Chapter 8

He had been tossing and turning with frustration. The storm that was sweeping through town, in a blink of an eye, was getting worse. News reports were useless as most weather stations were puzzled at how it built up so quickly out of nowhere. As if it were unexpected.

Alpha!....someone was knocking...

"Alpha!" the knock came again.

With a low rumbling, exhausting growl, he lifted his head off the pillow and glanced over to his clock.

3 am.....

"Just great," he mumbled slowly sitting up.

He could smell 'worry' in the air as his Beta continued to pound on his bedroom door. Standing he went to it and swung it open to peer down with annoyance at Caleb.

He said nothing as Caleb informed him that their security was breached.

"Why not take care of it yourselves, Caleb?" his lips thinned.

True, he was the Alpha and needed to be on point. But, he seriously needed sleep. Since his 'little' predicament disappeared out of thin air, he has had barely a good night's sleep since.

"Joey and Holt went to check the perimeter, but we need to double check," Brody joined them.

Maddox narrowed his gaze. His sense heightened with their high strung awareness. With a quick nod, he takes the lead, and they follow him towards the steps and out of the house.

On the back porch, he looked out through the darkness and tilted his nose up; sniffing for any sense of danger. But the rain and wind made it difficult. They were shortly joined by four other wolves that had woken up due to the commotion.

He turned to look at Caleb and the other four wolves.

"You five shift. Split up and search around. If you find anything. Mindlink. I don't want whoever got in, to get the advantage of an attack," he ordered.

With a nod, they began shedding their clothes and jumped from the porch, shifting into their wolf forms and taking off.

"You and I will take the South end. Hopefully, it's just one of the animals out there that tripped the alarm," he turned to walk away with Brody.

He gave into all of his senses as they walked, scanning the area for anything that didn't belong.

The thunder and lightning grew stronger and tense with an unforgiving downpour of heavy rain.

~Alpha, come quickly to the west end. You need to see this...~

The worry in the Mindlink had him sprinting forward through the thick brush of foliage with Brody right behind him.

He quickly jumped through another brush skidding to a halt just as the faint familiar scent hit him. His gaze shot over to four of the five wolves hovered around the other on the floor.

"Shift..." he heard the gentle plea from Caleb. It was the only way a shifter could heal.

They cleared the path as he slowly approached.

He looked up to Maddox worried.

"She...isn't human." perplexed and confused, he shook his head. " I can sense it but... she isn't shifting."

It was her...

Soaking wet, she lay unmoving on the ground. Her scent mixed with blood swirled around him. Koda reacted immediately.

He stepped closer and knelt beside her. His chest tightened. Blood pooled near her shoulder, mixing with the puddle of water she was near, and it drove Koda up the wall with desperation.

She is hurt...she is...

The eerie sense that she was...Dead, left a sense of dread and horror coursing through his wolf and... him.

No... No... He swallowed. He listened for a heartbeat...

It was there...

But very weak...

With no time to lose, he sprung into action. He lifted her limp body in his arms and cradled her to his chest.

She was so frail and possibly going to...

No..no we can't think like that. Help her.

Help her, please... Koda whined and began to pace restlessly.

Brody slowly approached him. An uncontrollable fierce growl escaped Maddox, and he immediately flashed his fangs. His wolf overtook him on instinct to protect his mate. The urge to kill whoever hurt her was a raging inferno in his blood.

"Whoa there, Maddox," he backed away. Lifting his palms up, he calmly stepped back, and the rest of the wolves did the same.

"Wake the pack doctor up. Now!" the feral order broke the eerie silence around them.

The wolves exchanged dark glances with Brody then left.

Maddox stepped forward slowly with her in his arms.

The never ending questions rolled through his head as he made his way towards the pack infirmary. How did she get hurt?

He cleared the last brush and walked as if the devil was at his heels towards the tall building. In no time as he bent the corner and headed towards the door, the doctor, a tall, burly elder awaited him.

He walked down the long hall towards the last door to an examining room. Inside he peered at the table where he was expected to lay her down. Then his dark gaze lifted to watch the doctor slide on his gloves.

This strange overwhelming sensation of possession and protection had him squeezing her close and not wanting to lay her on the table. In the rush and sense of urgency to get her checked out, the doctor rounded the examining table and reached for her, only to jump back as Maddox growled and chomped his fangs like a rabid dog protecting what's his.

He snarled with rage between Brody and the doctor trying to calm him down.

He saw nothing but a major threat. But it wasn't him. It was Koda.

"Maddox, Doc needs to check her out," Brody said, carefully coming closer.

The doctor gave him a calm smile knowing full well that this Alpha (when it came to this doctor, The man that saw him born and mended all his cuts and bruises growing up) was all bark and no bite. It unnerved Maddox at times that he would daringly test that theory. Especially Now.

His feral gaze lowered from the doctors knowing eyes to his outstretched arms. Reluctantly, Maddox fought with his wolf.  Until Koda backed down.

He gently handed her over before stumbling back breathless and weary. This was the first Koda has lost control.

His jaw clenched. As he watched, the Doctor immediately begins to examine her. He fought the growl that menacingly wanted to escape him as the Doctor began cutting away her top.

"Bro, let him do his job. Come on, let's wait outside." Brody urged.

He could not think of a better way to escape this torture his wolf had him in. He argued with Koda as he turned away and walked out the door and felt the slight guilty relief of the door shutting behind them.

"What the hell was that back there, Maddox?" Brody frowned.

He ignored him and began to pace. Regardless of the distance that divided them, her scent filled his senses slowly, like the calming aroma of an aromatherapy candle, finally reaching him from across the room.  That was the essence of her, and it sank into every inch of his body, calling to him-and to his wolf.

Koda clawed and growled furiously wanting to be released.

No. He argued with Koda.

Unless you don't want the good doctor to tranq us both, settle down.

Koda's fangs slowly began to show.

Settle down... Or I leave...

It was more of a threat than a warning.

Impatiently Koda paced. Then his hackles lowered in defeat. Annoyed, he gave his back.

There. Issue solved.

A pathetic whine came from deep within Koda's soul, and Maddox scowled, pushing himself to pace further away from the door. He didn't need this shit. He was in control, not the beast with its pathetic urges.

He didn't like feeling out of control, as if something greater than the two of them was hard at work, drawing him like a magnet to her.

It felt like an eternity since he left her with the Doctor and he didn't like the waiting. For as much as he would have liked to leave and have them report to him later, he couldn't seem to make those few distancing steps out the door. He couldn't, and it unnerved him.

So lost in his thoughts, he didn't hear the doctor until he stood directly before him.

"I am done." he placed a comforting pat on Maddox's shoulder.

Blinking momentarily, he looked up.

"She has a slight concussion and a deep cut on her shoulder."

He said nothing.

"It would be best if she rested in the comfort of a guest room in the pack house instead of this cold infirmary." the Doctor insisted.

Maddox nodded stiffly and entered the exam room. He stared at her on the table. Her upper torso covered in a white sheet. His jaw clenched. He had nothing to hide her with or shield her from the brisk cold weather and rain outside.

He looked around and yanked a Doctors coat off a nearby rack and slowly approached the table.

His breath froze in his throat. Under the bright light, he could see all of her now.

She was breathtaking.

The vibrating purr of appreciation from Koda made his brows draw together as he forced the irritating intrusion away, trying to focus on the task at hand.

Gently he reached for her right hand and sucked in a deep breath of the warming jolt that went through him. Shaking it off, he continued forcing his mind away from the tingling. He swallowed hard pushing through the glorious wafting scent of her as he draped the jacket over and pulled her left arm through the sleeve.

Satisfied. He exhaled fighting for control as he gathered her up in his arms with the bundle of sheet around her and stood. Then paused when he looked up to see Brody staring at him.

The silent exchange of Maddox's unwavering warning gaze was cut short the moment Brody lowered his with a slight retreat.

They said nothing as they stood at a far distance and watched their Alpha leave with the girl cradled possessively in his arms.

His mental note of carrying her to the guest room and assigning someone to her care was soon forgotten as he made it up the steps, down the hall, passing four guest rooms, and he entered his. By the time he placed her gently on the sheets and stepped away to look down at the beautiful girl in his bed, then he realized pulling his gaze away where he was...

His room...

"Shît!"....he shook his head before kicking himself mentally.

He made a mistake — a grand fücking one.

Koda!!!!

With a smug smirk of satisfaction, the wolf did his usual circular pat down, dropped on all fours and stretched then went to sleep.

Maddox clenched his jaw. Unbelievable!!!

Now with Koda rudely out of the way, he stood back begrudgingly admiring her. It was true he didn't need this. He would make the words a repetitive mantra. He stepped closer until he looked down at her. Innocence and fragility personified slept between his sheets. A complete contrast to what he was, crude and rough around the edges. He shook his head.

Someone like him, would no doubt crush something so delicate and tiny like her. He did not like that thought at all and that overwhelming need to protect her pushed through.

But he wasn't fooling himself. It was every wolf's dream to find their mate. To claim and bond with them.

He was an Alpha that regardless of his situation, needed a Luna, and the comforting thought of waking up every morning to that face, soft with sleep, and that body sweetly nestled against his forever, had his heart pummeling in his chest.

Turning away, he drew in a deep breath and warily wiped his hand down his face, remembering he was still in his damp clothes.

But he couldn't find it in himself to pull away from her to take a shower and change. So he sat in the lounge chair near his window.

He fought the urge to lay beside her. She felt good in his arms. Maddox sucked in a breath at the memory. He cursed. He didn't need to be thinking about this right now. He needed to concentrate on the situation at hand. She was injured.

But how? Who hurt her?

And Why?

He won't get any answers now so he would have to wait until she wakes up.

He pulled his gaze away from her and closed them tightly massaging his eyelids with his thumb and middle finger as a tangle of emotions churned in his stomach.   He could close his eyes and hope that sleep comes. But he was sure that that would be difficult since he had already committed to memory her features. Her pretty face, soft curly hair, long dark lashes, dark honeyed skin, kissable pink lips.

It stirred things in him that he uncomfortably tried to shake off while he unsuccessfully fought off the exhaustion and tried to get comfortable in his chair.

Finally semi-comfortable and drowsy, he impatiently waited for the annoying-throbbing desire between his legs to fade away.

How the hell was he going to be able to sleep in the same room with the girl that invaded his dreams?

Then...he began to brood... until his eyelids slowly closed.

******

Here we go!!!

Let me know what you think...

I want to give a shout out to all my new followers and thank those of you who leave the awesome comments and votes...

I also want to apologize for my late post on my other story

Tempests Embrace

&

A Night to remember: Book 3

Please bear with me I'm trying to iron out the kinks and fix the chapter plot for a wow effect it's going to be a long chapter.

Please be patient....

In the meantime, enjoy this chapter...