Page 216 of The Alpha's Second Chance Mate

“Okay, buddy,” I whispered. “This may hurt a little, but hopefully it’ll help.”

The wolf’s ears perked up, then yelped as I injected him in his hindquarter. Either it would save him, or it would kill him. Regardless of the outcome, his misery would be over.

“How long is it supposed to take?” Langston asked after five minutes.

“No idea,” I said.

“The injection that turned him intoa wolf was almost instantaneous,” Trent said. “Maybe it was only water. Was Dallas fucking with you ag?—”

The wolf howled, then fell to his side and began to seize.

“Oh, damn,” Langston said. “It’s happening.”

Crossing my fingers, I stared on as Gabe thrashed and howled. When I thought there was no way he could take any more, his body began to twist and elongate.

Moments later, a human man lay on the concrete floor, panting like he’d finished running an Olympic sprint. Still clothed in what he wore when he was attacked, he lifted his head to look at us as he pushed himself up.

“What happened? Where am I?” he asked, his voice harsh and croaky from lack of use.

“You don’t remember?” Langston asked.

“Remember what?” He clutched his stomach. “Jesus Christ, I’m hungry.”

“Get him something to eat,” I said.

Langston hustled inside, returning with a bottle of water and a couple granola bars while I called Chief Milbanks.

“This better be good. I’ve got a lot on my plate,” Milbanks said.

“Chief.” I did my best to keep my voice calm. “We healed Gabe Kolchak. We turned him back into a human. We’re about to take him to the hospital.”

A long pause, and when he spoke again, it was slowly, as though he was trying to understand a foreign language.

“You healed him. Are you serious?”

“Yes. I don’t have time to explain. Just meet us at the county hospital in fifteen minutes.”

Hanging up on him, I returned to the garage and helped the others get Gabe into a truck. Milbanks called me twice on the way to the hospital, but I ignored him.

Milbanks was waiting for us when we arrived, which was a good thing. He’d mobilized the ER staff. A gurney was waiting forus outside, along with a team of doctors and nurses. Within seconds of pulling up, Gabe vanished into the hospital along with the medical staff and Milbanks.

“Damn, that was fast,” Trent remarked as we walked into the ER to wait.

I wanted to text Avery about what had happened, but she’d want a full retelling and assurances that Gabe would be all right. I’d wait until we knew more before getting her hopes up. The last thing I wanted was for her to think he was out of the woods, only for him to die later.

Twenty minutes later, Milbanks returned to the waiting room, looking satisfied.

“He’s got traumatic amnesia. The very last thing he remembers is crossing the street and being stabbed. After that?” Milbanks swept his hand over the top of his own head. “Nothing. All gone.”

“Is he healthy?” I asked. “Any complications?”

“None that they can tell. They’ll hold him for twenty-four hours, but other than some malnutrition and dehydration, he’s healthy as a horse.”

“Hell, yes,” Trent muttered, pumping a fist in the air.

“Cole, do you have more of whatever you used to help him?” Milbanks asked.

I nodded, pulling the other vial from my pocket and shaking it. “Enough for one more. I think you’ve got a guest at the station you’d like to get rid of?”

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