Page 30 of Ensnared by the Pack: The Complete Series (Destined Realms #3)
CYRUS
I caught Audrey as she passed out, hefted her into my arms, and marched down the street to where Nova had set up her medical team.
Damn this woman.
I’d seen the kids run past and Audrey fighting the grimalkin and knew exactly what had happened since I already knew she knew how to run away. She’d chosen to stay and sacrifice herself to distract the grimalkin so the kids could escape.
And if it hadn’t been the stupidest thing she could have possibly done, I would have been thrilled to learn that Knox’s unwanted mate was willing to risk her life to save children.
But she’d known she hadn’t stood a chance and knew that breaking the bond by dying could break Knox’s spirit, and she’d made the choice anyway. And while she had no idea that Knox could go feral if their bond suddenly shattered, it still made me furious that she’d choose suicide by grimalkin to solve her problems… even if it was to save children.
Fuck.
Knox would have made the same choice without giving it a second thought.
So would I or Bishop.
And as much as I really didn’t want to admit it, the glimpse I’d gotten from her before Knox had leaped in and killed the grimalkin, had been breathtaking. Even with her dress torn and her face bruised and body scratched, she’d been stunning.
She’d radiated a determination and ferociousness that told me exactly how she’d survived the attack that had left her almost dead in Darkweald.
I had no doubt that there was a wolf inside her. I just didn’t know how to break her curse and let it out. Even if that wolf wasn’t powerful, she was going to be magnificent. She’d be a fierce mother and when she found her confidence, like I’d seen tiny glimpses of at dinner last night, she’d be a dazzling mate.
Knox was a fucking moron for not giving her a chance.
And now she was in my arms with her blood oozing down my bare chest while my partial hard-on from just holding her was getting harder by the second, despite my worry about how much blood she was losing.
I was never going to hear the end of it.
There was no way Nova wouldn’t notice I was turned on and she’d jump to the correct conclusion that Audrey was the cause.
Nova’s team was in the large square at the edge of the market by the main road, a wide open space with a fountain that allowed for easy access to the hospital for the most seriously injured, as well as a place to treat those not as injured or who couldn’t be moved without first aid first.
Doctors, nurses, and medics rushed to save lives, and civilians helped out by cleaning minor scrapes and applying pressure to more serious injuries until someone could help. Nova stood at the front of the chaos doing triage and directing people to various sides of the square.
It always shocked me a little to see her so serious, even though we’d grown up together in the alpha’s residence, and I knew she was an exceptional doctor and leader. To me, she’d always be the bratty little almost-sister who used to leave frogs in my bed or get up in the middle of the night and change my alarm clock so I’d be late for school.
She turned and saw me holding a bleeding Audrey and sporting a raging hard-on and rushed down the street to meet us.
“How bad?” she asked all business, but I knew the second Audrey was safe and Nova had time to catch her breath she was going to bring up the whole mate conversation that she’d brought up at dinner.
“I didn’t get a chance to get a good look, but we have to treat it like it’s serious.”
Her lips twitched.
Here it came.
Except her attention dipped to Audrey’s face and her still obvious bruises and serious-Nova returned. “Why didn’t she shift before bed like I told her to?”
“Because she can’t,” I said. It wasn’t my place to share that particular detail, but Nova needed to know to treat her properly. “I don’t know if she even heals like a shifter. You have to treat her like she’s human.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, hurrying us to the righthand side of the square where there were more people and supplies, not to mention more people scrambling to save lives.
“Whil has already confirmed it.”
“Well, shit. Practically no essence and can’t even shift.” She caught the attention of a nearby medic and indicated he needed to take over triage then grabbed a blanket from a cart of blankets and set it on the ground near a packed medic’s bag and a lineup of supplies ready to be used.
I laid Audrey facedown, her cheek on the blanket, and knelt beside her, concern finally weakening my hard-on. Blood smeared her back, oozing from four gashes, and trickled down her ribs. She was going to have more scars to add to the still bright red scars from all the wounds she had when we found her.
“I hate to say it, because she was really sweet at dinner last night,” Nova said, pulling on a pair of gloves and laying two thick pieces of gauze on half of Audrey’s wound, “but you can’t take her as your mate. No one will accept her as an alpha.”
She directed my hands to the gauze and I applied pressure. “I’m not interested in mating her.”
Nova shot my cock a quick look, quirked an eyebrow then grabbed a bottle of saline and went to work. “I’ve never seen you react this way to a woman.”
Which was true and scared the shit out of me. If it had been any other woman, I would have already handed her over to someone else and sought out Bishop, Finn, and Deacon to deal with this attack, but I hadn’t. I’d personally carried her to Nova. And while I could lie and say I’d needed to be there in person to tell Nova that Audrey couldn’t shift, I could have easily passed that information on to whoever I’d handed her off to and Nova knew that.
I could lie to myself and say I was protecting Knox, but that wasn’t entirely true. There was something about Audrey, something that made me angry and protective and on-edge in a way I’d never been before.
Except there was still a chance we couldn’t trust her and Knox was potentially stuck with her for the rest of his life and without a doubt, Bishop was sweet on her.
For the sake of the pack, I had to keep my head on straight.
But seeing her fight that grimalkin along with feeling her resist my power while refusing to break eye contact and submit to tell me she’d always sacrifice herself to protect children had made my wolf sit up and take notice in a way he’d never noticed another female before and?—
Head on straight, for fuck’s sake.
“She’s been through hell and she’s alone here, Nova,” I ground out, as Nova put two new pieces of gauze on the wounds she just cleaned and redirected my hands.
And Audrey’s hell had been worse than I’d imagined. After dinner, Bishop had joined me in my office and filled me in on what he’d learned about Audrey while they were at Whil’s. She’d been told her whole life she was worthless because her essence was so weak and she’d been afraid for a long time, which Bishop assumed meant she’d been abused when she was younger.
The fact that she’d fought that grimalkin to save those kids and then yelled at me about never abandoning a child just added to Bishop’s assumption about how she’d grown up.
“She needs people on her side,” I finished. “That’s it.”
Now it was Nova’s turn to roll her eyes at me. “Sure it is.”
“There are more important things to worry about right now.”
“Yes, and you being attracted to her is a problem,” Nova said.
Fuck, I need to get out of this conversation without making Nova even more suspicious.
“I’m attracted to a lot of women,” I huffed, trying to sound indifferent.
But my words only made Nova narrow her eyes at me, reminding me that I was a fucking idiot if I was going to get anything past her.
It was like I was eight again thinking I could lie to her and she’d buy it. She’d never bought it and I never learned because a part of me wanted her to call me out on it, needed her to. She, like Bishop and Knox, kept me honest with myself.
“Bishop is attracted to anything with a uterus. You’re not,” she said, cracking the seal on an ampule of healing elixir and dribbling the liquid into Audrey’s mouth. “It sucks in a lot of ways. But you have to do what’s right for the pack.”
“I’m not the alpha’s only son,” I growled. I hated that Nova was right, hated that whether I wanted Audrey to be my mate or not, I didn’t have a choice.
“Knox will never accept leading the pack and Bishop would need one hell of a woman to make the hard decisions and demand submission when necessary. That or share the alpha mating with another man or woman,” she said, motioning to Harris, her second-in-command, to come over. “And we both know the only people he’d share a mate with is you and Knox.”
Harris handed a bag of supplies to someone else and hurried to Nova’s side.
“Stitch her up,” she ordered as she stood and peeled off her gloves. “It’s not as bad as it looks but with her essence so weak, I don’t want to take any chances.”
“Not bad? She’s unconscious.” And I was painted in too much blood, not to mention the gauze beneath my hands was red and wet.
“She passed out because she overexerted herself and is still recovering from her previous injuries.” Nova’s expression softened.
Yeah, she could see right through me. I’d spent a dinner with Audrey, that was it, and I was already more attracted to her than any other woman in the pack. What a fucking mess.
Another medic came up beside me and took over applying pressure to her wounds, and I forced myself to move away from her.
She wasn’t mine. She was Knox’s or maybe Bishop’s if the bond could be broken, and she was going to be fine. I had more important things to worry about, like figuring out how those grimalkins got so close to town and why there were so many of them.