Page 50 of Frenzy
I laughed in his face. “Just because I want you to spank my ass and call me Puppy doesn’t mean I won’t call you on your shit, Court. Rest. Let me take care of our Pack.”
He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me, his lips soft against mine. “Okay, Dom. Okay.”
I made sure he was tucked in before I left to head to my own room, pulling on my sweats and weapons. I didn’t expect any danger, but I was never unprepared. Boy Scouts and I had that in common.
Night had fallen by the time I stepped out of the front door, and I decided to jog to the infirmary. I hadn’t shifted in a week, and my wolf was scratching at the door of my control. But I didn’t want to shuck my weapons and phone, so a hard run in my human form would have to do.
Maxton was beautiful in the dark, but kinda creepy too. You wouldn’t think it would be any more creepy than the desert, but there was something almost alive about the woods in this area. A restless energy swirled through the trees, and it sounded almost like whispered secrets.
I wasn’t a believer in that voodoo shit, but I could feel the long-held roots that permeated every inch of these mountains, either from the human history or the supernatural. I’d seen enough in my lifetime to believe in ghosts, and skinwalkers, and Wendigos and shit, and you know where they all lived? In the fucking mountain wilderness.
Only thing out there to bite you in the desert was a fucking scorpion in your bed.
I slowed as I ran past the back of the Legion Force barracks, the flame of a bonfire lighting up the sky and making the air heavy with the scent of smoke. A furtive voice made me stop jogging altogether, something in the tone making my hackles rise.
“... I tell you they aren’t happy.”
“They’re fucking insane is what they are,” another voice hissed. “Good way to end up dead. That asshole does not look like he fucks around.”
“That’s what I mean. That's why we should do what he says. You know he should have been Alpha General.”
The voices faded away, lost to the cacophony of raucous laughter and the scent of smoke.
Interesting. I filed it away in my brain, and I’d remind everyone to be extra vigilant.
I kept jogging, entering the infirmary from the back. The door was locked, but it was easy enough for me to pick. This was Maxton. It didn’t exactly have a wild crime rate. I stepped into the darkness, only the small lamp in the corner of Bonnie’s room casting any light.
She looked better today. Less pale and like death. The edge of her bed had rails, so I slid the side closest to the monitors up. Then I slipped off my shoes and shirt and climbed in next to her, wrapping her in my body, in my protection. She was soft and warm, and for a moment, I let myself believe she was just asleep, and not comatose.
Iwoke to the face of a frowning Latina girl. I reached for my gun and pulled it out, aiming it at her. She didn’t seem overly perturbed, just looking over her shoulder at whoever was behind her. “I think I found your problem. She seems to be growing a wolf shifter from her hip.”
I knew she was joking, but her expression was so deadpan I was beginning to second-guess myself.
“Stace, did you just crack a joke? Wait til I tell Enit that you’re cracking jokes in front of patients now.”
The girl frowned again; she couldn’t be more than eighteen. “Then she’ll be even more put out that she had to stay behind and you got to come. You can deal with our angry girlfriend.” She looked back down at me. “You’re still holding a gun.”
In the next breath, a hand shot out, bent back my wrist and disarmed me in one smooth move. I growled loudly, and another kid—a guy with floppy blond hair—grinned down at me from beside the bed.
“Sorry, man. But I’ve been dying to try that trick for ages, and I can’t have you accidentally shooting my Packmate, you understand?”
Who the fuck were these kids?
Only one way to find out. “Who the fuck are you?” I growled, and then Doc came into the room, clearing his throat loudly.
“Dominic, this is Stacey and her Packmate, Bohdie. And this is Alistair.” He pointed behind him to a tall man with blond hair and golden eyes. He smelled like a predator, and my wolf whined low in its chest at the weight of his power. Actually, the blond kid with the teen heartthrob hair was throwing off some serious Alpha juju too. Not a wolf, but definitely powerful.
Alistair stepped forward, thrusting out his hand. “Pleasure to meet you. I was surprised as hell to get a call from a man I thought had been dead for decades.” He smiled pleasantly at Doc. “Just when I thought there were no more surprises left in the world—an entire colony of Manix.”
I shook his hand. “Thank you for coming.”
I moved out of the way so this new doctor could have a look at Bonnie. He was frowning, his stethoscope and penlight getting a good workout as he checked her over. The girl, Stacey, was checking Bonnie’s reflexive responses, or at least that's what I thought all the medical jargon was about. She looked at Bonnie intently, and the blond kid came to stand beside me.
“Don’t worry, man, Stace is like a genius. Not even an exaggeration. If anyone can work out what's going on with your girl, it’s her.”
Goddess, I hoped he was right.
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