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Stephanie scrambled backward, pulling a terrified Annie after her. A river of blood streaked the floor. With the sound of the wolves fighting, her own screaming, and Annie’s terrified whimpers, Stephanie felt like she was swimming through all the noise. Adrenaline and fear were fueling her now.
The back door slammed open, and the wolves continued their fighting outside. Stephanie turned around, wondering what would happen next, and realized she had no real way of knowing if any new arrivals were the enemy or not. The whole thing felt hopeless.
A moment later, Bennett came running through the back door in his human form, the police officer behind him. “They’re gone for now, but we’ve got to get out of here.”
“We can’t right now.” Stephanie clamped her hand down on Annie’s leg. “I’ve got to get her stabilized. She’s been bitten.”
11
“There’s a first aid kit on the wall just inside the office,” Stephanie said. “She’s bleeding badly, though.”
The police officer who’d arrived with Bennett quickly came to her side as Bennett handed him the first aid kit. “Let me handle this,” he said, his voice gentle but firm as he flipped the case open. “She needs your reassurance right now.”
Stephanie had plenty of medical training, even if it was on animals instead of people, but she understood what he was doing. She let him take over on Annie’s leg as she moved up toward her head. “It’s all right, baby. We’re going to get this taken care of.”
“How bad is it?” Annie asked, her voice shaking.
She didn’t want to tell her. “I’m not sure yet. I think you’ll at least need some stitches, though.”
“I’m so cold.” Annie was sprawled on the floor, but she reached out for her mother’s hand.
The three dogs, having realized the danger had passed, came out of the office. Sherlock and Penelope had their tails between their legs and heads down as they approached Annie, sniffing her and whining. Jacques, suddenly deciding he would’ve been able to fend off the vicious wolves himself, barked angrily as he skittered down the hallway.
“I know, sweetheart. It’ll be okay. We’ll get you patched up enough to get to the hospital, and you’ll be fine.”
Bennett walked back into the room, though Stephanie hadn’t even realized he’d stepped away again. He’d grabbed the blanket from the office and knelt next to Stephanie as he draped it carefully over Annie. “This is Officer Kane Glenwood,” he said softly as he put his hand on Stephanie’s shoulder. “He’s in my pack.”
She looked at the dark-haired man who was busy staunching the blood that had already soaked through Annie’s pant leg. “I’m glad you guys are here.”
“Mom.” Annie was sobbing. “I don’t understand what’s going on right now. Did I really see all of that?”
“Yes.” She swept a soothing hand over Annie’s hair. “I know it doesn’t make much sense, but I’ll explain it all later. Right now, we just need to get you taken care of.” She looked at Bennett. “Can you call an ambulance?”
He closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head. “We can’t do that.”
“What do you mean?” she fired off sharply. She’d already been through so much in a short amount of time, and this was the last thing she was expecting to hear. “She’s bleeding. A stupid band-aid isn’t going to fix that!”
“I know. Stephanie, she was bitten by a shifter.” Bennett took her face in his hands and made sure she was looking him in the eye. “That means she’s going to become one now. She’s going to become one of us.”
Her face twitched and spasmed as anger, confusion, and shock fought for space in her features. “What the fuck are you telling me right now? I thought you said you were born this way.”
“Yes.” His eyes were filled with sadness as he rubbed his thumbs across her cheekbones. “That’s true, but it can happen this way, too. If someone is bitten, especially if the bite is deep, they become a shifter.”
“Isn’t there anything we can do about it?” Stephanie could hear the shrillness in her own voice.
“No.” He swallowed. “It’s going to happen. The first thing we have to do is get her taken care of medically, but we can’t do that at a regular hospital. They don’t know about us, and they don’t know how we work. We’ve got to take her to the packhouse.”
“But…” Stephanie tore away from Bennett to look down at her daughter. Her baby. She’d cleaned so many scrapes and cuts and burns. She’d held her and rocked her, and she’d been with her when she had to make tough decisions. Being a mother wasn’t an easy job, but it was always one she’d been up for. She’d been happy to dive in with both feet and loved seeing Annie become an intelligent, beautiful young woman. Now, though, she had no idea how to help.
“We have healers there who can help her better than anyone at the hospital can,” Kane said as he used medical tape to hold some gauze in place over the wound. “We have different methods, but that’s what’s needed. The threat of exposure is too great at the hospital.”
“I just…” Everything inside her was fighting against this. Her daughter was horribly injured, and they needed to get her some real medical care immediately. But Bennett’s secret was now Annie’s, though she was barely hanging onto consciousness and had no idea. Stephanie felt completely helpless. It was her job to help those in need, but she couldn’t do anything right now. “Okay.”
“We’ll get her there in my squad car,” Kane offered. “I’ll have to leave after that, but Dawn and Joan can take care of her better than any of the rest of us can.”
The next actions the men took happened so fast. Kane went out the front door and pulled his squad car around to the back so no one would see them load a bleeding woman inside. Bennett pulled one of the exam room doors off its hinges with a quick flick of the screwdriver from his Swiss Army knife and wedged it into place over the shattered glass door. “It’s not perfect, but it’ll have to do for the moment. I can get someone to come back and fix it.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Stephanie’s body had been flooded with fear and adrenaline, and now she just felt numb as they carefully braced Annie on a blanket between them and carried her to the back door. “I really don’t care about any of this as long as she’s all right.”
