Coming Full Circle

by Kian Rhodes

  I’ve got him Alpha, Colby’s voice in my mind made me suddenly aware that a harsh ringing in my ears was canceling all audible sounds out. Colby knelt on the other side of Ralph’s inert body, carefully laying two fingertips on his throat. He’s alive, Rafe.

  Thank the Gods.

  I tried to nod to my Omega, but my head began to swim.

  Woah, there, Colby’s telepathic voice came again. Ambulances are on the way, but I really think you should lie down for the moment. That was a bitch of an explosion.

  I let Colby ease me back to sit on my butt, and as he began to lay me back, I realized that the field around us was teeming with beings who looked just as dazed as I felt. Some were wandering aimlessly in pairs or small groups of three and four, arms looped around each other as they struggled for balance. Others had collapsed on the grass and simply lay there, waiting for assistance.

  Behind them, black smoke was rising in a thick column and I could see flames licking out gaping holes where the windows had been blown out.

  Why the fuck hadn’t I thought to have the fire department on standby?

  Don’t do this to yourself, Colby admonished, his voice tired. I need to check on the others. Can you stay right here?

  Not only couldn’t I talk, but even my telepathy also was on the fritz, so I gave him a shaky thumbs-up and Colby managed a small smile. I’ll be back as soon as I can.

  I stayed on my back, staring up at the stars in the early morning sky until the peace was broken by the red and white strobes of the arriving ambulances. Pushing to my feet, I realized that Colby hadn’t wasted any time.

  The team members had been triaged and separated into groups by their injuries. The more critically injured were already being loaded into ambulances, while those with more minor injuries or suffering from shock were being treated where they sat or lay by the EMTs that had poured out of the ambulances.

  I struggled over to where I saw Ralph being loaded onto a gurney, apparently having regained consciousness just in time to fight off the people that had been sent to help. I laid my hand on his shoulder, hoping to calm him, and that was when my boss reached out to me telepathically for the first time in all the years that I’d known him.

  I’ve got to go, Rafael, he hissed. Cass is in the attic! I have to get to him!

  I turned back to the burning building and my stomach dropped at the sight of the flames licking the eaves. The entire first floor was engulfed. There was no way up to the attic.

  Not for the rest of you, Ralph agreed. But there is for me. Now, get these goons off me.

  Drawing in a deep breath, I drew on every reserve I had to try and speak. “He’s refusing treatment,” I managed to croak through a cough. “Let him up.”

  The ambulance guys stopped and stared at me. “But…he’s in critical condition!” one exclaimed. “Definite head injury and probably internal injuries, to boot!”

  “He knows that,” I huffed out. “Let him up. Now!”

  They stepped back and I offered Ralph a hand up from the gurney. One boot was missing and his clothing was hanging in tatters, revealing large, bloody scrapes where he’d gone through the glass. He kicked the remaining boot off and tore the shredded fabric free, dropping it to the ground. Then, Ralph drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes.

  The air around him began to shimmer, much like I was used to seeing in the nearly silent shifts of the dragons that I knew.

  His ears shifted high on his head, his arms lengthened and his fingers stretched as sharp claws erupted from the tips. Shiny black fur replaced his olive skin, his eyes deepened in color and, when he yawned, large white fangs glittered in the residual moonlight.

  Ralph’s face was a study in concentration as he froze midway through his shift and opened his eyes. Then, without another word, he ran for the back of the building. I followed as quickly as I could, not sure what I could do, but determined to be there if I was needed.

  By the time I reached the back of the building, heat was radiating out from the walls as they began to collapse and the humanoid cat was swinging his way up a metal fire escape hanging precariously from the failing bricks.

  The metal ladder had to have been burning his hands and feet, but Ralph never hesitated. Hand over hand, he tested each bar to be sure it would hold his weight before swinging up to the next, his gaze on the tiny window at the apex of the roofline.

  I followed Ralph’s eyes and that was when I saw him.

  Casen was hanging out the window, desperately gulping in air as smoke billowed out around him. To my amazement, he never hesitated as he took the hand that Ralph reached out for him. Climbing on the beast’s back, he clung tight as Ralph fought his way back down, struggling as the fire escape came free and began to shift.

  Metal screeched and groaned as the bolts began to give, the final section shearing off as Ralph tested it for their weight.

  Son of a bitch!

  “Drop him, Ralph,” I positioned myself under them and screamed the words, hoping that he would somehow hear me. “I’ve got him!”

  Ralph looked down and I saw the calculation in his eyes. There was no possible way a human would survive the fall from that height. He tightened his grip on Casen for a split second and then pried his fingers free, letting the Omega fall.

  For one terrifying instant as Casen’s body hurtled through the air, I thought that I’d misjudged, but, when I stepped forward and held out my arms, we crashed to the ground together. I may not have caught him, but I had broken his fall.

  And, from the feel of it, my left leg.

  “Casen? Are you hurt?”

  “I don’t think so,” Casen’s stunned voice gasped before rising in a wail. “Ralph!”

  Looking over, I saw a pile of black fur crumpled in a heap on the ground and my heart jumped.

  “I’ve got him!” Colby ran past me, stooping to lift our fearless leader in a fireman’s carry and turning back to the ambulances at a run.

  “He’ll be okay,” Casen muttered through the tears streaming down his face. “He has to be, doesn’t he?”

  I nodded. “Can you stand up? If you can walk, could you go and have someone bring me a pair of crutches?”

  Casen stood and looked down at me, suddenly realizing I was injured. “I’m so sorry, Rafe.” With surprising strength, he helped me to rise up on my good leg and wrapped his arm around my waist. “I’ve got you.”

  Then, one hobbled step at a time, we made our way back to the impromptu medical camp. This time when Ralph was strapped to the gurney, I was seated on the bed next to him with his Omega in the seat between us, as the siren announced our final departure from the pile of rubble that used to be the Verlorene Hoffnung Rehoming Center.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Casen

  It wasn’t until I was situated in the ambulance between the two injured Alphas that the adrenaline racing through my veins began to wear off. Then, the mind-numbing realization of what I’d been through began to set in and I lost it.

  And, by it, I mean my grip on sanity.

  Despite the warm blanket that had been wrapped around my shoulders when I was handed up into the ambulance, my body trembled and my teeth chattered.

  “Hey, there, Casen. It’s okay. You’re safe now.” Despite the pain from his own injuries, Rafe was eyeing me with concern. He reached for me, stretching his arm until he was able to grip the back of my neck in his hand and squeezing gently. “Breathe, Casen. In and out. In and out,” Rafe ordered, his Alpha voice demanding my cooperation while a mist of Alpha pheromones wrapped around me, offering a deep comfort that I was all too used to going without. “That’s better,” Rafe praised me gently. “Keep breathing.”

  I nodded, relieved when my muscles began to unclench a little. By the time that we reached the emergency room, I’d stopped shaking and Rafe had removed his hand from my neck.

  “He’s in shock,” Rafe snapped to the first person we saw, an orderly in wrinkled blue scrubs. “Get him a doctor.”


  “But..” the young man trailed off, looking in confusion between the two Alphas, both of whom were obviously in worse shape than I was.

  Rafe growled and the orderly stepped back. “Ye..yes, sir,” he agreed, rushing off only to return seconds later with a clipboard-toting man in a long white coat.

  “I’m Doctor Singh,” he said in a kind voice, glancing at me before turning his attention to Rafe. “Paul says you’re being difficult?”

  Rafe wrinkled his nose and narrowed his eyes. “I’m an Alpha shifter,” he snapped derisively. “I don’t get difficult.” He nodded at me. “My leg is already healing and my friend would want his Omega cared for before himself,” he huffed. “Or do I need to do it myself?” Rafe shifted on the gurney like he was going to try and stand and the doctor lost his bemused smile.

  “No, of course not,” he said hurriedly. “I apologize. Of course we’ll see to the Omega first.” He hesitated for a second and Rafe sighed, his annoyance clear.

  “Just put them in the same room,” he suggested. “In fact, until my friend wakes up, just put all three of us in one room.”

  “That’s highly irregular,” the doctor said weakly. “I’m not sure..” He trailed off when Rafe snarled. “I’m sure it’s fine,” he agreed, swallowing hard and raising his hand to signal a couple of burly guys lurking in the background to come and unload the gurneys.

  I was helped down from the ambulance and into a wheelchair and then wheeled along behind the two Alphas as they were rushed through the halls.

  I’d assumed that we’d be warehoused in a small cubicle until the powers-that-be decided it was our turn to be treated since that was what I was used to from previous trips. Of course, on previous trips to the emergency room, I hadn’t been accompanied by two high-ranking law enforcement officers.

  Instead, we were ushered into a large private room that was empty except for a weird vinyl-upholstered couch along the far wall, under the window. The gurneys were parked along another wall as the orderlies rushed back out of the room, returning almost immediately wheeling three oversized hospital beds into the room and spacing them out in a row across the floor, with Doctor Singh hot on their heels.

  “Will this be acceptable?” the doctor asked Rafe.

  The Blood Valley Alpha nodded. “Put the Omega in the center bed,” he ordered. “And that will be fine.”

  With Rafe’s approval to the room setup, everything suddenly kicked into high gear.

  A bevy of nurses rushed into the room, pushing various monitors and other pieces of equipment that they positioned around Ralph’s side of the room, running the cords to the wall and covering them with rubber floor mats.

  I was trying to watch as they took various readings, whispering amongst themselves as they hooked him to the machines, but the doctor stepped to my bedside, blocking my view.

  “Casen, are you ready for us to begin?” Doctor Singh asked, offering me a hand up from the wheelchair. “You’ll feel better soon.” He led me over to the bed Rafe had designated as mine and waited patiently as I climbed up before covering me with the thick blankets. “Now, I need to get an IV into you. Can you hold out your arm?”

  I obeyed immediately and sank back against the pile of pillows behind me as he began to poke for a vein, the entire time pointedly ignoring Rafe’s gaze as he watched us. When the IV bag finally began to drip into the line anchored in my arm, Doctor Singh patted my calf through the blankets and raised his eyes to Rafe’s.

  “Your friends are stabilized for the moment,” he said calmly. “Now can I take a look at your leg?”

  I had to swallow a grin at the annoyance that crept into his tone. This was clearly not a man used to treating Alphas.

  “Sure,” Rafe agreed with a small smirk. He laid admirably still as the temporary SAM splint was cut away from his leg, only cursing once when the doctor began to squeeze along the ankle.

  “We’ll need an x-ray to be sure,” Singh said, “but I think it’s a compound fracture.” He raised a brow at Rafe. “Any allergies to painkillers?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Rafe said with a shake of his head. “Until Ralph wakes up, I’m not taking anything. And if they need an x-ray, they’ll need to do it in here, also. I’m not going anywhere.”

  “Of course, you’re not,” Singh huffed. “I’ll request the mobile unit be sent in.” He watched the parade of nurses make their way to the door, before crossing to Ralph’s bedside. He proceeded to review the machine setting and the chart they’d filled in and hung off the end of the bed, nodding to himself. “This all looks good,” he said confidently. “We’ll be taking him for a CT scan as soon as it’s available, but, all things considered, he’s stable and that’s a good start.”

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Ralph

  I was floating, caught between the waking world and what lies beyond, trapped in a place where I could hear everything but respond to nothing.

  My body was a prison, refusing to respond to my commands. Even my beast, my most inner strength was subdued and listless, curled up in a corner of my soul as he struggled to heal the most grievous of our injuries. Fought to allow me to return to the land of the living one more time.

  Nine lives or not, there is a limit as to the damage that my human form could take and still recover.

  “We got the bleeding to stop, but he needs blood,” I heard a whispered voice say. “But we don’t have any that will match.”

  “None?” Another voice whispered back. “Really?”

  “He’s feline,” the first voice murmured. “A panther shifter. They’re so rare. I’ve got someone calling around to the banks, but the online inventory says the closest bank with any available is over four-thousand miles away; clear up in Alaska.”

  “Can you get it released?” Another voice, one I knew well, broke into the conversation.

  “Of course,” the first voice said slowly, sounding surprised. “But the transport time..and it’s the dark season there right now. We have to find a plane and pilot willing to risk life and limb..”

  Rafe interrupted again. “You just get that blood released and leave the transport to me.” There was a brief silence and then, “And find me a fucking phone. Mine was broken in the explosion.”

  “Yes, sir,” the second voice was already fading away as he responded.

  Several minutes passed until I heard the rustling of fabric and the faint beeping of numbers being pressed on a keypad.

  “It’s Alpha Borrero on official COPSD business.” I could hear Rafe draw in a deep breath. “Alpha Coruscate, COPSD needs to call in an urgent favor from the Böxenwolf Brigade.”

  I continued to slide in and out of some level of awareness, caught between eavesdropping on the world around me and tumbling from nightmare to nightmare, forced again and again to watch Cass fall, to see the betrayal in his eyes as I’d forced his grip free, dropping him in a last-ditch effort to save his life as the superheated steel of the fire escape had lurched, threatening to throw us both to the ground.

  Finally, the dream changed.

  “Cass,” I groaned his name as I watched him fall yet again.

  “I’m okay, Alpha,” Cass’s sweet voice, the warmth of his breath in my ear made my heart flutter. “You did it. You saved me.”

  “I didn’t mean it, Cass,” I mumbled, desperate to be sure he understood that I’d never meant to abandon him. “I couldn’t.”

  “It’s okay.” Sadness crept into my Omega’s words. “You need to rest, Alpha. You’re hurt really bad. We can figure it out later.”

  ~*~

  “That should help,” one of the voices that I didn’t know but had begun recognizing sounded satisfied. “He’s damned lucky to have a friend like you, that’s for sure.”

  I recognized the snort as Rafe’s before he spoke. “You’ve got it backward. We’re all lucky to have him. He’s the reason that the Brigade sent a team to pick up the supplies. Because they were for him.” He paused. “Any idea how long this will take?”


  I swore I could hear a shrug in the other person’s voice. “None at all. A lot of it is going to depend on how strong your boss is.”

  Rafe laughed. “So, any minute, then.”

  “Or possibly ten minutes ago,” Cass’s small voice joked.

  Rafe laughed again and then something buzzed. “Shit. Colby was supposed to be here soon, but he’s still running point on the fire scene.”

  Another strange voice asked what that meant and Rafe sighed. “You know Ralph is an Alpha,” he reminded the other person. “A few months ago, a friend of ours spearheaded a research program on the benefit of Omega touch to an injured Alpha and the results were very promising.”

  “I read something about that in the journal,” another voice mused. “He was a nursing student, wasn’t he?”

  “He was,” Rafe acknowledged. “Colby is my Omega and another member of Ralph’s team. I was hoping to have him give it a try, see if it helped.”

  “I can do it,” Cass spoke up, his voice firm. “Why didn’t you ask me?”

  “You’re still healing, too,” Rafe said gently. “I know he wouldn’t want me to endanger you to save him.”

  “What he’d want,” Cass disagreed, “would be for you to let me make my own decision,” he stated firmly. “Just like he did when the shit hit the fan during the assignment.”

  There was a long pause and then Rafe sighed. “You might be right,” he allowed. “What do you want to do, Casen?”

  “Whatever it takes,” Cass said simply. “Whatever it takes.”

  It was only a minute later that I felt a breeze waft over my skin as the blanket was lifted and then a long, lean body covered in silky soft skin carefully snuggled up against me. As Cass’s delicious Omega scent drifted up to tease my nose, I felt the tension leave my muscles and a blissfully dreamless sleep swiftly pulled me under.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Casen

  It seemed that Ralph wasn’t the only one who could benefit from us being in close contact. Within minutes of stripping down to my lacy underwear – a sight that Rafe had steadfastly pretended not to see – and snuggling close to Ralph’s familiar body, I was out like a light.