Soren was so pale. His skin had turned ashen, his face wet with tears. He gripped my hand hard enough to hurt, but all I could focus on was my own blind panic. I drove with a wild desperation all the way to the hospital. I could smell the metallic tinge of blood. Soren was hurt. The baby… No. I couldn’t go through that again. I couldn’t—but I had to be strong for him. He needed me right now.

I held his hand while he whimpered and grasped at his belly with the other. Huxley sat crunched up in the back of the cab, his knees jammed into the back of Soren’s seat. It was a tight squeeze for a man his size, but we didn’t have time to go back and fetch his truck.

“Relax, Sor. Breathe. Breathe with me. It’s gonna be okay.” His low voice rumbled like a peal of distant thunder. It was oddly soothing to my frayed nerves. Soren nodded in quick, jerky bursts and squeezed my hand tighter.

“I’m scared,” came his whisper, barely an exhalation.

“I know, baby,” I replied gently, drawing his hand up so I could place a kiss on his knuckles.

Soren pinched his eyes shut. “Y-You came back for me…”

“I did.” Just in time, too. My stomach lurched at the thought. Had I been even two minutes late… Would Huxley have gotten there in time to save him? I rubbed my thumb over the soft skin of his knuckles when he began to cry again. “Almost there. Just hold on. You’re gonna be fine, Soren. Trust me, okay? The doctors will take care of you.”

I screeched to a halt just outside the emergency room doors. Huxley pried himself out of the backseat and ran ahead to grab a wheelchair. Together, we helped Soren down into the padded seat. He clung to my hand and refused to let go, so I walked beside the wheelchair while Huxley pushed him up the ramp and into the building.

Huxley spoke to the nurse at the registration desk in terse tones. I knelt down in front of Soren and cupped his tear-streaked face in my hands. “Look at me, baby,” I whispered. His golden eyes lifted to meet mine, brimming with sorrow. I pressed a kiss to his clammy forehead. “Breathe. I’ll be right here.”

But it was a promise I couldn’t keep. When the two nurses wheeled him through the wide electronic double doors, they stopped me at the threshold. “I’m sorry, sir. Are you family?” A curt fifty-something with a bottle blonde bob stood in my way. Soren cried my name as his hand slipped from mine and my breath ground to a halt in my lungs.

“No, I—” I began, but she raised a hand.

“Are you his mate?”

Guilt hit me hard. Damn it all… “No, but I—”

She offered a tight smile. “Then I’m sorry, but you can’t come back here. Please have a seat.”

I bristled and my hands clenched at my sides hard enough that they began to shake. “Look, woman. You don’t understand—”

“Honey, I’ve heard every excuse in the book. Trust me, I understand perfectly, but if you’re not his mate, then I can’t help you. Please. Go sit down.” Without another word, she turned her back on me and swiped her ID card over the round metal sensor. It beeped and the doors slid open with an electronic whirring sound, to close behind her.

I stood in the hall, defeated. Before I could tamp it back down, fury surged white-hot inside of me. I growled. This was such bullshit. Soren needed me! He needed me. I promised him I’d be there for him.

“Fuck!” I snarled at the unforgiving door. Emotion welled in my chest as everything caught up with me. I’d killed a man—and I’d do it again, if it meant Soren and the baby were safe. I staggered back a step, my skull throbbing, but it was Huxley’s firm hand on my shoulder that put a halt to the chaos in my mind.

“Hey. Come on. Come sit down.”

“He needs me…” I uttered, my voice sounding weird to my own ears.

“He’ll be okay,” Huxley replied gently. “Sit.” He guided me back out to the lobby, where blue plastic chairs lined the walls papered with a gaudy print that could only be found in hospitals. My legs gave out and I collapsed into the nearest seat. Huxley took the chair beside me, his expression oddly calm.

We sat in shared silence for what seemed like an eternity. The adrenaline rush had all but worn off, leaving me achy and exhausted. I scrubbed both hands over my face, then grimaced at the sight of the blood beneath my fingernails. Shit. “You got rid of him, right?” I asked quietly. “Finished him off, so he can’t hurt Soren again?”

Huxley merely nodded, a firm bob of his head.

“And the other wolf? The sickly one?”

“I don’t think he’ll try anything else.” He sighed. “He’s not long for this world now. The silver poisoning his bloodstream is slowly killing him. He’s old. Tired. Without his brother’s brawn, he’s nothing but a shell of the Alpha he used to be. Erick was the one running the show.”

“So long as Soren’s safe. That’s all I care about.”

The wolf pinned me with a look. “I know it’s not the time or the place for it, but I want to make one thing perfectly clear. Soren’s been through a lot of shit in his life. Too much for someone so young. I’ve done everything in my power to protect him these past few years. He’s my brother, my best friend. I would do anything for him, do you understand?”

“Yes,” I murmured.

“But I can’t be his guardian forever. Someday, he’s gonna fall in love with an Alpha and it’ll be his turn to keep Soren safe. He needs someone stable. Someone who will love him, who will cherish him, who will protect him. If you can’t be that person, that’s fine, but please don’t lead him on. Don’t play games with his heart, because he deserves better than that. He deserves love.”

I looked down at my hands, which twisted together on my lap. “I know.”

“He loves you,” he said simply, as if it was just that easy. Maybe it was. “And I think, deep down, you love him. Otherwise you wouldn’t have swooped in to rescue him the way you did. That’s twice now you’ve saved him, huh?” His smile was kind. He reached over and patted my knee. “Trust your heart, Hunter. It knows the way.”