Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Zaid
“What the fuck was that?” Zavier demands.
I twist from watching Annahi walk away, going straight to the kennels and the bobcat that she’s become attached to. Clara and I both knew the bobcat wasn’t gonna go anywhere but with Annahi when the time came. The connection between the two of them didn’t make sense, then it again, it did.
Annahi had a remarkable connection with animals. She just took to the bobcat more than others. Giving the bobcat a name solidified what Clara and I knew would happen.
When Annahi first showed up at the vet clinic, we knew she was different.
At first, we were apprehensive because we both smelled the blood witch on her, but we’d taken the chance with her.
In the time she’s been here, she’s become family to both of us.
I refuse to allow anyone to harm her. It’s why I’d taken her in my arms when she’d collapsed.
It’s why Clara didn’t lose her shit about it either.
What I hadn’t expected was for Justice to wake. He’d been sedated heavily. Annahi’s screams woke the beast in him, and he’d been ready to tear into me.
“That was me protecting family.” I straighten, ready to face off with Zavier.
I love my brother, and I always will, but when it comes to Annahi, she’s like the family Clara and I have been trying to have with no such luck.
I won’t let him hurt her. The fates have not granted us the chance to have a child yet, and though Annahi was twenty-four, it didn’t matter.
We both saw in her the child who needed to be loved.
“You were protecting a blood witch?” Tucker sneers.
“She’s not a blood witch,” Clara snaps, coming to Annahi’s defense.
“You could smell it on her the minute she screamed,” Zavier states the obvious, and we all had. It’s why Corbin, Dane, and Tucker all shielded their mates.
“She’s not a blood witch.” I sigh and rub a hand over my face. “Trust me when I say that. She’s not. It’s mixed within her scent only when she becomes overwhelmed. It’s almost like a stressor for her.”
“And what stressed her to scream the way she did?” Jett, another member of the club, asks. When he’d been in here the day before, he’d been joking about needing a new name, considering his name was also the same as Apollo’s daughter, who happens to be Aziz’s mate.
I didn’t know Aziz or the other vampires that well. They typically stayed away from the clinic. They had no use for us, and I was fine with that. But I’ve spoken to the vampire in the past. He, his boss, and his sister. His sister actually led me to my mate.
“All of you are what happened to her. Your thoughts. The rage within them, they were too much for her to handle. Now, if you all will calm down, I need to see to a patient.” Turning to Justice, I sigh.
“You need surgery, and you need it now. I know your adrenaline is making it, so you don’t feel the pains of it as much right now, but it needs to be fixed, and it needs to happen now.
So, walk back the way you came, and we’ll get it taken care of. ”
Justices gives me a snarl, but he does as I tell him.
They should all know by now you don’t mess with a vet. We know how to do damage. Me, especially considering I could hurt a shifter in many ways and make it happen without them healing too quickly.
“When you finish, Zaid, we’re gonna have to talk about this,” Zavier remarks. “You shouldn’t have kept this from me.”
“Don’t, Zavier, don’t try and come between that girl, my mate, or me. You won’t like what happens. Annahi is a part of our leap, and that isn’t going to change.”
Zavier, Clara, and I were all leopard shifters. Leopard shifters called our packs a leap. Some would just call it a pack or something like that, but in nature, they’ve always been known as leaps.
“Did you just say Annahi?” Karsyn, Corbin’s mate, asks.
“That’s Anna’s full first name. Her name’s Annahi Andrews,” Clara answers, coming to my side. I immediately wrap an arm around her waist.
Karsyn’s eyes widen, and she visibly swallows.
“What is it?” Corbin demands, though he keeps his voice soft while directing it at his mate.
Karsyn shakes her head and leans in to whisper for only him to hear. Corbin’s jaw sets, and he mutters a curse.
“We’ll let you get back to Justice, Zaid. Call us when you have an update,” Corbin grumbles, eyes dark.
“You’ll be the first to know.”
“Keep that blood witch away from him,” Dane sneers.
“Dane.” Raine swats at his chest.
“I’ll stick around and help,” Zavier remarks.
I didn’t want my brother’s help, but the club was going to want him here. “You help, but keep your mouth shut,” I tell him, and look at Dane. “Call Anna that again, and I’ll make sure you and Raine won’t be having sex anytime soon.”
With my threat hanging in the air, I turn on my heels and call Annahi’s name as I head for the back. It was time to get Justice treated so he could get the hell out of my clinic.