I try hard to hold my tongue and my temper in front of the doctor. However, it's becoming more and more impossible to shove down the anger bristling inside of me. He doesn't know me and he isn't sure of my capabilities, that has to be the reason why he is staring at me like I just kicked him in the balls and ran over his dog. Right? I may have just saved the first male pup in over ten years. He should be elated. Kissing my ass even. Not pissed beyond measure.

I take a deep, settling breath before I step out of his personal bubble and put my head up, face to face with him. He stands shaking in front of me, ashen faced and steam all but literally bursting from his nostrils.

"I helped the patient in your absence, that's all i have done, I'm sorry I didn't ask your permission but the Alpha was here and he allowed it ." I say flatly though my hackles are well and truly raised. Something about his nervous demeanour sets me on edge. I don't trust him. And my wolf smells his fear. He wants blood. And she doesn't trust him one bit.

He starts to pace back and forward in front of me. His wolf nature itching at his splitting seams. His hands tear at the sides of his slightly greying hair. He is muttering to himself, though I can't catch a clear word.

He stops again directly in front of me, eyes wild and his wolf just barely contained;

"You have no clue what you have done. If that baby survives..." He breaks off there, his eyes wide and face now pale white. As if he caught himself about to say something he shouldn't.

Curious.

"If that baby survives, the parents will be very lucky and I have done my job well." I finish for him but he just huffs out loud and stalks over to the seat at the desk. He roots around in a draw behind it and pulls out a bottle of brown liquor before slamming it down on the desk and then searching the same drawer, supposedly for a vessel to drink from.

I watch from the corner of the room with caution as he pours two shots, sucking back one after the other. Sweat beads down his face and forehead. His foot taps at the speed of light under the desk and his heart beat keeps time. I can both feel and see his fear.

He is scared shitless. But why? Because I have potentially pulled off something he has not been able to for the last how many years? What am I missing here? He should be happy?

Before I have a chance to ask him, he leaps out of his chair, stumbling across the desk and launches towards me with a ear pricing growl.

He is an older wolf but is still very spritely apparently and embarrassingly, he takes me completely off guard.
When he hits my front, the force sends us both hurtling backwards and I fall onto my back on the hard floor, my head hitting it hard with a resounding crack, the doctor on top of me and his hands around my neck.

The commotion must have alerted the nurse because the next thing I am aware of is Benji storming into the room and taking in the sight of the doctor on top of me. His angry growl penetrates the entire room and the doctor flings himself away from me, cowering before his Alpha.

If I doubted his power before, I don't now.
I try to sit up but I find myself slightly dizzy. Benji bends a knee and extends his hand to assist me up, all the while keeping his gaze on the shaking pile of doctor in the corner.

"What the fuck was that Michael?" Benji grinds out, helping me to sit on the desk chair and pouring me a glass of water. The liquor suddenly seems more appealing now. What the actual fuck just happened?

"Alpha... forgive me... it's... he...I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He whimpers out. Defeated. Terrified. Benji stares him down and the doctor sinks even further into the floor.

"You better get your ass out of this hospital . You are officially suspended of duty." Benji barks the order out and the room is immediately deadly silent. The fear and anger in the room is palpable. I can almost taste the disdain flowing from the Alpha next to me.

"Alpha? Why? I know I made a mistake but she.... she doesn't.... she isn't even a pack member. She is a rogue. An un mated female with a baby. A slut. And now... this... what she has done... you have no idea..." He rambles on. His label and shaming shocks me and a small feeling of self doubt spirals through to my gut. I shoot a quick look at Benji to see if he is making any sense of the bullshit escaping the doctors mouth but he just wears a look of pure aggression.

"She was promised by me, safety for her and her child, not even an hour ago and you attacked her for no good reason? And now you try to shame her? She helped Mandy! She may have saved the baby! Why? What the hell has come over you? You are not a juvenile. I have never seen you do anything like this. If you can give me a reason, something that explains you trying to harm this young she wolf who may have saved a babies life today.... I may re think my banishment."

I stay perfectly still where I sit at the desk. The nurse chooses this moment of tense silence to duck her head in the door, whispering something to Benji and handing him an ice pack.

In two giant steps, he stalks towards me and hands over the cold pack, his hand lingering on mine for just a second, a gesture of apology, before he turns away and glares at the shrivelled form of Doctor Michael.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" He belts out but it's clearly an order. Not a request.

The doctor pulls himself to stand at his full height. He pulls a white crisp kerchief from his coat pocket and dabs at his sweat ladened face.
He rolls his shoulders back and takes a deep breath, raising his eyes slowly to address Benji;

"Sir, Alpha, with respect, I cannot answer. There are things I cannot even begin to explain. I am sorry Miss for laying a hand on you. You are innocent in this matter, but you have no clue what you have possibly undone." He turns his face to me and dips his head slowly. An apology.

He faces Benji once more who now frowns deeply at the broken man before us. Who he was as he entered this room and who he is now, are two very different men.

This one is woeful and downtrodden. And fearful.

"My family an I will make arrangements to leave. For good, we should have a long time ago. . Good luck to you all." He says, as he moves cautiously around the Alpha, taking his certification off the wall, his stethoscope off a hook on the desk and a picture frame from the desk top.

He walks towards the door but stops and leans in towards the alpha, whispering something in his ear before he exits.

Benji does not move a muscle but a deep forlorn look has taken over his rugged face and neither of us make a sound or movement. We just sit and try to take in what just happened.

"Benji, Alpha, forgive me but what the actual fuck was that?" I say and as he shifts his gaze to me, a light chuckle escapes his lips.

"I have no fucking clue." He says lightly, coming to sit next to me atop the desk, pouring me a shot and taking a sip straight from the bottle for himself.

The sudden appearance of Ellena at the door, Rox in arms, stirs me from our silent reverie and I stand from the desk, get my bearings and cross the room. I take the sleeping boy from her arms and press my face into his squishy neck. Taking in his scent and breathing in deep.

Without realising it, Rox has become my sense of home. My comfort in the storm that is my life, including whatever mess I have just walked into.

"What in damn nation went on in here?" Ellena asks, looking over my head at Benji.

"I have no bloody clue Mom, honestly. He just flew off the handle and attacked Alice, who by the way, may have saved Mandy's baby today." He says fondly, offering me a small smile.

Ellena's face lights up like a Christmas tree and she grabs a hold of me, squeezing me tightly.

"Oh you precious clever girl. I knew you were the one to help us. I just knew it." She says in my ear, kissing my cheek and pulling back to look at me, a small tear escaping down her round face.

"Come to my place for dinner? You can meet Gia and Oliver and we can have a chat about all this drama over a warm meal, what do you say? You too Benji boy." She says, again, not really a question.

"Do I even have a choice Luna?" I ask, tongue in cheek, earning a quiet chuckle from Benji behind me and a sweet playful slap to the arm from Ellena.

"Such a smart ass." She quips back, ushering me out.

"I'll just hang here a bit and be there soon." Benji replies as Ellena and I step out into the hall.

"I should just check on Mandy before we go, can you take Rox and I'll have Benji show me the way?" I ask but she is already nodding and taking him from me.

"Sure sure honey, I'll take him back to my place and give him a bottle."

She yells out to Benji to show me the way as she exits and I head over to the beds to check on Mandy.
The nurse comes to assist me and I take the charts from her, checking over the observations.

"Things seem stable for now Mandy, how are you feeling?" I ask, checking her pulse and watching the CTG as it records her baby's heart rate.

Nice and steady.

"We are both ok, thanks to you." She says, placing one hand on her small belly and one hand on my own.

"And I'm so glad I don't have to take anymore of that horrible tonic Doc gave me, the stuff made me feel so ill." She says, shaking her head.

I just frown but remind myself to ask the nurse what tonic she is on about later. Must be some herbal local thing. Ellena did say the doc was old school.

When the nurse comes back into the room, I ask her to continue the observations and contact me via the Alpha if anything changes.

Before I head to the office to find Benji, I turn to ask and out the tonic;

"Nurse, what tonic was Mandy on about before? She said something about a tonic the doctor made her take?" I ask quietly, not wanting to startle Mandy anymore than I need to.

Her face turns a shade of pink and she pulls me further away from Mandy before she turns to whisper to me;

"It's a tonic he makes for  the mothers, some old wives tale from his family. He swears by it." She says coldly, I can tell she does not share his confidence in it.

"Why do I feel like you are not a fan of said tonic?" I question, watching her squirm a little.

"It's not really my place to say. And he certainly
never let me question it." She starts, she fidgets on the spot before continuing;

"What are you not saying?" I push her, I feel like she is too scared to talk. I know I would be after that display by the nutcase doctor. A man scented with fear.

"I'm saying, I don't think the curse is caused by a force. I think it's something closer to home ." She states flatly, placing her arm on mine and holding my gaze.

"Fuck." I say out loud and she nods her head.

"Yes." She agrees and we just stand there in shock together.

"We are going to get to the bottom of this." I tell her and she nods and smiles, taking my hand.

"I'll help any way I can, I knew I was going to like you." She replies with a grin before heading off towards Mandy.

What the hell have I landed myself in this time.....