Page 56 of Love and War

I rose as Biggs came within reach. “Is he alive?”

“For now,” he said. “He’s bringing him to the car, and he’ll knock him out with a tranq. It’ll hold until we get back to the base. Fuck, fuck, he’s bleeding.”

“Yes,” I said, my voice reaching a roar. “He’s been fucking shot. Was he aiming for Misha or me?”

Biggs was quiet a long moment. “I don’t know.”

I bared my teeth at him. “Then you’d better hope he survives long enough to tell us.”

The ride back was surreal. Sanderson remained drugged and tied in the back, and after I struggled back into my clothes, I held Misha close to me as Biggs took the drive twice as fast as before. We breezed through security, and my nose caught the scent of the hospital just before we pulled up.

Biggs must have called ahead because there was a massive hustle and bustle of an emergency team. I managed to follow close enough through the doors before they were too far ahead. Caught up in following the scent of my mate’s blood, I hadn’t realized I was suddenly in a sea of unknown, and I was painfully forced to remember my blindness as I tripped over a row of waiting chairs and hit the floor on my hands and knees.

Panic threatened to engulf me until I felt a warm hand on my arm, and then I scented Biggs, who eased me to my feet.

“Sir, I took the liberty of calling Major Peterson,” he said, gently leading me away from the small collection of hearts I could hear beating. “He’ll be here in minutes.”

“Thank you,” I said. My voice was strained, and all I wanted was to be back there with Misha. “Please take me to reception.”

I followed his lead—not a great one, but I wasn’t going to hold that against him—and I laid my hand on the counter as the Wolf in front of me leaned in close to the glass. “I need to speak with Dr. Bereket.”

“He’s not on duty, sir,” the wolf replied, sounding vaguely irritated.

I hated that the announcement that I was Head Alpha hadn’t been made yet. In this case, I would have used it. “I don’t fucking care. You need to call him in right now. The emergency patient brought in is one of his patients. One of his confidential patients.”

There was a skip in the Wolf’s heartbeat, then he cleared his throat. “Yes, sir.”

“Inform me immediately when he gets here,” I snapped. When I turned around, I felt the pulse of Orion in the pack bond, and I waited until he came through the doors. His scent hit me first, then the warmth of his closeness as his hand touched the back of my wrist.

“What happened?” he demanded.

I waved my hand in Biggs’s direction since he was the one who had seen it all. “Sanderson, sir,” the Beta said. “He was patrolling to the north. Mitchell heard him cock the gun and started running, but he got there too late. He fired off two shots, and one of them hit the human Omega.”

“Misha,” I said, refusing to let him be relegated to some status. “His name is Misha.”

“Fuck,” Orion whispered. “Fuck. Do you have any idea why?”

Biggs sighed. “No, sir. He’s been a little quiet since the General’s return, and he voiced a… curious opinion when we heard the rumor about a human Omega, but he didn’t seem out of sorts.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and took a fortifying breath. “We knew this was going to be an issue. Lior has openly opposed my appointment as Head Alpha, and it would make sense that he’s spreading the word of his… displeasure.”

Orion growled softly in the back of his throat. “If he has anything to do with this…” He trailed off and his fingers spasmed on my arm. “He was supposed to have gone. He was taking up another position with one of the compounds up north. But if he’s trying to pull some coup bullshit…”

“We can’t assume that’s the case,” I said, though I wasn’t feeling very confident. “We’re going to need an investigation team. I want people in positions of weapons and power vetted better than they have been. You need to set it up, Orion. I’ve been out of the game too long to know who might be compromised or feeling in any way uncertain about my appointment or what we’re doing here.”

“I’ll get on it tonight. I’ll present a list to the Council tomorrow,” he promised.

I allowed myself to relax, but only a fraction. Not knowing what was happening with Misha was setting my wolf howling under my skin. I’d shifted enough to heal, but not enough to satisfy, and now my mate was out of my reach. I could feel him—he was in pain, he was scared, but he was alive, and that was the only thing keeping me together.

“Sir?” I turned when I realized the nurse was speaking to me. “Dr. Bereket is here, and he’s with the patient. He says he’ll be out to see you shortly.”

I gave her a terse nod, then turned back to the two Wolves with me. “Biggs, you’re dismissed for the evening, but I want a full debrief by morning. Report to Major Peterson’s office first thing.”

“Yes, sir.”

I said nothing until he walked off, then I allowed myself to lean into Orion surreptitiously since I knew there were eyes on us. “I had no idea. I had no fucking idea.”

“None of us did. I wouldn’t have sent you off with him if I’d known Sanderson had gone goddamn dark side,” Orion said with a growl. “He served under us for years.”

---