Page 48 of Shifter Marked and Claimed

Sunday appeared to be much of the same, though the rain had stopped and the sun rose high in the sky. I think I preferred the rain.

I was pacing a bare path in my carpet until at last my phone rang in the late afternoon.

“Lucy?” I asked without even looking at the caller information.

“No, it’s Kyle.”

My heart sank.

“Oh. What’s up?”

“There’s been a rockslide out by the old prison caves. Some teens were exploring up there. You know how intrigued they are by that place. We have two still missing and several injuries.”

I sighed. I knew the place well. Even I had spent time exploring the caves our ancestors had used to constrain troubled wolves or punish them. The place gave me the creeps yet that’s what kept people coming back to it. Some tried to say it was haunted. I knew it was mostly just a sad place.

I scoffed at the irony. A sad place for a sad pathetic wolf like me.

I grabbed my emergency bag and then realized my car was still at Lucy’s. If the mud was bad enough to cause a rockslide, I knew it was better to use my truck anyway. I didn’t drive it often, but it was there for emergencies just like this.

I drove over as close to the caves as I could get knowing I’d have to hike in the rest of the way. There were already a dozen or more trucks lined up. At a time like this, the Pack rallied together.

I jumped out, grabbing my med bag, and jogged the rest of the way. My boots were caked in mud and up ahead I could see Kelsey working on someone. I quickly ran to her side.

“What do we have?”

“Just a broken leg. I almost have it healed.”

She gave me a weak smile and I looked around for Kyle, but he was working with a group to pull boulders away. I could see a foot sticking out through the mud.

“Shit. He didn’t tell me it was this bad.”

“Another collapse just after he spoke with you. There’s three men still buried over there. I’m trying to get to them as quickly as I can. Where’s Lucy?”

I paused for a moment not sure how to answer that. “At home with Vada.”

It sounded like something normal to say. I didn’t need Kelsey worrying about my state of mind or knowing how strenuous things were between us at the moment.

“When did you last eat?” I asked her.

“I don’t know. Breakfast I guess.”

I pulled out a protein bar and gave it to her.

“You’ll be no good to any of us if you wear yourself out.”

Kelsey was what we call a witch. Not like something you’d see on TV or even someone who practices witchcraft. A witch in the shifter world simply meant someone with extra powers. No one could explain why or how certain people obtained them. I assumed they were just born that way.

My Pack Mother had multiple gifts which were unheard of. I’d heard the stories of how she was born a triplet and inherited her sisters’ powers after their deaths. She was fiercely powerful. I would never wish to showdown with her.

One of her many talents was healing. Healers should be celebrated as far as I was concerned. At times like this she certainly made my life a whole lot easier. I could set a broken bone and with our expedited healing powers it would be good as new in a few days as long as I did my job right, but Kelsey could mend it in a matter of hours, sometimes even less.

It took a lot out of her physically though. While I was more than happy to accept her help, it was also my job to ensure she didn’t overdo it. Too much exertion of her powers always weakened her, sometimes for moments, sometimes for days. We had to maintain a balance.

The most critical cases I sent to Kelsey to stabilize. The things that weren’t life threatening came to me. We made a good team.

“You’re okay?”

“Fine. Go see Kyle. He’ll fill you in.”

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