Josh
“Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck,” he swore constantly as he ripped back Chad’s shirt.
Josh had seen the knife J had used. It had been covered in a thick green film. Taking stock of the wound, it was just as he feared: it wasn’t healing.
“Hannah, get over here!” he shouted, frantically scraping at the sides of the wound, cleaning as much of the gunk off as he could. The blood was everywhere, making it hard work.
There was a thud behind him, followed by a roar and then a squeak. Josh wanted to know what the hell was going on, but he didn’t have time. He had to get the wound cleaned and then somehow press it together while cleaning more.
“I need help!” he shouted, having cleaned a few inches so far. It was healing, but far too slowly. Chad would bleed out if someone couldn’t press the flaps of skin together.
Then a second set of hands was there, holding the cleaned area closed. With a renewed effort, Josh cut and scraped the jagged bits of flesh clean of the gunk. It had been a long time since anyone had been badly hurt by the stuff. Ever since they learned what it was, the Sentinels had been much more careful of knives when they got into a fight. That often meant closing quickly before it could be brought into play, but either way, nobody had been hurt as bad as Connor had when the Agency first debuted it.
“Where is Hannah?” he grunted as they worked.
Connor didn’t reply, but his fingers continued to move, shuffling up the wound and holding it together as the skin stitched itself shut. The flow of blood was beginning to slow, giving hope that Chad might actually make it. The floor and both of the shifters were covered in red now as they worked to save the man who had gotten them all into this mess.
Chad’s eyes were beginning to refocus, and he gritted his teeth in pain. The drugs must have either worn off, or been purged enough with the blood loss to allow him to recover, Josh thought. He wondered what the man was going to say when he became coherent enough to answer questions.
“How’s it going over there?” Justin asked from behind them. His voice sounded oddly strained.
“Almost finished,” Josh replied. “I think the bastard might actually make it.”
There was a sort of scuffling noise at that comment as well, which spiked his curiosity to new levels, but he was still intently focused on the last several inches of skin. The blood flow had all but stopped now, and with his increased ability to see the wound, Josh made quick work of any remaining gunk, wiping it all on the ground around him.
“There, done,” he pronounced. “He’s either going to make it through, or he’s done for.”
He stood up, and turned around.
“Shit,” he muttered at the sight that greeted him.
Jared was in bear form, jaws casually on the neck of Hannah’s werewolf while he sat on her. Justin was poised with a spiked piece of wood, held inches from her skin as a backup.
“You knew about this,” Connor said as he stepped up beside him, wiping the blood from his hands with a towel. He passed it over to Josh.
“Yeah,” he admitted, seeing no point in hiding it.
“You brought a werewolf into our midst,” Madison said from where she stood at the back of the room.
“Yes.” This time Josh’s voice had a bit of an edge to it, challenging anyone who would dare to accuse him of anything. “You can get off her now. She’s not going to do anything. Are you?” he said, looking sternly at Hannah.
The wolf, despite the jaws on its neck, shook its head in an awkward mimicry of a human.
“No,” Justin protested. “We need to kill it!”
“Shut up,” Josh said.
“What?” The shifter whirled to look at Josh, but the stake didn’t waver in his hands. “How can you say that? She could infect us all!”
Josh rolled his eyes. “You’re wrong. They aren’t sick, and they definitely aren’t crazy.”
“I’m assuming that he’s a werewolf too,” Justin said, jerking his head at Chad. “That’s why you were able to save him? A wound like that should have killed a human.”
“Yes, he is one too,” Josh said. “Now get off her, and let Hannah explain the truth about the werewolves.”
Jared’s bear looked at Josh levelly for a long moment, then he released his hold and shifted back to his human form. The Alpha Sentinel was still wary of the werewolf and kept himself ready to move at any moment, but he backed away, shaking some more plaster dust off him from the wall he had gone through.
Justin looked back and forth at them all. “You have to be kidding,” he said.
The shifter was having a hard time accepting this change. Madison walked up to him and laid a hand on his shoulder. “It’ll be okay,” she said, and reached out for the stick. It may have looked like she was asking him, but everyone in the room knew it was an order.
Finally the big man relented and handed over his stake, throwing his hands up in the air as he walked into the far corner of the room. Josh looked around. The room was square, with the entry door at one side. The hole in the wall from Jared’s entry was only a few feet in near the door to the hall. Most of them were all clustered there, which gave Justin his space in the opposite corner. He shrugged and gestured at Hannah, but she just got up and slinked out into the hallway.
“Oh no you don’t,” he said, going after her. “You get back in there and explain to them what you told me. I don’t care if you’re embarrassed,” he said in response to the look the wolf gave him. “Nobody told you to shift. Hell, I don’t know why you did. So come on back, and go back inside.”
The expression darkened on the big wolf, but then it stood up, and then Hannah was there. “I can’t,” she whispered.
“Yes, you can,” he encouraged. “They aren’t going to kill you. They would have done so already if that was the plan. Trust me.”
“It’s not that,” Hannah said, turning away from him.
“What is it?” he said, turning her back around.
She took a deep breath in, then looked up at him. “I’m ashamed of myself,” she said bluntly.
He frowned. “Why?”
“Because,” she told him, looking away so that he couldn’t see her beautiful hazel eyes as they clouded over with unhappiness. “When I saw you first go to Chad with a knife, I thought you were just going to end his misery. I know you better than that,” she said angrily. “But I’m so used to us being persecuted and threatened, that my first instinct was something that I knew was totally against your nature.”
“Hey, come here,” he said, gathering her into his arms.
She resisted him at first, but he tugged on her again, and this time Hannah let herself lean into him. He allowed himself a moment to enjoy the closeness of it, then he spoke once more.
“These things can take time,” he explained. “Just like it’s going to take time for my bear to get over its reaction to the fact that you’re a wolf. It won’t be instantaneous. These things have been practically bred into both of us. We’re going to have to actively work at it, to undo what has been done. The same goes for the rest of my team. They’ll learn, but it will take time. And first, you’re going to have to explain everything to them. It’s not like you have much of a choice either,” he added suddenly. “Because I’m not going anywhere.”
He saw a tear form and quickly fall from her eye at that.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice slightly unsteady.
Josh just smiled, and then kissed her, his lips touching hers ever so lightly. “Now go tell them what you told me,” he said, putting his hand on the small of her back and pushing her ahead of him.
He stood against the door jamb and listened as Hannah began to speak. Even Justin paid attention. Josh looked over at Chad, but the werewolf shifter was still passed out. The skin on his chest was healing nicely though, a hopeful sign that with the green gunk gone, he would recover. His system could regenerate blood at a quick rate, though it would probably be a bit before he was fully recovered. Josh didn’t know much about werewolf physiology though.
Hannah had just finished her story when Chad stirred.
Josh watched with a happy smile on his face as Hannah walked over to him.
And slapped him across the face.