Oliver chuckled at the image. Really, Keenan always said the funniest shit. He quickly sobered, though. “I don’t think he likes the healthy me. He doesn’t have to take care of me anymore and I’m...different from before. I have the energy to be myself, and I don’t think he likes that.”
“Maybe I’m slow, but why?”
“Look, he has been avoiding me for days. He comes into the room only to sleep and sometimes shower, but he always makes sure I’m asleep before coming in, and he leaves before I wake up. He obviously doesn’t want to see me, so I’m making things easier for him. I’m moving out.”
“Have you asked him why he was behaving that way or have you just decided that you knew what he was thinking?”
“I...okay, you’re right, I assumed, but what other explanation could there be?”
“Don’t know, but you should ask. Don’t let something good turn bad just because you don’t talk, please. I want my friends to be happy.”
Oliver grumbled. He hated it when he was wrong. “Fine. I’ll talk to him when he comes back.” Dread filled him. He hadn’t even said a proper goodbye to Sebastian. His mate had to come back, right?
* * * *
This wasn’t a raid, it was a fucking party. Not only was most of the pride present, but Dominic had had to tell Kameron, the Gillham pack Alpha, that they were going to be here. That was why it had taken so long to organize the whole thing. If the guards had been shifters, they would have been able to hear them coming just by the amount of noise they were making. Sebastian didn’t really think so many people needed to be there, but he wasn’t the one making the calls.
“Shit, there are only ten guards in there. We really didn’t need to all be here,” Soren bitched next to him, voicing Sebastian’s thoughts.
“Well, we don’t only need to neutralize the guards. We also have to take care of the shifters and the scientists too,” Casey pointed out.
Joshua was standing there too, but he had been sullen since coming back from New York, and everyone gave him a large berth because he tended to anger easily these days. They still hadn’t found Adrian’s brother, and Sebastian was a little worried for the geneticist, but he wasn’t sure asking Joshua how his mate was would be a good idea. He wasn’t Dominic, after all, and he needed his balls right where they were.
Well, he needed them there, but he was nearly sure they were about to fall off, especially after Oliver’s little show from earlier. It was getting harder and harder to resist the man now that he was feeling better, but Sebastian wanted Oliver to get better before trying anything, even if he had a bad case of blue balls. It was a small discomfort next to his mate’s health. Still, it felt like his right hand might stop working after he had used it so much in the last few days.
Sebastian had started avoiding Oliver because he didn’t trust himself near him. Not only was Oliver becoming healthier and more gorgeous as the days passed, but his personality was finally showing. He was stubborn and feisty, absolutely adorable—even if Sebastian would never tell him that—and so lovable, because yeah, Sebastian was pretty sure he was in love with his mate.
He kept reliving the only real kiss they had shared, but it wasn’t enough, not anymore. His lion couldn’t understand why they weren’t claiming their mate now that he was feeling better, but they hadn’t talked about it yet, so Sebastian didn’t know if Oliver wanted to be claimed. He needed to stay away because he felt as if he was about to lose control and take the man, and he couldn’t afford that.
“Seb, what the hell, man? Are you listening to me?” Soren was definitely very bitchy tonight. “Shit, every time one of you finds his mate, you just lose contact with reality and become all lovey-dovey.”
“Wait until you find yours, Soren, and you’ll see. You’ll act just like us,” Sebastian said with a chuckle. Yeah, he couldn’t wait to rub Soren’s words in his face when the time came.
“All right, people, we’re going in. Beware of the shifters, they might be wary of everyone, including other shifters. Try to keep everyone alive, especially the docs, but if it’s you or them, don’t hesitate,” Dominic said, and everyone started undressing at once. Only Casey and a few wolves would remain in human form. They needed to open doors and cages. Everyone else would be in animal form, and as Sebastian finished shifting and looked around, the building in which they were hiding was suddenly full of big cats and wolves.
He watched as Casey opened the door of their building and headed to the one in which the lab was situated. From the outside it seemed just like any other of the decrepit industrial buildings around there, but they knew better. Derick’s brother, Duncan, crept to the door with Casey and worked on the lock. Sebastian didn’t know where the man had learned to pick locks, but it came in handy at times like this, and soon the doors were opened.
Sebastian waited until the first wave of shifters had entered before following Soren’s white form into the battered factory, his senses on high alert. The ruined walls and dirt changed into a sterile white as they neared the place in which the lab was located, and they passed more than one fallen guard. Luckily none of the shifters seemed to be hurt, at least not so much that they wouldn’t be able to continue the attack, and it didn’t take long before they started hearing the first shouts and yells.
Soon they entered a large room full of cages. Most of them were empty, thank god, but they didn’t have the time to stop and take care of the shifters in the others, not yet. Several fights were raging around them, and Sebastian dove right in, taking down one of the guards before wrenching his weapon away from him. He had to break the guy’s leg to avoid him trying to escape, and he didn’t feel one once of remorse. They would have done way worse if it had been one of the imprisoned shifters who had tried to run away.
Once that one was down, he quickly went to the next one. He didn’t stop to count the guards that were dead or wounded, but there couldn’t be that many left, not from the look of the room. One of them had a gun aimed at Dominic, but Dominic was fighting a guy with a knife, so he didn’t see it. Sebastian jumped, pushing the man down, but not before he managed to fire the gun. The bullet tore through Sebastian’s chest, leaving a trail of fire and pain behind him. Sebastian howled in pain, but he couldn’t stop just yet.
Swiping his paw at the man, Sebastian nailed him in the face, blood spurting from where his claw sank into the flesh of his cheek. The man yelled and Sebastian’s lion was so, so satisfied at the sound. The satisfaction didn’t last long, though, because the guy scrambled to get to the knife he had on his belt.
Sebastian lunged, pushing the pain away as he went straight for the man’s neck and closed his jaws around it. He wasn’t about to let this guy get away—he didn’t care what Dominic had said. He wasn’t the first man Sebastian had killed, and it probably wouldn’t be the last, since for a shifter it was often a life or death situation when they came across these guys. It might make him a monster, but he didn’t regret protecting himself and his friends.
Tightening his jaws, he felt a twinge of pain as the guard raked his knife along Sebastian’s flank, but he couldn’t do much more as Sebastian’s teeth sank deep into his throat and blood erupted and flooded Sebastian’s mouth. His lion howled in victory, but he was a bit queasy. Blood wasn’t really what he liked the most, but it was satisfying feeling the man’s body go slack as he bled to death.
Opening his mouth, Sebastian let the body go and walked away. The fights were over, and he tried to get to one of the cages, but as he walked, he could feel the pain in his chest growing and making him dizzy. Each step was harder than the previous one, and soon he had to stop as he staggered and leaned against a wall.
“Seb? Are you okay, buddy?”
Sebastian wanted to roll his eyes at Soren’s question. It seemed obvious to him that he was not okay, but he couldn’t let out the snarky answer in his lion form. He did let out a whimper when Soren moved his paw to take a better look at his wound, but he could really have done without it. He wasn’t that h
urt, after all.
He must have blacked out for a while, because the next thing he knew it wasn’t Soren leaning over him anymore but Jared, and he was poking his wound with what felt like a big, big knife, but was really only his latex covered finger. Sebastian knew the man was only trying to help him, but he couldn’t keep back the roar that bubbled out of him.
“Easy, big guy. I have to get you back to the mansion and take the bullet out before you shift. You’re lucky it didn’t touch anything vital, but I’m afraid it might move if you shift with it in you, so try not to, huh?” Jared held out a syringe filled with a clear liquid. “I’m going to sedate you, okay? That way you won’t feel the pain when we move you, and you won’t be tempted to maul anyone.” Jared chuckled, and after Sebastian had nodded at him he felt a twinge of pain where the needle penetrated his skin.
As dizzy as he was feeling, he actually welcomed the darkness that surrounded him after what seemed like only seconds, and he surrendered to it, hoping like hell Oliver wouldn’t want his hide for getting wounded, but then maybe it would be nice to be the one being cared for.
* * * *
Oliver was restless. He hadn’t even managed to stay in his room while waiting for the guys to come back, so he was digging a path in the entryway, walking back and forth as his eyes darted to the door every few seconds.
He’d been angry and hurt and sad, but he shouldn’t have let Sebastian leave like that. What if something happened to him? What if he never got the chance to tell the man that he cared for him, that he loved him? What if the last words Sebastian had heard from him were see you later instead of I love you or be careful?
Oliver raised his hand and raked it through his hair just to keep his hand away from his cell phone. He wanted to call Sebastian or any other of the shifters that had gone to raid the lab, but he was scared they were still working on it and he didn’t want to cause problems. Well, they probably all had their phones off anyway, but he still wanted to call.
“It’s hard, huh?”
Oliver turned around and smiled at Adam. The kid was in his father’s arms even though he should have been put to bed, like, hours ago. “Still awake?”
“Yeah, he wanted to make sure his dad was okay before going to sleep—right, pumpkin?”
“Have you...have you heard from them?” Please, please, say yes.
“Denver called me a while ago. They should be here soon.”
Okay. Why hadn’t Sebastian called? Was it because he was withdrawing from Oliver? Or because he thought Oliver was sleeping? It couldn’t be because he was hurt, or worse, right?
Just then the lights near the alarm panel blinked, signaling that someone was using a remote to open the front gate. Oliver rushed to the small screen and let out a sigh when he recognized the cars coming in. He ran to the door, opening it wide, and waited for the cars to park and the shifters in them to come out. Some of them were helping what had to be the rescued shifters, because Oliver could see they were in bad shape.
One of them was huge, probably as tall as Dominic and Denver, and even if he clearly was having problems to remain in a standing position, much less walk, he snarled at anyone who tried to help him or touch him in any way. The other four shifters let the pride members help them, and Oliver couldn’t help but wonder where the hell they were going to put them. Dominic had started the construction of the cabins behind the mansion, but they were far from ready.
Oliver watched as Jamie, Finn and Keenan erupted through the door and ran to the men. Jamie and Finn went to their mates, but Keenan stopped in his tracks toward Soren as he passed the snarling shifter. They looked at each other before Keenan reached out and took the man’s hand in his. When the guy didn’t react, Keenan slipped under his arm and helped him get to the door. “Whoa, I think that guy snarled at everyone but Keenan. He really is special,” Soren said from next to Oliver, and he twirled to look at the tiger.
“Where is Sebastian?”
Soren looked at him, his face grim, and Oliver felt his heart drop until he swore he could feel it in his stomach. “What...what happened? Is he...” God, he couldn’t finish that sentence or even that thought.
Soren reached and clasped Oliver’s shoulder. “He’s fine. He was shot, but Jared says nothing vital was hit. He can’t shift until he gets the bullet out, but he’ll be fine.”
Oliver looked around until his eyes stopped on Jared. The man was waiting next to a car as Dominic, Denver and Joshua maneuvered a huge-ass lion out of the extended trunk. Even from where he was standing, Oliver could see the blood along his flank, and there were bloody bandages wrapped around his chest.
He ran to the car, but Jared stopped him before he reached Sebastian. “Wait. You’ll be able to touch him once we get him on a flat surface.”
“I—he—why is he unconscious?”
“I had to sedate him to keep him from feeling pain, but he’ll be fine. I’ll get the bullet out, and when he wakes up he’ll be able to shift, then we’ll ask Finn to heal him.”
Oliver nodded, not able to actually speak around the lump in his throat. How had he been able to think that he could stay away from the man? Shit, he loved Sebastian, and seeing his man—lion—like that made him feel helpless and scared, and even if they weren’t bonded he could nearly feel Sebastian’s pain radiating to him.
He walked behind the trio of men holding his life in their arms as they went up the front stairs and down the hallway to the house infirmary. It was more than a normal infirmary, really, since Jared used it to operate on shifters when he needed to. It wasn’t like they could go to a normal hospital, so he was the one taking care of everyone in the mansion or even other shifters living nearby.
They laid Sebastian down on the operating table and everyone backed away, leaving the room until only Jared, Oliver and Jill, a human nurse, were left. Oliver didn’t know anything about being a doctor or about surgery, so even though he wanted—needed—to be near Sebastian, he moved to lean against the wall, sliding down until his butt hit the ground. He knew that in a normal hospital he wouldn’t have been able to stay there while Jared removed the bullet, but these were shifters. They didn’t get infections, and since Finn was going to heal his mate, they wouldn’t have a problem anyway.
He couldn’t watch what Jared was doing. He was afraid if he saw Sebastian’s blood, his body torn apart, he was going to lose it, and Yogi was enough of a problem. He couldn’t add anything to it. The bear was prowling in his mind, growling and snarling, wanting to get to whoever had done this and tear him apart. Oliver hoped the man was already dead, because if he wasn’t he knew he’d find a way to find him and make him pay.
He would never have thought he had it in him to even think about killing a man, and maybe he wouldn’t have before, but after seeing what he had seen in the year and a half he had been in the labs, he had become harder. He’d had to, and this was his mate suffering in front of him. Sebastian was out of it, but Oliver knew he still had felt pain.
The air near the door trembled and Finn appeared. He gave a look at the operating table before walking to Oliver’s side and sitting next to him. “He’ll be fine. As soon as Jared is done, I’ll heal him. He doesn’t even have to shift for me to heal him.”
Oliver smiled a wobbly smile at his friend. “Thank you. I know I haven’t been the best of friends in the last months, but—”
“Don’t be stupid. You’re not a friend, you’re family. I don’t have one, never had, and the whole pride is my family now, but you, Bryce and Jamie are special. I would do anything for the three of you.”
Oliver didn’t know what to do, what to say, but since Jared interrupted them it didn’t matter. “Finn, I’m nearly done here. Do you want me to stitch it?” Oliver didn’t know how much time had passed, how long he had been sitting in the corner thinking about his mate dying, but he was glad it was over.
“It would be easier, but it’s okay like this. That way you won’t have to take the stitches out when I’m done,” Finn an
swered getting up. He neared the operating table and leaned toward Sebastian, his hand gently touching the open wound Oliver could see. His stomach rolled and he looked away until Finn called him.
The Nix was a little pale, but apart from that he seemed okay. “Come on, sit next to him. He’s going to want to see you when he wakes.”
Jared nodded. “I’ll go in the other room and start taking care of the others. You stay here next to Sebastian. I don’t think I’ll need the operating room again today.”
Oliver saw that the wound was closed—hell, he wouldn’t even be able to tell where exactly it had been if the hair there wasn’t missing, because there wasn’t even a scar left. Someone had also cleaned Sebastian’s soft fur and the table, and it looked as if nothing had happened.
Judging the space on the table, Oliver slid behind his lion and held him close, curling his body into Sebastian’s heat as he closed his eyes and waited for his mate to wake up.
* * * *
Sebastian groaned as consciousness came back to him. Damn, he had to remember to try not to get shot at, because it hurt like hell.
“Hey, babe. Glad you could join me.”
Sebastian smiled, or at least he tried to, but he was still in lion form, so he knew his only result would be exposing his teeth. He would have recognized that voice anywhere.
Blinking his eyes open, he locked them on the sweetest sight he had ever seen. Oliver’s face was hovering right above his, a smile on his lips and unshed tears in his eyes.
Sebastian lifted his head, as ready as he could be to face the pain, but nothing came. Looking around, he saw that he was in the mansion’s infirmary, in the operating room. He moved, butting his head on Oliver’s arm, delighted when the man laughed. “What do you want, pussy cat?”
Sebastian would have growled at anyone else calling him that, but this was his mate, so Oliver could call him whatever he wanted. Sebastian whimpered, butting his head again. How could he make his mate understand that his lion wanted to be petted? It might not be dignified or manly, or any of that crap, but he was a cat, after all. There was nothing better than to be petted by his mate, or at least that was what his friends had told him. He did think there was something better, but since he was still in lion form he couldn’t make love to his mate, so it would have to wait, hopefully not too long.
Oliver Page 5
