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One
Rex
InWarden’sPass,Michigan,war had raged between motorcycle clubs. Literal war. Guns, knives, claws, and fangs had been used to cause death and destruction. The Howlers MC and the Tiger’s Claw MC were the side that had come out on top, which wasn’t exactly a surprise, since most of their members were shifters capable of turning into predatory animals in the blink of an eye. They hadn’t come out unscathed, though. Eight people were lost, and several more were injured on their side.
Back at their compound, later that evening, Terrence Lee ‘Rex’ Piccolo was faced with a problem. Rex didn’t think it was the best plan in the world, but it was the only one he could come up with at the moment. After getting the kids of the club settled in Ginger’s room with her, Rex left to check on their injured.
He was one of the older members of the Howlers MC, and a wolf shifter, but they weren’t all wolves. They also had tigers, bears, and lions among them.
Rex finally convinced Siren, his lion shifter club brother, to let someone check on his hand that had a knife wound through the center of it. The bastard had wrapped it in a dirty strip of fabric from someone’s tee when they got back, saying he wouldn’t worry about it until after he saw his mate, Sugar, which Rex understood. Siren was worried about how Sugar would take the news about Gigi, but damn, she wouldn’t take him dying from infection any better.
Gigi, real name Georgia, was the sister-in-law to their president, Axle. Gigi had recently gotten married and wasn’t even out of her teen years. Earlier that very day, she kissed her mate goodbye and climbed in her car. Emerson, her wolf shifter husband, watched as she turned the key in the ignition and the car blew up, killing her right in front of him. None of them would ever forget the howl of grief that came from Emerson as he hit the ground on his knees in that security footage. The sound was more heartbreaking than anything Rex had ever heard before. It was full of pain and the realization of one’s hopes, dreams, and plans for the future going up in smoke. It would take some time for all of them to grieve for Gigi, but some more than most.
Sugar was one of the some, being one of Gigi’s closest friends. She had seemed upset after they returned from the following battle, but she firmly sided with Rex and shoved Siren toward the room the doctors were using as a triage area.
Siren was only one of the many injured from the battle that took place outside of town in the field next to an old, abandoned farmhouse. Their side managed to decimate their opponents, but not before they sustained damage and the world learned of the existence of the shifters. The fallout of that was yet to be seen, since it had only been a matter of hours.
The Howlers MC, along with their ally club, the Tiger’s Claw MC, and the assistance of the champions sent by actual fuckinggods, they managed to stop the other side from their ultimate goal of ending the Howlers.
After finally convincing Siren to let a doctor examine his hand, Rex checked on two of the Claws members – Rita and Nails. Both already had their wounds wrapped up and were sleeping in their rooms at the compound.
Satisfied they were okay, he moved on to the next on the injured list – Axle’s father, their former president, Joker. He walked in on Joker fighting with a doctor about how to patch him up. Rex left them to argue, knowing that his presence wasn’t going to make it any easier on the doctor.
When he checked in on Bullet earlier, his tiger shifter club brother, he cursed and looked him over. Bullet was lying on his bed in tiger form and sleeping. Earlier in the night, when Rex had convinced Butterfly to let Bullet rest, Bullet had still been in human form and was knocked out on pain drugs. The surgeon had already cleaned up and stitched Bullet back together. He had not liked leaving Bullet in that bedroom instead of a hospital room, but Top had convinced him that they would keep a close eye on Bullet and showed the surgeon the door, knowing the surgeon wouldn’t let up on it if he stuck around. They needed Bullet at the compound so that his shifter healing could take care of business and not raise brows at a hospital. The Howlers could also keep Bullet protected in their territory. With the world let in on the secret of the shifters, taking one of them to a hospital to recover was only asking for something worse to happen.
When he found that his brother had shifted to his tiger form and had ripped his stitches, Rex cursed and tried to figure out how to handle it. He couldn’t call the same surgeon since Bullet was in tiger form, and the other doctor who knew of shifters, and had for a long time, was still busy working on Siren’s hand. Bullet’s wounds needed to be taken care of, but at least they weren’t bleeding as profusely as earlier. After mulling all of that over, he made a decision that he would just find another doctor as quickly as possible.
In the meantime, he’d have Top watch for one of the doctors at the compound to become freed up. If that was the case, Top could show them back to Bullet’s room.
That was when Rex remembered the veterinarian who had just moved into a house a few blocks down the road. Mama Hen had mentioned her when he stopped in to thank her for letting them use her hotel for a few days. It didn’t surprise him that Mama Hen had already met the woman. She was the resident welcome committee, a kind soul, and a social butterfly, making new friends easier than most people breathed.
Supposedly, the vet was joining the local animal clinic. Maybe she’d be eager to make connections in the community and would be willing to help them out. He prayed to the gods that she was home as he hopped on his bike.
Rex knew it was a horrible idea, but it was the only one he could come up with, so it would have to do. He drove the three blocks and pulled into the driveway of a modest ranch-style house with navy siding, white trim, an attached garage, and a white picket fence around the front yard.
After killing the engine, he climbed off his bike and made his way up the walk to the front door. When he raised his hand and knocked, he noticed the blood and dirt on his hands.Shit!He hoped she assumed it was just from the hurt animal he was about to try to convince her to help.
He heard the locks twist and disengage before the door was pulled open. Standing in front of him was a woman in her late thirties or early forties with blond hair cut short around her perfect face. What got him, though, were the big blue eyes staring up at him, open and engaging. Rex felt like he could happily fall into them and live there forever. Mentally shaking off that ridiculous thought, he focused on what she was saying to him.
“Can I help you?” Her gaze dropped to his shirt, and he knew she was seeing the blood and dirt on his clothes. “Is there someone hurt?” Her brows drew together, no doubt assessing how that much blood and dirt ended up on a person who didn’t seem to be injured.
“Uh… I’m a member of the Howlers MC. Our compound is down the road,” he said and zipped closed his cut in an attempt to hide most of the blood and dirt.
She nodded and waved her hand in a circle in front of her that saidget on with it. “Mama Hen told me about your club. Said you were good guys.”
Rex made a mental note to bring Mama Hen a gift basket of all of her favorite things. “Yes. Well, we have a badly hurt tiger at the compound. I was wondering if you had a moment to come look at him. We didn’t want to move him.”
The second she heard the wordsbadly hurt tiger, she visibly shifted into doctor mode. She slipped on a pair of shoes by her door and bent over to snatch a black bag off the floor that looked a lot like one of the medical bags you saw in television shows.
She looked ridiculous and sweet in her outfit. Her shoes were those clogs that all doctors and nurses seemed to own, but these were a bright yellow color, On her long legs, she wore a pair of ratty, cut-off jean shorts, and her shirt was a bright red, with the wordsmutt squadin white inverted script on the front. Fucking adorable.
When she saw where he was looking, she shrugged. “I make videos and post them online about how best to take care of your pets. The inverted words make it easier to film on my phone. It’s most efficient.”
Rex smirked at her. “I like it.”
She raised a blond brow at him, putting her free hand to her hip. “Are we flirting, or are we helping your tiger?”
Rex bit back the growl that his wolf insisted on. His wolf wanted to do more than growl, though. It was obvious to him that his wolf liked the vet and wanted her closer.Fuck!He needed to pull his shit together.
