2. Intrusion

"The neighbors will here. No one lives to your right– but three people live within a close enough radius to hear you fire," I explained.

"They can hear you too," he said and I smiled. "You know, this isn't any of your business."

"Yeah, well like I said, I'm a fucking vet," I said, "You a wolf?" I asked.

"Can't you smell it, half-blood?" he asked. I smiled wider, aimed at his right knee, and shot.

He let out a hellish scream. I aimed at his left shoulder and shot again. Another scream.

"Everyone... would've heard... that," he said panting as he fell to the ground, bleeding onto the floor. There goes another chunk of my budget.

"Yeah, well, I was trying to scare you," I said as I took hold of the barrel of my gun, and swung hard at his head. Luckily werewolves weren't much for lawsuits so shooting first wasn't gonna be an issue... hopefully.

I didn't exactly end him but then again, I only did that so there was someone to interrogate. I sighed as I tucked the gun back into my waistband and ran towards the sound of the whining.I followed the trail of fresh blood on the floor that led me to a closed door. I opened it up and saw a large wolf. It looked at me and whined.

"Hey, stay with me," I said. I got up and turned on the lights. "Listen, I need you to stay like this, do not shift, no matter how bad it is."

I examined her quickly. Her large black and brown body was soaked with plenty of blood. She had a deep cut on the lower half of her body.

I heard a phone vibrate outside and watched as the wolf in front of me let out a weak grunt. I got up and found it in the pocket of a pair of torn-up jeans – most likely torn from shifting. I looked at the phone and saw the caller ID–

L.

I answered the call.

"Where the hell are you?!" A man growled and I could feel the strength of that tone – Alpha. I felt a shudder run through me.

Mate. For a brief moment, that was all my brain registered until I shook myself out of it.

Not now, Auden. Not ever.

"Sorry. My name is Auden, I'm a, uh, pack doctor and I found this she-wolf, um," Quit babbling like an idiot Auden, I cleared my throat,"Yeah anyways – she's in an apartment and she's losing consciousness. I need help getting her out of here safely and into the closest safe space you have."

"What? What the fuck happened?! How is she?!" He shouted, making me pull back the phone from my ear. Looks like he didn't notice the mate part.

"She's breathing, I'm trying to keep her conscious. I'm sorry, but I want to make sure that you're a person I can trust, I found some lunatic with a gun here before I got to her," I said and I heard a low curse come through the speaker.

"Put me on speaker," he said. I hesitated. "I'm her brother. You can trust me, I swear. Our packhouse is far, but if you can help her I can have someone come and bring her back safely by morning."

I put him on speaker.

"Lana! We'll bring you home soon. Stay calm. Xander and I will get you," the Alpha's voice said. The wolf's eyes glossed over, I could see the tears in her eyes, and I took that as a sign that I could trust him.

"I'll send you the address," I said. Once I was done, I switched to work mode.

"Your brother is sending help, I'm gonna grab my medical kit, whatever you do, just... just keep breathing, okay?" The wolf huffed weakly before I sprinted to my apartment. I picked up a toolkit and medical bag before running back, ignoring the body in the hallway.

I washed my hands in the kitchen sink and slipped my hands into gloves. I immediately got to numbing the wound. It was deep just above her left thigh and cut straight towards her stomach. Fortunately, wolves healed quickly, so it was no longer as deep as it probably was. But it still needed to stop bleeding – and to heal in the right form, otherwise, she'd lose too much blood and end up disfigured for life.

I talked to her to make sure she was conscious as I cleaned the wound. I made sure that most of the fur was out of the way and cut parts of frayed skin. She screamed and moved about and all I could do was talk her through it as I continued to work. She was lucky I even had a few anesthetics from the clinic.

I finished with more than enough blood on my jeans, on the floor, my hands, and enough blood to drown in. There was a lot even for a werewolf to bleed out from. Thankfully, she was still breathing, though she passed out a while ago. I checked and the stitches I placed had already started to pull together. All she needed now was to not shift until that healed up – otherwise, she'd rip that whole thing apart and bleed to death.

I began cleaning. I shoved all the bloody waste material into a trash bag and checked on the body. I took out a vial of wolfsbane and injected it into the side of the man's neck. I definitely didn't want him waking up any time soon. I squirmed as I injected him but the wolfsbane was mixed with a powerful sleeping drug I had been working on on the side. I checked on the wolf again and smiled as she continued to breathe softly but in regular small pants. She would need meds to avoid infections – but until we got her to a better location, this would do. At least the bleeding stopped and her wounds were sutured.

I let myself relax now that the job was done. I hadn't had such an exhilarating experience since I was a young healer in training at the packhouse back home. The wolf slowly blinked awake, glazing over me as the anesthesia continued to numb her senses. I pet her head.

"You'll be fine now. I'll go grab you a blanket or something, okay?" I asked before I grabbed my kit.

I returned to my apartment and made a few quick calls about clean-up. Thankfully, werewolves were good at cleaning up messes – and someone would come by to pick up the body by tomorrow.

I decided to shower.

As soon as I caught my reflection in the bathroom mirror I groaned. My dark brown hair looked like a mess, whatever mascara I had from yesterday crumbled under my eyes, my lips were chapped, and I could already see the dark bags forming beneath my deep brown eyes.

My clothes would have to be disposed of, there was no way I was gonna try and wash off this much blood. I grimaced as I peeled my jeans off and jumped into my shower. I pulled on a navy blue dress that fell just at the middle of my thighs before grabbing a spare blanket I didn't mind staining to give the wolf next door. Rather than warmth, I knew it would provide some comfort.

As I headed back into the room where the wolf was, I watched as she barked – well, attempted to bark anyways, but winced instead at my figure. I got close to her and placed the blanket on her.

"Okay, okay, I'm sure you'll be fine here– I don't think I can move you, so you'll have to stay here for the night, I can stay here if–"

Before I could even finish speaking, the wolf started to move, weakly pulling herself up. I was about to scold her, but she looked so determined. I eyed her stitches and they looked like they'd do alright.

"Okay, I get it. Come," I said as I walked over to her right side and helped lift her with whatever strength I had left. I draped the blanket over her body and helped maintain her balance as she limped out of the apartment.

She paused for a moment in front of the man and she growled. I patted her head as she stumbled and limped forward. I guided her into my apartment and she settled on the black carpet in the living room. I sighed as I lifted the blanket off of her back and covered more of her body with it before I picked up my phone and finally called the front desk.

"Miss Breaux? Is there a problem-"

"I need you to run a check on all security cameras. Send me any suspicious movement, especially on my floor."

"Yes, Miss Breaux. Would you like it done by tomorrow?"

"Yes."

I hung up and sighed. I spotted my wine and grabbed it. I gulped it down and leaned against the wall as the wolf on my carpet fell asleep.

What the actual fuck was going on?