Page 74 of Ethan
By the time Cooper arrived, most of the blood had been scrubbed off the floor and Ethan had bullied me into drinking half a protein shake and lying on one of the clinic’s cots.
He sat beside me, still in healer mode, though the worry in his eyes had dulled now that everyone was safe.
Griffin met our alpha at the door with his usual calm efficiency, filling him in on the broad strokes of what happened at Maurice’s cabin.
Cooper took it all in, face carved from stone, his jaw ticking with barely contained anger. Not at us, I knew. But at the situation. At what could’ve gone wrong.
He stepped into the room, the scent of pine and power rolling off him in waves. Everyone in the room straightened up instinctively, even Ethan.
Cooper’s sharp gaze scanned each of us. Griffin standing at attention, Maurice resting on a cot with a light blanket pulled over him, Micah sitting nearby, bandaged and pale but alert. Then his eyes landed on me.
“Dean,” Cooper began.
“Alpha,” I said, shifting upright despite the ache in my side.
He frowned at the movement but didn’t comment.
Instead, his gaze flicked to Ethan. “And you.”
Ethan blinked. “Yes?”
Cooper crossed his arms. “You want to tell me why I got a call at dawn saying my healer wandered into the woods alone after two missing wolves without backup?”
Ethan winced. “I didn’t exactly wander…”
“No backup,” Cooper repeated. “You took off without alerting a single soul.”
“I told Cathy. And I left a text message and a few missed calls,” Ethan mumbled.
“You left a text?” Cooper’s tone was flat. “What are you, sixteen?”
Ethan flushed hard, the pink blooming all the way to his ears. “I just wanted to make sure Maurice and Micah were okay.”
“You’re not an enforcer, Ethan. You don’t chase leads into the woods alone.” Cooper’s voice had dropped, calm but steely. “You’re one of the only two healers in this pack. You don’t get to be reckless.”
Ethan ducked his head. “I already got a lecture,” he muttered.
Cooper arched a brow. “From who?”
Ethan jerked a thumb toward me. “My mate.”
There was a beat of stunned silence.
I froze. Ethan seemed to realize what he’d said a second too late, because his eyes widened slightly, like he hadn’t meant to say it aloud. Like it’d slipped out before he could stop it.
I smiled before I could stop myself. Something warm and smug bloomed in my chest.
Mate.
Cooper turned to me slowly, one brow still raised. “Your mate, huh?”
I didn’t back down. “Yeah. Mine,” I said, puffing my chest.
Ethan groaned and buried his face in his hands. “Oh my god.”
I leaned back against the pillow with a low hum of satisfaction. “Didn’t say it first, for the record.”
Ethan threw a gauze packet at me.
