It was the middle of the night when I heard the shouting.

Someone was in trouble. I rocketed up in bed and sniffed the air. The scents were faint, but all the pack alphas were there – and Tyler.

Leaping from bed, I threw my coat over my shoulders and tore the door open. The boys were sprinting across the driveway. I could barely make them out in the moonlight, but coming up the ridge, I could see Tyler. And he was hurt.

“Tyler!” I screamed out. My body leapt forward and I was halfway to him before I even knew what was happening. I passed Matias. I passed Dwayne and I passed Charles as I sprinted toward him. “Tyler, what happened!?”

He was limping, and I saw blood on his leg and shirt. His face was pale as he staggered forward. Just as I reached him, his left leg collapsed out from under him and he fell.

But just before he hit the ground, I caught him, bracing one knee against the ground to support him.

“Got ya!” I cried out as he slumped over on me with a groan of pain.

“Nate,” he muttered. “Your…your…”

“Don’t talk!” Matias shouted as the other alphas reached us. “Nate, I got him—”

“No!” I snapped, a possessive anger flaring within me. “I’ve got him!”

Tate was shocked at my angry outburst, and so was I, but I didn’t care. All that mattered right now was Tyler.

He was heavy, and I kicked hard off the ground, putting all my strength into standing up as I slid myself under his arm and lifted him to his feet.

“Come on,” I told him. “Just walk. You can do it. I’ve got you.”

His breath was heavy and labored, and despite the chill in the air, he was drenched in sweat.

“What happened!?” Dwayne asked, his voice tense.

“He’s bleeding,” Charles growled. The alphas were right on the edge, and so was I. My wolf was crying out inside me, and I was ready to find whoever did this to him and tear their throats out.

“We should get him into the dining hall,” Matias suggested.

“No!” I cried out. “Bring him to my cabin and call Osana!”

“Dwayne,” Matias said quickly. Dwayne pulled his phone from his pocket and stepped away from the group to make the call.

We reached my cabin and Charles quickly opened the door, almost tearing it off its hinges with his absurd strength.

“You’re okay, you’re okay,” I kept saying as I lay Tyler down on the bed. His scent of pine and eggnog filled my nose and butterflies swarmed somewhere in my stomach, but they were overpowered by the fear and anger coursing through me.

Who did this!?

“What happened!?” Matias roared. Tyler’s eyes were closed and he was breathing slowly. “Tyler?”

Tyler didn’t answer. His head lolled to the side like he was going to pass out. I grabbed his chin and pulled his face to mine.

“Tyler!?” I roared, slapping him hard on the cheek. “Stay with me!”

His eyes snapped open and his eyes focused on him.

“Nate…” he muttered, his voice barely audible. “They…they stabbed me.”

His hand went to his shirt, and it was only then that I realized he was wearing hospital scrubs.

“Who!? What the fuck happened!?” I roared. My fangs were out and my primal side was threatening to take over. I wanted to kill whoever had done this to him.

Snatching the scrub top, I tore it in half easily to reveal the wound. It was an inch-wide stab wound that had been stitched up. But he’d obviously torn them on his way here and was bleeding.

“Charles—” Matias began to say, but I interrupted him.

“Charles! Get some gauze, some floss, and a needle! Go!”

“A needle?”

“Ask Patrick!” I shouted.

“Got it!”

Charles thundered away at top speed, sounding like a tractor-trailer truck as he ran from my cabin. He was a blur in the corner of my vision as he raced across the lawn.

“No, no, no, no,” I cried out in desperation, pressing my hand over the half-stitched wound, doing whatever I could to stop the bleeding.

Who did this to you!?

“Osana’s on her way!” Dwayne shouted from the door. “Tate and Martin are with her.”

“Tell them to hurry!” I shouted.

“We should contact his parents,” Tate said with concern.

“Why!?” I roared, turning to look at him. “You think he’s going to die? Is that it?”

“Nate—”

“He is not going to die, Matias!” I bellowed. Anger possessed me. Fear gripped my heart. My whole body was tense. My stomach was in knots. Charles almost knocked the door off its hinges as he burst into the cabin.

“I’ve got it!” he shouted, kneeling down beside me.

“Give it to me,” I said quickly, snatching the floss from him. “You get a needle?”

“Here,” he replied, handing it carefully to me.

“Press the gauze over the wound!” I told him as I threaded the floss through the needle. When I was young, my mom used to sew, and I liked to try and help her the best I could. Of course, I was nowhere near as good as her, but this wasn’t fine embroidery – this was saving a life.

“Nate, we really should call his parents—”

“Shut up, Matias!” I shouted back as I managed to thread the needle. “I don’t even know their phone number.”

I wasn’t paying attention to anyone but Tyler, but I was aware enough to see Matias slide a hand in his pocket and take his cell out. He stepped outside and I took a deep breath.

“Charles,” I said firmly. “Take your hand away.”

He looked at me, but I had my eyes firmly fixed on Tyler. He was conscious, but not at all with it. My heart was completely out of control, and no matter how hard I tried to calm it down, nothing seemed to work.

“Charles,” I repeated. “Move your hand.”

He did.

Tyler’s wound spilled blood across his stomach and onto the bedspread as I slid the needle into his skin. He writhed as the pain hit him.

“I know, baby, I know,” I whispered, securing the first stitch. “It’ll be over soon. You’re gonna be fine.”