Page 53 of Rex's Release

The squealing tires made her jump and look toward the road. Through the falling snow, she saw a black Pathfinder rounding the corner a block away and speeding off.

Concern for Rex mixed with fury running through her system, but she called on her former training to compartmentalize the situation. First, she needed to get Rex inside. Second, she needed to get Rex stable. Then she would hunt those fuckers down and make them pay for what they did to him.

Standing by his head, she reached down and slipped her hands under his back and hooked them through his armpits. As carefully as she could, she pulled him through the doorway, apologizing profusely when he moaned.

He was mumbling, but she couldn’t understand what he was trying to say. Laying him out on the floor of her foyer, she used her foot to close the door. She looked around for her medical bag, but didn’t see it anywhere. Then Jolene realized she didn’t have it with her when she left for work that morning.Fuck!She had left it at the compound.

Reaching down, she put two fingers to his wrist and felt for a pulse. It was steady, but not as strong as she would like it to be.

Think, Jolene!Taking a deep breath, she headed for her bathroom to grab her first aid kit. As she stepped into the hallway, her gaze landed on the door to the basement. Taking another quick left, she yanked the door open and bolted down the stairs. Once at the bottom, she crossed the space and shoved an old, empty bookcase out of the way to get to the locked door behind it. It wasn’t any normal door. It was reinforced steel with a combination lock and a fingerprint scanner. She punched in the combination and put the pad of her left thumb to the scanner. There was a beep and then the sound of the metal rods adjusting, signaling it was unlocked.

Yanking the door open, she stepped inside and ignored the weapons for the moment. Her priority was Rex. Once he was stable, she would arm up. Vowing to herself that she wouldn’t let his attackers get away, she grabbed the medical supplies she needed from a shelf, along with a stethoscope. She rushed back up the stairs, leaving the door to her hidden room open.

Once she was back in the foyer, she dropped to her knees and got to work on Rex. When she heard a whimpering to her right, she calmly said, “He’ll be okay, Beast. Everything’s okay.”

“Love you,” Rex mumbled, his voice low and grainy.

“Stop it,” she bit out. “Don’t you fucking dare give up. You hear me? Are you going to leave your mate to roam this world without you?My matewouldn’t do that. You fucking fight… fight for us, Rex.”

“Listen.” He tried to move his arm to reach out to her, but the knife wound in his bicep made it difficult. Yanking open a field bandage, she leaned down. Looking into her eyes, he said, “Tell Axle… County Road 452… Abandoned house… five miles outs… outside…” He winced, and his eyes lost focus. “Outside town. East.”

Her eyes clocked all the wounds she could see. He had knife wounds in each thigh and in both biceps, and cuts on his forehead and lip. The bleeding and awkward angle of his nose suggested it had been broken. Blood loss was her biggest concern.

Using her stethoscope, she checked his breathing and found his lungs sounded clear. That was good. She carefully lifted his head to check the back of his head. Surprisingly, there weren’t any contusions. That was also good.

“Why aren’t you healing?” The question was more a mumble to herself than an inquiry to him.

“Blocker,” he mumbled. “Stops… wolf… stops… heal.”

Fuck!Opening suture kits, she got to work on assessing and closing wounds, then wrapped them in the field dressing bandages that she had grabbed from her stock.

Using her fingers, she assessed his nose and determined she could set it, but it would be painful. Apologizing, she put her fingertips to his nose and manipulated the affected area.

Rex shouted, then his eyes rolled. She double checked his vitals and wiped off the worst of the blood.

Feeling confident that he was stable enough, she washed her hands in the kitchen sink. Then she called Mama Hen as she headed back down to her basement room.

“Jolene, hey, girl.”

Jolene didn’t bother with pleasantries. “I need you at my house. Now.”

“Report.” Mama Hen was suddenly all business.

“Rex beat, stabbed, and dropped on my doorstep. He’s stable. I have a bill to pay.”

“On my way. You call Axle?”

“Wait until you’re here. Then you can call him. He’s my mate. This is mine,” Jolene said firmly as she put the phone on speaker and set it on a shelf. She grabbed her bulletproof vest and put it on, strapping it tight, before she pulled a shoulder holster on and armed up.

“Understood.” Then the line went dead.

After pulling a light jacket over it all, she slipped extra ammo into the pockets. Jolene quickly put on a set of combat boots and slid a knife in the inside hidden sheath before grabbing her phone from the shelf.

Rage steadied her heart rate, and she moderated her breathing as she climbed the stairs. The veterinarian wasn’t in charge anymore. No, it was the unapologetic, government-trained killer who was handling that mission.

Twenty-Seven

Messer

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