Page 5 of Ethan
Cooper, still standing beside Carter, nodded toward me. “Ethan.”
Ethan. He must be the pack healer.
He crouched in front of me, already checking me over with quick, practiced hands. “Next time you decide to get in a brawl, maybe try not to concuss yourself.”
I heard the words, but they barely registered. My gaze stayed locked on him. His scent wrapped around me again. It was clean, grounding, and dizzying all at once.
My knees buckled. I went down hard, and Ethan caught my shoulder, cursing under his breath. I barely noticed.
All I could do was lie there, struggling to breathe past the sudden, thunderous pulse in my chest, and stare up at those eyes.
“Let’s get him to the clinic,” Ethan muttered, clearly irritated, but his touch was steady and warm.
Chapter 2
Ethan
My computer purred quietlyin the background as I sifted through treatment logs. The familiar, rhythmic scratch of Devon’s pen from across the room was the only other sound.
That was until a sharp shout pierced the quiet outside, followed by a loud crash and the unmistakable shatter of glass.
I froze mid-typing, my head snapping up. The noise was too loud to ignore. It sounded like it came from the pack house’s main building.
I glanced over at Devon, who was sitting at his desk, casually sipping his coffee while circling something in the newspaper in front of him.
Spot the Difference, I realized with a flicker of irritation.
“Didn’t you hear that?” I asked, my voice tight.
“Hmm?” Devon didn’t even bother looking up, his pen drifting lazily to circle yet another discrepancy on the page.
“Aren’t we supposed to, I don’t know, check it out?” I gestured vaguely toward the door, my tone sharpening. “You know, help?”
He finally looked up, though only to give me a look that said,Let me finish this first.
I shrugged. Well, if Devon didn’t seem like he wanted to do anything about it, I didn’t mind.
Maybe I could pack up early, meet Noah and Zack to talk about rehearsal for our gig at Griffin’s… see if we could squeeze in a few more practice sessions.
Before I could press further, the office door creaked open. Cathy walked in, gripping her son Micah’s shoulder.
Her face was pale, her movements jittery. Micah, on the other hand, seemed more focused on patting his mother’s hand.
“I—I don’t know what’s going on,” Cathy stammered, her words tumbling out in a rush. “There was this fight, and they were going at it?—”
“What happened? Is everyone okay?” Devon asked, finally setting his pen down.
I suppressed the urge to roll my eyes. He can get his head out of the damn paper when he feels like it, apparently.
“Yes—no—I mean, Cooper asked for a healer,” Cathy managed, her grip on Micah tightening.
I shot Devon a sharp look, trying to gauge his reaction. He didn’t look surprised. If anything, there was a faint knew-this-was-coming look in his eye as he gestured toward me with his pen.
“Ethan, you should go.”
Of course. I clenched my hands into fists at my sides, biting back a retort.
This wasn’t the first time he’d passed something important onto me like it was beneath him. In fact, he’d been doing it a lot more lately, and it wasn’t even subtle anymore.
