Page 3 of Claiming Xan
“River…”
“And you’re twins?”
“Yeah,” was all that I could eke out.
Thankfully, someone chose that moment to drive up on a large all-terrain vehicle. I stood on shaky legs and, without waiting for the Alpha to make a move, I carefully picked Sky up from the cold ground and cradled him in my arms.
His head flopped limp against my shoulder, his body shivering violently as I climbed up onto the back of the vehicle.
I held onto my brother with one hand, while the other gripped the bars of the ATV, even as exhaustion threatened to drag me under, too.
“Hold on, Sky,” I whispered into his fur, praying he could hear me as we took off into the woods, towards what I hoped was salvation.
2
XAN
One minute,I was playing video games with Shay over voice-chat and the next, the front door slammed open. People came rushing in. I paused our game and jumped to my feet in time to see two of my siblings hurry down the hall.
I smelled blood.
“What’s going on?” Shay asked.
“I don’t know, but I’m gonna find out. Text you later.” I ended the call and turned off the game console, then followed them.
“Shit, what happened?” I blurted when I saw the damage. My older brother Kace held his arm beneath the faucet of gently-running water, washing crimson away to wick down the drain. His lower arm was gnawed up, punctured by fangs. Had he been attacked?
“It’s a long story,” he said.
“It’s gonna take a hot minute for Quinn to patch you up, so spill,” I retorted, planting my hand on my cocked hip.
Kace and Quinn exchanged a look, then they both sighed. They knew it would do no good to argue with me. Quinn maneuvered Kace so that he was sitting down on the closed toiletlid. While she began doctoring his wound, Kace told me what had happened.
“A couple of wounded wolf shifters found their way onto Rubydawn territory. The Omega was unresponsive and needed immediate help, but the Alpha was agitated. Wild, almost. I tried to approach him, to talk some sense into him, and he attacked me.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. Mom took them both back to the clinic to work her magic,” Kace said, flexing his hand slowly as Quinn finished wrapping a length of clean white bandage around his arm. “Thanks, sis.”
“Don’t mention it,” she said with a short nod. Closing the First-Aid kit, she glanced between us. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have the feeling that Mom’s gonna need my help. Xan, do us all a favor, would you, and make a big pot of coffee?”
“Yeah, yeah.” I waved her off. “Go glove up, Nurse Killjoy.”
She snorted a laugh and hurried away. Kace and I took the party into the kitchen, where I made a steaming hot pot of java. I fixed my brother a cup, just the way I knew he liked it, then poured myself one. I sweetened it up with plenty of sugar and creamer.
“I need to call Nevin,” Kace murmured. “He’s going to worry.”
“Well, don’t let me stop you.”
As Kace stepped into the other room to make his call, I pulled out my phone and texted Shay:I think Rubydawn just inherited two new members. They’re hurt, but you know how Mom is.
Oh, dang. Hope they’ll be ok,he replied.
Hopefully.
As it turned out, I made that pot of coffee way too prematurely. Mom and the others didn’t return for nearly twohours. When they did, the tension in the air was so thick, you could cut it with a knife.
Mom carried an unconscious wolf in her arms, his head lolling off to one side. Right behind her strode a young man with short, spiky blond hair, his bandaged hands clenched into fists that I knew for a fact were hiding claws as he practically stalked Mom down.
