Alpha Alexandre Brutus's Point of View


I gently laid Terri down on her bathroom floor.

"Go find her med kit! It's a huge black suitcase!" I ordered toward anyone behind me and Brett took off running into the kitchen.

I turned back to her unmoving body and felt her face. She was warmer than she had been in the clearing, which meant she was healing, but she was still cold and clammy for a shifter. I tried to look at her wound without removing the make-shift bandage we had tied onto her, but I couldn't see anything.

Luckily, William had brought his jacket with him when we had headed to the clearing. I had tied it tightly over the wound in hopes it would slow the bleeding. I then carried her home, sprinting like my life depended on it.

Because it did...

Brett returned with the black suitcase and I threw it open finding all of the items I would need to patch her up. I untied the jacket and let it flop to the ground, exposing the hole. It had healed considerably but still looked bad.

"She's strong. She will heal safely as long as we stay near her" my wolf said, trying to reassure me.

I grunted and grabbed the water bottle used for flushing out wounds. I sprayed the cavity, removing the small bits of grass that had stuck to the blood. I then poured Hydrogen Peroxide on the wound and dabbed gently with an absorbent gauze, trying to get rid of excess blood. Once I was satisfied, I grabbed the suture kit and stitched her up as much as possible.

"Someone help me" I growled out and Sophie and Nate jumped out of their stupors to help me sit her up gently so I could tightly bind the injury. I then took her from their hands and carried her bridle style to her bed. I took a deep breath and turned to see the group staring at me with expressions varying from concern to fear.

"Get...out..." I growled lowly.

I wasn't mad at them, I was just mad period. I wanted to spend time with my mate while she healed and I wanted everyone to leave.

"But-" Sienna started but William touched her arm quickly, never breaking eye contact with me. He could see my anger, my animalistic rage bubbling below the surface.

"Let's go" Jason said with a deft nod toward me and slowly he backed out of the room, pushing everyone in the group but Nate out behind him. Nate squared up his shoulders and looked me dead center in the eyes. He moved slowly toward the bed, never breaking our staring contest, until he reached her side. He slowly bent down and gave her a kiss on the forehead, which I gave a warning growl to. He stood straight and nodded at me, then started to leave, but not before he threw a pair of black basketball shorts at me.

I looked down at the shorts then back up at where he had been, but he was now gone and the door was shutting with a click.

I slid the shorts on and went to the bathroom to wipe the blood... her blood... off me.

As I washed my arms and chest, I looked in the mirror and realized I didn't recognize the man staring back at me. I looked disheveled and tense, but what I saw that I wasn't expecting was determination. Rather than fear of losing her and suffering heart ache, I saw a determined fire in my eyes. Determination that said I wasn't going to let her die and I wasn't going to let this phase me and change me like it had when my mother died.

I finished cleaning myself off and I headed into the bedroom, climbing into the bed gently with Terri. Careful not to touch her wound, I wrapped my body around her slightly smaller one and nestled my face into the hair on top of her head.

We had sat in silence for a while when I quietly murmured, "Please don't do that to me again", feeling my eyes burn, "please".

I felt like I had to say it out loud, hoping that somewhere deep inside her, she heard me.

I jumped slightly when her soft hand reached up and touched my cheek. I pulled my head back so I could look her in the eyes, but when I did, I saw that her eyes were still shut. Her face was angled upward, as if she was looking right at me, and she was in the perfect place for me to kiss her. I slowly let my lips caress hers and when I shut my eyes, I felt moisture run down my cheek. I fell asleep like that, my face a centimeter from her own, holding her to me like I was afraid she was going to disappear on me.