Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Annahi
“Fuck me,” Zaid snarls and shakes his head. “What the hell happened to Justice?”
“Justice?” I ask, looking at the exam table to Zaid and Clara.
“Yeah, this is Justice. He’s the VP of my brother Zavier’s club.”
I knew Zaid had a brother and that he was a member of the Spiked Raiders MC, but in the past few years, since I’ve been working here, I haven’t met him. Typically, if Zaid was needed, he went to Zavier, though I knew Zavier also knew how to help animals.
“He must not have been able to shift back,” Clara whispers.
“The guy who hit him, he’s the one who brought him in. Said he ran right in front of him,” I murmur, waiting orders.
“Explains that,” Zaid grunts and holds a hand out for the clippers. “He’s gonna be pissed, but I’ve got to see what I’m working with here.”
I hand him the clippers, and he starts shaving one of Justice’s legs.
“I’ll go call Zavier. They’re gonna want to know he’s here and not missing,” Clara announces, stepping around me.
Her thoughts of concern fill my head, and I struggle to push them out along with Zaid’s. It’s not easy, but I manage to get them to back off enough that I can focus on helping Zaid with what he needed me to do.
“You’ve never worked on a shifter, Anna, so I want you to pay close attention,” Zaid remarks, handing me the clippers back.
I nod.
He and Clara are the only ones who ever call me Anna for short. I actually like it better than my name itself. My mother would always say it with a sneer on her lips like it left a distaste on them.
Anna, I think, suited me.
“I’m gonna run an IV for him. Grab me a bag. We’re gonna have to do an X-ray to see what the damage is. His body is already healing itself. We might have to rebreak some bones to set them properly.”
“Because shifters heal faster.”
“Right.” Zaid nods, eyes on what he’s doing. “Typically, shifters will heal almost instantly, but depending on the severity of it, it’ll take longer. Considering he couldn’t shift back to his human form, it’s prolonging his healing.”
“Zavier said he and the others are on the way,” Clara announces, coming back in the room. “They want to know what happened to Justice.”
I swallow nervously. I didn’t want to be around a bunch of shifters. I didn’t have a problem with shifters. I thought Zaid and Clara were awesome as people, but the thought of being around so many at one time was going to be overwhelming at best.
Zaid and Clara both must pick up on my nerves because they look at me, though it was Zaid who spoke. “Get it’s not gonna be easy for you, but his brothers, the club, they’re gonna want to know so they can know if they have a threat on their hands.”
“I understand,” I nod, swallowing down my nerves. I take a deep breath. “I’ll get the X-ray equipment ready.”
Leaving them with Justice, I go and do just as I told them. Moments later, Zaid rolls the gurney in, and we get to work.
The whole process takes longer than it typically would, mostly because it was a shifter and we were doing a full body scan rather than one limb or two.
I helped Zaid throughout the process, thankful that he was somehow keeping his thoughts from being heard, which is weird. He’s never been able to do that.
We’re just finishing up when Clara pokes her head in. “They’re here.”
“We’ll be out in a minute,” Zaid tells her, and looks back to the screen and points. “See this and this?”
“Yeah, three of his ribs were broken and are mending wrong.” It’s a shock to see how fast he’s already healing. “And those,” I point to the other image, “his leg, it’s setting wrong.”
“Exactly, we’re gonna have to rebreak all those bones and reset them.”
“How do we rebreak his ribs?” I didn’t think that was something possible.
“We’re gonna have to operate. Go in and do it ourselves. It’s going to hurt like a bitch for him, but it’s good he’s out. The best thing to do is keep him sedated and get it done quickly. After we do that, we’ll reset his leg. He’s damn lucky that’s all he’s broken.”
“Should we check for internal bleeding?” I ask.
“No, because they heal as fast as they do, that will take care of itself.”
“Oh,” I draw out. “Interesting.”
“Yeah, so let’s get him back to the operating room. I’ll talk to his brothers. They’ll want to talk to you. Don’t let them intimidate you.”
As if that was going to be an easy feat.
Nodding, I walk over to the gurney near the coyote’s head and start pushing toward the door. Zaid holds it open, and I wheel the gurney through, turning it as I clear the doors to head for the operating room.
“I’ll meet you in the front as soon as you get him to the back,” Zaid tells me, in a nice way of making the order.
“Okay, Zaid.” I again nod and keep going.
How did this night go from calm and peaceful to total chaos for me?
I don’t know how I’ll be able to handle them all in one space without hearing all of their thoughts.
It’s bad enough for people, but I’d never had to be in a room full of shifters and try to function on anything but what they’re thinking.
Sighing, I park the gurney and stroke a hand through the coyote’s fur on his head before leaving him to find the others.
I could already hear the raging thoughts filtering through, and it was making me dizzy. I want to run back to the other room, away from all the fury-filled thoughts swarming my head, but I can’t.
Zaid told me not to let them intimidate me. Since I was the one who was here when their brother was brought in, I had to talk to them.
I release a shuddered breath and step into the lobby where Zaid was talking calmly to the men filling the room. Among the men, there were three women. All beautiful. Their thoughts were mixed with the men’s but not nearly as loud, more like a whisper.
All eyes come to me, and Zaid clears his throat.
“Anna, these are Justice’s brothers,” Zaid says, pointing at each one and giving me their names. “The women are Karsyn, Corbin’s mate and ol’ lady. Raine, Dane’s mate and ol’ lady. Lake, Tucker’s mate and ol’ lady.”
“Ugh, nice to meet you all,” I murmur, giving a small wave, barely raising my hand.
“What happened to Justice?” Zaid said his name was Corbin demands, and his tone harsh.
“Anna, go ahead and tell them what you know.”
I nod and take a deep breath. “Guy rang the buzzer, said he hit a dog.” There were a lot of growls. “I grabbed a gurney, went out to the truck, and saw him. I knew what he was from Zaid and Clara. The guy helped me get him on the gurney, and I wheeled him inside. The guy left, and that’s it.”
“So, we’ve got nothing? No leads as to what led up to him being hit by a truck?” Dane snarls, his thoughts hitting me hard.
I feel . . . my vision starts to blur, and I take a wobbly step back.
“Zaid,” Clara calls, but her voice seems muffled.
“Shit,” Zaid growls, moving into my line of sight. “Anna, you need to breathe. Focus.”
“Everyone outside,” Clara orders.
“What the fuck is going on?” Zavier demands. “We need to see our brother.”
“Right now, you need to get out or figure a way to control your emotions and thoughts.”
I don’t think I’ve ever heard Clara speak that way to anyone.
“What the fuck . . .”
I couldn’t hold it in any longer. With how loud their thoughts were in my head, I couldn’t handle it. Screaming, I collapse, and Zaid’s arms catch me as my hands go to my head.
A snarl comes from behind us, and it sounds deadly.
Curses were muffled as Zaid turned us toward the sound to find the coyote awake and limping toward us. It worried me that he was awake. But it was the raging fury in its eyes that scared me, at the same time, filled me with a sense of relief.
The voices slowly eased from my mind.
I don’t understand how it’s possible, still, the moment he stepped into the room, I felt the relief of it. I felt safe, and I’ve never felt safe in my life.
“Justice, what the fuck?” Corbin growls. I knew his voice, and glancing at him, I noticed he pushed his mate behind him. So had the other two with mates.
“Fuckin’ hell, VP, can you shift already?” another one asks, I think it was Zavier, but I wasn’t sure.
“He needs surgery before he shifts,” Zaid remarks, me still in his arms.
Justice snarls again, this time at Zaid.
Zaid doesn’t let the snarling coyote scare him as he tells him, “Chill the fuck out before I sedate you again, Justice. I’m not scared of you.”
Justice steps forward, teeth baring, rage flowing from it. His eyes were looking at me.
Me.
“She’s his mate,” a woman whispers.
“Oh fuck,” another man says calmly. “Zaid, you might want to let her go.”
“I let her go, she’ll collapse. Because of you idiots . . .”
Justice snarls once more, much louder and fiercer.
Zaid snarls back this time.
“Oh, for Pete’s sake, Justice,” Clara snaps. “Calm down. Your mate is family to Zaid and me. We claimed as ours, and you need to back the hell off before you end up hurt worse than you are.”
“He can’t shift yet,” I whisper. “Not until we see to the breaks.” I clear my throat and pull away from Zaid, a bit wobbly.
The moment I was no longer being held, the coyote moved away, which made the voices in my head start to grow louder.
Sucking in a heavy breath, I look at Zaid.
“When you need me, let me know. I’m going to check on Miss Petal.
” I needed to get away from all these people, and I needed the closure of one of the only places I can get it.
I didn’t want to think. I didn’t want to hear voices.
I didn’t want to be in my life right now.
All I wanted to do was be alone. It’s why I worked with animals. It’s why I worked at night. I didn’t have to worry about the hell of being overwhelmed by the thoughts of those around me.
Being a freak as I am, there’s only solace to be found when there’s no one around.