended.
“Uh-huh sure,” she said. “So what happened? I just got your message and broke about seven traffic laws on my way here. But it looks like that was unnecessary.”
“Gram,” I said sternly, still trying to pull out of Caeden’s arms. “He was dying. Travis’ dad attacked him. He had five really deep cuts. I had to pour some kind of gold liquid into them, he said it was fairy dust, and then stitch him up. I didn’t think he was going to make it. At first he seemed fine and then all of a sudden he just… wasn’t. I didn’t know what to do.”
She came over and removed the blanket that was covering us. Her breath hissed through her teeth. “Peter,” she growled. She looked at Caeden and ran her fingers through his hair. “He’s just a boy. How could Peter do this?” Her fingers trailed the red marks covering his side. Even in the dark I could see that they were slowly turning pink.
“This Peter sounds pretty evil to me,” I whispered.
“He’s a bad man,” she said. “But murderer? I just… I guess I want to believe in the good of humanity too much.” She paused and sat down in the arm chair. “Go on to bed, Sophie. I’ll sit with him.”
“No!” I said a bit too quickly. “I mean… I gave him some pain killers and he’ll be out for a while. You need some sleep. I’ll stay here.”
She eyed his arms wrapped around me and stood. She shook her head. “I guess I’m going to have to get used to the fact that you’re mates now. I can’t keep you apart, and I wouldn’t anyway, he’s a good kid. It’s just going to take some getting used to.”
I gave her an apologetic glance. “I don’t want to be away from him,” I said.
“I know, sweetie.” She said and patted my leg before covering us both up with the blanket. “It’s only going to get worse now, the pull to be with him. It’ll get so it’s hard to fight it.”
I looked at Caeden’s face, so peaceful in his slumber, “I don’t want to fight it. I want him.”
“Get some sleep,” she said and disappeared.
Outsider (Outsider Series) Page 6
