Chapter Twenty
Madden
Physicals started that week and Madden wasn’t really looking forward to them. She had spent years working as a trauma nurse all over the world. She loved the excitement that came with the unexpected. High school physicals? Monotony at its most boring. Why had she taken this job? Because she also loved to travel and experience new things. She’d never lived in Colorado, never worked at a high school. Would all the adventure end if she mated with Linc? Would he want her to stay home, have kids? Cook his dinner and clean his house? He already admitted to wanting a maid. Would that become her? Was she destined to be her mother, no matter how hard she fought against it? She shivered. The thought alone terrified her.
“Miss Madden?”
She looked up. “Riley? Hey, what—”
She was cut off when he stumbled into her room. She caught him in her arms right before he went down. He ended up hitting his head on her desk before she could turn them as they both went down. His dead body weight had knocked the air from her lungs. Quickly, she climbed out from under him, assessing him for injuries. He had a large bump on his head where he’d hit the desk, and a cut above his eye that needed a few stitches. She lifted his shirt and saw several bruises on his torso.
“Riley? Riley, can you hear me?”
His voice was barely a whisper when he answered her. “Call Linc or Baze. Don’t let Corey find out.” He coughed, wincing in pain while attempting to hold his side.
She checked his pulse and then grabbed her blood pressure cuff of the shelf. She needed to make sure she didn’t need to call an ambulance first. “What the hell happened? Did you get in a fight? Is there some other kid lying in a gutter somewhere?” She knew how tough shifters were. If he’d been in a fight with an average human, they’d probably need a body bag, not a stretcher.
“No.” Riley shook his head, trying to clear his throat. “No. He jumped me.” He was so hoarse, she wondered if he’d been choked at some point during the encounter.
“What? Who?”
“Just call Linc. Please.” She could barely make out what he was saying. His voice was a rough whisper.
Madden ran her hands up and down his legs, checking for breaks. “Riley, you almost passed out. You could have a concussion, I think you need to go to the hospital.”
“No. I can’t. I heal too fast. Just call the guys.”
Madden was leaning over Riley, her hands on either side of his head. His voice was so soft and full of pain it was hard to hear him unless she put her ear by his mouth. Which was why she was caught completely off guard when Linc grabbed her around the waist, hauling her off the floor and growling down at the bleeding and broken kid.
Madden struggled in his hold, but it was useless, he was too strong. “Linc.” What the hell was his prob—the bond. “Linc.” She reached up and slapped him across the face. “Look at him.” She pointed down to Riley, her tone commanding and pissed. “He’s hurt. He needs my help. You have to let me go.”
“Sorry, I, uh…” Linc’s hold weakened and he sat her back on her feet. He kneeled down next to Riley, looking up at her. “What in the hell happened to him?”
“I don’t know. He came in here and pretty much collapsed. He needs a few stitches in that cut and I think he has a concussion.” She put her hands on her hips, her voice still strained. She was angry, but now wasn’t the time to hand Linc his ass. “He said he was jumped, and not to tell Corey.”
Linc picked Riley up like he was a feather and sat him on a bed in the corner of her office. “Will you text Baze from my phone?” He pulled it from his St. Leasing hoodie pocket and handed it to her. “Tell him, nine-one-one, nurse’s office. Come alone.”
Madden quickly did what he asked then grabbed some ice and gauze and went to patch up Riley. She slid across the floor on the coffee Linc had no doubt thrown to the ground when he’d pulled her from Riley. She sighed but set about cleaning up the poor kid’s cut and used a liquid bandage to stop the bleeding. Then she placed the ice against his bump. “He has a few broken ribs.”
Linc nodded, not taking his eyes off his packmate. “He’ll heal fast.”
“I started to call an ambulance but he stopped me.” Madden smoothed the hair back from the boy’s face and Linc growled in response. She didn’t move her hand. She wouldn’t give into that crap. “Stop it.” She was a nurse. This was her job. Her passion. And she’d be damned if Linc thought he could keep her from it.
“I can’t help it,” he gritted out through clenched teeth.
“Well you need to fucking try.” Bonded male or not, she wouldn’t give up her job. She wouldn’t give up her independence. And he was delusional if he thought otherwise.
“This is me trying.” She met Linc’s eyes at the sudden pleading in his tone. “We haven’t completed the bond and his scent is all over you. You think I want to be this person? Riley is like my little brother. In my head I love that you are taking care of him, but I can’t control it.”
She didn’t know what else to say, so she stayed silent. Luckily, Baze walked in mere seconds later. He was breathing hard, like he’d sprinted the whole way over from the athletic building. “What the hell happened?” He shut the door behind him, locking it so that they wouldn’t be interrupted.
Linc shook his head. “We don’t really know. He’s weak, in and out of consciousness. Once he actually goes under, he won’t wake for hours. He has a lot of healing to do. I only wanted to ask him once.”
Baze came over, standing beside her and Linc, peering down at Riley. He reached out and squeezed his hand. “Hey, kiddo, you need to open your eyes for us.” His freckled forehead wrinkled, like he’d heard Baze but he couldn’t do as he was told.
Madden wanted to demand they take him for an MRI, but she knew her plea would fall on deaf ears. Riley had already told her he healed too fast. “He has a concussion. He’s not going to be able to come around on demand like that.”
Baze sighed. “He has to. Once he goes into a healing sleep he’ll be unreachable. We need to find out what happened. We need to make sure no one else is hurt. No one else is in danger.”
Linc and Baze shared a look, then Baze grabbed Riley by the shoulder. “Wake. Up.” He said it with so much force, a demand that couldn’t be ignored. She wanted to roll her eyes and say I told you so, but to her surprise Riley started to blink. Was that some kind of wolf pack command trick? “Tell us what happened and then we’ll let you sleep.”
Riley attempted to talk but nothing came out. He cleared his throat and tried again, this time managing a harsh whisper. “I was walking toward the field and someone jumped me. I never even heard him, so he had to be shifter.” He worked to swallow. “He put a pillow case over my head and pulled me behind the field house. Kicked my ass and then told me…” Riley hesitated and all three of them moved closer. “…that Franklin said hi.”
Baze muttered a few different choice words and Linc punched a hole in the wall. Madden’s eyes went wide as drywall rained down to the floor. Who the hell was Franklin? And why the fuck did he want to beat up a kid?
“You can’t tell Corey. She can’t get worked up. It’s not good for the baby.” Riley’s words were starting to slur now.
Madden shoved Baze and Linc away from the kid. “That’s enough, you got what you wanted. Let him rest.” He needed a scan to check for any brain bleeds or skull fractures. Well, if he was a regular kid he would. But Riley wasn’t a regular kid, was he? He was a supernatural being, and she knew nothing about what it would take to make him better. That thought made her feel helpless, which was a feeling she tried to avoid like the plague.
Linc wrapped his arm around her shoulders, bringing her close to his body. And she let him, even though she wasn’t sure she should at this point. She was still unsure what to think. His jealousy was unsettling, to say the least. She refused to be owned. “He’ll be fine. He’ll heal while he sleeps.” He looked over her head at Baze. “But he’s right, we need to keep Corey away from him. This is going to set her off. It’s not good for the baby.”
Baze stood in the corner, arms crossed. “We should bring him to our place. Corey never comes there.”
Linc nodded.
“Madden can come when she’s done with work, help us keep an eye on him.”
Baze spoke like she didn’t have a choice in the matter. Not that she would refuse to help an injured kid, but still. He wasn’t the boss of her. Was that pack life? Everything was decided for her? She couldn’t live like that, with men hovering over her, expecting her to be who they wanted her to be.
“We need to check on Jasper and Jace. If Franklin sent someone after Riley, it’s because he knows the kids sold him out to the Feds.” Linc was rubbing her back, but speaking to Baze.
Who the fuck were all these people they were talking about? And the Feds? Sold who out? “What the hell is going on?”
Linc kissed her temple. Which melted her insides, which in turn, irritated the shit out of her. “I’ll explain it all tonight when you get home.”
When you get home. He did it again. Wherever they were together, was that home to him? Because according to Baze she wasn’t going to her home tonight; she was going to theirs. Madden had barely had time to wrap her mind around this mating stuff, and in Linc’s mind they were already one.
Baze pulled the curtain closed around Riley’s bed, blocking him in case anyone walked in. “We’re due in Dom’s office in ten minutes. If we don’t show he’ll come looking for us. And I don’t want him to have to lie to Corey.”
“Because they’re mates?” Madden spoke into Linc’s chest—he’d yet to let her go. And she’d yet to make him.
Linc snorted. “Because he’s bad at it.” He loosened his hold on her and she took a step back, instantly missing his scent.
When Baze grabbed her by the shoulders, Linc snarled and pushed him off, shaking his head. “Don’t touch her, man. I can’t handle it right now.”
Baze kept his hands by his side, but got down to eye level with her. “Under no circumstances do you leave this room. We can’t move Riley right now, and no one can find him like this. Do you understand?”
Madden nodded even though part of her wanted to scream at him to stop ordering her around and talking to her like she was his employee.
Baze pointed toward the door. “Keep the door shut. If anyone needs anything, direct them to the trainer’s office and we’ll take care of them.”
Baze was a pushy asshole. She stood up straight, lifting her chin. “I have a list of kids that I have to see today.” Madden glanced toward Linc; with his possessive behavior she really didn’t want to say it out loud. She took a small step forward and spoke as quietly as possible next to Baze’s ear. “Physicals start today.” She doubted Linc heard her over the growl vibrating in his throat at their close proximity.
Baze scrubbed his hands down his face, hiding an amused smirk behind his hand. “Okay, just get it done, quickly.”
Linc reached over and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her against him. “Mates don’t tell secrets.” He nuzzled her hair, inhaling deeply.
Desire stirred in her core. She couldn’t help her reaction to him, just like he couldn’t help his jealousy. Riley was a few feet away, healing from a horrible beating. Baze was standing right next to them. Her emotions were a big jumbled mess. But she still wanted Linc to push her against the wall and fuck her like there was no tomorrow. The thought pissed her off. She glared at him, full of fire. “Then it’s a good thing we aren’t mated, right?”
Linc grabbed her hair, wrapping it around his hand. He pulled her head back and claimed her mouth. The kiss was intense and inappropriate, dominating. But damn it felt good. When he finally let her go he made her meet his eyes. “Don’t push me, baby, not right now.”
Madden watched as he and Baze left her office. She had to hold on to the edge of her desk to keep from going after him.