by Maia Starr
In the corner, Brendan paced, growling and scratching at his head while Sam inspected the man, trying to pull off his shirt. She turned to Brendan, catching the evil eye. “Could you help?”
Snarling, Brendan came over and took hold of the man’s shirt, using his other hand to tear it down the middle. Without hesitation, he did the same for the man’s trousers, pulling them off and tearing them at the seams. Stunned, Sam took a moment to return her focus to the man, attending to his wounds. Diagnosing his gashes, Sam noticed the wounds weren’t deep, rather just long and wide on the surface. She quickly cleaned the wounds, steadied her trembling hands to stitch up the wounds slowly, and then reached around to snatch the gauze. While she worked, Brendan continued to grow restless, bumping into chairs and tripping over the carpet and cursing loudly. His aggression did nothing to help Sam’s focus, but eventually, she got the job done.
Leaning back, she eyed Brendan, who stood cross-armed and frowning. She walked over to him, but he didn’t see her motion and swept out of the room, calling to Connor and Megan. “Is the girl alright? How is she?”
Sam quickly followed him, also wanting to see how her assistant was doing. She didn’t expect to hear Brendan’s anger boil into the office, threatening the others in the room. By the time she walked in, hot on Brendan’s heels, he was already shouting.
“What kind of botched job is this?” he shouted in Megan’s face, the assistant cowering under his voice. Connor moved to step between them, grabbing at Brendan’s wrists.
“You need to calm down,” Connor said stoically. Megan trembled behind him, the gauze still in her hand. A quick look at the girl’s bare shoulders and Sam saw quickly that Brendan had been right; she hadn't expected Megan to be a natural at tending cuts and bruises, and yet she found herself not that angry about it all. Instead, she simply glided forward, ignoring Brendan’s outbursts and took the gauze from Megan’s hands. The girl, shaking and panting, was semi-conscious. Her shoulder wounds still bled slightly; no stitches had been put in yet, and Sam got to work. By the time she was finished, Brendan had stormed from the room, with Connor in his wake, and Megan shakily collapsed into one of the chairs in her office.
“That was tough,” Megan said, placing her face into her palms.
“You did well, Megan, just breathe for now,” Sam said. “Don’t worry; everything will be fine now.”
“I thought Brendan would tear my head off.”
“He’s just very concerned, especially since he knows firsthand what it’s like,” Sam said. She walked out, leaving Megan to rest.
In the living room, Connor was whispering frantically into Brendan’s ear, motioning with his hands while Brendan remained quiet, though still frowning like there was no tomorrow. Sam approached cautiously; when they heard her, Connor clammed up, and Brendan gazed at her thoughtfully.
“Are you okay?” Sam asked, eyeing Brendan. “I know you’re angry about this...but if there’s something else on your mind, I want you to tell me about it.”
Connor exchanged a glance with Brendan, shrugging, but Brendan sighed and loosened his arms up. “I am angry...this happened while I was away, playing around. Not that I would have changed a whole lot, or my presence would have really mattered.”
“This sounds way out of my league,” Sam replied. “I mean, this is nuts. I didn’t think Silverwood Island would be so dangerous.”
“There are animals on this island, Sam,” Brendan said. “And I don’t mean the literal kind. Unfortunately, these creeps are still hanging around...though none of them would be attacking if their boss hadn’t returned.” Connor shot Brendan a look, but the big man waved him off. Grateful for the slight bit of information, Sam stepped closer.
“Boss?”
“A guy who left two years ago, a real mean bastard. He arrived not too long ago, around the time you came, if I remember correctly,” Brendan continued. Sam gulped, wondering who could have arrived alongside her. “He’s ruthless, and if I could, I’d bury him in the ground this instant.”
“But he’s cautious, playing it sort of safe for right now,” Connor interjected. “We don’t know where he is…”
“So we’ll keep hunting him down,” Brendan finished. “But until he goes down, there’ll be more injured being brought to you...I appreciate your willingness to help us.”
Sam’s heart thudded, and she shook her head. “No, I’m grateful I came somewhere my skills could be of use. Besides, I met you, after all…”
A small smile spread Brendan’s lips at her comment, and her chest practically somersaulted.
“But right now, we’ll entrust these two to you and Megan,” Brendan continued. “We need to go gather some men and women, hunt this son of a bitch down. Is that okay with you?”
Nodding, Sam smiled. “It’s fine. Do what you need to do...just try not to come back all scratched up again, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Brendan replied.
Turning on his heel, Brendan motioned for Connor to follow, and the two walked out, scowls lingering on their faces. Sam sat, rubbed her brows. This was going to be a long weekend.↡¶
Chapter Ten
Brendan
Silverwood smelled off to Brendan as he and Connor stalked through the forest. It was something in the air, something he could taste on his tongue. Like the air was thick and muddy, making Brendan’s neck bristle as they walked.
“Something on your mind?” Connor asked, eyeing his alpha. Peering back at his friend, Brendan saw the spark of worry in Connor’s eyes. Grunting, Brendan shook his head, unwilling to speak. He wanted to focus on the woodlands around them, make sure no one was following them. He wouldn’t put it past Dean to have his shifters stalk either of them back to their homes, and that concerned him like crazy. Or maybe Brendan was becoming paranoid.
“We’re gonna need to end this little war with Dean sooner or later,” Brendan suddenly said, catching Connor somewhat off guard. “He’s already injured three of our shifters, including me, and you can bet he’s planning more.”
“He’s scared of you for the moment,” Connor interjected. He began to stride ahead of Brendan, just enough so he could slightly look back at his alpha. “I swear, if you weren’t around, Brendan, Dean would have overrun the Bedrock by now. We’d probably all be his slaves or something like that. I can’t even think about what would happen to Ace, or my wife…”
Brendan scowled at the thought, imagining Connor’s son face to face with a stocky bastard like Dean Mondego. He shook his head violently, not wanting to imagine what could happen next in that train of thought. “I doubt that’s true...he’s probably just taking his time, deciding how to divide our pack up. Even Dean wouldn’t want to go on a full-on assault, or else he’d alert half the damn island, including regular people; if our secret is revealed to the island, it’ll spread to the rest of the world, Connor. Dean must see that...has to see that would end terribly for him.”
“If you say so,” Connor said, marching ahead. “I’m going to go take a look ahead...I’ve got this weird feeling right now—”
“Like there’s a bunch of eyes on you.” Brenden nodded. “Then go, I’ll watch our backs. Just don’t go too far.”
“We’re close to the Bedrock, anyway, so it shouldn’t be much of a problem,” Connor reiterated. “If anything happens, just let out a holler, and I’ll come running back with some fighters in tow.”
Brendan gave his friend a smile of approval and watched as Connor took off. He’d see Connor with the rest of his packmates in the next few minutes, so he didn’t have much to worry about, and yet he still felt like the whole of the forest was listening in on him, spying on his every action. Dean’s pack knew where his home was, and vice versa, so Brendan couldn’t pin it down to simply trying to find out where the other shifters of his pack were.
Gazing around, Brendan didn’t see any glowing pair of eyes in the shadows and mist of the forest or hear anything like feet sliding in the mud. If Dean had just set a small pack on Brenda
n to watch his every move, to make sure he wasn’t catching wind of Dean’s plans, then the unnatural feelings would make sense.
Brendan waited a few minutes, to see if any shifters would come out to confront him. When no one came, he growled and trudged back along the makeshift trail he knew by heart. He walked, eyes darting around, half-expecting another ambush. The whole way to the Bedrock, Brendan’s hair stood on end, his senses screaming danger, and yet not once did he receive any other sign of pursuers.
So then if this foreboding feeling wasn't about him being followed, then what was it all about? Was Brendan missing something?
He reached the border of the Bedrock moments later, staring across a rushing river that tapered off into a waterfall. Droplets of water sprayed him as he got closer, refreshing his wind-battered skin, and as he looked across the water, he spotted two young children playing on the other side. A girl and boy, kicking around a soccer ball, laughing and giggling and completely unaware of the danger just across from them. They ran and ran until the girl stopped and pointed at Brendan. The boy slipped but held his stance, and both stared wide-eyed at him. Brendan tried to smile and wave, catching the howling autumn wind in his palm, but as soon as he did, the two children took off, their faces bug-eyed and taut.
Grimacing, Brendan shook his head and walked off up the river. The day the children of his pack ran at the sight of him was not a good day. He wondered how he must have appeared to them, big and buff and scarred all over.
At least Sam wouldn’t run from me like that, Brendan thought, feeling his inner wolf growl in agreement. His heart pounded as he thought of her, pondering whether that night with her was just a one-night stand...or something more. Brendan wasn’t one to push himself on women, but Sam definitely piqued his interest in so many ways. A gorgeous, mind-melting woman like Sam, with a mysterious secret tucked inside that intelligent mind of hers...she was almost too perfect for Brendan to believe. None of this was simple, he realized, but his attraction to the new doctor was. Now he just needed dean Mondego out of the picture, and everything would probably work out for the better.
Reaching a wooden bridge, Brendan made to cross it, looking over his shoulder one last time to spy nothing coming after him. If by some chance he did have pursuers, they wouldn’t be able to cross the river unnoticed at this point.
Brendan sauntered between houses now, greeting many of his pack as they went about their day. He saw the two children from before, clinging to their mother’s blouse just down the way. They pointed at him, saying something to their mother, but when the mother saw Brendan, she simply smiled and mouthed a sorry. Brendan winked at her and went about finding Connor, trying to push his intimidating image out of his mind.
Soon he came into the main hub, where stalls and other smaller mercantile buildings were set up. These were all exclusive shifter stores, for his pack, and at the far end was the lodge where he generally held meetings and the like. He approached, not seeing Connor or anyone else outside, but he did see two curious individuals scurry out of the misty rain beginning to fall and inside the lodge. Both were women, and neither were familiar to Brendan. Cautious, Brendan made his way forward, careful to make sure he looked at ease to the rest of his pack. The last thing he needed was widespread worry rolling through his people.
Inside, Brendan found himself in a long hallway, which eventually opened up to a large hall, where a myriad of tables and shifters mingled. A massive fireplace was embedded into the far wall, with its flames licking the stone of the chimney.
In a corner off to his right sat Connor and a number of other shifters, including the two that had just scurried in. There seemed to be a number of tight lips and scowls aimed at the newcomers, but Connor seemed to be trying to calm the mood, waving his hands to appear more friendly yet invoking a fair amount of passion. Connor was the first to spy Brendan as he approached. “Ah, our alpha has arrived! Now we can begin these discussions in earnest.”
The two new women hunched over the moment they spotted him, practically cowering as he took his place directly across from Connor. “So what’s been spoken about so far?”
“Not much,” said a shifter to his left. He eyed Connor, and then the two women. “But apparently your friend here has brought some friends of his own to this little party…” He growled, causing Brendan to snap his attention to his friend.
“I’ll guess I’ll introduce you then,” Connor said, gesturing to the two women beside him. “These two are shifters from Dean Mondego’s pack...they’ve come to let their voices be heard. It seems that even among his pack, Dean is a menace.”
“Cruel is what I’d call it,” the first, and bolder, of the women said. The other shifters grunted and frowned at her outburst, but Brendan remained cool. There was no point to becoming annoyed now about two shifters from a rival pack being allowed into his territory without his permission. If they had good intentions, then Brendan could let it go.
“Let me know next time if you’re going to pull something like this, Connor,” Brendan said low to a gulping Connor.
The shifter smiled nervously, nodding to the women. “They want Dean gone as much as we do. He’s been infecting their husband’s and children’s minds with ideas about bloodshed...ideas about slaughtering all of our pack as then they could own every part of our land.”
“It’s true,” the first agreed. “Dean Mondego has never been as crazy as he is right now...when he left two years ago to pursue his interests outside of Silverwood Island, I thought we’d be rid of him for good. But, like a plague, he came back, and now he’s intent on finishing what he didn’t two years ago.”
“He wants to prove that he’s better than you, Brendan,” the second, shyer, woman said. Her voice quivered as she talked, flicking between all the eyes locked on her. “Whatever made him come back, it hurt his pride, badly. He won’t mention it to anyone, but many of us assume he lost something and is now taking out his frustration on you all.”
“And he’s still doesn’t have a mate, meaning he’s bound to go feral sooner or later,” the first added, locking eyes with Brendan. At the mention of feral, Brendan bared his teeth on instinct, though quickly shut his jaw when he realized the look he was throwing the two women. It was strange to admit, but Brendan could sympathize with Dean on that part. He could feel his wolfen side try to take over from time to time, though the effects had lessened since he’d been around Sam. He couldn’t think of anything more infuriating than watching himself go wild and lose his ability to think rationally.
“So we need to act now, is what you’re telling me,” Brendan said.
The two women nodded. “Most of us in his pack are in agreement...Dean doesn’t deserve to be our alpha. The only reason he is is because he’s the strongest, but most of us live in fear under his rule,” the first continued.
“Is there anything you could tell us about him that could hopefully give us the edge on Mondego?” Connor asked, leaning in. A flash of desperation hung in Connor’s eyes, though Brendan was the only one to catch it. “Anything at all would help.”
“The reason he came back…” the second woman said quietly. Connor motioned for her to speak up, and so the woman took a deep breath, raising her shoulders and staring at them all stoically. “He mentioned once to one of his subordinates, the first day he came back, that he was looking for someone...a doctor of some kind. Apparently a doctor has come to the island recently, and we think it has something to do with this doctor. We haven’t heard anything else, but if it helps—”
Brendan shot up in his chair, looking wide-eyed at the woman who had just spoken. His sudden lurch upwards caused the entire hall to stop their chattering and glance his way, odd looks on their faces. The blood drained from his face as everything clicked for Brendan, and when he glanced towards Connor, he could see his friend having the same thoughts in the furrowed brows glued to his forehead.
“It can’t be…” Brendan said, scratching his head and taking off. “Connor! Round up some shif
ters just in case, but I’m going to the clinic.”
“Right!” Connor shouted after him, rising and yelling into the hall for any abled-bodied shifters to come meet with him. Brendan cursed at the realization. Sam’s secret story she’d clammed up about, her reasons for coming to Silverwood, Dean’s appearance so soon after her arrival...was it possible that it was all a coincidence?
No.
The word rang in his head like a loud buzzer, threatening to tilt him in a way he couldn’t imagine. Brendan needed to race back to the clinic pronto. He needed answers, and wanted to be by Sam’s side if Dean came after her. That strange feeling as he was leaving wasn’t about shifters pursuing him; it was about Samantha Byrd.
Just wait, Sam, Brendan thought. I’m coming for you.↡¶
Chapter Eleven
Sam
Sam watched the girl for hours, staying by her side while the teen slept and rested in her office. She observed the girl’s steady breathing, rising chest, and then constantly checked the wounds on her back and shoulders, making sure no blood seeped through the stitches. Once or twice Sam did find blood, and she worked quietly and delicately to wipe it up and clean her skin, so as not to disturb the girl’s sleep. But often it didn’t work, and the teen’s eyes fluttered open to find Sam staring down at her.
“Who are you…” she breathed.
Smiling, Sam had the girl turned on her side. “Your new doctor. Some men brought you and your father in earlier. You were attacked...though now you’re in safe hands.”
“My father?” she asked, her youthful voice slurring slightly. “He was attacked?” she winced suddenly as Sam dabbed her back, and the doctor could guess that a fresh wave of conscious pain was rolling through her body. “Where is he…”
“You were both attacked and left for dead,” Sam said, her mind wandering to the moment it happened. She wondered what kind of person it took to attack a teenager like this. The wounds weren’t life-threatening, but they were still deep and extremely painful. Just moving her arms would be so painful for the girl for the coming months. And sleep! Sleep would become closer to a chore than ever for this girl. Imagining the suffering this young girl would be forced to go through because of some stupid gang war maddened Sam, twisted her smiling face to something akin to the wrath Brendan wore on his. If she could meet with the people who attacked her, then Sam would give them a piece of her mind.