Warren

I can't believe that Arric and I got caught in this bear trap. Fucking Brady! I know he's the one who set this trap. We knew that he and his pack would retreat this way. I raced around, attempting to cut off their escape route, but I ended up caught in the trap.

I know my pack will come back for me, but they're in a battle, and I've been waiting for them to find me for hours. When I wasn't able to cut Brady off, they continued following his pack, hunting them like the fucking dogs they are.

I knew immediately that I couldn't shift. While I could use my hands to spring the trap, it was too risky. I wasn't willing to lose my leg and, therefore, my rank as Alpha. While the pain is significant, Arric and I are strong Alphas, and I know it is only a matter of time before the pack finds me and gets me out of here.

We'd been struggling with a way to get the damn trap off when we smelled her. I've been looking for my mate for over ten years, and now, here, in the middle of the forest, in the middle of an area covered in blood from a recent battle, I find her. Her cinnamon and nutmeg scent instantly calmed Arric.

Her wolf is a beautiful reddish-brown color, and she's obviously a very tentative little thing. Throughout her conversation with Arric, she never once gave us her name. So, as soon as she releases the trap, I step back and begin to shift so I can talk to her.

The shift hurts like a fucking bitch, my bones trying to reshape but unable to in my leg because they're in pieces. I watch her eyes go wide, and she scoots back, farther away from me.

"Easy there. You just got me out of a trap. I may be a vicious Alpha when I'm hunting my pack's attackers, but I'm not the kind of man who kills someone who just helped me," I say. Because she didn't give me her name, I'm resistant to giving her mine until I know what pack she's from.

"You said you're a doctor?"

"I'm studying to be one," she says.

"For humans and wolves?" I ask her. It's unusual, and I'm in desperate need of a good doctor in my pack. My doctor needs to retire. I need someone young, someone intelligent, someone like my little mate here, to take over my pack hospital.

"What pack are you from?" I ask, not sure I care. I'm at war with so many packs that the odds of her being from one of them are highly likely. Of course, she's out here on her own, not fighting with a pack, which is also unusual.

"I'm not from a pack. I'm a lone wolf. Did you want me to look at your leg?" I notice that she changes the subject away from her. Interesting. Or maybe not. Lone wolves are alone for a reason. It makes me wonder what happened to make my mate a lone wolf.

"Yes. I would appreciate your medical assessment," I say, wanting her closer to me. I know her touch will help with the pain.

She moves closer, and her intoxicating scent fills my nose as I take in her beautiful body. She looked shy but determined when she'd shifted. Her lean body isn't as muscular as the wolves in my pack, which makes me think she hasn't been part of the pack wars for a while. However, the softness of her only adds more allure. My fingers twitch with my desire to touch her.

"What's a lone wolf doing out here all by herself?" I ask.

"Letting my wolf out. It's not easy when you go to a human university," she says, not looking up at me. I, on the other hand, can't look away from her. She's beautiful. The reddish-brown fur of her wolf is now long reddish-brown hair on the woman. It falls over her shoulder as she looks at my leg, and I watch as she distractedly flicks it back over her shoulder and out of her way, as if this is a common occurrence in her daily life.

"You know there are pack wars going on around here," I say. She may not be mine yet, but I want her safe.

"Pack wars are going on everywhere. If I tried to find someplace where war isn't happening, I'd have to run in the human areas and risk hunters shooting Annika. You're going to need surgery on this leg. You have multiple fractures, several being compound fractures," she says, once again diverting the conversation from herself.

I already knew I was going to need surgery. I could see Arric's bones sticking out of his leg.

"Annika? Your wolf's name means merciful? How appropriate for a doctor," I say, still studying her. Her fingers on my leg are gentle. She seems to inherently know where to touch, so it only causes minor discomfort.

"Gracious or merciful, yes. And Annika is a wonderful wolf," she says proudly, still not looking up at me.

I'm about to tell her that Arric agrees when I hear my Beta's howl.

My mate's head snaps up and I smell the scent of her fear as her heart rate spikes. However, she doesn't run. She looks like she's about to take a protective stance in front of me. A perfect Luna, pushing her own fear aside to help someone in need. I smile. She's perfect for me.

"Relax, it's my pack coming back for me," I tell her.

"Oh, well then, that's good. You need to get somewhere safe. Hopefully, they won't attack me for helping you."

"I'll protect you," I say, smiling at her discomfort.

My warriors come rushing up, surrounding us as my Beta, Charlie, shifts and snarls at my mate. "Who are you?"

I snarl at him, startling him. "Stand down! She's the one who got me out of the bear trap," I command. I won't allow anyone to disrespect my mate.

He looks at her, then turns back to me, crouching to look at my leg.

"How bad is it?"

"Bad."

"Okay, let's get you back to the pack," he says, getting a couple of warriors to help me up. I wrap my arms around their shoulders and lift my bad leg, gritting my teeth against the pain.

"Ready, Alpha?" Charlie asks.

"Yeah, let's go."

Charlie shifts, taking point as guard, and the warriors holding me start to move fast.

"Wait!" I say, and everyone stops. "Bring the doctor."

"The doctor?" one of my warriors asks.

"The girl! Bring the girl," I bark, turning to look at her. I can see that she was ready to slink away. I watch her turn and look behind her as if judging whether or not she can make a run for it.

"Don't even think about it," I say to her. Charlie's wolf, Gregor, moves swiftly to her side, nudging her forward with his head. I don't like how close he is to my naked mate, and Arric growls softly.

Her eyes flash up to mine. "I should go," she says. "Like you said, there are a lot of pack wars going on around here. I probably should get home."

"Home?" I ask. I know I sound arrogant. The woman is a lone wolf going to school. Where exactly is home for her? I'm not letting her go back to wherever she wants to go. I'll never see her again. I know from the little I've learned about her that she'll never let her wolf run in these woods again. And, by the time I healed and went to find her at the university, I'm sure she'd have transferred. She's too skittish to stay where she might get caught.

"School," she says, clarifying her intended destination.

"Hmm, well, as you just reiterated, it's not safe out here, especially for a lone wolf. What kind of Alpha would I be if I left you to fend for yourself? No, I think you should come with us," I say, and my voice holds no room for argument.

She presses her lips together and stands, nodding and following behind me.

Warren

Charlie orders two wolves to flank her, keeping her safe but also making sure she follows my order.

'Alpha?' Charlie asks in the mind link.

'She's my mate.'

'Oh shit.'

'Yeah.'

'Does she know? She doesn't act like she recognizes you as her mate.'

'I'm not sure. She's a lone wolf, but she's going to school for human and veterinary medicine.'

He turns and looks at her. 'Wow. A smart one.'

'Apparently.'

'What did she say about your leg?'

'That I need surgery.'

'Well, no offense, but I could have told you that.'

'Let's see what she says when we get to the pack. And find her a shirt. I don't like her walking around our warriors with no clothes on.'

He takes off, rushing toward our pack lands. When he returns, his wolf carries a shirt to her in his mouth. I watch while she looks up at me.

"We're about to enter my pack. You're an unmarked, unknown young female. I thought you might like a shirt to put on to cover yourself," I say. If she says no, I'll insist, but I'm hoping she'll choose to put it on without me having to demand it. Thankfully, she does, looking almost relieved. Good. She's not the kind of woman who flaunts her beautiful body for all to see.

When we arrive, I'm taken straight to the pack hospital, asking Charlie about other injuries and what happened to Brady's pack. He gives me the list of injuries as we walk in, shifting and continuing to talk to me out loud as Dr. Stevens rushes up.

"Alpha, let's get you into a room so we can look at your leg. You'll need x-rays," he says.

"Yes, I will," I say. "The girl comes, too."

"The girl has a name," she mumbles. I stop and turn to look at her, her eyes going wide. She obviously hasn't been around a lot of Alphas, or it's been a long time. She keeps mumbling to herself as if I can't hear her. It's kind of cute.

"If you give me your name, I'll be happy to use it," I say to her.

"Yara."

"Yara. I'm Alpha Warren. Come with me," I say, turning back and letting the warriors help me into the x-ray room.

"Who are you? Get out!" Dr. Stevens barks at her as we walk into the room.

"She's with me," I say, ignoring his blustery attitude that a young woman is in the room with us.

She looks at him, and I'm pleased when she instinctively moves closer to me.

I get settled onto the table, and Dr. Stevens sets up the X-ray machine. While he does, I watch Yara. She has a very expressive face. Now that I can see her in the light, I can tell that she's a pretty little thing. I'm sure I'd think so even if she weren't my mate, but based on the glances my warriors keep giving her, she's a natural beauty. Yep, it's a good thing she's got that shirt on, or I'd have to rip their eyes from their sockets.

Because I'm watching her, I see her frown, her head tilting to the side as she watches Dr. Stevens. I crook my finger at her as Dr. Stevens leaves the room, beckoning her forward.

"What was that look?" I ask, realizing that my mate's eyes are a grey-green color, almost sage. My eyes are green, too, but not as dark as hers.

"What look?"

I just raise an eyebrow at her. Perhaps the pain in my leg is making me less amenable to small talk. I'm trying to ignore it, but it's not easy, and Arric can't heal me until the bones are set properly. So, I'm not as patient as I might normally be in this situation.

She turns and looks behind her to see if the doctor is there, then she leans in, her scent filling my nose.

"Why isn't he taking side views? He only took a view from the top," she whispers as Dr. Stevens walks back in. He glares at her but puts the X-ray up on the lightbox.

"Well, Alpha, your leg isn't salvageable. I'm afraid we're going to have to remove it," he says dispassionately as if he didn't just tell me that my entire world was about to collapse around me. I feel my stomach clench, and my heart skips a beat. At the same time, I hear Yara suck in air.

"Dr. Yara, what do you think?" I ask her. If she has any suggestions for me to save this leg, I'm doing it. I don't care how much pain it'll cause me or how long it will take me to recover. I've been an Alpha for twelve years. Before that, I was an Alpha in training. Without my rank, without a pack to lead and protect, I have no idea who I am.

She looks at me, then at Dr. Stevens, who is glaring at her again.

"Doctor?" he asks condescendingly. He's of an old-school mindset where women are nurses, meant to be at the beck and call of a male doctor. It's another reason he has to go. My nurses are constantly complaining and threatening to leave.

"Studying to be, but I would suggest getting x-rays of the sides of the leg before determining if the leg has to be removed," she says, more confidently than I was expecting. She may not be comfortable around me or even in the pack, but here, in this hospital room, her confidence is clear.

"You heard her, Dr. Stevens. Side x-rays," I say, seeing her glance at me appreciatively for supporting her. In truth, I'm thankful she's giving me an option, any option.

"Young lady, what are your credentials?" he demands.

"HER credentials are not what's in question, doctor. I gave you the order. Side x-rays! NOW!"

Yara jumps as I yell, but really, this asshole is going to tell me my leg needs to be removed and think that I'm not going to fight it?

He continues to glare at Yara while he does the x-rays, and when he comes back, he puts them on the lightbox and turns to her with a sneer on his face. I'm about ready to come off this table and rip that smug look off his face.

"What do you think now, doctor?" he asks, as if questioning her credentials.

Yara walks to the lightbox, looking closely at first one, then the other x-ray. "Do you have the original?" she asks, turning to Dr. Stevens. He huffs but hands it to her, and she sets it up on the lightbox, too.

She stands back, her head tilting from one side to the other.

"Yara," I ask, unable to stop the flutter of hope in my chest.

"We can salvage the leg," she says, turning to me and making me sigh in relief.

"You've got to be joking!" Dr. Stevens says. "His leg is shattered!"

"Yes, it is. And it will take a lot of time and patience. But Alpha Warren has time, and I have patience," she says, looking at me.

"Do it," I tell her, putting my future into this woman's hands and hoping I won't regret it.

Yara

I'm not sure if Alpha Warren brought me here because he recognized me as his mate and he didn't have the strength to reject me in the woods or if he knew that his pack doctor was well past his retirement years. Either way, I'm here, and since I am, I'll help this Alpha. This is the reason I chose medicine.

"I'm assuming you want to do this now, Alpha?" I ask him.

"Yes, the sooner the better."

"Okay." I give him the list of items that I'll need to get his bones put back together properly. "Oh, and we'll need to sedate you," I say, looking around the room to see how they have their hospital rooms set up. "Is there where..."

"No," Alpha Warren says. I turn and look at him.

"No?"

"No sedation."

"Okay then, a nerve block, I'll just need..."

"No," he says again.

"Alpha, please, I'm going to have to wash the area and scrub it clean. I'm going to cut your leg open, pin your skin and muscle back so that I can get to the bones, and then slowly put them back where they belong. The pain will be excruciating. You need the nerve block."

"No," he says again, holding my gaze.

I finally look away, mumbling about stupid, stubborn Alphas. When I turn back, he's watching me with a raised eyebrow as if he heard me. I wasn't that loud, was I? Crap, I've been hanging around humans who can't hear anything for too long. How much can he hear of my mumbling?

The irritable Dr. Stevens comes in, throwing the things I asked for on the table. I jump when I hear a warning growl, looking up to see Alpha Warren glaring at him.

"Will there be anything else, doctor?" Dr. Stevens asks. He somehow makes my title, which is the same as his, sound like a dirty word.

"No, thank you, doctor. I'll take it from here."

I go to the sink and begin scrubbing my hands. I'm nervous for a lot of reasons. First, I'm in an unknown pack with an Alpha who is my mate. I have no idea what to expect from him or really why I'm here. And almost worse than that, he wants me to operate on him while he's awake! What the hell kind of crazy Alpha is he?

"You're thinking so hard that there's steam coming out of your ears, Yara. What are you so worried about?" he asks me.

I turn and look at him over my shoulder. How does he even know I'm worried? Why is he paying so much attention to me? Is this the mate bond? I've only had exposure to two Alphas in my life, Alpha Solomon and Alpha Simon. Alpha Solomon is a good Alpha, but he was never this in tune with what I was doing or thinking. And Simon...a shiver of revulsion rolls through me. He was in tune for a whole other reason. The man just gave me the creeps.

When I finish scrubbing my hands, I turn back to Alpha Warren. I see he's waiting for a response to his question. "This is going to be very painful. Can I at least give you a local anesthetic?"

"No, I need to be alert so I can protect my pack," he says.

"You can't exactly protect your pack with only one leg, Alpha."

"Warren. Call me Warren, and you said you could save my leg."

"I can, IF you were under sedation, and I'm not worried about you flinching or yanking your leg away while I'm operating."

"I have a very high tolerance to pain."

That doesn't surprise me. He wasn't even whimpering when Annika and I found him. He also has multiple, very faint scars all over his body. The man has been fighting in the pack wars for a long time. He must have a very strong wolf that is able to heal him over and over.

"How strong is your wolf right now?" I ask, getting his leg prepped to wash.

"I am very strong, little one," a deep voice says, and my eyes snap up as Annika begins purring in my head. Warren smiles, once again looking as if he knows the effect his wolf is having on mine. Can he hear Annika purring?

I shake my head, trying to clear it. I need to focus my attention and NOT on Warren's incredible teakwood scent.

"If I hold the bones in place, one at a time, how long will it take for you to set them?" I ask.

"Not long, little one," he says, but it's practically a purr. "I am a very strong, powerful Alpha wolf."

The way he says it isn't bragging but more like preening. My brain flashes an image of a peacock strutting around, flaunting his feathers for his chosen mate.

"Right," I say, feeling my body responding to the deep tenor of his voice. It feels like his voice is flowing over the nerves in my body, making them all light up with a need I'm unused to feeling, especially when I'm about to do surgery.

I look up into the intense, jade-green eyes of Alpha Warren. "Are you ready, Alpha?"

"Warren," he corrects. I nod.

"Are you ready, Warren?"

"Yes, Yara."

I grit my teeth, hating that I know this is going to hurt him, but if he won't let me at least numb his leg, I can't help it.

I begin washing the blood off his leg, laying a wet cloth over the bloody area, careful that I don't tug on the bones that are still jutting out. His body is covered with caked blood, guts, and bits of bone, just like I thought it would be. Under the teakwood scent, he smells like war and death. It's good practice for me, learning how to ignore the smell of war while I work. I don't get this kind of training at the university.

"Talk to me," he says through gritted teeth.

"What do you want to talk about?" I ask, not looking up.

"You know what you are to me?" he asks, although it's more of a statement than a question. My stomach feels like it's twisting into knots.

"Yes," I say without looking up. "After you have healed, you can reject me. If you do it before, it could impact your healing." I don't know why the thought of this man rejecting me feels so painful. I don't even know him. I have no intention of becoming his mate and returning to the packs, not until I'm done with school anyway. And this pack is much too close to Simon for my comfort.

"Who says I'm going to reject you?" he asks, sounding offended. Now, I do look up at him.

"But I'm a lone wolf."

"What you are is my future Luna."

"You don't even know me," I say, going back to my work.

"I know that you're intelligent, you're compassionate, you're brave, and I know that you're lonely," he says.

The intelligent and compassionate parts I get. That could easily be discerned from my being a doctor and helping him; those two make sense. The brave part, I'm not sure about, but the lonely part...

"Why do you say I'm lonely?" I ask him, wiping off the blood and turning to get the scalpel. I lift it up, showing him that I'm about to cut into his leg. He nods and continues.

"The closest university with a medical school is about an hour north of here. Between here and there, there are many areas where a lone wolf could run if she wanted to. But instead," he stops, grunting as I carefully slice into his leg. "Instead, you chose to come to an area that is full of wolves."

He's partially right. Annika misses being in a pack. She misses the companionship of being with other wolves. As for me, I'd be fine living alone the rest of my life, but my wolf likes the smell of the forest, and it makes her feel more settled to smell the scent of other wolves.

Warren hisses, and I glance up at him, watching him take deep breaths to control his pain.

"How do you do that?" I ask.

"Do what?"

"Manage this level of pain?"

"Mind over matter. Physical pain will break you mentally if you let it. That's why people get tortured for information. If you can break the body, you can usually break the mind. My mind is stronger than my body, and my body is very strong."

I glance at the scars on his legs again.

"You've been fighting for a long time?" I ask, cutting and pulling the muscles away from where his bones have snapped into pieces.

"Since I became an Alpha nearly twelve years ago."

"Twelve years?" I exclaim, standing up and looking at him. He's older than I thought.

That eyebrow shoots up again. It's an arrogant look, but on Warren, it's oh so sexy.

"I took over the pack when I was eighteen. I'm now thirty, that's twelve years, little wolf."

"Annika's not that little," I say, returning my attention to his leg.

"She is compared to Arric."

"Well, Arric is an Alpha wolf. Only another Alpha would be larger than an Alpha wolf," I say as I carefully pluck out the first bone. I look at it, checking to see where it goes, and then I press it against the bone it snapped off of.

"Okay, Arric, let's see what you've got," I say, carefully holding the bone in place so Arric can begin to heal the fracture. I watch as the bone begins to connect and seal in front of my eyes.

"Cool!" I say, forgetting where I am and who I'm with. I've been working with humans for so long that I forgot how quickly wolves can heal, especially Alpha wolves.

"Is it that exciting?" Warren asks me drolly.

I shrug. I know not everyone finds medicine and surgery thrilling, but I do. "It is for me."

"Then it must be my lucky day," he says, just as there is a knock at the door.

I look at the door, then at Alpha Warren, wondering who could possibly be knocking.

"I told you I would protect you," he says, smiling. His smile is so beautiful that it nearly takes my breath away. "Come in, Charlie," he says, not taking his eyes off of me.

"Alpha ... what the fuck are you doing in here?" he asks angrily, striding quickly to the table and looking at Alpha Warren's leg, filleted and open on the table.