Lessons in Love

Chapter 53: If it's War You Want

POV: Riley Campbell

George took a handful of swings, the last of which almost connected with my head. I couldn’t hit back yet. Not with Shawna recording it all. I needed to make it look like I had no choice. I marshaled my anger and kept circling.

“You’re really going to let your mate die?” He roared at me. “You heartless b***h!” He swung again and I blocked it, stumbling back at the force of the blow, feeling the damage to my ribs more and more. “WHERE IS SHE?!” He roared again.

I used the opportunity of him bellowing at me to get further back from him. I could see in his eyes he wasn’t going to be able to contain his shift much longer. I was amazed he’d been able to control his aura this long. No sooner had I thought it, he threw his aura out at me. I let mine flood out to combat it.

His aura was cold. Not emotionally, but it physically felt cold. I’d never experienced something like that before. It was evil, pure evil, and the anger and hatred that flowed out of him made it hard not to recoil away from him despite my strong aura filtering his out.

The door opened behind George, and my eyes lighted on Sam briefly over George’s shoulder. George must have felt I was distracted by it and launched himself at me, shifting through his clothes as he went. Claws and teeth were flying through the air at me. I crouched slightly, shifting and pushing off my feet as he flew toward me. It was two parts luck, one part skill that I ended up right under his throat as I shifted into my wolf. I caught his throat in my jaw, just tightly enough for him to feel my teeth graze his skin and flung him away from me. The shift had made the pain in my ribs almost insufferable.

Sam was in his fur and circling as George rolled over onto his feet. George was furious. His aura was bleeding out in every direction, and he growled and snarled at us non-stop. George made like he was going to lunge at me, but stopped when he heard Sam growl violently behind him. George had nowhere to go. Sam was between him and the front door, and I was between George and the gym, which had an exit of its own.

George growled furiously at me, making like he was going to go right and running left. I spotted the fake out easily and moved to block him in. Sam barked sharply at me, but without being able to mind-link with him, I didn’t know what he was barking about. I felt a set of claws across my back and arm. I turned at the pain to see a second wolf had snuck in from behind us. I breathed deeply trying to memorize the scent of the other wolf as I swung around to attack. George and the mystery wolf took off toward the gym.

I started to move in that direction, but the pain was too much, and I had to stop and shift out. I lay on the floor a moment, just breathing through the pain. The s***h marks felt deep. I would probably need stitches, I thought absently.

“Riley?” Sam’s voice filled the space. “Don’t move, I’ll get a doctor.” He said.

“Where is he?” Ben’s voiced growled behind us.

“Through the gym, he’s not alone.” I said sitting up on the floor.

“Get her to the hospital.” He growled at Sam. Two warriors flanked Ben.

“No,” I said, standing up. “I can make it there myself.”

“Riley,” he snapped at me as he moved toward the gym.

I grabbed his arm as he tried to pass me. “He didn’t do this. He’s not alone. Sam goes with you. Leave one of them here.” I demanded.

Ben growled and took off for the door. “You,” Ben pointed at one of the men. “You stay.” The three of them left through the gym.

Shawna came out of the classroom. “Ms. Campbell, what do you need?” She asked.

“Clothes,” I said with a half-smile. I walked toward my office. “Can you check on the younger kids please?” I went into my office and grabbed my gym bag. I put on some clothes. The shirt hurt to get on and hurt to wear. I felt a little dizzy from the wounds and knew I needed to go get them looked at. I came out of my office to find Shawna standing there nervously.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Mr. Sloan isn’t in there.” She said. “Emma is hysterical, and the rest of the kids aren’t far behind.”

The warrior started to step forward toward the room. I’d seen him here before and knew he had two daughters in that classroom.

I held my hand up to him. “I think we should take them to the bunker.” I told him. He nodded.

“Shawna, I need you to get the older girls out here. I want everyone down in the bunker.” I told her. I opened the door to the elementary classroom. “Emma, come with me, okay?” Emma got up and ran toward me. She was hugging my leg and I wished I could pick her up and hug her properly. The warrior’s two little girls went running to their father.

“Okay, kids, you need to go to the bunker. We’re doing a special drill.” I told them. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. Go with the older kids.” I said as they filed past me. The older girls were great, taking their hands and leading the little ones to the gym.

“Do you want me to take Emma?” Shawna asked.

“No, I need a friend to take me to the doctor.” I crouched down and looked at the little girl. “Can you do that for me? I have a cut and need to go there now. Is that okay?” Emma nodded, trying to wipe away some of her tears, but she was crying pretty hard still.

“Lock down the bunker, mind-link Katherine and tell her the same thing. Let her know her mate is out with the Beta.” I instructed her.

“Yes ma’am.” She nodded and headed for the gym.

“What’s your name?” I turned to the warrior.

“Keith,” he replied.

“Keith, the boys’ school is currently undefended. Please get some men over here to help with both schools.”

“Yes ma’am.” He nodded, only when he did it, it was a bit cheeky, letting me know that I was ordering him around and had no rank or station to do so.

“Thank you.” I said, taking Emma’s hand and headed for the door.

We got to the hospital without incident, which felt like a miracle. I was ready to throw up from the pain and was lightheaded to boot. The doctor greeted me at the door with a wheelchair. Ben or Sam must have mind-linked ahead. Emma climbed up on my lap and we were wheeled down the hallway. The nurse tried to lift her out of my lap, but Emma clung to me.

“It’s okay,” I said gently. “We’re going to sit on the bed there. You can sit with me.” Emma let the nurse pick her up and put her on the bed. The doctor sliced through the back of my shirt and started cleaning the wounds before she stitched them up.

“The Beta didn’t say Ms. Campbell would be coming with a friend.” The doctor smiled at Emma. “I’m glad she had such a brave friend with her. You know what brave friends get?” Emma shook her head. “Brave friends get cookies! Would you like to go get a cookie from the nurses’ station?”

Emma looked at me, like she was asking for permission. I gave her a smile. “You should! I’ll wait here for you.” Emma gave me a bit of a smile and went with the nurse. “What’s wrong?” I asked as soon as the door closed behind her.

“The Delta is here.” She said.

“Is he okay?” I demanded, standing up.

“He’s stable.” She reassured me. “I’m mentioning it because the Beta asked that you be given an update and that you stay with him in case he wakes up. He didn’t want the Delta to wake up alone. He didn’t mention the child though, I don’t know if having her in there would circumvent his orders.” The doctor explained.

“Rick is Emma’s godfather. We’ll tell her he has a bad tummy ache and needs to rest. If you’ve got some paper and colouring supplies, I can keep her busy making him a ‘get well’ card.” I said firmly. The doctor sighed with relief. “What happened to him?” I asked.

“Well, his blood work is showing a high concentration of sleeping pills in his system. We pumped his stomach though, and we didn’t find evidence that he’d taken pills. I’m concerned that the pills were mixed into the alcohol he was drinking.”

“When did this happen?” I asked.

“This morning,” she replied. “Which is concerning on its own.” She said delicately. I understood what she meant. To her, he had either tried to kill himself or he had been binge drinking at dawn. Neither option spoke well of Rick’s mental state.

“Can you have a bed moved into the Delta’s room?” I asked.

“Oh, of course.” She said, seeming surprised by the request.

“I’m not his mate,” I corrected her quickly. “I would appreciate something more comfortable than a chair after this morning, and I think Emma will probably crash out before the Beta comes back to relieve us.” I explained.

“Of course,” she gave me an understanding smile.