by Kiera West
“Shane, snap out of it,” Noah ordered, which made no sense. It was Ethan who was bleeding. Ethan who was hurt.
She opened her mouth to correct him, but the wolf stopped growling. He bowed down, taking on the role of a submissive, at Noah’s feet. Then, he transformed. The fur rippled then started to disappear, revealing human flesh. His back arched up then flattened. The long canine snout melted. His legs turned into human arms and legs, and the body that stood up was Shane himself. He was naked, scratches marring his face. He pulled in huge amounts of air as he shook his head back and forth.
No freaking way. What just happened? She closed her eyes and then opened them again, but Shane was still standing there over Ethan.
“What the hell happened?” Noah asked as he moved toward Ethan.
Shane shook his head, his huge blue eyes filled with anger and pain. Her brain was melting. Or maybe this was just a dream. Eve could not even contemplate it, couldn’t wrap her mind around what she was seeing. Shane was a wolf. No. Oh, God, he was.
“Sorry, Noah. I found him in the clearing, just about two hundred yards down the path. I was on my way back, and he was just lying there like that.” Pain bled from his voice, anguish she could feel deep in her heart.
She watched as Noah reached out to feel for a pulse, and she noticed his hand shook. Everything in her tightened with worry, fear, but in the next moment, Noah let loose a sigh. “He’s alive. Barely. How is that possible? He should be healing now.”
“He was attacked as a human. Not in wolf. I don’t know how long he’d been out there,” Shane said as he looked down at Ethan. “We need to tell Eve. She can help him.”
“No. Call my mother. If we can get him in the lab, he’ll heal himself.”
“First, getting Aunt Jane here is not going to happen. There is a storm moving in. Ethan needs Eve.”
Noah’s expression darkened more. “She’s not ready for us. Not ready to know the truth.”
Shane opened his mouth, apparently to tell him that she had already seen everything. But Eve had heard enough. Even if her mind was still not working properly, or maybe this was one big nightmare, she couldn’t stand by and not help. She couldn’t leave Ethan lying there, bleeding to death.
“Eve already knows,” she said, striding into the great room. “And she is getting damned tired of finding things out by eavesdropping.”
She allowed her anger to surge, but in that next instant, she saw Noah. The pain in his gaze told her he could not stand to lose his brother. She wanted to turn away, ignore it, but it would be impossible. His love for his brother was something she had always admired, and she knew it would damage him to lose him this way. She could not stop herself from going to him then. She took his hand and gave it a quick squeeze.
“I would get some clothes on if I were you, Shane,” Noah said.
Before he could leave, Ethan awakened. “Noah.” His voice was hoarse with pain. Her heart squeezed as she tried to stem the tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.
Noah bent down, his expression intent. He took his brother’s hand. “I’m here, Ethan.”
She watched Ethan swallow convulsively. “Bears. Totems.”
In that next instant, he passed back out. Noah said nothing as he lifted his huge body and carried him into the lab. She followed him, her mind still trying to grasp everything that happened. Then she shoved it aside. What was important was that she save Ethan. Then she could figure out just what the hell was going on with the Dillons.
She glanced at the cage. The wolf was still sedated.
She looked at it then at Noah. He shook his head. “No, just a regular wolf.”
She nodded. “I’ll need help.”
“Can you save him?”
She shrugged as the enormity of what she needed to do almost crushed her. She had many degrees and was a veterinarian, but this was something different, something that she had never faced before. If what she saw was real, this was a different species entirely.
“I will do everything in my power.” She glanced at him quickly. “But don’t think you’re off the hook. When I’m done, you have a lot of explaining to do.”
His frown deepened, but he acknowledged her promise with a nod. She pushed aside the hurt and anger to work. It would take everything in her power to save Ethan.
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kiera West spends her days writing about sexy shape shifters and her nights dreaming of them. She is married with children. Readers can find out more about her writing at www.KieraWest.com.
Siren Publishing, Inc.
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