“She’s hurt badly.” Aric growled. Keeping the animal at bay took all his control.
“So is Ellie.” Mason’s face was set into worried lines.
*
They’d taken them to their pack clinic. Shifters didn’t suffer injuries like humans, so it was deemed best by his father to have a place to take care of their kind. He’d held Jordan in his arms the entire ride back. Even when they’d ordered him to put her in the gurney, he’d held her hand. He didn’t want to be away from her for a single moment. But the staff had been very clear about needing to see about her health before he could be with her again.
Nerves strung tight, he paced the waiting area along with his father, mother, and brothers. His wolf pushed at his skin in agitation. Aric knew how he felt. His own fear and distress were taking over his mind. His thoughts all circled over how badly Jordan had looked as he’d picked her bloody body up off the parking lot. He’d had a hard time breathing through the need to see her whole with the smile lighting her eyes. Her pain became his pain. He knew she’d suffered profusely, and inside, he felt as if he were being stabbed repeatedly every second he remembered her injuries.
“Did you catch any of them?” His father asked, his voice a low growl. The beast was riding him and the anger he displayed in his features only urged the animal to want out.
“No,” Jake replied, gripping the back of a waiting room chair.
Nathan jumped in. “We chased them, but we didn’t want to be gone long in case issues arose and they needed us.”
Aric’s father nodded. “I understand. There could have been others.”
“We didn’t want to take the chance with Jordan and Ellie’s other friends set to arrive at any moment, and both of them badly injured.”
“Did you get a hold of the other girls?” His mother asked, leaning into her husband. Her eyes sparkled a bright gold. She was angry and sad. As if seeing it in her face wasn’t enough, Aric could smell the fear and pain radiating from her.
“I did,” Mason answered. “They were stuck in traffic, but wanted to come here.”
“Son––”
“I understand, Dad. I told them we’d call them as soon as we got word, but it was best if they went home.”
“It’s not that we don’t want them here,” his mother added. “But we know they’ll feel better being here once we know the extent of their injuries and what we are looking at for an outcome.”
All Aric kept visualizing was Jordan’s bloody face, the shallow breaths she took, and the cuts and bruises she had all over. Fury had taken hold. He was having a hard time thinking clearly. He wanted to kill.
He glanced up. His father was watching him intently. “You’ll get your chance at finding who did this, son.”
Aric turned at the sound of footsteps. A short, older man with greying hair, whom he’d known all his life as Uncle William entered the waiting area. His father’s right hand man went straight to the Alpha.
“Ellie is stable. She’s going to need hours to recover, maybe tomorrow, or possibly longer, but she’ll be fine.”
His mother buried her face into his father’s neck. She sobbed silently while he held her.
“And Jordan?” His father asked.
“She’d going to be more difficult. She’d not only had a bad concussion, but the number of wounds and cuts, we had to do some blood transfusion.”
Aric swallowed down the acrid taste of fear, willing the man with his mind to say Jordan would be fine. “Will she be okay?” He choked out.
Uncle William smiled. “I think so. Due to her brain trauma, we had to put her in an induced coma.”
“Oh my God.” His mother sobbed louder.
William gripped Aric’s shoulder. It took him a moment to realize he was growling. “I’m sorry. As soon as the swelling in her brain decreases, we’ll take her out of the coma and see how she reacts.”
Intense throbbing took hold of his chest. He couldn’t breathe. Jordan, his sexy, sassy, Jordan, was in a coma, in pain, and he didn’t know what to do to help. He didn’t now who did it. And that person was still out there.
“When you were chasing the attackers, did any of the scent smell familiar?” His father’s voice pulled him out of the dark hole he was mentally digging.
“No. I know that we’ve had an influx of rogues and wolves in the area, which could make this an attack against humans, or something else.”
Aric’s wolf snarled inside. The beast wanted loose, to bite, to hunt, and to kill those who had hurt his mate.
The pain in his chest expanded with every thought of Jordan. Thinking of her beautiful smile and sexy come-hither eyes made sharp pain shoot to his heart. Memories of her soft husky voice jerked the wolf inside into an almost feral distress.