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“What part of fight to the death didn’t you understand?” My father strolled between the wolf and the man, his hands loose at his sides. My forehead wrinkled as I looked for the gun I’d heard cocked, and my gaze landed on Jess’ father, seeing a rifle braced against his shoulder, the muzzle pointed unwaveringly at the Hanley Alpha. “Also, there is the rule of no interference.”
“Yet, you have a weapon pointed at me,” Nicholas Hanley snarled. “I thought there were no weapons.”
“There aren’t…. between the challengers. That is just to make sure you abide by the outcome. Your son knew the risk. He accepted it,” my father declared, his tone brooking no arguments. “Take your son and go home.”
He kept himself between Caleb and the Hanley Alpha as I walked up next to Caleb. My presence seemed to remind the Hanley Alpha he was outnumbered and he jerked his head. A couple of Hanley men came forward and carefully picked up the dead wolf as a low keening cry came from the Hanley pack.
“This isn’t over,” the Hanley Alpha swore, red-rimmed eyes burning with retribution. “This will never be over.”
I waited untill they’d piled in their trucks, pulling out as Jess’ Dad stood guard with his rifle, before kneeling down next to Caleb. “Can you shift back?” I asked him, checking him over. He had a few cuts but the worst was his leg. Most of the damage would heal with the shift, I hoped. Caleb whined, nosing my hand wrapped around his injured hind leg. Broken, he whispered along the link we shared, a red haze of pain accompanying the thought.
“We’ll need to set the leg before he can shift back,” I called and several shifters hurried forward to help me lift him. “Get a travois set up. I don’t want to risk jostling him.” Anna knelt at his head, smoothing the thick blonde scruff that had protected him from a killing bite.
“He’s bleeding,” she warned, her hands coming back red. “He needs to shift.”
“Not before we get this leg straight,” I barked, not willing to take the chance of laming him if he shifted back with unset break.
“I can help,” a voice interrupted and I stared in shock as Leah stood there resolutely, only her fingers wringing together indicating her nerves. “My dad’s a vet.”
“Are you kidding me?” Anna scoffed. “Do you think we’re going to bring him to your dad?” She added scornfully and Leah took a deep breath.
“NO, I think you’re going to let me set the leg so he can shift back and not bleed out,” she responded calmly and silencing Anna.
“Can you do it?” I asked bluntly. I didn’t have the first clue how to set a broken bone at least not one in wolf form.
“Yes,” she answered, crouching down next to me. “But you’re gonna have to hold him down because it’s going to hurt.”
“Dom, you trust her to do this?” Anna interjected in disbelief. “They’re going to get my mom. She can set the bone.”
“How long, Anna? How long does he have before he’s lost too much blood?” Red coated almost everything now and I could sense through the link he was growing weak. If he lost too much blood, he wouldn’t be able to shift back and the magic of the shift couldn’t heal him. “Why wasn’t your mom here anyway? Why wasn’t she at the fight in case she was needed?” My voice was sharp as I asked questions she didn’t want to answer and she bowed her head.
Take it easy, Trent warned via our link as he jogged up. You know exactly what her mother was doing.
I lowered my head for a second, blowing air out of my lungs as I forced myself to apologize. “I’m sorry, Anna. That was uncalled for.”
“Do you want me to set it?” Leah’s question interrupted us but Anna gave a short nod, accepting my apology. “He’s getting worse.”
Let her, the words were groggy and laced with pain, but Caleb lifted his head enough for our eyes to meet. Let her, he said again before his head thudded back to the ground.
“Go ahead,” I told her, shifting around so I could pin Caleb down and give her room to set the bone. Her fingers moved delicately over the hind leg, gingerly prodding were teeth had dug in, tearing ligaments. She glanced up at me and nodded right before rotating the leg. I braced my weight against Caleb right as he twisted up, jerking against the pain.
“Got it,” she whispered, her fingers gliding over the leg to make sure the bone was aligned. “He needs to shift now,” she added hastily as more blood soaked into the ground from his sudden movements.
“You heard her, Caleb? You need to shift.” I prodded him, shaking his shoulder, but it looked like he might have passed out from the pain. “I’m sorry,” I muttered as I shoved my thumb into a deep cut on his side. A pained whimper escaped him as his eyes shot open and I said quickly, “Shift.”
