Drew’s eyes snapped up to meet his, widened in surprise. “Mason, listen—”
“You have one minute,” Mason released Drew’s arms but retained his dominant position. He could only control himself for one minute more and then he’d be lost to the bloodlust. Besides, if he needed to kill the man, he didn’t want to have to chase him all over God’s creation.
“Her name is Lucy Morgan,” Drew fired off the words. “The Tiptons brought her to my office today. She was injured.”
Joy at hearing his mate’s name for the first time mixed with fear for her safety. Rage and fear built inside him to the point he couldn’t tell one from the other. “Why? How?”
Drew outlined the day’s events, from Lucy saving Charlie’s life, to the accidental bite he’d given her, to Drew doing his best to treat her. The healer took a deep breath and glanced pointedly at Mason’s hands. Hands that had somehow latched on to Drew’s shoulders and inched inward toward his throat. All on their own.
“I’ll take you to her if you’ll let me go.”
“He’s going to let you go regardless,” a voice called out from behind Mason.
He spun to find Kade closing in on them. Mason released Drew and jumped to his feet before his brother could humiliate him by dragging him off the poor, defenseless healer.
“Mason, what the hell is going—”
Mason held up a hand to silence Kade. He may have been out of line—common occurrence lately—but he was still the alpha of the Blackwood pack. They could play the “what else has the alpha fucked up?” game behind closed doors.
“How bad is it?” Mason refocused on the healer.
Drew shook his head. “I’d hoped it’d be no more than a scratch but when I cleaned her wound… Charlie bit her, Mason.”
Blood drained from Mason’s face and he staggered backward, fully aware of what those three words meant. For her. For him.
“Who are we talking about?” Kade spoke when Mason couldn’t.
He couldn’t focus enough to answer his brother. His mind was too busy trying to figure out a solution to the problem in front of him. Drew paused, waited for him to say the words, and then finally did the honors himself.
“It appears a woman I treated today is Mason’s mate.” Drew sighed and ran a hand through his short hair. “Which, obviously means Charlie isn’t. Since she’s human—”
“Oh shit,” Kade whispered. “What’s going to happen?”
“Wait. What?” Mason snapped, finally coming back to the conversation.
“I thought…” Drew started, his eyes darting nervously between the Blackwood brothers. “I thought you would have known. From her scent.”
As soon as the words were out, Mason realized he had known. There’d been a soft, almost buttery hint to Lucy’s flavors—a telltale sign of her humanity—but he’d been so overwhelmed by the discovery of his mate, he hadn’t put it all together.
“We can turn humans. I don’t understand why this is such a big deal?”
“Because I’m her mate. If I’d given her the mating bite,” Mason said in a monotone voice to mask his true emotions, “it would have triggered her transformation from human to wolf.”
Kade’s confused gaze bounced between Mason and Drew. “But since Charlie bit her…”
Mason didn’t have the stomach to answer.
“Well,” Drew started cautiously, “she could become very ill. Very ill.”
“Good God, stop pussyfooting around,” Kade growled.
Drew clenched his jaw before spitting it out. “She could die. I came to tell Mason about the breach of our laws, but now that I know she’s destined to become a wolf’s mate—an alpha’s mate… I can’t be sure how Charlie’s bite will affect her.”
All Mason heard was “She could die.”
He’d waited for so long to find his mate, only to have her snatched away by a cruel twist of fate. No! Not on his watch. He wouldn’t allow it.
“Where is she?” This time Mason’s tone was calmer, though he was anything but calm on the inside.
“I took her to her parents’ house.” Drew handed Mason a slip of paper with an address scribbled on it.
The healer had come prepared. Mason slapped Drew on the back in a gesture of gratitude. He was a good man and didn’t deserve to be treated so roughly—but no one stood between an alpha and his mate.
“Hey, why wasn’t I invited to the party?” Gavin strolled up to the trio grinning, but his smile fell away when he got close enough to see the grim expressions on the rest of their faces. Then he caught the varying emotions clouding the air.
“Go find your five best sentries,” Mason instructed as he swept past them all and headed for his Jeep.
“For what?” Gavin asked as he jogged to keep up.
“To protect their alpha’s mate.”
Mason heard Gavin stumble. “We have an alpha mate?”
“Yes,” Mason barked. “She just doesn’t know it yet.”
Chapter Five
Driving down the street she’d grown up on had been tough. Pulling into the driveway of the house she’d grown up in had been almost unbearable.
None of it compared to the gut-wrenching despair of walking through her childhood home.
The cleaning crew she’d hired before driving to Ashtown—along with the gardener and caretaker she had on retainer—saw to everything inside and out. Not a speck of dust or hint of a cobweb lingered. After ten long years, the little house on Maple Street looked exactly as it had the day she’d left.
Maybe if sheets covered her mom’s favorite overstuffed chair and her dad’s golf clubs, she wouldn’t have felt their absence so keenly. She limped around from room to room, touching all the knickknacks and doodads that made a house a home. So familiar. She couldn’t shake the feeling they might walk through the door any second, claiming they’d forgotten their car keys. They’d kiss her on the forehead and rush back out, late for work.
Except, that was a silly, childish fantasy. The place on Maple was a mausoleum. In fact, her parents’ ashes sat proudly on the fireplace mantle, a bold reminder Lucy would never see them again.
Swiping the wetness from her cheeks, she sniffed and hobbled toward the kitchen, wondering why she hadn’t sold the place years ago. Though deep in her heart, she knew the answer. Nothing could compel her to part with the last vestiges of her life before it all went to shit.
Not for the first time, she sent a silent prayer of gratitude to the Park Service. If it hadn’t been for the fund they’d set up to pay for her schooling and associated costs, she never would have been able to afford to keep the house. Her parents had paid off the house long before their deaths, and their life insurance had paid the salary of a very conscientious caretaker. After school, she’d lived off what she earned from her job as an accountant.
Now that she was out of a job though…
Nope, she wasn’t going to think about her ex-job. She wouldn’t think about that kettle of fish for the moment. She’d deal with the fallout from that bullshit later. Right now, she was hungry, hurting, and bone-tired.
Glancing at her light grey sweats, Lucy spied a spot of blood peeking through the fabric covering her thigh. The very cute Dr. Cooper had cleaned the bite and bandaged her up driving her back to her parents’ house. His attentiveness was sweet but bordered on bizarre. It was just a nip from a little kid, but they’d all acted as if Charlie carried rabies or something.
Regardless, she’d already decided to call a real doctor in the morning, just to double check Drew’s work… and maybe start her on some antibiotics. The area around the bite ached and felt warm to the touch, the wound beginning to swell.
“Wouldn’t it just be perfect if he did have rabies?” she muttered to the still air.