Scott drifted toward her voice.
I won’t leave you.
I never left.
I won’t leave you now.
He drifted closer, and the darkness grew light.
The voice became barking.
Scott opened his eyes, and reached up.
Maggie attacked the intruder with primal ferocity, and fought to bring him down. Her fangs had been designed for this. They were long, sharp, and curved inward. They sank deep, and when he tried to pull away, his own struggles forced them deeper, making his escape even less likely. Her fangs, as was her bone-crushing jaw, were gifts from her wild ancestors before her kind were tamed. The tools for killing were in her DNA.
Scott safe.
Pack safe.
She had ranged ahead to protect him, but now her heart soared when Scott entered the room.
They were pack.
A pack of two, they were one.
Scott attacked, fighting beside her and for her, fighting as pack, and Maggie’s soaring heart filled with bliss.
A loud, sharp crack ended it.
Scott fell, and his changing scents confused her. His pain and fear washed through her as if they were her own. The smell of his blood filled her with fire.
Alpha hurt.
Alpha dying.
Maggie’s world shrank to Scott.
Protect. Protect and defend.
Maggie released the intruder, and turned to Scott. She frantically licked his face, whined, cried, and snarled her rage at the intruder as he crawled past them. She stood over Scott, and snapped her jaws as a warning.
Protect.
Guard.
The intruder ran away, but the woman approached. Maggie knew her, but the woman was not pack.
Maggie snarled, warning the woman. She barked and snapped. Maggie slashed the woman’s arm and held her at bay. Then she felt Scott’s calming touch.
Maggie’s heart leaped with happiness. She licked his face, healing him with her heart, as his heart now healed her.
Scott opened his eyes.
“Maggie.”
She was instantly alert.
Maggie looked into his eyes, watching, waiting, wanting his command.
Scott glanced toward the big room beyond the door.
“Get’m.”
Maggie leaped over Scott without hesitation and sprinted after the intruder. His fresh blood scent was easy to follow.
She powered up the scent cone, stretching and pulling, and closed on him in seconds. She flashed through the warehouse, outside into the sun, and saw the man who hurt Scott stumbling toward a car.
Maggie ran harder, joy in her heart, for this was what Scott wanted.
She will get’m.
The man saw her coming, and raised a gun. Maggie knew this was an act of aggression, but this was all she understood. His aggression fueled her rage, and darkened her purpose.
She stared at his throat.
She will get’m.
Scott safe.
Pack safe.
Maggie launched herself into the air, baring her fangs, jaws open wide, her heart filled with a terrible, perfect bliss.
She saw the flash.
44.
Three female nurses and two female surgeons told her the waiting room was filled with hunky young cops. Emma was dying to see, even though they also warned her about the nasty old Sergeant who scowled and shouted. He’ll be on you like an attack dog, they told her.
Emma was curious about him most of all, and she wasn’t afraid. She had been a head floor nurse for almost twenty years, and damn few doctors had the balls to stand up to her.
She put away Officer James’ chart, told her staff she would be back in a minute, and pushed through the double doors into the hall.
Emma Wilson had seen this kind of thing before when officers were brought in, but the sight always moved her.
Dark blue uniforms spilled from the waiting room, and crowded the hall. Male officers, female officers, officers in civilian clothes with their badges clipped to their belts.
“What in hell is going on in there?”
His voice cut through the hall, and every officer turned.
Emma wheeled around, and thought, yep, you’re him.
A tall thin uniformed Sergeant pushed through the crowd. Bald on top, hair short and gray on the sides, and the nastiest scowl she had ever seen.
Emma held up a hand, motioning for him to stop, but he stalked right up to her until his chest touched her hand. He scowled down his nose.
“I am Sergeant Dominick Leland, and Officer James is
Emma stared up at him, and lowered her voice.
“Take one step back.”
“Goddamnit, if I have to go back there to—”
“One. Step. Back.”
His eyes bulged so wide she thought they would pop from his head.
“Please.”
Leland stepped back.
“The surgeon will be out to give you more details, but I can tell you he came through the surgery well. He woke a few minutes ago, but now he’s sleeping again. This is normal.”
A murmur swept through the officers filling the hall.
Leland said, “He’s okay?”
“The surgeon will answer your questions, but, yes, he appears to be doing fine.”
