Chapter 5

Lorrianna  POV

As Tyler and Dr. Atwood seemed to stare each other down for a brief moment, I felt something pushing to the front of my mind. “Oh no, you don’t!” She seemed to say to herself. As time seemed to slow for an undetermined amount of time, the presence of the wolf she had suppressed since she was 13 years old emerged.

“MATE!” She howled with delight as Lorrianna tried to keep her from pushing forward.

“Caleena (Ka-lē-na), don’t you fucking dare!” Lorrianna growled inwardly, struggling to contain her long-dormant and almost forgotten wolf. “I don’t care if he is the Corvin King himself. Stand down!”

“Not a chance, human. Now stand aside. We have a mission in life, and while I admire your calling, mine is older than you could possibly comprehend in your lifetime,” Caleena quipped as she started to chip away at the internal barrier that Lorrianna had so carefully erected over 8 years ago.

Lorrianna had specifically chosen this hospital as it was smack in the middle of nowhere, and though she knew a pack lay beyond the forest at the southern edge of town, their Alpha never sent wolves for treatment nor did they interfere with hospital business. Dr. Atwood is a werewolf, and she knew it the moment they met, but she never mentioned it because he never did. She only shifted a couple of times as a teen when emotions were high, hormones were raging, and she was too young to control it. Caleena was a painful surprise the first time she made an appearance a year after graduation, starting off as a voice Lorrianna thought she only heard in her dreams until the first full moon.

It was painful and lonely as Lorrianna also realized at that moment that she was adopted. Caleena had made her aware of her roots, her powers, and her pack. The Foothills Pack. The pack that lived to the south of the hospital. She figured living close enough to draw strength from the land but far enough away to remain out of sight was an option. Looking back now, she thought, she was clearly wrong.

Just when she felt like she couldn’t control the shift any longer, Tyler’s voice pierced the veil of pain, and his rough hands could be felt on her arm. She vaguely heard her sister, Taylor, angrily having words with Tyler. “Take your God damn hands off my sister!”

Tyler froze only for a split second and growled, “Mine!” Before dragging her off to the employee room. Dr. Atwood could be heard calming Taylor with words of reassurance that Lorrianna was safe and Tyler only wanted to discuss administrative blah blah blah. Taylor seemed to calm, but only slightly. “He doesn’t need to manhandle her like that though.” With a huff, Lorrianna found herself pinned to the wall of the break room with Tyler‘s body pressed against hers in a manner that, while enticing, was not exactly welcome at the moment. Caleena chose that moment to make her dominance known.

Tyler POV

He saw the shimmer in her eyes as realization hit him that her wolf had chosen this moment to make an appearance. She was strong, beautiful, and … Alpha? Oh boy. No alpha in their right mind would give up an heir, least of all one as powerful as Lorrianna, and her wolf seemed to be. He could feel Caleena reaching out to Gannon through the mate bond and quickly decided to get her away from the group. He didn’t know about any prior shifts, but he wasn’t about to risk it. He grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the break room.

As he pinned her against the wall, Caleena was preening with anticipation, but Lorrianna was another story. He felt what he could only describe as resentment radiating off her like a flare in the dark night sky. The silver shimmering lightly over her dark eyes was hauntingly beautiful, though the look she was giving him at the moment didn’t exactly scream “Take me now.”

He chuckled slightly as he breathed in her scent. He hoisted her up by her thighs, nuzzling her neck. He was breathing her in when Lorrianna did something he wasn’t prepared for. She reached around his neck, and before he could blink, she had pulled herself onto his back, attempting to choke him out. If she weren’t so close to succeeding, he would have been impressed, even proud that his mate was this amazing and self-reliant. But as his vision began to dance, she swung her legs higher to squeeze his chest muscles. With every exhale, her thighs were squeezing to prevent a full inhale, and his vision was starting to dance.

While he would never intentionally hurt his mate, he wasn’t about to be bested by a 5’ 7” nurse. He wasn’t the alpha of the Foothills Pack for nothing, and he had a reputation to maintain. Grabbing her around the inside of her thighs, he did the only logical thing he could think of. He started tickling her. She roared with angry laughter, and then, to his delight, not only did she loosen her MMA thigh grip around his chest but she snorted. Actually snorted. He roared with laughter just as she dropped to the floor and leg swept him. She was on top of him quicker than anything he could have imagined, snarling like a rabid beast when she lost control and shifted.

Before he could blink, he was pinned under a massive, dark auburn wolf with shimmering fur so pristine it appeared to twinkle platinum. Caleena placed her forehead to his, then slowly licked his neck. He lay there frozen, refusing to press his luck, when Caleena sat back on her haunches and lolled her tongue out the side of her massive mouth. Finally, when he felt it was safe to move, she rolled on her back and showed her neck. Well, at least one of them is on board, he thought. Just as quickly as she was submitting, she was gone, and Lorrianna lay unconscious on the floor. Naked, slightly aroused, with a sheen layer of sweat across her brow, and … shit, they were still in the break room. How was he going to explain this?

Just as he was pondering what to do, Dr. Atwood came in and froze halfway through the open door. Stunned by what he was witnessing but trusting his Alpha, he sprang into action. “I already called Ms. Wilson and told her that the hospital will need to find per diem nurses to cover this shift and sent the rest of the nurses home.”

"Lorrianna and our staff had already completed their rounds and ensured I received all patient updates prior to leaving. I will manage the patients until the staff and doctor replacements arrive. Take her down the emergency exit. Here is a blanket. The guard is out the side entrance at the bottom of the stairs. I mind-linked your beta, Sean, when I heard the snarling, and he was already on his way."