current condition, she couldn’t smell the blood, but she could see it. The sight of blood wasn’t enough to turn her stomach—but a fallen member of the pack was. Right now, this was her pack.
Analie hesitated. When a pack member was injured, everyone crowded around and did what they could to help. Having your pack gathered around you made you feel safe, secure. Analie wasn’t sure if Thad would appreciate that. Humans were unpredictable.
Thad was whimpering in pain, every breath hissed in through his teeth. He clutched at Mouse, bloodied fingers tangled in her shirt as she kept pressure on the wound. None of the injuries were fatal. The worst was the shoulder, and while there was some muscle damage, probably some to the tendons, too, it hadn’t been low enough to hit a lung.
The security guard was looking green, muttering something about making sure the bad guys were gone before rushing out the front door. It would take a while for Jessica to arrive. Thad was pale from blood loss, though now that he wasn’t running for his life and was flat on his back, he wasn’t bleeding as heavily.
“White Hats,” he gasped, chest heaving with terror and pain. “It was the White Hats!”
Mouse nodded, easing up her other hand from his brow to put a single finger on his lips to gesture he be quiet. She didn’t want him to do more damage to himself in his efforts to tell her what happened. He settled back with a groan, squeezing his eyes shut, and she put her hand back on his brow.
Analie would have given anything in the world to be able to shift, track, and bring down the punks who attacked Thad. Preferably tear them apart. Maybe hang their carcasses where any others could see them and be warned: you don’t mess with Royce’s pack.
Then again, the likelihood of her being allowed to do that was slim. Also, she couldn’t shift right now. Useless.
She retreated quietly back to her room, almost biting the air in agitation.
Mouse looked back over her shoulder, realizing belatedly that Analie was there. She couldn’t call after her.
Some time later, the security guard rushed in with Jessica hot on his heels. She flung her schoolbooks aside, dropping to her knees on the other side of Thad, checking the injuries as best she could. He hissed in pain when Mouse moved her hand, but otherwise was holding up.
“Christ, this is unbelievable… Thad, I’m going to have Mouse move you upstairs, okay? I’ve got to disinfect and stitch these cuts. All right?”
He nodded, not opening his eyes.
Mouse slid her arms under him, lifting him. Most of the bleeding had stopped, but Jessica put her hand over the make-shift bandage, keeping pressure on it while Mouse carried him. He bit off a cry of pain, the security guard and vampires anxiously looking on while Mouse took him upstairs.
Ashi was coming out of Thad’s apartment with two buckets of water when the group came upstairs. He frowned and set the buckets down against the wall, hurrying to the gym. Christoph was still crouched miserably in the center of the room.
“Thad’s hurt,” Ashi told him.
Christoph was immediately upright and rushing (after the initial stagger of protesting muscles) into the hallway, Ashi following at a slower pace.
“Thad? Dude? You okay?” Christoph said, approaching the three. In Goliath terms, “okay” covered a broad spectrum of conditions, excluding “about to die.”
Jessica answered since Thad was a bit too busy hyperventilating to respond.
“He’s been stabbed.”
Mouse hurried inside to the couch, Jessica breaking away to run to her room and gather her medical equipment. After setting him down, Mouse resumed putting pressure on Thad’s shoulder, lightly resting her other hand on his cheek, soothing him as best she could. It wasn’t helping much.
After a few hissing breaths, he started cursing and growling threats of revenge on the White Hats, clutching at a pillow. Mouse turned a helpless look at Christoph, not knowing what else to do for the injured human.
Christoph was furious. He didn’t know where the White Hats were based, but he was going to find them and kill every single one of them. Damn being pink. Damn being weak. He was marching right to wherever the hell they were to rip their heads off.
Ashi saw the slow boil going on in Christoph’s thought process and grabbed his arm. “You are not avenging anyone until you’re Were again.”
“I’m going to murder—”
Ashi smacked the back of his head. “Plan it later. Right now