Warren

As much pain as I'm in, I'm enjoying watching and talking to my mate. She's unlike any woman or she-wolf I've ever met. Besides the crazy notion that I would reject her, she's funny. I love how she's constantly murmuring to herself, talking to herself as if no one else can hear her. I can hear every word, and without being marked, it's a good second to knowing what's going on inside that interesting mind of hers.

Her face is nearly as expressive as her murmurs. She hasn't learned or doesn't care about hiding her facial expressions. Once again, I find it refreshing. She isn't trying to be coy or impress me because I'm an Alpha. On the contrary, it's almost as if she's trying to get away from me BECAUSE I'm an Alpha. Not going to happen. I've searched for this little doctor too long to let her go now.

"To answer your question, Charlie, Dr. Yara here is piecing me back together, slowly and painstakingly, which is preferable to Dr. Stevens' plan to remove my leg," I say.

My Beta's eyes flash up to mine. He understands the ramifications of what I've said. And as my Beta, he's in line to take over the pack. Thankfully, I trust my Beta, and I know that he has no desire to be an Alpha. It's not an easy job, but he makes it easier by being an incredible Beta.

"Are you at least numb?" he asks, his lip curling as he looks at what Yara is doing.

"Utterly ridiculous Alpha," Yara murmurs, obviously listening in on our conversation and giving her own opinions of me that she thinks we can't hear.

Charlie looks at me, frowning. 'She knows we can hear her, right?' he asks in the mind link.

'Apparently not,' I say, smiling.

"No, no numbing," I tell him out loud.

'I might agree with her,' he says, scowling at me.

"Give me the rundown on Brady. Did you kill him?" I ask, watching my mate.

"Arric, you ready?" she asks softly, all her concentration on her work.

"Yes, mate," Arric answers, and Charlie turns to look at her again, leaning over to watch as Arric heals my bone.

"Oh shit, that's fucking awesome!" he says.

"I know, right," my mate says, smiling a huge fucking smile at my Beta. Without thinking, I snarl jealously.

Both of them jolt, and while it fucking hurts that she tugs on my newly healed bone, it doesn't break again.

"Sorry, Alpha," Charlie says, showing his neck.

She looks at Charlie submitting and then at me, and her lips press tightly together. She doesn't approve. I lean forward so she's sure that I'm talking to her.

"You're MY mate."

"What I am is your DOCTOR. Temporarily. And if you don't want me walking out of here and letting Dr. Stevens take your leg, I'd suggest that you not pull that shit while my hands are in your shattered leg again," she snaps.

I sit back, having to fight hard not to smile. Damn, I like her spunk.

I turn my head to my Beta, not looking away from Yara. "So, what happened with Brady?"

"When you couldn't cut him off, he made it back to his pack. Since we know it's booby-trapped, we didn't pass his borders."

"Booby-trapped how? Arric, again," Yara says, again not looking up at us.

I tilt my head. Does she think that she's part of this conversation? I don't care if she is. I just know that most doctors would pretend to ignore the conversation going on around them. Not my mate, though. She's not pretending anything. And somehow, she's multi-tasking, listening to us, and still working on my leg, letting Arric know when he needs to start healing a bone.

"Spring-loaded wooden stakes buried in the ground," Charlie answers her, careful now in the way he interacts with her.

"Stupid pack wars, killing for no good reason," she mumbles to herself.

Charlie's eyes snap back to mine, and I smile.

"Anywho," he says, refocusing on me. "We did get one disturbing piece of information."

"What's that?" I ask.

"Alpha Solomon is dead. Simon is Alpha now." If I hadn't been so focused on her, I'd have missed it. Her very steady hand slipped. I lift my hand, letting Charlie know to stop. I frown as her hand begins to shake.

"I'm sorry, Alpha. I need a break," she says, stepping away and not waiting for me to release her. She pulls off her gloves and rushes from the room.

"Follow her. Don't approach, but make sure she doesn't leave," I tell Charlie.

"Yes, Alpha."

When they're gone, I sit back, thinking, which is hard because my leg is throbbing and lying open on the table in front of me.

The door opens, and Dr. Stevens walks in. "I knew she wouldn't make it, Alpha. I mean..." he stops staring at my leg. "Just look at this mess! I'll get ready to remove the leg."

"The fuck you will. She's taking a break, and for your information, she's getting my bones back together. So, get the fuck out of my surgery room, doctor," I snarl.

"Alpha, I must insist..."

"What you must do is listen to your fucking Alpha. GET OUT!" I shout.

The door opens, and Yara rushes back in, seeing Dr. Stevens.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You don't leave a patient in the middle of surgery!" he barks at her.

"CHARLIE!" I growl.

"Dr. Stevens," he says, holding the door open and gesturing for him to leave.

Dr. Stevens huffs but walks out.

"My apologies, Alpha. Dr. Stevens is right. I shouldn't leave in the middle of surgery." She's not looking at me, and I look at Charlie who shrugs.

"What did you call me?" I ask, my irritation with Dr. Stevens tainting my tone.

Her head snaps up to mine. "Alpha?"

I crook my finger at her, and she walks over to me. "And what did I tell you to call me?" I ask her, forcing my tone to be gentler as I take her chin between my thumb and forefinger, forcing her to hold my gaze.

"Warren," she says, her dark green eyes nearly making me forget that I'm in a surgical room.

"Warren," I confirm, reluctantly releasing her. "Continue, Dr. Yara."

She nods and returns to my leg. I watch her take a deep breath before picking out several more bones until she finds the one she wants.

"Arric?"

"Ready, my mate," he purrs, helping her to steady her hand and her nerves. When she does, I gesture for Charlie to return.

"Any other serious injuries that Dr. Stevens is threatening to do something ridiculously over the top with?" I ask.

"Yours is the worst, Alpha. There are a couple with deep wounds that he's washing out with alcohol.

Yara sucks in air again and stands up straight, looking at us.

"Not the right course of treatment?" I ask her, starting to trust her medical knowledge much more than my current doctor.

"Why wouldn't he just stitch them up?" she asks.

"He said it would take too long, and there are too many injured," Charlie says, watching her closely. I like my Beta a lot. But until my mate is wearing my mark, I don't like all the interest he's showing in her.

Yara, however, turns to me. "Don't you have omegas in your packhouse who sew your clothing?"

"Yes," I say, frowning at her.

"It's basically the same. Yes, skin feels a bit different, it's a bit tougher than fabrics, but they could do it and not cause the pain that pouring alcohol into their wounds is causing," she says.

I look at Charlie. "Call the omegas, get them over here. Tell Dr. Stevens that he can go."

"But who is going to assess the warriors?" he asks me.

"Have the nurses give a diagnosis and recommended treatment, then bring it in here to ask Dr. Yara's opinion."

"My opinion?" she asks me, obviously surprised.

"Yes, Yara. Your opinion. I'm beginning to think that you are the perfect replacement for Dr. Stevens."

Yara

Replacement? I can't be a replacement. I'm not staying. As soon as Alpha...as soon as Warren's leg is done, I'm out of here. I glance up at the broody Alpha and wonder if that's true. Is he going to let me go?

The news about Simon has me worried. If there is a paper trail from his father helping me through medical school ... he'll find me.

"Arric?" I say distractedly, holding the bones together while he heals them.

I have to get my car and my clothes. I have to get back to school. I'm a resident, I can't just up and leave.

"Tell me where your car is, and I'll have someone go get it. Same with your clothes. As far as your schooling goes, we'll have to talk about you taking classes online and working your 'residency' did you call it, here," Warren says.

I frown at him. "How did you...?"

"You were talking to yourself. It wasn't hard to hear you."

"I can't leave school, Warren," I say, looking at him like he's crazy.

"I didn't say you'd be leaving school. I said you'd be doing your residency here. You can take classes online," he says as if that settles it.

"Excuse me? You can't keep me here!"

He merely raises that damn eyebrow at me again.

"You're not my Alpha ..." I begin.

He leans forward. "What I am is your mate. Tell me truthfully, if I let you go back to school and I come to visit you in, say, a week, will you still be there?"

I look away, beginning to work on his leg again and refusing to answer him. Even if he wasn't my mate, knowing that Simon may be able to figure out where I am would have me transferring immediately.

"That's what I thought, and that, my dear mate, is why I'm not letting you leave."

He sits back, and both of us get lost in our own thoughts again. I let Arric know when I'm ready for him to heal the bones.

"Why did you say I was brave earlier?"

"What?" he snaps, and I can tell the pain is getting to him.

"Earlier, you said you knew I was intelligent, compassionate, brave, and lonely. The intelligent and compassionate I understand, the lonely part you explained, but why did you say you think I'm brave?" I ask him.

"When you heard my pack, you didn't run. You could have. You didn't know they were my pack members. You looked like you were ready to fight, to defend me. For someone who's not a fighter, that takes guts."

I look up at him, frowning. "How do you know I'm not a fighter?"

"You're not built like one," he says simply.

"Are you saying I'm fat?" I ask, insulted. I work out at the human gym. I know I need to let Annika out more often to run, but I'm not overweight, even by werewolf standards.

"You know you're not," he says, watching me. "But I saw you naked. Those of us who have been fighting in pack wars almost daily for years don't have the softness to their body that you have. And before you go jumping to any conclusions, I find your body very attractive, very sexy."

I stop what I'm doing, unsure how to respond to that.

"Sexy. That's not a word that has been used to describe me in the past," I say, and realize that once again, I spoke out loud.

I look up at him and see him smiling at me. "Some people, like me, find intelligence sexy. But I've been itching to touch you, to run my hands over the softness of your body since the moment I saw you."

"Some people, like me, find it hard to believe that someone caught in a bear trap was 'itching' to touch me," I say, rolling my eyes at him.

"Then that should tell you just how strong the pull of the mate bond is. While what you're doing hurts, just having you touch me helps with the pain. Your scent in this room, which gets stronger the longer you are in here, is helping me manage the pain. As an Alpha, it's one of the benefits of finding your Luna, your fated mate. You are the other half of my soul, and at the risk of sounding cheesy, you complete me on more than one level. Now, I have a question for you."

"Okay," I say, still focusing on his leg.

"Why didn't you run?"

I stop and look at him like he's crazy. "You were injured. If they weren't your pack, they would have killed you."

That damn eyebrow goes up again. "And they would have killed you too."

"I didn't rescue you from a bear trap to leave you to die at the hands of the assholes who set it in the first place!" I say.

"Sooo, you're more stubborn than brave?"

"Call it what you will. I wasn't going to leave you to die," I say.

"Thank you."

I wait for more, and when there isn't, I look up at him. "For what?"

"For getting me out of that bear trap, for not leaving when I could have been killed, and for not letting Dr. Stevens take my leg."

"He really needs to retire," I say.

"Which is why you're going to replace him," he says arrogantly.

"I am not going to replace him, Warren. I have school. I have ... labs and exams and things like that."

"We can talk to the school and figure out the labs. As I said, and you must know, you'll get more opportunities to practice your skills here in my pack than you will in some human school's laboratory. And exams can be taken online. People do it all the time. Any other arguments that I can negate for you?" he asks me.

"So arrogant," I mutter angrily.

"Confident," he says.

"What?" I ask, frowning.

"I'm not arrogant; I'm confident. There's a difference."

"How do you keep hearing what I'm saying?" I ask him.

"How long have you been living with humans? I think you've forgotten how sensitive a werewolf's hearing is, and I'm an Alpha; mine's more sensitive than most."

UGH! I've been living with humans long enough that I've gotten used to muttering to myself without others being able to hear me. Now, I'm going to have to start being careful what I say so I don't offend anyone.

There's a knock at the door.

"Come in," Warren calls out.

"Does no one know that this is a surgery room?" I mutter, already forgetting that he can hear me.

"Uh, excuse me, doctor. I have one of the omegas here that sews our clothing, but she says she doesn't know how to sew up a warrior," Warren's Beta, Charlie, says. I turn and see a wide-eyed young woman staring at Warren's leg on the table.

"Give me a moment. I'll be right there," I say, quickly taking a towel and covering his leg. I don't want to have to smell vomit while I work.

Charlie takes her from the room, and I turn back to Warren's leg. "Okay, I have all the small pieces underneath back in place. There are going to be some slivers that I won't be able to put back in, but hopefully, Arric can work around the small pieces of missing bone."

"I'm a strong Alpha wolf, mate. I'll make it work," he says, once again sounding like he's strutting proudly for me.

"Right. So, I'm going to put the big bone fragment against the existing bone and let you start healing it while I go check on these other warriors. When I come back, I'll finish putting the smaller pieces on top, and then we can get you sewn up and nearly back to normal, Alpha."

"Warren, Yara. Call me Warren."

I look up into his brownish-green eyes, his very expressive eyes. And right now, those eyes look exhausted. I move closer to him and put my hands on his chest, pushing him back into a lying-down position.

"Why don't you rest while I'm gone?" I say gently. "You've had a long day, and your body needs to heal." I watch as his eyes start to drift closed. I know it's a bad idea; I know I shouldn't, but my fingers have been itching to touch him since I've seen him, too. I gently run my fingers through his hair, feeling how soft it is in the places where it isn't covered in blood.

"Sleep, Warren. I'll be here when you wake up."

I'm not sure what makes me do it, but I lean in and press my lips to his, hearing him sigh as his body falls into a deep sleep.

"Sleep well, Warren," I whisper in his ear, then I cover his leg and step out of the room, letting his Beta know that someone needs to watch the room and protect their Alpha while I go help the nurses and omegas in the hospital.