Jana Leigh & Bryce Evans (8 page)

Vander jerked awake as his cell phone started ringing.  He looked around trying to figure out where he was when he remembered he was at Kane’s condo.  “Detective Collins,” Vander muttered in the phone.  His voice was husky from sleep. 

“
Vander, they found her,” Jewel whispered.

Vander sat straight up in the bed.  They had found Waverly.  He knew it.  “
Is she dead?” he asked quietly.

“
Barely alive, but she is a feral wolf and won’t let anyone near her.  I know you don’t think you are her mate but you have to try, Vander, see if you can get her to calm down and change back so they can get her to the shifter hospital,” Jewel advised.

“
Where?” Vander asked quickly.

“
Johnson Field Road at the dump site.”

“
I will be there in twenty minutes.”  Vander didn’t even say good-bye he just hung the phone up, went to the bathroom, splashed some water on his face, and grabbed his clothes and started to walk out the door when he saw the note laying on the table.  Vander had almost forgotten about Kane. 

“
I’ve gone to the market down the street for breakfast. Be back in a few minutes.” 

Fuck
, Vander thought and pulled out his phone. 

“
Kane, they found Waverly, where are you?” Vander said into the phone.

“
Down the street, I will meet you at the car,” Kane said quickly and Vander felt a sense of peace once again flow over him.  He was not alone.

**
***

Neither of the men spoke as they rode to the place
where Waverly was, both were trying to prepare themselves for what they would find.  Vander pulled up at the dumpsite beside Jewel’s vehicle.  Jewel was standing off to the side with two other officers.  Vander recognized the officers as he and Kane walked up. 
Thank God they are shifters too,
Vander thought.  He didn’t know how they would explain this.  When Vander got close enough he gasped as he watched a dark brown wolf walking back and forth in front of the dumpsters.  She had dried blood all over her fur.  The blood had matted in clumps hanging off her.

He turned and looked at Kane who was growling and looking like he was one sec
ond away from shifting.  Vander had to get this under control.

“
Kane, to the car.  I got this, we don’t know everything that happened, we can’t be domineering,” Vander said.

“
Mine,” Kane growled and shook his head.

“
Ours, now let me deal with this,” Vander warned.

He saw Kane struggling and waited. 
Finally, his mate nodded and said, “Fine, but if you can’t get her under control, I will.”

Shit, that is what they didn
’t need.  Vander waited until Kane was in the car and then turned and looked, he went and stood by Jewel as he watched the feral wolf growl at them.  Vander started to walk toward her when Jewel jerked his arm halting him from walking up to her.

“
Vander, you can’t walk up to her.  She is pissed and not sure who to trust.  She will attack you.” 

Vander looked back at Waverly as she growled showing her sharp teeth.  Vander knew he had to do something to get her to calm down so they could take her to the hospital.  “
Just trust me, Jewel.  If she is my mate then she will be able to scent me.”

“
Shit, Vander, she will bite your damn head off,” Jewel growled but Vander decided Waverly was worth it and walked slowly a few steps toward her then sat down getting eye level with her. 

Waverly growled louder
, snapping her teeth at him until he sat down.  She watched as he sat there and made no other movements.  Waverly’s wolf tilted her head up then scented the air again.  Vander sat quietly, not making eye contact with Waverly’s wolf, as she continued to scent the air.  Nobody said anything as they watched her stop moving back and forth. She moved a little closer, glaring at Vander.

Officer Mike Johnson looked over at Jewel then quietly spoke
, “I hope he knows what he is doing?”

“
Me too,” Jewel quietly responded.

Waverly
’s wolf walked a few more steps closer, then scented the air again.  Jewel could tell her wolf was telling her that Vander was her mate and that he wouldn’t hurt her, but Waverly the human was fighting it.  Jewel prayed the shifter part would win and not attack her mate.

Slowly
, Vander brought one of his hands up so Waverly could sniff his skin.  The wolf came closer, sniffed his hand, and then licked it.  She came closer this time and allowed Vander to rub her fur.  As Vander rubbed Waverly’s fur she moved yet closer and then to everyone's amazement got into his lap and laid down.  Vander could see all the blood dried and matted to her fur. 

As she allowed him to rub on her, Waverly shifted into her human form.  She was out cold.  Vander gas
ped when he saw the bruises and cuts all over her body.  Her body had old bruises over new ones.  Cutting and draining her didn’t give her wolf time to heal her so her body started to shut down.  They probably thought she was dying and left her body out here to die.  Vander had heard the chatter on the radio, an old man was dropping off some trash and found her behind the dumpster and called the police.  Thankful the two responding officers recognized Waverly and called Jewel.

Vander immediately felt a conn
ection to Waverly as he stared at her. 

“
We need to get her to the shifter hospital, Vander.  She is going to die if we don’t get her some help.” 

Vander lifted her in his arms and cradled
her as he walked back to his car.  Kane jumped out and opened up the back seat so Vander could get in with Waverly.  Then he closed the door, getting back into the car. 

“
Can one of you take my car back to the office?”

“
Yes, ma’am, Alpha,” Officer Mike Johnson responded.

Jewel ran
around, got into the car, and drove as fast as she could to the Shifter hospital. Kane looked over the back seat at his mates and he grimaced. 

“
How is she?” Kane asked.

“
Unconscious,” Vander ground out.  “I can feel her though.”

“
Me too, she played them.  I could see what she wanted us to just before she shifted back.  She made them think she was dead,” Kane said.

Vander nodded.  “
Smart, and strong.”

Nobody knew about this hospital.  It was an old Victorian house Jim
Morris had turned into a fully functioning hospital.  Jim was a doctor who wanted to help his own kind.  He had made his fortune over the years as a heart surgeon.  He got with all the Alphas in Georgia and asked for donations and funding to hire staff and run the shifter hospital.  The hospital was also his residence so there was always a doctor on the premises.

Vander looked down at Waverly
’s beaten body.  He wanted to kill whoever did this to her.  He knew one day he would find this man and kill him with his bare hands.  Waverly never moved as they drove to the hospital.  He was worried that she had died in his arms as she groaned when Jewel hit a bump in the road. 

“
Sorry.  I’m trying to get there as fast as I can.  How is she looking?” Jewel asked concerned.

“
Not good.  She may have overestimated her abilities,” Vander whispered as he stared at the woman.

“
That’s probably what saved her life, Vander.  They thought she was dead or dying and had no use for her anymore,” Jewel replied as Vander pulled the hair away from Waverly’s face.  Kane wanted to howl at the injustice of it all.

“
She will be fine,” Kane ground out.  He needed to touch her, but he knew he couldn’t help her.  She had been beaten and tortured for a week now.  He didn’t know how she made it this long.  If it hadn’t been for being a strong shifter, then she would have died like so many of the other victims.

Vander looked up as Jewel drove onto a dirt road.  Jewel had told him about the shifter hospital but he had never been to it.  As they turned down another dirt road Vander could see a pond over to
the right and a white Victorian house sitting in a meadow. 

“
I know, it’s beautiful,” Jewel said to Vander tightly. 

“
It looks like the ones I’ve seen in movies and pictures,” Vander said absently, he knew what his friend was doing but it didn’t change things, she needed to get there faster.

“
Well it should since Doc Morris lived in the Victorian period.  He is an old wolf.  He can help Waverly,” Jewel replied as they came to a stop in front of the house.  A man in a white coat came to the door and opened it as Jewel opened up the back door of the car so Vander could carry his unconscious mate in the house.

When Vander step out of the car with her, Kane reached out his hand and tenderly caressed her head, then cupped her cheek.  He leaned forward a
nd laid a gentle kiss to her forward and whispered, "Fight to live for us, sweetheart."  Kane then raised his head looked at Vander and nodded.

Vander headed toward the house and
Kane turned, barking out orders to the men who were already standing guard.  He stayed and took care of security while Vander moved quickly through the hospital.

“
Hurry and bring her in,” the man in the white coat said.  He looked down at Waverly’s body then shook his head.  He looked upset at what they had done to the poor girl. 

Vander carried Waverly into a room and laid her on the table.  A woman came in dressed in scrubs bringing a blanket over and covered Waverly
’s body up.  The doctor listened to her heart then instructed the nurse to bring some wolf’s blood and hook her up to an IV.  Vander watched as the doctor worked on Waverly.  Jewel had stepped out to make some calls while the doctor worked.

“
What did they do to this poor girl?” the doctor asked. 

Vander figured he was talking to him so he answered
, “Tortured her.  They cut her and let her bleed, then watched as she healed herself.  Then cut her over and over again.  They beat her to see how her body would take it and then heal herself,” Vander explained sullenly.  The doctor looked back at Vander who was shaking with rage. 

“
You are her mate?” the doctor claimed.  Vander didn’t respond as he watched the doctor place an IV in Waverly’s arm, he just nodded.  The nurse glanced back at Vander when he didn’t answer the doctor.

“
Is she going to be okay?” Vander asked.

“
She will live, but being okay is a whole different problem.”  Vander understood what the doctor was trying to say.  Waverly had been tortured for over a week.  Her body would recover but her mind may not.

“
I have contacted the Alpha and he is on his way.  Listen, Vander, I know she is your mate but the Alpha will be overly protective and will not want anyone near her for a while.  He will place Protectors here so nobody will be able to come in.  So don’t feel threatened.  It is a protection instinct that will come out of him fiercely,” Jewel said quietly as she stepped back in.

“
Then the Alpha and I will have a chat because he will not keep me from my mate,” Vander all but growled.  Jewel smiled as her best friend had actually sounded like an Alpha himself. 

Jewel pushed her shoulder into Vander
’s shoulder playing with him.  Vander had to smile back at Jewel.  She always knew how to cheer him up and make him smile.  Jewel leaned toward Vander again smelling in the air near him.  “I smell Kane on you.”  Jewel grinned sheepishly as Vander blushed from her teasing.  He wasn’t used to explaining about having sex with a man. A woman, it never affected him to talk about, but a man was a different beast all together. Vander always considered himself an open person but he never was attracted to a man until Kane.  Kane turned his life upside down and now the way he felt about Waverly, he knew this was going to be a roller coaster ride.

Jewel turned toward the door as
she heard the vehicle tearing down the driveway.

“
He is here, so get ready.”  Jewel could hear the Alpha running up the steps and into the house.  She opened the door as he ran up to her. 

“
Where is she?”  Jewel turned and sadly looked into the room as Marcus followed her gaze.  He could see his daughter’s lifeless body lying on the table.  He could see that her body was battered and bruised from the tumultuous abuse.  Marcus slowly entered the room.  Jewel could see the pain in his eyes.  His daughter had been beaten and tortured over and over and he couldn’t do anything to help her.  Jewel watched as the Alpha picked up his daughter’s hand.  He held it up to his lips as he kissed it and rubbed it on his cheeks. 

Vander watched as the Alpha carefully car
essed her hand. 

The nurse walked in and bowed to Marcus then brought him a chair so he could sit by his daughter.  Vander needed to
talk with Kane and let him know that the doctor said about Waverly.  He exited the room as Flynn paced the hallway.  Jewel was telling him what happened when they found Waverly. Vander walked past them to the porch.  He looked out as Kane moved toward him.