TREAT HIM FROM HOME

COURTNEY

Could it be that they actually want to attack me?

The thought flashed through my mind as the angry, grieving mob closed in, their eyes glowing with wild, feral fury. But a cold, rigid defiance settled deep into my bones. No. I had spent years running, hiding, and living in quiet submission. I refused to run like a coward today.

I stopped dead in my tracks, lifting my chin, and stood there completely unprotected as they kept coming closer, and closer.

One of the enraged pack members picked up a heavy, jagged wooden stick from the shattered debris and hurled it directly at my face. I flinched, closing my eyes for a fraction of a second, waiting for the impact.

But the stick never hit me. It didn't even hit the floor.

It simply vanished from the air right in front of me.

When I whirled my neck around in shock, I saw that a large, calloused hand had caught the flying wood mid-air. I let out a sharp gasp. Standing beside me was Lucas. His clothes were torn, his knuckles were bruised, and his face was smeared with ash and dirt, but his amber eyes burned with absolute, protective authority.

"Don't hit her!" Lucas's deep, commanding voice boomed across the ruined courtyard, instantly silencing the advancing mob. "She is not the one wrong here! The blame belongs entirely to the evil Alpha Diego, not the doctor who tried to save your lives!"

The pack members hesitated, mumbling among themselves, lowering their fists as Lucas's Alpha aura washed over them.

Without wasting a second, Lucas grabbed my wrist. "Come with me," he muttered, pulling my hands away from the crowd and dragging me around the corner into a dark, sheltered corridor away from prying eyes.

"Lucas, your pack..." I started, my voice shaking as I looked at the devastation around us. "I am so sorry. This is all because of me. We have to do something, we have to fight back or—"

"Don't worry about it, Courtney," Lucas interrupted, his jaw clenching as he stared out toward the pack gates with a fierce, reckless expression. A dangerous, arrogant smirk touched his lips. "Let Diego send his little executioners. I'm going to mess Diego up so badly he'll regret the day he ever stepped foot in my territory. I'll tear his empire down piece by piece—"

"Stop it, Lucas!" I shouted, cutting him off, my voice cracking with genuine panic.

Lucas blinked in surprise, staring at me as if I had lost my mind. "What? You want me to just let him walk all over us?"

"You don't understand!" I gripped his arms, tears spilling over my lashes. "You don't know what Diego is capable of! He isn't just a normal pack Alpha; he is a monster who kills without blinking an eye! He shot his own wife in cold blood just because she yelled at him over the phone! If you try to fight him head-on, he will crush you, Lucas. He will slaughter you and everyone left in this pack in a few minutes!"

Lucas went dead silent, the reckless fire in his eyes dimming as the terrifying weight of my words sank in.

I couldn't stay here a second longer. If I stayed, Diego’s war would consume everything Lucas had left. I had to end this madness myself. I had to face the beast in his den before more innocent people died.

"I have to go," I whispered, pulling my hands away from Lucas.

"Courtney, wait—where are you going?" Lucas called out, reaching for me.

"I'm going to see Diego myself," I said, my voice resolute.

I didn't wait for his reply. I turned around, running back through the ruined courtyard, sneaking past the bewildered pack members, and sprinting toward the edge of the territory where my car and driver were waiting.

"Take me back to the hospital," I ordered the moment I climbed into the back seat, breathless and trembling.

The drive back felt like a blur of nightmare and reality. My mind raced with terrifying scenarios. What would Diego do when he saw me? Would he lock me away? Would he hurt Bryan?

Bryan.

The name hit my brain like a lightning bolt. My son! He was still recovering in Ward Ten under heavy monitoring!

"Step on it!" I urged the driver, my heart hammering against my ribs as the familiar skyline of my medical empire finally came into view up ahead.

But as my car approached the front gates of the hospital, my breath caught in my throat.

A massive crowd of people—reporters, curious onlookers, and security guards—was swarming the front entrance. Police cruisers and pack patrol vehicles had their flashing lights spinning against the glass facade. My driver slammed on the brakes just short of the gates.

I didn't wait for him to park. I shoved the door open, pushed past the shouting reporters, and bolted through the glass doors into the main lobby. My head nurse, pale and shaking, rushed over to me the moment she spotted my white coat.

"Dr. Courtney! Thank God you're back!" she cried out, grabbing my arms.

"What happened?" I demanded, scanning the chaotic lobby. "Where is security? Where is my son?"

"Alpha Diego..." the nurse sobbed, her voice trembling so hard she could barely form the words. "He came here with a full battalion of elite guards just twenty minutes ago. He bypassed all the security protocols, walked straight down to Ward Ten, and took your son out!"

The floor beneath my feet seemed to vanish. "He what...?"

"He said as a father, he is taking his son home," the nurse cried, wiping a tear from her cheek. "We tried to stop them, doctor, but his men drew weapons. They carried young Master Bryan right out to their chopper on the roof!"

I stood frozen in the middle of the crowded lobby, my ears ringing, my chest completely hollow. He had taken my sick, dying boy. He had ripped Bryan out of his sterile hospital bed, away from his oxygen and his life-saving treatments, just to use him as leverage against me.

Suddenly, my cell phone buzzed loudly in the pocket of my coat.

My hands shook violently as I pulled it out. The screen lit up with an incoming text message from an unknown, encrypted number.

I unlocked the screen and stared down at the words displayed across the glowing display:

"Come home and treat him from home." — Alpha Diego

A cold, dead silence enveloped my soul. The trap was set. And my son was inside it.