“Maia, the doctor’s gonna look at you real quick, okay?”
“I’m sure it’s just a concussion, Riley. I’m fine, really.”
“Please,” was all he said.
“Okay, if it makes you feel better.”
Moments later a tall, very striking woman walked into the living room. She wasn’t what Maia would call pretty, but she was very impressive nonetheless. Striking. Attractive. Confident. She carried a beauty that was hard to describe, but very evident.
“Hi. I’m Alex. I’m guessing you are my next patient?” she said pleasantly.
“That’d be me. I’m Maia.”
Riley took a sleeping Cristie from Maia’s arms. She’d not wanted to be away from Maia since she’d found out Maia had a booboo, as she called it. “Here let me put her over here,” he said, laying her on the couch.
Lucas, Libby, Richie, Travis, Scotty and Roman were all sitting around the living room, in chairs and the other end of the couch, even some on the floor.
Travis slowly stood from his place on the couch next to Libby, “Thanks for coming, Alex.”
“You’re welcome, Travis.”
He shuffled his feet a bit as he got his balance, “I think I’m gonna head out, if you don’t mind. Riley’s got it all under control now, and you’re here to look after everybody.”
“You don’t have to go,” Riley said, surprised that he’d want to go so quickly after his fear of Libby being in danger.
Travis leveled him with a meaningful look, “I really do. But I’m your friend, Riley. I’m on your side always. Call me if you need anything at all, and I’m here.”
Riley looked from Libby, who was slowly shrinking into herself on the couch, to Travis. “What if I don’t need anything. Can I call then, too?”
“Of course.”
“I’m gonna stay, Travis,” Scotty said.
Travis smiled, “I figured you would. Just please don’t head home on your own. Either get a ride or call me. I’ll come back for you. We aren’t sure they’re all gone out there.”
“Okay,” Scotty agreed.
“Roman?” Travis asked.
Roman looked around at everyone in the living room. He looked at Alpha Riley, waiting for his input.
“It’s up to you, you’re welcome to stay,” Riley said.
Roman grinned, then met Travis’ eyes, “I’m ‘a stay a while.”
“Alright, then. I’m out. I’ll see ya’ll soon.”
“Libby?”
Libby looked up at Travis, a slight hope in her eyes.
“You take care of yourself, hear?”
Despite the fact that Travis had come to his aid, Riley could have punched him at that point for crushing Libby the way he just did. He ground his teeth to keep from saying anything at the moment, but he fully intended to pay the stupid Tiger a visit sometime soon.
“I’ll take care of her,” Lucas snapped. “It’s what responsible males do,” he said, while flopping his big body in the space beside Libby that Travis had just vacated.
Travis, though everyone could smell the anger coming off him, nodded. “Good. She’ll be well protected then.” He walked through the living room, toward the back door where he’d have to leave the house from since the front door was sealed at the moment with plywood, calling over his shoulder, “See ya’ll soon. Remember, call me if you need me.”
Libby lifted the back of her hand to her eyes and swiped away some unshed tears. Then sniffled a time or two before she pulled herself up straight and said, “Is anybody hungry? I can’t do as well as Richie, but I can manage to fill your bellies.”
“That’d be great, Libs,” Riley said. “We managed to get the kitchen put back together for the most part. You shouldn’t have any problems in there.”
Libby stood, nodding, “Okay, let me see what I can find to put together.”
“I’m going with her,” Lucas said, standing to follow her.
“Me, too,” Scotty said, trailing along behind.
“Let’s get you looked at, Maia,” Alex said. After some brief examinations, Maia was diagnosed with a concussion. “Concussion. I do believe that’s all it is. I don’t think there are any fractures. No sleeping for about six hours after the incident. After that wake her every two hours. If she seems unusually groggy or disoriented, get her to the hospital. She may become nauseated, and she’s going to have a headache for a few days, and her vision should begin to clear up in a day or so. If it doesn’t or gets worse, get her to a doctor immediately.”
Riley nodded, “Thank you, Alex. I will. And I just may do so anyway.”
Alex was putting away her instruments when Riley asked, “Are you all done with our boy in there?”
“No, actually, I’m not. He’s going to be touch and go for a while. If you don’t mind, I’d like to stay the night, and see how he is in the morning. I’ll head to work from here and check back in with you during the morning. Then I’ll head over for lunch and change his bandaging, and give him more medication. Then we’ll take it from there.”
“Don’t you have somebody waiting for you at home?” Riley asked.
Alex shook her head, “No. Just some furry patients I’ll need to get back to in the morning, but my assistants can help with my regular patients. I’d like to stay close until we know your friend is okay. I’ll come back as often as I can.”
“That’s fine with me. I appreciate your attention to him and to my Mate.”
“Not a problem, I’m glad I could help. I’m going to check on him now.”
“Make yourself at home, Alex. We appreciate you being here.”
After a late night snack of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, everyone started winding down for bed. Lucas couldn’t sleep in his room because it was currently a hospital ward. And Libby didn’t live there, so she didn’t have a bedroom. Neither did Roman and Scotty.
Riley said, “Tell you what, Libby, Cristie is sleeping in our bed tonight. Why don’t you take her room. Lucas, you can take the couch. We’ll pull out the sleeping bags for Scotty and Roman and offer one to Alex, too.”
“Alex can have my room,” Richie offered. “I’ll sleep down here with the guys.”
But when they offered, Alex opted to sleep in the room with her patient. So Richie slept in his own room.
Alex gratefully accepted the sleeping bag, a pillow and bedded down on the floor next to her patient’s bed. She didn’t sleep much, instead checking his vitals every time she turned over.
Riley bid them all good night saying, “Anybody wants a shower or to get cleaned up, I’m about to run Maia and myself through one. After that, feel free. We’re going to be awake all night, so don’t worry about keeping us up. If you need fresh clothes, I’ve got some. Richie has some, and in your case, Roman, so does Lucas — his might fit you. Otherwise, make yourself at home. Stay alert, we don’t know that this is over, but seeing as how their Alpha fell, it most likely is.”
Roman lay in the sleeping bag Alpha Riley had given him, a fluffy pillow under his head. He’d had a shower, and his belly was full. He’d enjoyed good conversation with Richie, Lucas and Scotty, and concern from the Alpha, the Reigna and Travis’ female, Libby. He liked it here. True, he’d been alone for a long, long time. But Primates by nature were not a solitary species. Where he’d once enjoyed the solitude, he’d begun to grow lonely. He heard the soft footsteps of bare feet padding down the stairs. It was Alpha Riley. He had an armful of blankets and comforters. He stepped into the living room, “Anybody need an extra blanket,” he asked quietly.
“I’ll take one,” Lucas said.
No one else answered, so Riley walked around the room, throwing one over Scotty, and then, to his surprise, Alpha Riley threw one over him, where he lay in his sleeping bag. “Ya’ll sleep well. See you in the morning. Come get me if you need anything. I’ll be keeping Maia up all night, and I may need saving anyway.”
Roman snorted a bit at Riley’s comment. He could imagine the little Reigna was a s
pitfire when she was feeling a hundred percent.
He listened while Alpha Riley made the rounds of the house, checking each and every window and door, though he knew they’d all done it earlier, insuring the security of his Pride before taking his own rest. Then before going back upstairs, he stopped by Lucas’ bedroom where the Doc was with her patient and dropped off a blanket for her as well.
Roman snuggled into the sleeping bag and pulled the extra blanket tighter. He wasn’t cold, he just liked the comforting feeling it gave him. This Alpha was different. This one truly cared about the members of his Pride. He wasn’t just about himself and how powerful he could become. Roman closed his eyes and for the first time in a long time, sleep came quickly to him.
Chapter 31
The morning brought a flurry of activity. There were glass trucks and the guys from A1 Sign competing for work space over at the store and diner. The hammering and sawing were a constant whir throughout the house as the front door was repaired. The scent of bleach mingled with the scent of sawdust as Libby washed and scrubbed every single inch of the kitchen, then did it all again. Maia lay on the couch nursing a headache and a slight case of blurred vision. Her condition was for the most part, other than the headache, greatly improved, though not completely better. Cristie sat on the floor near Maia, her coloring books, crayons and stickers spread out around her, singing along to the shows she so loved on the Sprout Network. Cristie was enjoying the new satellite TV more than anyone else in the house so far.
Riley was overseeing a bit of everything, especially with the sign and window replacement at the store. Riley had contacted the gas pump repair people and was waiting for them to arrive as well. He was pretty sure the attacking Pride had only damaged the fittings and relief valves, and it would be an easy, quick repair, but he didn’t want to take a chance.
Richie and Scotty had been out scouting around Riley’s property all morning on the four wheeler, making sure that there was not a trace of anything that shouldn’t be there. They’d already covered the property behind the house, having started at dawn that morning, and were now covering the property across the highway beyond the mobile home park.
Riley had been honest with everyone he contacted that morning, to a point at least. He’d explained that vandals had damaged his store and diner, and he was now behind the eight ball, hoping against hope to have everything repaired in enough time to open on the New Year, but with the holidays upon them and Christmas Eve tomorrow, he did understand if they weren’t able to come until after Christmas. To his surprise, every single person he’d contacted had been more than willing, anxious even, to come out right away and do what they could to help. Which was why he was now running between several teams of workers all trying to see to their particular area of expertise at the same time. He’d made several other calls, too. But his Pride didn’t know about those yet. He looked back over his shoulder at Lucas and Roman repairing their front door. His Pride was growing much quicker than he’d anticipated. He needed to be sure they were taken care of.
The incessant sawing and the ca-chunk of the nail gun finally stopped. Maia lifted up a bit and peeked over the arm of the couch to see Roman and Lucas opening and closing the door, unlocking and locking the door knob and the new dead bolt they’d installed as well. They’d trimmed the door to fit and installed weather stripping across the bottom and top of the door. Satisfied that it was now better than the original, they started picking up their tools. Cristie jumped up and grabbed the brass wreath hangar that had hung over the top of original door, taking it to them. She lifted it up toward the two behemoth sized males, “Here! Do ‘dis one, too.”
Lucas grinned at her, “We almost forgot. Thank you, Ms. Cristie.”
Roman reached out to take it from her, “Thanks, boss.”
Cristie nodded her head one single time. “It’s right ‘dere.” She pointed to the wreath that they’d leaned against the wall beside the tree while they were cleaning the house.
“I’ll get it right now,” Roman told her, striding into the living room to get the wreath and put it back on the front door where it belonged. He paused in front of Maia. “You doing alright, Reigna?”
Maia smiled hesitantly, “Yes, I’m okay. Just the headache is still with me.”
“We’re done with the loud part for now, so that should help.”
“Thank you for all your help, Roman. I don’t know what we’d have done without you.”
“Oh, you’d have managed.”
“You helped greatly. And we are glad you were here.”
Roman smiled, nodding modestly at her comment.
“Hurry up!” Cristie demanded.
“I’m coming, boss. Just checking on your mom,” he chuckled.
By noon most all the repairs were done, the cleaning complete. Then Lucas and Roman moved to the mobile home park across the highway to be sure that all was as it should be. They were hosing all the blood away and insuring all the well fittings and electrical setups were untouched.
Libby had finally finished her third cleaning and bleaching of the kitchen and there was no trace that a single spatter of blood had ever been in the room. She’d also attacked the bathroom upstairs where the males had showered and discarded the clothes they’d put on after the battle. She’d done several loads of laundry and had lunch almost ready. Nothing fancy, just simple baked chicken and yellow rice. She came into the living room with a glass of tea for Maia. “Hey, how you feeling?”
“I’m okay. Been better, and been worse, too.”
Libby smiled, “Here, I brought you some tea.”
“Thank you, Libby,” Maia responded. She slowly sat up, leaned her back against the arm of the couch and gratefully took the glass from Libby. She took a deep drink and closed her eyes, savoring the flavor of the sweet tea.
“So, tomorrow is Christmas Eve. What are we going to do? Do you want to put off any celebration until Christmas Day?” Libby asked.
“What?! Why would we do that?” Maia asked.
“Well, because. You’re injured, and everything yesterday…”
“Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. Those fuckers are not going to have any effect on us. We were planning a celebration, and we are having one. We’re going to have a feast and have hot chocolate and eggnog and open gifts and laugh and sing and have Christmas movies going in the background.”
Libby grinned, nodding, “But your head…”
“It’s better than it was this morning, and it’s getting better each minute. I may need you to help me cook some dishes I had planned, but that will be mostly Christmas Day. Otherwise, Christmas is happening.”
“Okay then, let me get some paper, and I’ll make a list. I’ll head to the grocery to get whatever you want for tomorrow night and for Christmas dinner. The chicken’s almost done. I’ll turn it off and leave it in the oven to finish. It’ll be ready whenever ya’ll want to eat. I’ll eat when I get back.”
Twenty minutes later Libby had her list in hand and fired up her jeep to head into town. Riley saw her go out and get in her car, so he jogged over, let himself through the side gate to speak to her before she left.
“Hey, Libs. Where you headed?”
“The store. Maia has me off on a mission to find everything she wants for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner.”
Riley chuckled, “Yeah, I’m not sure who loves Christmas more, Maia or Cristie.”
“I told her we could just take it easy on Christmas Eve and do Christmas Day, but she insisted we have both.”
“Oh, yeah. I could have told you that. Listen, I don’t think you should be going off alone yet. You mind taking along a little company?”
“Nope, not at all. Any one in particular?”
“Naw, whoever you want. Just make my worrying a little less, if you did, ya know?”
“I’ll stop across the road and see who wants to take a ride with me.”
“Good deal. Ya’ll be careful, Libby.” Riley turned and headed up the stairs to the
front porch. He stomped his feet on the welcome mat out front and opened the door. He felt the easy swing of the door, the heavy weight of the door itself and took note of the solid click of the tumblers when he closed the door behind himself. They’d done a good job replacing it and had even chosen a heavier, more solid door than had hung there before.
He walked in and said, “Did nobody miss me while I was outside?”
“Hi, Doddy!”
“Hi baby. How’s mama?”
“Her gots a hegache.”
“Maia, is it any better?”
“Yes, it really is. It’s tapering off.”
“Still want to take you to the doctor to get checked out.”
“Only if you want to knock me out again. I’m fine. I’m not going to the doctor.”
“Stubborn woman,” he mumbled.
“Yep. And that should be no surprise to you.”
“You need me to do anything?”
“Yes, can you check on the bodyguard?”
“You mean our unknown patient?”
“That’s him. I know that he’s been checked on a couple times this morning, but Alex is due in a bit, and I don’t want her to walk in and find him cold and gone. She’d be upset, I think. Besides, he was trying to protect me, so now I feel like I should watch over him, too.”
“Maybe he was trying to protect you,” Riley said.
“I’m pretty sure he was,” Maia said, a concentrated look on her face as she tried to remember.
Riley went into the downstairs bedroom and right up to the bed. The male had good color. He seemed to be resting easy. His bandages showed only a little seepage, which considering his wounds, was near miraculous in itself. The male’s hand twitched. “You awake?” Riley asked.
The male’s eyes fluttered, struggling to open, slamming shut a time or two before finally opening to about half-mast. He tried to focus on Riley, but his eye lids kept drooping closed.
“Can you hear me?” Riley asked.
The male’s forefinger on his left hand lifted and moved back and forth a bit.
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