Chapter Thirteen #2
I hung my head. “It’s embarrassing but I have a hard time controlling my hormones around him.” I could feel the blush creeping up my cheeks. “He, um, doesn’t want me for anything more than a convenience, so I’ve been trying not to let myself give in but..” I trailed off with a shrug.
Stan’s eyes widened the slightest bit. “Is he the baby’s father?”
I nodded, swallowing. “Um, he doesn’t know, though, so maybe don’t say anything?”
“Of course not.” Stan turned to face the door that separated us from the Alpha we were discussing. “Are you sure he doesn’t feel anything for you? He did come up to search for you and he was not happy to see me touching you.”
I nodded dispiritedly. “Yeah, it’s kind of a weird situation. He wants me physically but then he can’t get away fast enough.”
“Oh, he’s that kind of Alpha.”
I shrugged and nodded.
“Is he who you were trying to get away from by coming up here?”
I snorted. “Yup. That worked well.”
Stan chuckled. “Well, you got a short break, yeah?”
I nodded with a small smile. “It was really great, too, but I should let him drop me at the other cabin and get out of your hair.”
Stan studied me for a minute before shaking his head. “I don’t feel good about that. How about you let me put together a small dinner basket in case there aren’t any groceries there and then I’ll come check on you tomorrow, just in case you change your mind?”
I was going to refuse but there was true concern in Stan’s eyes, so I gave in.
“Yes, please. If you’re sure you don’t mind, I appreciate it.”
“Not at all.” Stan leaned over and dropped a friendly pat on my shoulder. “Just give me a minute and I’ll have you all set up and we’ll be on the road.”
When Otto came back in, he was surprisingly relaxed at learning that Stan would be coming by the next day to check on me. He almost seemed happy to hear it, which I guessed made sense since he already told us that he was only there because Corbin and Taylor accosted him when they couldn’t find me.
He nodded agreeably while Stan explained the plan and even used the time to write out a note to leave on the door for Corbin and Taylor in case they arrived while Stan was dropping us off.
A little later, I was standing on the porch of the cabin -which actually looked like a cabin, thank you very much- while Otto and Stan unloaded bags of food and even a small bundle of firewood, in case the temperature dropped.
Then, Otto was loading food into the refrigerator and rambling on about needing to go out and look for my friends as soon as he had me settled in.
Not long after that, I was all alone in the quiet with my thoughts.
Well, all alone to simmer in my thoughts for around ten minutes, give or take before Otto crashed in through the door with Taylor over his shoulder and a stranger clad in a vaguely familiar uniform trailing right behind him.
“Call 911!”
~*~
Otto
This day was starting to feel like the crisis that would never end as I laid Taylor on the sofa, subconsciously noting that at least the blood would clean off the leather.
Probably, anyway. It wasn’t like I’d ever cleaned up blood off anything. Who knew?
“What happened?” Dexter shoved his cell phone at the park ranger and was trying to wedge himself under my arm to get closer to his friend. “Tay! Look at me!”
“He passed out,” I said quietly. “Dude over there says he was shot.”
“But he’s a shifter,” Dex argued, shaking his head. “It should be healing already.”
“Should be,” I agreed, keeping my voice down as the ranger spoke to the 911 operator, “but it isn’t.
” I turned so he could see the blood that caked on my back in the short time I had Taylor in a fireman’s carry.
“I don’t know how long he’s been bleeding but it’s not showing any sign of stopping. Are there any towels here?”
“Fuck, I don’t know.” Dexter hightailed it from the room and I could hear him opening and closing doors. Then there was a small sound of victory, and he came running back with an armload of towels and washcloths. “This is all there is.”
“Good enough,” I assured him, grabbing a few from the stack and shifting Taylor’s unconscious body. I pressed one towel to the wound on his back before using my other hand to press a washcloth to the mirroring wound low on the right side of his torso. “Let’s hope that ambulance gets here fast.”
“The Gold Hill fire department is only ten minutes away,” the ranger interjected. “I’m going to the main road to wave them down so they don’t miss the turn.”
I nodded my agreement, keeping my focus on Taylor’s wounds. “Did you tell them he’s a shifter? The way he’s bleeding it was probably a silver-coated bullet.”
“I told them,” the ranger assured me, shoving the door open. “I need to get out there. I can hear the siren in the distance.”
“A silver bullet?” Dex hissed under his breath. “Those are illegal!”
“Yup, but I can’t think of any other reason that he’s bleeding out. A normal bullet wound would have already closed and have to be re-opened to remove the bullet.”
Dex shivered. “That means this place isn’t very safe. And Corbin is still out there.”
I had to hold in a sigh. I was really hoping he wouldn’t realize that until after help had already arrived for Taylor.
“We all went in different directions, so it’s unlikely Corbin will run into any trouble.
” I glanced out the window to gauge the light level.
“He’ll be back any time. The ranger said Taylor told him to get him here before he became delirious and they were pretty close, so Corbin is probably already almost back if he isn’t waiting at Stan’s. ”
As I finished my sentence, the screaming siren announced the arrival of the ambulance and the strobing red lights filled the room, bouncing off the walls.
Three EMTs filed in through the open door, two of them guiding a stretcher between them.
The two with the stretcher came straight to the couch, gesturing us over to the third man while they examined the unconscious Omega.
“What exactly happened?” the EMT asked, his pen poised over a small notepad.
“I don’t really know,” I said quickly. “He was with the ranger who waved you in when he got shot. He should be able to tell you everything.”
The other man’s hairline raised slightly and he cocked his head curiously. “A ranger, you said?”
Oh, that wasn’t good.
“Yeah. He’s the one who called 911. Then he went out to wait for you, so you didn’t miss the turn,” Dexter filled in helpfully. “He was wearing a green and tan park ranger uniform. Did you miss him?”
When the EMT didn’t answer, I groaned. “He wasn’t out there, was he?”
“There wasn’t anyone out there,” the EMT confirmed. “There was a flashlight set to a blinking setting to show us where to turn off, though.”
Dex turned to me, his eyes wide. “What if something happened to him? We need to go find him!”
I shook my head slowly as another vehicle, this one a Sheriff’s truck pulled up in front of the ambulance. “He took off because he was probably involved in whatever happened, Dex.” I blew out a breath and shook my head. “He never even gave me his name. He didn’t intend to stick around.’
Dex looked from his friend being loaded onto the gurney to me. “What do we do now?”