Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Iwatch Caleb as he studies the humans, his expression unreadable.
He wasn’t expecting to rescue a group of marked HPAW volunteers. These are humans who chose to work with HPAW, even if their reasoning is based on lies. They’ve been taught to hate the shifters.
“The second group of humans is almost here,” Caleb finally says, his voice hushed. “They’re a little under three hours behind.” He jerks his head toward the humans. “We haven’t told them about the breeding program. We’re keeping quiet until their chips are removed.”
The shouting increases. I look over, my jaw tightening as the female doctors and nurses close in on the humans.
They’re ushering the humans away, smoothly dodging the kicks and punches thrown in their direction as they bring the humans into private rooms. Getting those chips out is our top priority.
The dark-haired human man refuses to release his little sister. He carries her into the back, his wary gaze never straying from the doctor who guides him.
Caleb continues. “The women involved in the breeding program were being executed when we arrived. We were only able to save three of them. The infants were unharmed. There are eleven.”
Sash blows out a breath. “Eleven?”
“Yes.”
HPAW was executing the women. This is precisely what we feared would happen.
“I need to return to the border,” Caleb says. “HPAW wants those women dead, and I suspect they’re going to do their damned hardest to make that happen before our men reach the border.”
I don’t understand. “Why wait this long to attack?”
“For discretion,” Caleb explains. “The American cities that once bordered our lands are empty, and the human news organizations refuse to travel past them. If HPAW attacks at the border, there won’t be anybody around to see it.”
Sash snorts. “I’d sure like to see them try.”
“I suspect you’re going to.” Caleb drags a hand through his hair. “They’ve sent troops to the area. Hundreds of them. All armed.”
Sash drops her shoulders. “I’m not concerned.”
I shoot Sash a look. Has she always been this cocky?
“Well, I am,” I say. “They have weapons. You have teeth—and they’ve already adapted to that.”
Sash shoots me a look. “Sharp teeth.”
Hundreds of troops? That number wouldn’t be so concerning if it weren’t for HPAW’s new weapons. It gives them an alarming edge. I don’t want Caleb to go. I want him to stay here with me, where it’s safe.
The request is on the tip of my tongue, but I hold it in. I can’t ask that of Caleb. He’ll agree. Caleb would do anything for me, even if it lost him the respect of his pack. He should be at the border with his men.
The last of the humans leave the room with a few angry shouts, and the heavy doors leading out of the waiting area swing shut behind them. Even still, I can hear muffled arguments through the doors. Caleb looks over his shoulder, eyeing the doors, before turning back to me.
“I’m not going to leave,” I say.
Caleb raises a brow. “You promised.”
“I promised to leave if I was in danger,” I argue. “And I’m not unsafe here. I’m surrounded by shifters.”
Caleb doesn’t so much as pretend to consider my words. He offers me a slow blink, then shakes his head. There’s not going to be any convincing him. He sees agitated humans, and he wants me far away from them.
“I’ll wait in the pediatric ward,” I suggest, offering a compromise. “It’s just next door, so I’ll be nearby but not directly with the humans. I’ll stay there until you return.”
Caleb purses his lips. “The pediatric ward?”
“Yes.”
“And you promise you won’t leave?”
“I promise.”
Caleb sighs. “Fine.” He cups my chin in his palm, tilting my face upward.
“But I’ll know if you try sneaking back in here.
I suspect Sash may be loyal to you, but our warriors are loyal to me.
” He taps his fingers against my cheek, then gives a gentle squeeze.
“I can travel to the hospital from the border in under twenty minutes, Evelyn.”
“Is that a threat?” My voice is muffled as I speak through smushed lips. “I’m not threatened by you.”
The corner of Caleb’s lip quirks upward. “Maybe you should be.”
“Maybe you should—”
Sash groans, cutting me off. “Can you two please not do this right now?”
Caleb darts forward, kissing my smushed lips, before releasing me. “Stay in the pediatric ward. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
He’s walking away a heartbeat later, his stride even as he unbuttons and unzips his pants. He’s shoving them down his hips as he pushes open the door, and I just barely glance the top of his ass as the door shuts behind him.
When I finally look back at Sash, she’s giving me a disgusted look.
“Don’t do that in front of me,” she says.
“Do what?”
“Look at him like that.” She gestures toward the door that leads to the pediatric wing.
“You should get in there before he changes his mind. I’ll stay here with the humans.
I’ll explain the situation to them once their chips are removed, and I’ll warn them about the women we’re bringing in.
Let’s plan to hold off on introducing you until we’ve returned home and they’ve had some time to adjust.”
I blow out a breath. I was hoping to meet them sooner.
“All right,” I say. “Come get me if you need any help. I assume these people have been kept in the dark, but there’s no denying the truth. They’ll see HPAW for what it truly is once they learn about the breeding program and meet those women. There’ll be no denying it.”
Sash dips her chin. “I hope you’re right.”
I tie my hair up as I walk the short distance to the pediatric wing. This is where I’m useful.
I need to be buzzed in. The automatic locks are a leftover security feature from when humans lived here. The waiting area is small, with fewer than ten chairs able to fit inside the room. There’s nobody at the reception desk, and after a minute of waiting, I walk into the back.
Several nurses and doctors are moving about, their shoes squeaking against the tile flooring as they prepare for the infants. We don’t know what condition they’ll be in, especially after such a long journey.
I squeeze my eyes shut when a familiar figure appears. Nurse June. She must have volunteered to come here and help. She’s swapped out her usual, basic blue scrubs for ones with a bright-pink wolf-pattern, and she’s even wearing matching pink shoes.
I haven’t seen her since she maybe defended me at the hospital back at home. She confronted the man who was insulting me in the lobby, and she went out of her way to fill me in on Caleb’s condition when I was too scared to visit him.
I’m not sure where we stand.
She’s walking with purpose, and her destination is very clearly me.
“Alpha Knox,” she says as she nears. “We’re running behind. Are you good to help?”
Straight to the point. I appreciate it.
“Yes,” I say. “Put me to work.”
“Great. Come on.”
She gestures for me to follow her. Her pace is fast, and I jog slightly to keep up as she leads me down a narrow hallway and through a door on the right. We enter a bright room filled with bassinets. There are twenty, all with clear plastic sides and thick, metal legs.
This must be the nursery.
There are two tall cabinets against the far wall. Nurse June pulls one open, revealing an absurdly large stash of baby supplies. She turns and points to the built-in shelf underneath each bassinet.
“I want a pack of diapers, a package of wipes, two blankets, a nasal bulb syringe, and a tub of Vaseline underneath each cot.” She opens the second cabinet, revealing more baby supplies.
I repeat the list in my head once. Twice.
Nurse June continues. “We’re expecting most of the infants to, at a minimum, be quite hungry and have a nasty diaper rash. They’ll be crying, and they won’t be easy to console. Are you good with children?”
I grimace. “I’ve never been around them.”
“Well…” She shoots me a look. “You’re going to learn, I suppose. Come here. I’ll show you how to make a bottle.”
The next two hours pass in a blur. I have no idea what’s happening at the border or with the humans in the maternity wing.
Nurse June puts me to work. Every time I finish a task, she has three more lined up. I’m grateful for the time I spent working at the hospital back at home. These processes are familiar to me, and the tasks are just busy enough to keep my mind from wandering.
Sort of.
Not really.
I’m desperate to know what Caleb is doing and whether he’s safe.
Are the Americans going to attack? Are they currently doing so?
Is Caleb injured? How is Sash handling the humans?
Has she told them about the breeding program?
Do they believe her? I would’ve been skeptical, at least until I saw the women for myself.
How far away are the women? Are they okay? Are the infants okay?
I set down the blanket I’m folding, my gaze drifting toward my scarred hand. It’s pretty much healed at this point. The skin is tender, but I no longer need to bandage it. I flex the skin, searching for any trace of the mark. It’s well and truly gone.
Nurse June steps into the room. I drop my hand, embarrassed to have been caught looking at where my marking ought to be.
“Follow me,” she orders, not acknowledging what I’m certain she saw. “Alpha Knox wishes to see you.”
Caleb’s back? I glance at the half-folded pile of baby blankets, then hurry after her. I’ll finish folding these later.
Nurse June doesn’t make conversation as she leads me out of the nursery.
She’s not particularly chatty, but I don’t mind.
She leads me through the lobby and out of the pediatric wing.
The hospital is busy, and I fight to remain close to her as she weaves around half-naked shifters and busy hospital staff.
Where is she taking me? Is Caleb okay?
Nurse June leads me through the hospital’s main lobby and into a loaded hallway. My breath hitches. There’s blood—and a lot of it. The crimson liquid is smeared along the floors, and several of the hospital staff are covered in blood splatter.
Despite that, I see no injured shifters.
At least, I see no gravely injured shifters.
The bloodiest man is just ahead of me. He stands at a reception desk, leaning over it slightly as a bullet is pried out of his shoulder.
He grunts as the bullet casing is removed and dropped into a tin, then he spins around and leans back, exposing a muscular torso containing two more bleeding holes.
He lifts an arm over his head, flexing as the woman shoves forceps into one of the holes.
I peek into the room on my right. A naked man is sitting on the edge of a bed getting a large gash on his thigh stitched up. The gash is gruesome, and his entire lower leg is covered in blood, but neither he nor the doctor seems concerned.
“Come on.” Nurse June grabs my wrist, tugging me forward. “I’m in a hurry.”
She practically drags me farther down the hallway, then shoves me into a room. I stumble inside, barely aware that Nurse June is already spinning around and leaving as I lock eyes with Caleb.
He’s sitting on a hospital bed, in the midst of an intense conversation with a mostly uninjured Adam. Adam’s lip is busted open and three of the fingers on his left hand are wrapped, but he otherwise looks fine.
Caleb’s shoulder is fucked. The muscle is shredded, blood pouring down his arm and dripping off his fingers onto the ground. Two doctors surround him, and when one touches his bicep, he winces.
I make a noise.
Caleb’s head snaps in my direction. His frown softens when he meets my eyes, his chest deflating. He wasn’t expecting to see me.
Nurse June has gone rogue.
“I’m okay,” he’s quick to say. “My shoulder is perfectly fine. It looks worse than it feels. I promise.”
I steady myself. Now isn’t the time or place to lose my composure. Caleb is okay. His shoulder looks to be his only injury, and he’s sitting up and talking and clearly not on the brink of death.
“You were shot,” I say.
Caleb nods—a quick, curt nod. “Yes.”
“I suppose it’s safe to assume that HPAW tried to stop the women and children from reaching shifter lands, then?”
Caleb nods again.
“And?” I ask.
“And they were unsuccessful,” Caleb says. “The women and children are on shifter lands, en route to the hospital. They should be arriving any minute.”
I look toward the ceiling. The women and children are safe. Thank God.
Caleb continues. “They weren’t expecting us to fight back. Not like we did. They didn’t realize how many men we had prepared, and they expected to put us on the defensive. We deployed troops all along the border the second they began closing in on our vehicle.”
One of the doctors steps forward, resuming work on Caleb’s shoulder. He flinches but otherwise doesn’t react as his torn-up skin is touched.
Adam chimes in. “The Americans were panicked when they saw Caleb. They rushed to call in the news, and they retreated shortly thereafter.”
“It’s probably only temporary,” Caleb says. “But we’re prepared.”
His voice is steady. Confident.
I glance between Caleb and Adam. Adam leans against the wall with his arms crossed, his jaw tight. Caleb sits on the edge of the exam table, blood still streaked across his chest while the doctor works quietly beside him.
They look like warriors after battle.
Bloodied, unshaken, and ready for whatever comes next.