Chapter Three
Jensen liked to keep busy, an easy thing to do when you were the doctor of a den full to the brim with shifters, many of them kids. If people asked, he told them he loved his work, which he did, and that he was someone who liked to keep his hands occupied, who preferred to be busy than to be idle.
What he didn’t tell them was that not all of that was true. He did love his work but that wasn’t why he never took a break. Pausing gave him time to think and thinking led to feelings he’d rather not dwell on; loneliness, sadness, an emptiness that followed him around day after day, year after year, dogging his steps.
So, when little Chloe flew into the room, shifting back to human form in front of him and announcing breathlessly that there was an emergency down by the river, he was more than happy to drop the paperwork he’d been laboring over and race down there.
He found he was the first of the adults to get there; a group of kids clustered around the bank staring over at the other side. What they were staring at was a crumpled form half on the opposite bank, half in the water. From this distance, Jensen couldn’t tell anything about the person, male or female, alive or dead, shifter or human. It didn’t matter right then.
Diving into the water, he struck out, swimming across with powerful strokes of his arms and kicks of his legs. The river wasn’t too deep or too fast-flowing at this point. A mercy, otherwise the water might have pulled the person in; swallowed them whole.
When he reached the body, he pressed a hand against their neck, feeling for a pulse and getting the strong scent of shifter. There was a pulse, weak but steady. He turned the man over, onto his back, catching sight of a pale face with a slashed cut across it. He was breathing; regular, shallow breaths, but Jensen could see blood swirling in the water around them, could feel an abnormal heat radiating from his body. Injured, maybe sick. Just as well he was a doctor.
He lifted the man into his arms as another person reached his side. It was Max, looking concerned. “A shifter?”
“Yes,” Jensen replied, adding, “A lion from the scent.”
He looked down at the fragile man in his arms. “And an omega.”
Something stirred inside him, some long buried emotion sneaking to the surface. He shoved it away. This wasn’t the time. He had a duty.
“He’s injured, I need to get him to the clinic.”
Turning, he waded back through the river, trying as best he could to keep his charge out of the water. Hunter had arrived, Cade on his heels. By the time he reached the bank, Max a step behind him, they’d shooed all the kids away.
“What have you got?” Hunter asked.
“Injured omega,” Max answered before Jensen could. “He’s a lion shifter.”
Hunter raised his eyebrows but didn’t comment. It was Cade’s reaction that said it all, as he looked rapidly from Jensen to the omega and back before swallowing hard.
“He’s come to the right place,” Cade managed to say, reaching for Hunter’s hand, and giving Jensen a tight smile. Jensen was afraid to read anything into the omega’s words. Could it be that the thing he wanted more than anything had just landed in his arms? Could it really be that easy?
Joe, on seeing Jensen heading toward the clinic, ran on ahead to get things ready. By the time he reached the examination room, all he had to do was set the omega down on the bed. Turning, he quickly washed his hands and threw on some gloves. Joe pulled out blankets and some equipment while Jensen reached for a pair of scissors.
“First things first, let’s get these clothes off. He’s bleeding from somewhere.”
With Joe’s help, it took less than a minute to bare the shifter, who didn’t so much as stir under their touch. As soon as he could see what they were working with, he cursed. The omega was a mess; filthy, bruised, and badly mauled. The worst of the injuries were deep slash marks to his abdomen and back. No need to guess what made those.
“We need to clean him top to toe, disinfect these wounds, stitch the bleeders, and load him up on painkillers and antibiotics. From the look of his feet, he’s been on the move for days, and there’s little to no sign of healing.”
If he was human, he’d have been septic and on the brink of death if not dead already. Being a shifter, he was in a bad way but with some intensive care and attention, Jensen felt confident he’d heal.
They worked in tandem in near silence. Even though they’d only known each other barely a year, they’d established a strong working relationship, each knowing the other’s strengths and trusting the other’s abilities. Jensen knew Joe would ask for help if he needed it and knew he could trust Joe’s judgment when he didn’t. Their working relationship was buoyed by a strong friendship, formed in part because the two of them shared a sadness; they were both lost in love.
Once the omega was clean, Jensen got the antibiotics going and topped up the pain relief. The omega would need something to dull the pain while he stitched the deeper wounds. There was no mistaking the gouges left by lion claws. The poor kid had been badly mauled, tossed about like a ragdoll, and then chased away.
Or did he run? Jensen liked to think chased because that was something he could identify with, having been exiled himself what seemed like an eternity ago. But he was an alpha, and exiling alphas wasn’t that uncommon. An omega, though. Who’d be threatened enough by one of them to want them banished? Runaway probably fit better.
The omega stirred as Jensen dealt with the wounds, making little whimpering noises under his breath, his body instinctively curling away from the alpha’s hands.
“Shh,” Jensen soothed, nodding to Joe to up the pain relief. “You’re safe, we’ve just got to get these wounds stitched up, so you can heal.”
His voice seemed to do the trick, settling the omega down again until the medicine kicked in.
Each wound was stitched with care, Jensen going as slowly and gently as he could. This omega had been through enough pain, he wouldn’t willingly cause him any more.
“There, done,” he said at last, pulling off his gloves and tidying away the suture kit. Joe put bandages over the last of the wounds then covered the omega with a blanket, tucking it in around him. The omega slept on, blissfully unaware of anything around him.
When Jensen stepped outside to get some air, he found Max and Hunter loitering nearby, talking in undertones.
“How is he?” Max asked when Jensen approached.
“Sleeping. He’s been badly wounded, he’ll need plenty of rest and care in order to heal. Is there any sign he’s being followed?” The last thing they wanted was trouble reaching the den, even with three alphas in residence.
Hunter shook his head. “No, I followed his trail back a few miles. There’s no one coming after him, not yet anyway. We’ll need to post a guard for the next few days, just to be sure.”
“That sounds sensible.” He hesitated before adding, “I feel a connection to him. Maybe it’s just that we’re both lions and it’s been years since I’ve seen one but—” He felt maybe it was more than that. No. He knew it was more than that.
Max patted his shoulder sympathetically. “I saw how Cade was looking at you two. Believe me, I know what that look means.”
Hunter grinned. “Welcome to the club. You, me, and Seth should start our own subgroup. Matings with complicated beginnings.”
“I could be wrong,” he said, realizing belatedly that he was also saying Cade could be wrong. He wasn’t sure the omega had ever been wrong about these things.
“Don’t worry, Ollie will be by to give you a second opinion. I know how you docs love second opinions.” Max grinned at his own joke and wandered off.
“He’s settling back in well,” he said to Hunter. Max had only recently returned from staying with Dara in the Cove and was planning to head back there again soon.
The alpha shrugged. “Cade worries. And when he worries, I worry. But then we have five soon-to-be toddlers. Who has time for all that worrying?”
He smiled at Jensen. “Seriously, though. Trust your instincts on this one. And if you can’t, then trust Cade. He says he’s never felt a connection between you and any other shifter. Not even a little one. You’ve worked closely with Joe for months and nothing. But all you do is pick up that injured shifter and bam, Cade says it was like a Christmas tree lighting up. Neon flashing lights surrounding you two. I think maybe you’re in luck and soon to be in love.”
Jensen wanted to believe that, more than anything.