*****
Neither of the men spoke as they rode to the place where Waverly was, both were trying to prepare themselves for what they would find. Vander pulled up at the dumpsite beside Jewel’s vehicle. Jewel was standing off to the side with two other officers. Vander recognized the officers as he and Kane walked up. Thank God they are shifters too, Vander thought. He didn’t know how they would explain this. When Vander got close enough he gasped as he watched a dark brown wolf walking back and forth in front of the dumpsters. She had dried blood all over her fur. The blood had matted in clumps hanging off her.
He turned and looked at Kane who was growling and looking like he was one second away from shifting. Vander had to get this under control.
“Kane, to the car. I got this, we don’t know everything that happened, we can’t be domineering,” Vander said.
“Mine,” Kane growled and shook his head.
“Ours, now let me deal with this,” Vander warned.
He saw Kane struggling and waited. Finally, his mate nodded and said, “Fine, but if you can’t get her under control, I will.”
Shit, that is what they didn’t need. Vander waited until Kane was in the car and then turned and looked, he went and stood by Jewel as he watched the feral wolf growl at them. Vander started to walk toward her when Jewel jerked his arm halting him from walking up to her.
“Vander, you can’t walk up to her. She is pissed and not sure who to trust. She will attack you.”
Vander looked back at Waverly as she growled showing her sharp teeth. Vander knew he had to do something to get her to calm down so they could take her to the hospital. “Just trust me, Jewel. If she is my mate then she will be able to scent me.”
“Shit, Vander, she will bite your damn head off,” Jewel growled but Vander decided Waverly was worth it and walked slowly a few steps toward her then sat down getting eye level with her.
Waverly growled louder, snapping her teeth at him until he sat down. She watched as he sat there and made no other movements. Waverly’s wolf tilted her head up then scented the air again. Vander sat quietly, not making eye contact with Waverly’s wolf, as she continued to scent the air. Nobody said anything as they watched her stop moving back and forth. She moved a little closer, glaring at Vander.
Officer Mike Johnson looked over at Jewel then quietly spoke, “I hope he knows what he is doing?”
“Me too,” Jewel quietly responded.
Waverly’s wolf walked a few more steps closer, then scented the air again. Jewel could tell her wolf was telling her that Vander was her mate and that he wouldn’t hurt her, but Waverly the human was fighting it. Jewel prayed the shifter part would win and not attack her mate.
Slowly, Vander brought one of his hands up so Waverly could sniff his skin. The wolf came closer, sniffed his hand, and then licked it. She came closer this time and allowed Vander to rub her fur. As Vander rubbed Waverly’s fur she moved yet closer and then to everyone's amazement got into his lap and laid down. Vander could see all the blood dried and matted to her fur.
As she allowed him to rub on her, Waverly shifted into her human form. She was out cold. Vander gasped when he saw the bruises and cuts all over her body. Her body had old bruises over new ones. Cutting and draining her didn’t give her wolf time to heal her so her body started to shut down. They probably thought she was dying and left her body out here to die. Vander had heard the chatter on the radio, an old man was dropping off some trash and found her behind the dumpster and called the police. Thankful the two responding officers recognized Waverly and called Jewel.
Vander immediately felt a connection to Waverly as he stared at her.
“We need to get her to the shifter hospital, Vander. She is going to die if we don’t get her some help.”
Vander lifted her in his arms and cradled her as he walked back to his car. Kane jumped out and opened up the back seat so Vander could get in with Waverly. Then he closed the door, getting back into the car.
“Can one of you take my car back to the office?”
“Yes, ma’am, Alpha,” Officer Mike Johnson responded.
Jewel ran around, got into the car, and drove as fast as she could to the Shifter hospital. Kane looked over the back seat at his mates and he grimaced.
“How is she?” Kane asked.
“Unconscious,” Vander ground out. “I can feel her though.”
“Me too, she played them. I could see what she wanted us to just before she shifted back. She made them think she was dead,” Kane said.
Vander nodded. “Smart, and strong.”
Nobody knew about this hospital. It was an old Victorian house Jim Morris had turned into a fully functioning hospital. Jim was a doctor who wanted to help his own kind. He had made his fortune over the years as a heart surgeon. He got with all the Alphas in Georgia and asked for donations and funding to hire staff and run the shifter hospital. The hospital was also his residence so there was always a doctor on the premises.
Vander looked down at Waverly’s beaten body. He wanted to kill whoever did this to her. He knew one day he would find this man and kill him with his bare hands. Waverly never moved as they drove to the hospital. He was worried that she had died in his arms as she groaned when Jewel hit a bump in the road.
“Sorry. I’m trying to get there as fast as I can. How is she looking?” Jewel asked concerned.
“Not good. She may have overestimated her abilities,” Vander whispered as he stared at the woman.
“That’s probably what saved her life, Vander. They thought she was dead or dying and had no use for her anymore,” Jewel replied as Vander pulled the hair away from Waverly’s face. Kane wanted to howl at the injustice of it all.
“She will be fine,” Kane ground out. He needed to touch her, but he knew he couldn’t help her. She had been beaten and tortured for a week now. He didn’t know how she made it this long. If it hadn’t been for being a strong shifter, then she would have died like so many of the other victims.
Vander looked up as Jewel drove onto a dirt road. Jewel had told him about the shifter hospital but he had never been to it. As they turned down another dirt road Vander could see a pond over to the right and a white Victorian house sitting in a meadow.
“I know, it’s beautiful,” Jewel said to Vander tightly.
“It looks like the ones I’ve seen in movies and pictures,” Vander said absently, he knew what his friend was doing but it didn’t change things, she needed to get there faster.
“Well it should since Doc Morris lived in the Victorian period. He is an old wolf. He can help Waverly,” Jewel replied as they came to a stop in front of the house. A man in a white coat came to the door and opened it as Jewel opened up the back door of the car so Vander could carry his unconscious mate in the house.
When Vander step out of the car with her, Kane reached out his hand and tenderly caressed her head, then cupped her cheek. He leaned forward and laid a gentle kiss to her forward and whispered, "Fight to live for us, sweetheart." Kane then raised his head looked at Vander and nodded.
Vander headed toward the house and Kane turned, barking out orders to the men who were already standing guard. He stayed and took care of security while Vander moved quickly through the hospital.
“Hurry and bring her in,” the man in the white coat said. He looked down at Waverly’s body then shook his head. He looked upset at what they had done to the poor girl.
Vander carried Waverly into a room and laid her on the table. A woman came in dressed in scrubs bringing a blanket over and covered Waverly’s body up. The doctor listened to her heart then instructed the nurse to bring some wolf’s blood and hook her up to an IV. Vander watched as the doctor worked on Waverly. Jewel had stepped out to make some calls while the doctor worked.
“What did they do to this poor girl?” the doctor asked.
Vander figured he was talking to him so he answered, “Tortured her. They cut her and let her bleed, then watched as she healed herself. Then cut
her over and over again. They beat her to see how her body would take it and then heal herself,” Vander explained sullenly. The doctor looked back at Vander who was shaking with rage.
“You are her mate?” the doctor claimed. Vander didn’t respond as he watched the doctor place an IV in Waverly’s arm, he just nodded. The nurse glanced back at Vander when he didn’t answer the doctor.
“Is she going to be okay?” Vander asked.
“She will live, but being okay is a whole different problem.” Vander understood what the doctor was trying to say. Waverly had been tortured for over a week. Her body would recover but her mind may not.
“I have contacted the Alpha and he is on his way. Listen, Vander, I know she is your mate but the Alpha will be overly protective and will not want anyone near her for a while. He will place Protectors here so nobody will be able to come in. So don’t feel threatened. It is a protection instinct that will come out of him fiercely,” Jewel said quietly as she stepped back in.
“Then the Alpha and I will have a chat because he will not keep me from my mate,” Vander all but growled. Jewel smiled as her best friend had actually sounded like an Alpha himself.
Jewel pushed her shoulder into Vander’s shoulder playing with him. Vander had to smile back at Jewel. She always knew how to cheer him up and make him smile. Jewel leaned toward Vander again smelling in the air near him. “I smell Kane on you.” Jewel grinned sheepishly as Vander blushed from her teasing. He wasn’t used to explaining about having sex with a man. A woman, it never affected him to talk about, but a man was a different beast all together. Vander always considered himself an open person but he never was attracted to a man until Kane. Kane turned his life upside down and now the way he felt about Waverly, he knew this was going to be a roller coaster ride.
Jewel turned toward the door as she heard the vehicle tearing down the driveway.
“He is here, so get ready.” Jewel could hear the Alpha running up the steps and into the house. She opened the door as he ran up to her.
“Where is she?” Jewel turned and sadly looked into the room as Marcus followed her gaze. He could see his daughter’s lifeless body lying on the table. He could see that her body was battered and bruised from the tumultuous abuse. Marcus slowly entered the room. Jewel could see the pain in his eyes. His daughter had been beaten and tortured over and over and he couldn’t do anything to help her. Jewel watched as the Alpha picked up his daughter’s hand. He held it up to his lips as he kissed it and rubbed it on his cheeks.
Vander watched as the Alpha carefully caressed her hand.
The nurse walked in and bowed to Marcus then brought him a chair so he could sit by his daughter. Vander needed to talk with Kane and let him know that the doctor said about Waverly. He exited the room as Flynn paced the hallway. Jewel was telling him what happened when they found Waverly. Vander walked past them to the porch. He looked out as Kane moved toward him.
“The doctor said she will live, Kane, but only time will tell if she is all right. I left her with the Alpha,” Vander explained.
“Good, we will bring her through this, Vander, she is ours,” Kane said softly.
“Do we have protection set?” Vander said quickly.
“Yep, and I spoke with Ret and Lex. They are going to send more. If they come back for her, we will be ready.” Vander could tell Kane was about to explode in frustration, he felt the same way.
Chapter Twelve
Orion Holder walked into the building they had purchased for their meetings and held their prisoners. He was angry and needed to hurt someone. As he entered the room where two men were sitting, Orion growled out questions. Josh Campbell was out of control, and the Redeemer was pissed off. And Diane was nowhere to be found, he was going to have to find out what was going on.
“Which one of you morons dumped Waverly Grant’s body?”
The man sitting on the couch smugly lifted his hand. “That would be me. Following orders.” The man never saw it coming when Orion half shifted and swung his arm out with his claws dragging them across the man’s face. He howled out in pain as the claw traveled down to the bone.
“You fucking idiot. Whose orders were you following?” Orion snarled out.
“No, no, no she was dead. I didn’t feel her breathing anymore. We were supposed to check on the prisoners and if they had died then we were to dispose of the body.”
Orion knew they needed more minions, these two had to be the stupidest wolves on earth. Diane was going to be pissed when she got back. Orion didn’t plan being there.
“She wasn’t breathing? How do you know she wasn’t breathing?” Orion sneered.
The man groaned as he felt the blood dripping into his eyes. “I put my face up to hers to see if she was breathing and she wasn’t so we got rid of her body.”
“How in hell have you gotten this far in life without someone killing you?” Orion asked. The two men looked at Orion as if he had asked a mathematical equation. “She was still alive and now they have her in the shifter hospital. She will be talking soon if she hasn’t already. She saw who you were and she knows your name you fucking imbeciles.”
The man who Orion didn’t hit was up as he sputtered out, “Do you think she knows about this place?” The man was shaking as he asked.
At least this one wasn’t stupid enough to realize that they were still safe. “I would say this place has been compromised,” Orion snarled. “Here is the question I need to know. Did you ever use my name around the girl?” Both men shook their head no.
“No, sir, we were very careful. We never spoke about you. When you called we walked out of the room where she couldn’t hear us talking to you. Diane was the only person in the room. Josh was the one showing the others how to cut and where, with that one back there. We never spoke of anything else except that.” Orion nodded hoping the two idiots hadn’t compromised him yet. He eventually would need to kill these two because they screwed up more than he could fix. Josh Campbell wasn’t his problem, the Redeemer had plans for him.
“Sweep this place clean and then burn it to the ground,” Orion commanded. The two men got up and started cleaning the place of any paperwork and equipment.
Orion knew he needed to get back to Grant house before anyone noticed he was gone. He needed to be there if the Alpha called and needed anything. Acting concerned was what he had to do to keep them off his trail. His time would come when he would be the Alpha. He was made to be an Alpha. Josh promised he would run the Atlanta Pack after they eliminated Marcus Grant.
Orion knew that getting rid of Waverly was the first step to make that happen. He needed to get a message to Jack letting him know the Omega was still alive and he needed to lay low for a while. Jack was the one who went and visited the Redeemer and got all the information from him on what to do next. The Redeemer would mail letters to them in code. They never even knew that he was still running his operation out of the shifter prison. How pathetic these people were thinking they were smarter than them.
Orion laughed as he walked out the door leaving the cleanup to these two idiots. The real Josh Campbell was in for a surprise, the Redeemer was not forgiving, and for this mistake, he would kill the man. But first, they needed him to give them what they needed. The little idiot held the key to the destruction of a werewolf.
Chapter Thirteen
“She is a wolf, Vander, and she will survive this,” Kane said softly.
“I don’t know. The doctor said that she would survive it physically, but mentally, with all the abuse and torture, she may not.” Kane looked over at Vander with a worried expression on his face. Vander’s face held the look of sadness and rage. These two emotions were the most explosive combinations to have. Kane knew when the time came he would kill whomever was responsible for hurting their mate.
Vander stopped talking because he felt a type of calmness from Kane touching his hand. He inhaled deeply as Kane squeezed his hand. He knew when Kane got to see Waverly he would need to be near him so
he didn’t go crazy. Vander knew how Jewel got when her mate died and he wasn’t even her true mate.
He knew Waverly would be in the hospital for a while but, when she got out, he wanted her at his house. Vander wanted Kane to move in too. His house was bigger than Kane’s condo. Waverly would probably want to live at Grant house, but Vander knew he couldn’t live with Marcus Grant. No way was he going to listen to him. He wasn’t a wolf and he didn’t live by their rules. A lot of discussion was going to be needed once Waverly was well.
They were standing in the entranceway to the Emergency ward, Kane and Vander met there before going into the room, they wanted to make sure they presented a united front. Since they had been talking, a bunch of men had appeared around them.
“They were not here when I left or I would have remembered them,” Vander advised Kane.
“They are Protectors. Probably the Alpha’s since Waverly is here,” Kane said darkly. Both men knew that none of them would be there if their mate had not been hurt.
“Yeah, probably. Jewel said he would do that.” Vander walked to the door when two more Protectors came up and blocked them from entering the hospital ward.
Vander narrowed his eyes and was about to get angry when Jewel opened up the door to the ward. “Move so they can pass. They are Waverly’s mates.” Both of the Protectors looked up surprised. They moved away from the door so Vander and Kane could pass.
“Is she still out?” Vander asked.
“Yes, she hasn’t moved either. The doctor said it was her body’s way of healing itself. He also said she may not remember certain things,” Jewel explained.
“I want to see her,” Kane advised. Vander walked over to where two more Protectors were guarding a door. “Nobody gets in here except the doctor. Alpha's orders,” the Protector stated.
“Then you better get him out here or you and I are going to break some stuff in this pretty house. Then I will be taking some asses to jail, so you decide,” Vander snarled. The Protectors looked at each other when Jewel cleared her throat. Vander wasn’t putting up with anyone telling him he couldn’t see his mate. Plus this was still an active investigation and she was a witness and they needed to talk to her.
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