“Meg, I’m the one who’s sorry,” Lachlan said. “Meg.”
“She needs to shift,” Caleb said. “She’s badly hurt.”
“Can you force her shift?” Prescott said. He was stroking his hand gently down her face. Her cheek was swollen, her lip split. “He hit her.”
As an Alpha, Caleb could force a shift on weaker shifters. It was sometimes necessary if adolescents making their first shifts became stuck between forms. Their panic would leave them trapped in that half form. An Alpha had the strength and power to complete their shift, or to call one forth if necessary.
Caleb had only needed to use this particular power a few times, but he knew he could do it. “If she doesn’t shift herself, I’ll try.” He finished picking Meg up and slowly walked her out of the warehouse. She moaned softly with pain for the first few steps then grew silent.
When they reached his truck, Paul was there with a frightened Lexie clinging to him like a spider monkey. “She wanted to know if I was one of Meg’s mates. Apparently Meg told her you were all very handsome.”
Meg had told her sister about them and she thought they were handsome. She truly had not run from them. Whatever reason she’d had for driving off like she had, it hadn’t been a rejection of her mates. Caleb looked at his brothers. “She didn’t run from us.”
Despite the situation being not remotely humorous, Caleb found the strength to give Lexie a smile. “My name is Caleb, these are my brother’s Lachlan and Prescott, and we are Meg’s mates.”
Lexie turned away from them and buried her face into Paul’s neck. She mumbled her next words, but he heard her clearly. “They have no clothes on.”
“We’ll fix that as soon as Meg is shifted,” Prescott said softly. “We need to make sure she is safe.”
Lexie turned back to them with a serious scowl on her pretty little face. “That man hit her and threw her against the wall so hard. Will Meggie be all right if she shifts?”
“We hope so,” Lachlan said. “We’ll take her to a doctor we know. A special shifter doctor.”
She nodded and watched Caleb climb into the back of the truck and position Meg on his lap.
“Meg, baby. You need to shift now. I know it hurts, but you need to try.”
She remained still, her breathing louder and slower.
“Do it now, Caleb,” Lachlan said. He pulled on some fatigues from the bag in their truck and came to stand at the open door. “I keep thinking her next breath is going to be her last.”
Caleb had to agree, she’d obviously been badly injured and was now too weak to shift. He placed his hand on her bloodstained forehead and closed his eyes. He called forth his cat and reached inside for hers. He roared, commanding her weaker cat to obey when it hesitated.
He felt soft thick fur under his palm and pulled back his power as he opened his eyes.
“Bloody hell,” Prescott said.
“I wasn’t expecting that,” Lachlan whispered. They were both crowded into the open door of the truck. They gently reached out and stroked her thick white coat with its black ringed spots.
Their Meg was a snow leopard.
* * * *
Nick strolled back into the warehouse. He had finished his business with the demons, and was ready for his time with the lovely Meg. He wasn’t sure what kind of shifter she was, but her sweet soul had called to him. He knew he would get the best hit ever from her. The thought of the added years and power he’d harvest from her soul made his cock ache with the need to be inside her.
He’d had shifters before. Fucked them and bled them, but Meg was different. Not only had she smelled different, she smelled pure. Not just virginal pure. He could have had her friend Kaitlyn for that.
That one had screamed virgin
.
No, Kaitlyn had been untouched, but she’d also had the taint of something evil in her blood. She was a human, but she had also set his teeth on edge.
Not like his Meg. She was pure and clean. She was all his. He saw that Lexie was gone at the same instant he scented the shifters. Wolves and cougars, all male. He harnessed his power and compressed the air to step into the exact spot he’d left Meg.
The warehouse collapsed around him as he screamed his rage to the heavens that were denied him.
Prescott looked at Lexie curled up and fast asleep against Caleb’s side. She had been quiet and fearful for the first few minutes of the journey, but Lachlan had worked his charm on her and she’d soon told them everything that had happened. She’d growled with them when she’d described Meg’s ordeal, she’d bared her small blunt teeth in anger. Prescott liked her. She was a great little kid. Anyone who loved Meg that much was all right in Prescott’s book, and there was no doubting that Lexie loved her big sister.
While Caleb had talked to Doctor Jason Reed, she’d drifted off to sleep. Jason had suggested they take Meg to a doctor he knew in Las Vegas, and because that was hours closer than taking Meg to him, they’d reluctantly agreed.
Jason had proved to be an excellent doctor, despite his terrible bedside manner. His swift actions with Kaitlyn had saved her life, even though he’d been unaware of her hybrid vampire/shifter genetics at the time. He was the best doctor the shifter world had to offer, and Prescott wanted him to care for his mate.
“Who is this doctor?” Prescott said. “I’ll give him five minutes, and if he fails to impress me, I say we head to Eminence.”
“I agree,” Lachlan said. “Meg appears to be stable now. She’ll be fine until we reach Jason.”
Caleb gave Lachlan a withering stare. “When did you get your medical degree, Lachlan?”
Prescott huffed, but pulled the truck up to the clinic they’d been directed to. The lights were on and a nurse in a lab coat walked out to greet them, despite the fact it was the middle of the night.
“I’m Doctor Charlie Paige. You must be the Mabry brothers. Jason told me you were coming.”
Prescott opened the door for Caleb, and Lachlan reached in for Lexie. “Please follow me. I’ll examine your mate immediately.”
“At least she’s a woman,” Prescott said. “We won’t be ripping anyone’s arms off out of jealousy at least.” Sean had told them how he’d tried to attack Jason when he’d examined Kaitlyn. Prescott’s cat growled inside as he imagined Jason touching Meg. “Maybe it’s good we came here.”
Caleb gently placed their mate on an examination table, and they still all growled when Charlie first put her hands on Meg’s sleeping cat.
“Do you want to wait outside?” Charlie said, raising an eyebrow in their direction.
“No.” They answered as one. She proceeded to do a thorough examination on Meg.
“She seems to have a collapsed right lung, and the left one is filled with blood as well,” Charlie said. “I could do X-rays, but really it’s not going to show me anything I don’t already know.”
“Will she heal now that she’s shifted?” Caleb said. He’d moved back to Meg’s side and was softly stroking her head.
“Not before she dies, no,” Charlie said.
Prescott’s roar woke Lexie from where she was sleeping on a big reclining armchair in the corner. Charlie introduced herself and tucked the little girl back in, telling her to go back to sleep.
“Are you ready for me to finish, Mr. Mabry?” she said, directing her glare right at Prescott.
“Please, doctor,” Caleb said. His teeth were grating together, and his eyes sparking with amber. She had angered all of them.
Maybe they didn’t teach bedside manners to doctors anymore?
“I need to put in a chest tube to re-inflate her right lung. I’ll aspirate her left lung and then her shifter genetics should enable her to fully heal in a day or two.”
“Perhaps you should have said that first, doctor,” Lachlan said, his voice gravelly with his anger.
“That’s not what you asked,” she said and left to gather her equipment.
“Jason said she was good, not that she was pleasant,” Caleb said. He leaned against the exam table and stroked Meg’s flank.
“She’s worse than Jason, and I thought he was an asshole,” Prescott muttered. He stepped closer to Meg and bent to kiss her head. His senses swam with the scent of his mate, her flavor rich and sweet. He wanted her to heal so he could hold her without causing her further harm.
The doctor reappeared with her arms full of equipment, and Prescott cringed when he saw tears swimming in her eyes. He hadn’t cared if she’d heard him, and now
he
felt like the asshole.
“I understand you are worried about your mate, but I need you all to step outside,” she said, her gaze directed at the floor.
Prescott opened his mouth to speak, but Caleb silenced him with a glare. “We’re not going to be able to do that, I’m afraid, Charlie. But we will step back a little to give you room to work.”
They all stepped back and watched as she efficiently cared for their Meg. When Meg whimpered in pain again, they all growled but remained against the wall where they stood watching. Charlie tensed at their growls, but didn’t stop what she was doing.
“The drain will need to stay in for the rest of the night,” Charlie said. She stepped back and snapped off her surgical gloves. “Then I’ll remove it and she’ll be free to shift. If she wakes, it’s important she remains as her leopard, otherwise the drain will be in the wrong place.”
She went to walk from the room, but Prescott stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Charlie, I was out of line. Thank you for saving my mate.” She nodded and slipped from his hold to leave the room.
“I’ve got some spare clothes I keep here that will do for your mate. They may not fit, but they’re clean.” Prescott thanked Charlie’s retreating back. She was actually very nice. He felt like even more of an asshole.
“I think we should offer her the job as our town doctor,” Caleb said. They all moved to stand around their small snow leopard. “She’s very good.”
Prescott just nodded, still feeling guilty. He stroked a trembling hand over the mottled fur of Meg’s leg. Her markings were beautiful. He hoped all their cubs would be as beautiful as her. “Will our cubs be cougars or snow leopards?”
“They have an equal chance of being either,” Charlie said. He was surprised to hear her voice. He turned and saw her sitting in the chair next to Lexie, who was awake and drinking a glass of juice that Charlie had obviously given her. He realized he had no idea how long he’d been standing there staring at his mate. She was just so beautiful, and she was his. He went back to staring at her and wondered how he’d lived the last seventy years without her.
* * * *
Meg opened her eyes to see blue eyes gazing back at her. She was startled and pulled away only to be held firm.
“Just a little while longer, baby. Then you can shift back.” She blinked to clear her vision and Caleb’s handsome face appeared as her eyes finally focused.
She swung her head around looking for Lexie. “I’m here Meggie. The bad man’s gone. Your mates saved us.” Her sister was standing in front of her. She rubbed her head against Lexie’s soft cheek, and purred her happiness. Nicholas hadn’t hurt Lexie. That was all that really mattered.
God, he could have killed her. Meg wanted to feel Lexie in her arms and went to stand up for her shift. “No Meg, you have to stay still for a bit longer,” Prescott said. She felt his large hand on her head, and she rubbed against it instinctually then stopped when she realized what she’d done.
She looked up at him and found him smiling down at her. He didn’t look mad. He should have been. They all should have been. She’d run from them. When her brain finally caught up she swung her head around and found Lachlan standing on her other side. He stroked her rump, making her shiver in delight at his touch. He didn’t look angry either.
She looked around the room. She smelled the sharp aromas of disinfectant and blood. The room was a sterile white. Trolleys and shelves held wrapped packages and medical equipment. She was in a hospital. She had to know what was happening. She needed to shift.
Caleb gently held her head and turned it until she was facing him. She remembered seeing him in that warehouse. She’d been dying, and she hadn’t been able to breathe. Her chest had been burning in pain as she’d struggled to draw in air.
“You’re safe. We brought you to a doctor. You have a tube in your side that is helping you to heal.” Caleb smiled at her. “You can shift back when the tube is removed. But not for another hour. Do you understand?”
She nodded. An hour to wait, then what? Would they tell her they didn’t want her, that she was too stupid to be their mate? That’s how she felt. She’d failed Lexie as well as them. As the pain in her body returned, so did the pain in her heart. She’d made a mess of things. She’d hurt everyone. Lexie, her friend Paula, and her mates.
“Your pain and sadness are hiding your delicious scent from us,” Caleb said. “We’ll work this out, Meg. You’re not alone anymore. You have your mates to help you.”
She lowered her head to his lap, feeling very undeserving. She noticed the mating musk begin to fill her nostrils. He wanted her. Despite her running from them, he still accepted they were mates and was drawing her to him. Her cat took over, rubbing her head against his leg as she worked his scent into her fur and released more of her own musk.
“We didn’t know you were a snow leopard,” Lachlan said. He squatted down in front of her, he was so gorgeous. Blond hair, blue eyes, and full lips. “We just scented leopard. Your species is very rare.”