Page 89 of Blood of Vengeance

Zed caught my gaze, both of us frowning deep.

“I don’t know,” I said, my voice a low growl. A warning. One my club prez didn’t heed.

“I think that doctor’s a quack. Maybe we should go in there and tell her to fuck off. Take the girls to another hospital.”

Zed huffed. “Or maybe we should all calm the fuck down and let the professionals do what they’ve been trained to do.”

Cutter could only shake his head, mumbling under his breath about pain. Likely about Zella’s pain, which was certainly something to be concerned about. That little human had gone from bright and full to near helpless in a matter of a few hours, the scent of sick she always carried with her increasing until it had filled the room. She had seemed to fold under the weight of whatever had started hurting within her, her entire body collapsing into itself until all that was left was the physical representation of her pain. I’d never seen Cutter so panicked or Locklyn so worried.

Locklyn.

Our connection zinged to life, the sensations flowing toward me thin and fiery. Pain but not her own. Fear but not terror. My mate felt unsettled. I needed to get to her. To help her. Support her. Fucking see that everything was all right with her. I needed to be in that exam room with her to make sure she was safe and cared for.

But instead, I got the hospital waiting area, Zed, and an obsessed Cutter.

“Zella had better be fucking okay.”

I was going to punch him.

Finally, the woman who had banished us to the waiting room appeared. We surrounded her within a single breath, three hulking shifters ready to fight the human. Not that we needed to.

“She’s comfortable,” the doctor said, looking from me to Cutter to Zed before focusing on her tablet. “We’ll be releasing her within the next thirty minutes—I just need to get her paperwork in order. Then you can take her home.”

“How’s her pain?” Cutter asked, inching forward. “Is there anything more we can do for her? Anything we should be watching out for?”

The doctor shook her head. “Discussing her case with you would be a HIPAA violation. All I can say is she’s comfortable and being released. If Zella chooses to talk to you about her medical situation, that’s up to her. She didn’t give me permission.”

And with that, the woman turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Cutter looking absolutely shell-shocked.

“Maybe she just forgot to sign those papers.” Zed placed a hand on Cutter’s shoulder. “It was a bit chaotic when we got here. Easy to miss.”

“Yeah. Right.” Cutter shot me a glare. Love-sick pup gone, biker club vice president in full effect. “Pull up the truck so we can get both girls out of here as quick as possible.”

“I’ve got it,” Zed said before disappearing down the hallway, presumably to retrieve the truck. I stood with Cutter, both of us antsy. Anxious. Unable to resist much longer.

Finally, I broke. “I’m going in.”

He followed me immediately, both of us storming into Zella’s room with little more than a knock on the frame of the opening. No door between us, just a curtain. And a big, bad wall of energy that made my wolf whimper.

“You okay?” Cutter asked as he approached Zella. She reached for him, and all of his angst from the last few hours almost seemed to melt away. The two began whispering, their heads together as Cutter bent himself in half to move closer. I understood his desire for proximity. Felt it myself. Unable to resist another second, I beelined it to Locklyn, taking in her messy hair and defeated posture. The burns around her wrist covered by bandages and the way she refused to look at me. Really noticing just how sad and dejected she appeared. Fuck, things were bad.

“You okay, short stack?”

I got nothing more than a nod. My wolf went still and silent, his world zeroing in on his mate. His confusion over what to do next rattling both of us.

A nurse entered at that moment—the noise startling—and handed Zella some paperwork, saying the wheelchair was right outside whenever she was ready to go. Zella gave me a blank stare then turned her focus to Locklyn, the blankness evaporating. Concern and care shining through.

“You ready, Lock?”

“Yeah.” Locklyn rose to her feet, shooing me away when I moved as if to help her up. Still not looking at me. “Let’s go home.”

Something in her voice didn’t sit well with me, but I helped her out the door and to my truck. My brothers lined the hallways and poured out into the parking lot, most of them looking a little worse for wear. We hadn’t gotten to debrief yet, to go over what had happened with the vamps. Every second of my time had been spent dealing with Locklyn and Zella, which had left my club to deal with the end of the fight without me. Without Cutter, too. We were failing as leaders.

Or at least I was, because as soon as we made it to my truck that Zed had pulled into the ambulance bay, Cutter jumped into the bed of it and stood over our brothers, looking regal and filled with rage.

“Tonight was a rough night for all of us, but especially for our brother Tex. The last update I received from his blood brother stated that he was alive and stable. They have a witch coming tonight to check over his shoulder and see if the damage can in any way be repaired. Know that even as we sat in that hospital room for the humans in our midst, our thoughts stayed with Tex. With all of you.” He made a point to meet the eyes of every shifter in attendance, keeping his head up. Leading. “I am so proud of each and every one of you for how hard you fought. Flinch was able to destroy the one who took out our revered Chiggy, but we will be going on the attack soon to get our revenge for him. To make sure the entire nest is annihilated. No one fucks with a Hellion and lives to tell the tale.”

The men all cheered, the night filling with the sounds of yips and growls. Locklyn watched but didn’t react, didn’t respond as I would have expected. Instead, she held on to the handles of Zella’s wheelchair and kept her eyes on the crowd. Not on me.

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