Page 120 of The Alpha's Stealthy Daughter and Her Commander
I stared at her. She said, “I’m the one that brought her here, not them.” I asked, “Why? You are fully aware the pack hospital is where you should’ve taken her.” She made a face. Micah jumped in, “I’m betting you are the one that convinced them to call us.” She replied, “Yes, I did.” I stared at her.
She glanced at Ashley and whispered, “This is where she would say that I’m using your blood to get what I want.” I replied, “She’d be right.” Paige winced, “I know. I just don’t care because I will always pick her. I don’t care that this puts you in a tough spot. I don’t care what you find out while you have her, and I don’t care if everyone else has a rough time in the pack while she’s gone.”
I asked, “What does all that mean?” She replied, “She’s my best friend and unlike the wolves that just left, you and I have something in common.” I replied, “As we don’t have wolves, we have many things in common.” She conceded, “That is true. They live by their mentality in packs and that’s normally fine, but I told them they could call you or I would.”
She shivered, “The Alpha stare Addison and Caine have even made me look at the ground, but I wasn’t backing down.” Then she was an incredibly powerful Witch. She stared at Ashley and whispered, “I’ve never seen her look this bad. Have you?” I snorted, “You know the answer to that.” She wiped tears away, “I can’t explain it, but I think they have.”
I asked, “Who?” She scoffed, “You know who. I know they love her, but it’s like their pack mentality isn’t helping with her entire situation. I mean LOOK at her.” I replied, “I have been.” She cringed, “I just don’t understand why they didn’t look horrified like I know I did. Hell, like you did when you came in here. It’s as if they were numb to this and I can’t help but wonder why.” Yeah, well neither could I. The answer was this happened a lot and they shut Paige out because she’d do what she did today.
I asked, “And what do you think?” She admitted, “Nothing I like. They close ranks about her, but I know that will be because it’s what she wants. She protects everyone but herself. They made me promise not to get in the car and go kick her brother’s selfish ass.” I asked, “Why would they do that?” She answered, “Because Ash still loves him. His ass would be cursed if she didn’t. Just make sure she’s ok. Blame me if you have to have her healed. Ok? She has to be ok.”
I agreed, “If a doctor I bring in says she’s in danger of dying, I’ll bring in a healing Fairy. I won’t blame you though.” She said, “She can’t lose you guys. You make her…” She trailed off. I asked, “Make her what?”
She answered, “More her. She’s always happier when she talks or sees you guys. She can’t lose that, or I fear we lose her in a different way.” That didn’t make sense, but Paige hustled out of the room after that statement.
Micah whispered, “What the fuck is going on?” I admitted, “I don’t know but I have a theory.” He asked, “What is it?” I replied, “That the Lead Warrior Male or Female can take punishments for their people. She’s taking theirs and it can’t be above board, or they’d just tell us that.”
Micah snorted, “Beating your Female Lead Warrior is asinine.” I questioned, “Do you get the impression Alpha Davis is smart?” He conceded, “No, but if he’s getting away with something like that he is. To a degree Eric doesn’t even expect.” True.
My phone buzzed and I knew it was Cassie calling. I answered, “Hello, my beautiful wife.” She replied, “Hey, where are you?” I didn’t answer her. Instead, I asked, “By chance are you with Zane or Brody?” Cassie asked, “My cousins?” I chuckled, “You know that’s exactly who I mean.”
She replied, “I see Brody. Do you want me to go get him?” Brody was Marcus’ son and a damn good doctor, like his dad. I said, “Yeah, I need him.” She asked, “Are you ok?” I snorted, “No, but you knew that. I love you for asking even when you know the answer.”
She asked, “What’s going on?” I answered, “Ashley is seriously hurt.” Cassie was quiet, “I can call Alexander.” I knew I sounded bitter when I replied, “I already called him. Ashley isn’t dying so they don’t want him to come.”
Cassie asked, “Why do you care what they want? And who is they?” I didn’t know why I cared what they wanted but I was at peace about my decision. I said, “Because I want her trust me and the ‘they’ I am referring to is her friends.” She sighed, “Fine. What do they want then?”
I answered, “For us to protect her from being forcibly marked in this condition.” Cassie snarled, “My dad would KILL whoever did that! So would EJ and Alexander! None of them would stand for that! Why won’t she let our family help?” I admitted, “I don’t know. But I do know this isn’t currently her choice. She’s very unconscious right now and didn’t know we were called in.”
Cassie questioned, “So, what’s the plan?” My head was pounding because I wanted to say I’m going to bring in Alexander or Haley. The words wouldn’t come out though. Finally, I answered, “We are getting her out of here. I need Brody to come to us. I’ll call Uncle Bjourn and clear it. Brody can at least monitor her and tell us if we need a healing Fairy. He might be able to handle this though.” My headache went away instantly.
I heard the phone shuffle as Cassie sent me her love in the bond. Brody spoke to me, “So, I have a new patient, do I?” I grimaced as I looked at Ashley. She could be healed in hours. My head hurt again, and I rubbed my temple.
I answered, “Yes. Where do you want me to take her?” Brody thought about it then said, “Take her to South Dakota. My dad and I have a safe house set up to treat patients. Only our people know about it so it’s private. No one will find her, and we don’t have to falsify any records. Micah has the coordinates. I’ll meet you there. What’s the rundown?”
I looked at Micah because he had the chart, not me. He answered, “Four broken ribs. Her spleen was scheduled to be removed but they are calling that an error because it’s healed. Bite marks on her hands and ribs. She’s unconscious and had several bleeds on her brain but they also think that’s an error because it healed.” Holy shit!
He wasn’t done though. “She has a concussion, a dislocated ankle, knee, and shoulder. Her check and jawbone are fractured. Her elbow was listed as ‘crushed’ but that also somewhat healed and is now listed as a distal humerus fracture. That injury is why the human hospital staff bought the car crash story.”
Brody snorted, “I think you misspoke. Did you say human hospital?” I answered, “He did.” Brody hummed, “Are those all her injuries?” I tried to reign my anger in since my whole family was now concerned.
Micah said, “That’s all they’ve checked. I’ve got my dad on her discharge, forging the AMA signatures.” Brody instructed, “Turn the machines in the room off before you start taking things off her. It will set off alarms if the sound isn’t off.” Micah assured him, “I know Brody. We’ll see you soon.”
I hung up and felt like my heart and brain were at war with each other. The pounding in my head only seemed to settle when I landed on Brody making the final call. Micah was working on the logistics and getting Ashley ready to portal out of here.
I called Uncle Bjourn. He answered, “Cayden.” I explained without pleasantries, “I need Brody for an undetermined period of time.” He made a tisking sound, “Why?” I answered, “To monitor Ashley until she’s recovered.”
Uncle Bjourn immediately asked, “What happened to Ashley?” I looked her up and down unsure of how to answer that. Eventually I asked him, “Do you want the story I got, or what I suspect happened?” Uncle Bjourn snorted, “Both.”
I replied, “I was told she was in a car accident.” Uncle Bjourn asked, “I’m assuming the injuries don’t line up with that.” I snorted, “Not all of them. I think there was a car accident, but unless that car was a wolf too it’s not the whole story.” Why wasn’t I telling him Paige basically confirmed that? I wasn’t even remotely sure.
Uncle Bjourn said, “You have said she is quite skilled at fighting.” I replied, “I think she’s in the real Undergrounds, but we don’t have that information confirmed. I think she had a fight tonight then got jumped by Trevor fucking McCann and his friends. I believe he tried to forcibly mark her. At some point she was whipped, which makes me believe Black Path is punishing members with whippings for non-treasonous acts.”
Micah jumped in, “As their Lead Warrior, Ashley can take a punishment and she would too.” Uncle Bjourn was silent for several beats. I couldn’t blame him either. This was a shit show. I wondered if he had a headache like I did.
Finally, he said, “My patience for this situation is quickly drawing to an end. We protect people. At a certain point, it’s not going to matter if she won’t tell you what’s going on. I’ll have you bring her here to me. After what happened to Haley….” He trailed off and I winced, feeling guilty.
I told him, “I just don’t get it because Ashley CAN fight back. She clearly did at some point. The bruising on her knuckles tells me that. I think Trevor tried to forcibly mark her after a fight and the whipping. Maybe he caused the car accident chasing her down.” She had to have been heading for Paige if Paige was the one who found her and brought her here.
