Page 89 of Knot For Keeps

“Let’s get her back to the SUV. Kane, are you happy to transport our friend here down to the basement?”

“He shouldn’t even be on the same grounds as her,” Kane snarled, looking over at the crumpled, bloody mess of a beta.

“Agreed. He won’t be there long. We need Lavender to see the doc as soon as possible though, and I am not waiting around because we need to take that twat somewhere else.” I slid my arms under Lavender’s legs and around her back. “Now this may hurt, Darling. Just hold on to me,” I soothed as I gently lifted her.

She whimpered as she tried to adjust her position, letting out a low whine that hurt every alpha there to hear.

“I’m sorry, Lavvy girl, we’ll be home soon,” Archer soothed as he led the way back to the SUV. He drove home while I stayed in the back, Lavender’s head on my lap. Archer could see this was tearing me up inside. I was meant to be their leader, but I was doubting my ability to lead now. If I couldn’t keep our omega safe I was a pitiful excuse for an alpha, and my pack deserved better than that.

“She’ll be okay,” Archer soothed from the front seat, trying to calm his own nerves. If he had never hacked into that damn firewall out of curiosity one evening, Lavender never would have been tangled up in our mess. She didn’t deserve this. She was good and pure, sweet and kind: the opposite to our brutish and boisterous pack.

The doctor was waiting for us at the compound. Theo must have called him while he was helping Kane move Alec into the van so we could transport him. I wasted no time in sweeping Lavender back into my arms and carrying her though the house to her bedroom, her nest. Gently placing her down despite her whimpering protests. The doctor had followed us without a word, and was immediately putting his bag down, grabbing a stethoscope, a blood pressure monitor, and a little clip he attached to her finger.

“What happened to her?” he asked as he started checking her over.

“A beta who probably won’t be breathing much longer,” Archer growled.

“Hmmm, I hope you’ll be taking care of that?”

“We will be,” I assured him.

“Well, make yourself useful, go grab a few wash cloths and a bowl of clean water, clean her up gently so we can see how much of this blood is hers.”

“Lavender stabbed him in the neck, so it’s probably mostly his,” I confirmed. “Good, seems like you have a spitfire on your hands,” the doc said as Archer returned with the washcloths, handing one to me.

“We do,” I nodded, starting with her hand I started rubbing gentle circles on the skin, getting rid of any grime or blood and revealing the bruises underneath.

“Her shoulder is messed up,” Kane told the doctor, looking at her left shoulder. It was the one that had looked out of place when we had first found her on the floor of the forest, Alec on top of her.

“It looks like it’s been dislocated. Besides that she’s got a lot of scratches,a broken finger, and the bruises on her throat from being choked. It’s not pleasant, but she should recover nicely. Omega’s heal really well, which is good because I don’t have any antibiotics I can give her—all my stuff is oral or low grade, she needs stronger stuff,” the doctor confessed.

“Why can’t you get them?” I growled.

“If I try to get my hands on what she needs it'll attract far too much attention to me, she needs proper, high strength IV antibiotics to fight the infection.”

“Is there nothing else you can give her?”

Doc sighed. “She’s got an infection from that mess on her leg. You can either wait it out and see if the weaker stuff I’ve got works, but I wouldn’t be hopeful. I don’t want to give her anything that could mess with her kidneys—a hospital will have everything she needs.”

“She’ll get better,” Archer insisted, never looking up from the section of forearm he was gently dabbing clean.

* * *

Lavender didn’t get better. Within hours of arriving home she had started to burn up. The doctor had taken up permanent residence in her bedroom, keeping a watchful eye on her. Kane was doing the same, watching over her like a statue, eerily unmoving. He refused to leave her side as she tossed and turned. Despite the good painkillers, she was restless. Kane had growled at the doctor to give her more pain relief, unhappy at her whines every time she moved. They were grating at Kane’s self-restraint. I could tell by the look in his eyes he wanted to throw a table through a wall. He was so angry, so desolate. He was tormented when Juniper was taken, but if he lost Lavender? I doubted Kane would survive such a blow. So he stood watch, if he had any choice in the matter he would never leave her again.

When Archer had brought her here I’d had doubts, but the daft little omega had worked her way under my skin. My soul was hers, my body was hers and my heart was completely and forever hers.

I was in love with Lavender.

Watching her writhe in pain felt like a special level of torment, like I was being punished for all the shitty things I had ever done in his life.

Three days. It had been three days since we had brought Lavender home, and she showed no improvement. She hadn’t woken up for more than a few seconds and every time she did wake she would only mutter something unintelligible before slipping into unconsciousness. We had taken to sleeping in her room, on the floor. We didn’t want to crowd the nest while she was injured, she needed space to heal. Kane hadn’t left the room to eat or shower in those three days either. He was starting to smell a bit ripe, but no one mentioned it. We were all in need of a little self care, but it was the farthest thing from our minds while watching Lavender toss and turn, her hair sticking to her damp forehead.

“She needs a hospital,” I broke the silence, his tone sombre.

“She needs the Haven medical staff,” Kane replied. His eyes were empty, almost shell shocked.

“We can’t take her there,” Archer said. “We would never see her again,”

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