“Is he okay?” I heard Holden’s voice whisper nearby and realized that she was already up and about.
“I think so. I need him awake for his treatment. I cannot determine how bad things are when he is unconscious.”
Max was being vague, not knowing if Holden knew we were lycanthropes. I wasn’t even sure if she knew I was one, even though she now knew lycanthropes existed. Time to get this out in the open.
I blinked open my eyes, groaning at the bright light shining in them. Fuck. I squeezed them closed.
“Damn it, Shane.” Max swore at me. I watched the redness from behind my eyelids fade and then the doctor tapped my arm. “I don’t have the damn light in your eyes now, and Holden has dimmed the overheads. Open your eyes.”
I did, squinting at the man in front of me. Max looked worried, even though he was trying to hide it from the woman beside him. I glanced over to her and realized that the doctor wasn’t fooling her.
“I am sorry, Shane, but you need to shift.” His voice low, Max touched my chest. “Someone got you in the chest, breaking a rib and leaving a silver bullet in there. I have removed the bullet, but the bleeding isn’t stopping. I think if you shift, you will heal.”
I opened my eyes wide, my eyes flicking to Holden. She stood there, her arms around herself as if she was holding herself together.
“Can I…?” My voice gave out, and I had to start again. “I need a moment with Holden, Max.”
Max nodded, standing up. “I am sorry.” I knew he was sorrier about how I had to tell Holden than about me having to shift.
The doctor slipped out of the room. A few moments later, I heard the external door open and then close.
Holden stayed where she was, staring at me. I sighed.
“Holden.” I put out a hand. She moved to my side, helping me to sit up.
“You’re a lycanthrope, aren’t you, Shane? A werewolf?” Her voice was low and emotionless.
I nodded. “I am. Well, we don’t use the term werewolf. I was born this way. Born into a Pack. Most everyone around here has been. Maggie? She is a very submissive wolf in Baron’s Pack. Lexi, Soren, and Betta? They are my brother’s pups. Someone killed their parents – my brother and his mate – and stole their pups. By Edward, Holden. Lexi confirmed that he is the bad man she mumbles about, scared out of her mind.”
She shifted, her arms back around her waist. “Max? Is he even a doctor?”
I chuckled. “Yes, he is. Lycanthropes can be doctors. Lycanthropy isn’t a virus. It is not contagious. He cannot pass Lycanthropy onto anyone he treats. Only a few rare cases of bitten wolves exist. It is hard to transfer the necessary… I don’t know, magic perhaps… to a human so they can shift. If they survive the first transformation, they are then invited to enter a Pack.” I shrugged.
“What about me?”
“What?” I stared at her, not understanding.
She grimaced, wrinkling her nose in a way that I thought was adorable.
“Edward mentioned that I was a hybrid. Having both human and lycanthrope genes.” She paused and then added. “No wolf bit me, Shane. I was born, but my father died when I was seven. I don’t remember him going furry, but I remember how warm he was.”
Her voice took on a sing-song aspect as she continued, lost in her memories. “He was the one that gave me my love of wolves. He would tell me so many stories, show me wolf tracks, help me learn about pups. I would sit on his lap at night, snuggled up against his very warm chest while he talked with me and my mother, falling asleep to his warmth.”
Ah, that made more sense. Her father was the lycanthrope. He had been preparing his daughter for life as a wolf if she ever shifted. But she hasn’t. At least, not yet.
If she had human genes, her mother must have been human, but special. Hybrids didn’t happen. Humans and Lycanthropes typically could not breed – they didn’t have either human babies or wolf pups. Which explained why Holden and Thomas never had kids.
Her gaze sharpened on me. “Why would Edward think I could breed with wolves…. lycanthropes? Thomas and I couldn’t have children. Why would he think Mercer and I could have them?”
Anger flashed through me at the wolf’s name before I wrestled it into the background. The thought of her with any other wolf made me want to claim her right here and now.
Getting my emotions under control, I shrugged. “I am not sure. I know little at all about hybrids. Perhaps we can ask Max. I don’t know if he knows anything, but we can always ask him.”
She nodded and then released her arms, her face looking concerned. She knelt and looked at my chest. “You are still bleeding, Shane. Let me get Max.” She stood and started for the door.
“I need to shift, Holden. I will be a wolf, but I will also still be me. Here, inside.” I tapped on my chest with a finger. I wasn’t sure if she had heard me.
I sighed. I swung my feet over the side of the bed and groaned. Yea. Max had gotten rid of my jeans and put me into shorts. I wasn’t sure I could stand, so I just pushed my shorts down, pooling at my feet, leaning forward and calling my wolf to the fore.
Changing hurt. I suspected it was because there was so much silver still in my blood stream. Still, this pain was more than usual.
I was panting on the floor when Max returned, Holden right behind him. The doctor knelt and put his hand in my fur, digging deep into my neck muscles to relax the tension he could feel from me through the Pack connection. He sighed, running a hand down my wolf’s side, to check the wounds. I flinched a time or two, when his hand touched sensitive parts.
“How is he?” Holden asked. Max looked up at her. “Sore, but the bleeding has stopped. He still has two broken ribs, so I want him to shift a few more times, except I don’t think he can do that yet. Come and sit by his head, Holden, while I get him some food and water.”
Holden sat by my head, cross-legged. I whined and shifted around so that my large head was in her lap, licking her leg.
Max chuckled, shook his head, and rose, leaving the room to go into the kitchen.
“Shane?”
Holden. I answered, using my mate bond to talk with her. Exhaustion colored my tone.
She almost jumped up, startled. “I was talking with you!” Her hand landed on my neck, her fingers clinching the thick fur that was there.
I sighed, snuggling my head in more. Yes.
Holden massaged my neck muscles, and I melted. It felt so good to my wolf to have her touch me, to know about me. She wasn’t running, which made my wolf ecstatic. And while her pheromones were less, I could smell that she would enter a true heat soon, not the artificial one that Edward had tried to induce.
Max entered with two bowls, one filled with meat and the other with water.
“Shane, I need you to be the good patient for us, please. The meat is mixed with an antibiotic. I know you will taste it but eat, anyway. For Holden.”
He put the bowls down near my head. Holden picked up a chunk and offered it to me. I sniffed and then groaned, hiding my head in her lap.
“Come on, Shane, you need this medicine.” Holden pulled on my fur, lifting my head. She held the meat in front of me, the look on her face determined. “Eat this.”
Neither I nor my wolf could resist the dominant tone she had used. In fact, my wolf wanted to whine and go belly up. I huffed at the silly beast, before taking the meat and chewing. I swallowed the mouthful with a wolf grimace.
Max laughed. “Good luck getting enough of that in his stomach, Holden. He needs it, but he will fight you all the way. Once he finishes, though, we should have him shift back to human and I will look him over. I suspect I will have to have him cycle between wolf and human a few times before he gets to the stage I want him at.”
I growled at the doctor. Holden smacked my muzzle, startling both Max and me.
“Stop that.” Her voice was absentminded, her expression thoughtful.
My wolf stared up at her, my eyes wide.
Max barked out a laugh. “Shane, you have met your match! Holden, please make him your mate and put the rest of us out of misery from having to deal with this bullheaded male.”
He continued out into the living room, his chuckles coming back in intervals.
Holden held up another piece of the abhorrent meat, her eyes expectant. I grimaced. Then I ate the meat my mate provided.
Holden
“Enough.”
Even in his human form, he growled the word out.
“I think he has lost all patience for this.” I studied the man lying on the floor, his face resolute. I couldn’t help admiring his body, given he was naked in front of me. Shane had a gorgeous body, firm with fluid muscles that moved under smooth tan skin. “Perhaps we should stop.”
I shook my head, fanning myself from the sudden heat I felt, and headed to the couch. Max finished checking Shane’s ribs, the man’s back to me, thank god. After a few stressful moments, the doctor sat back on his heels.
“Good enough. Go get dressed, Shane. We can do the rest with you as a human. It will be nice to hear more than growls and whimpers out of you.”
“Asshole.” Shane stood, grabbing a nearby blanket to wrap around himself, before shuffling off into the bedroom, closing the door without it making a sound.
Max sighed and joined me. “And that, dear Holden, was Shane’s method of slamming a door and saying ‘Fuck you’.”
I giggled, resting my head against the back of the couch. “Wow. If it wasn’t for my exhaustion, I think I would be excited about this new field of study. Lycanthropes. Who would have figured?”
Max gave me a strange glance, but before he could say anything, the front door of the cabin flew open, banging against the wall.
Three little kids, around the age of six, charged in. A woman who looked to be in her early twenties followed them. The kids flung themselves at me, holding onto me tight. I turned wide, confused eyes towards the doctor.
“Who…?”
Max laughed, knowing I hadn’t a clue who these children were and why they were enthusiastically hugging me. He pulled a dark-haired little girl off of me, setting her in his lap. The girl squirmed, but he held her tight.
“Betta, please sit still. Lexi and Soren, We just introduced Holden to lycanthropes, so she doesn’t know you are the wolf pups she has been caring for.”
The little boy and girl froze, their eyes wide. They lifted their heads to stare at me. I stared back at them, taking in the doctor’s words.
“Lexi? This is Lexi?” I touched the little girl’s cheek, taking in her red-hair and emerald green eyes. Those eyes…. Yes, those were Lexi’s eyes. I shifted my gaze to the little boy. “Soren?” He was a looker, his hair a mixture of red and dark brown, his eyes gray. His solemn stare gave me the feeling that he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.
I then turned my head towards the dark brown haired little girl, with wide, worried blue eyes. “Betta.” The word was a whisper. I put out my arm and Max released the girl as she flew into my grasp.
I held the three children tight. Tears flowed down my face as I mumbled words of love and astonishment at them. I only had two arms, but I filled them with the three small children and they were not complaining about the lack of room on my lap.
Shane came out of the bedroom, pulling a shirt over his low-lying jeans. I figured he had heard the door.
I looked up at him, my watery grin ecstatic.
“My puppies!”
I didn’t care if they were wolves or children. I loved them as they were.
Shane exhaled in relief, moving to sit on the arm of the couch.
Lexi patted my face in her small hands. She wiggled around so she could meet my eyes. “Mama Holden. We wanted to change and show you, but we couldn’t. We weren’t sure you would love us because we had wolves. Would the Bad Man find us? But he came anyway and took you. We are so glad that Uncle Shane got you back. We will help him keep the Bad Man away from you.”
Soren, his face so serious, nodded in agreement.
Betta just reached up and kissed my cheek. I laughed and then cried, holding the pups tighter.
Shane glanced at the young woman standing near the door. “Maggie, please come over here and sit. Holden will want to meet you.”
I looked up, my face startled. “Maggie? This is Maggie?” Bemused, I looked between Shane and the young woman.
Shane nodded. “Yes, this is Maggie. You knew her as the wolf who played with the pups.”
Betta spoke up. “Maggie is nice. I like her. We like her. She is family, Uncle Shane. Pack.”
Shane smiled, as if he knew what Betta was saying. “Yes, Betta, she is Pack.”
The little girl smiled back at her uncle before snuggling back in against me and her siblings.
Maggie smiled. “I have been watching them for you, Holden. They are good pups. So easy to love. I would love to continue helping you with them if you will have me.”
Her voice was soft and melodic, a slight accent sounding every so often, even though I wasn’t sure what it was.
I studied the woman wondering what…
“Omega! You are an Omega. You are not a submissive wolf at all! Omegas help to bind a Pack together.” I somehow bounced on the couch, still holding the pups. “I cannot believe that your Pack has an Omega, Shane! I have heard about these in natural wolf Packs, but they are so rare!”
The other three adults stared at me. Max was the first to recover, shaking his head. “Of course! I should have guessed, given how much easier it has been to treat wolves with her around.” He grimaced.
Shane stared at him. “What?”
Max looked at the woman in question. “Maggie, you are not the bottom of the Pack. You are one of the most important. You help keep a Pack healthy, both physically and mentally. Baron will want to keep you once he finds out, though, because Omegas are so rare. Shane may have a fight on his hands.”
Soren peeked at Maggie, sliding off my lap and scampering over to the woman. “No, Maggie. You are ours. You are not part of that Pack, but ours. Please don’t go.”
The look of astonishment left the other woman’s eyes. She pulled Soren onto her lap and he hugged her, his nose tucked into her neck. “I will stay with you if I can, Soren.”
Shane snorted. I figured that Baron would not win this fight. Maggie was part of Shane’s Pack. Sadness filled me. I wished I could be a part of his Pack, like Lexi had said. Unfortunately, I was human.
Shane looked down at me. I hugged the two little girls, so alike and yet so different. Lexi had her arms tight around one of mine, her body curled up on most of my lap, her head lying against my chest.
“It looks like you have two sleepy pups there, Holden.” His voice was deep, filled with emotion.
I looked down and smiled. “Lexi is out, and Betta looks like she will be soon.”
Shane gave Max a look, and he threw his hands up in the air. “All right!”
Confusion crossed my face as Max stood and picked up Betta, nodding at Maggie and moving to the door. “We are taking the pups back to the compound. You two need to clear up a few things. You do not need to involve the pups in that.”
Maggie lifted Soren, who yawned, and joined the doctor at the door.
Shane stood and put out his arms. “I’ll take Lexi, Holden.”
I tightened my grip on the little girl. “Shane!” My wail was soft, since I didn’t want to wake Lexi.
Shane bent down and kissed me on the lips. I turned my face up to him, wanting more, but he pulled back. “I want that too, but first, let’s get the pups settled. And kick Maggie and Max out. They will take good care of them, Holden, while we talk.”
I knew what he was implying, so I let Lexi go, my hands reluctant as they trailed a caress along the little girl’s arms. Shane picked her up and followed Maggie and Max.
