Gamma's Energy Attracts

Part 27

Caly’s POV

It was like a traffic jam in my head, my wolf was howling while I tried to mind-link Colin, Stav trying to link me to see where I was, and Shane apologizing for telling said Alpha I was in the hospital before he was cut off the mind-link. On top of it was the pregnant female who went from shocked silly to freaking out in front of me at the sight of her lifeblood being pooled onto the immaculate white tiles.  

“C’mon Tabi, it’s alright, having pups is tough work and there’s going to be blood, sweat, tears and all manner of bodily functions. That first contraction will come and all your dignity will go out the window.  Let's get you in a room and get ready to have this baby.” I whisper soothingly into her ear as I let the energy flow down to my hand and onto the small of her back as I gently nudge her forward. I may not be a healer, but I have mastered calming people’s nerves and I know firsthand how exhausting labour is, I don’t mind using my energy to give her a boost. 

“Stay with me?” She meekly asks, her eyes are large and wet. “This is all my fault.” 

“Don’t cry, Sweetie. It’s not your fault, the baby was due tomorrow but they come when they are ready. I will be right here, and so will Ryan. Doc is the very best, so you don’t have to worry about anything but the pushing part, okay?” I help Doc strip her out of her clothes as I get Ryan to grab a warm, wet cloth. I wash her legs so Doc can glove up to check her dilation. Tabi groans out and clutches her swollen belly.

“Nine centimetres! Oooh, I think that one was a contraction! We are progressing very quickly. Lucky you!” Doc says cheerily as she starts attaching monitors to Tabi. She’s always excited about babies, she told me once that it was the part of her job she enjoyed the most because it helped her appreciate life and made up for all the other horrors she has seen. Werewolves lead violent lives, our battles can end up looking like a slasher film. “When we discussed your birthing plan you didn’t want the epidural, and it’s a bit late for that now anyway. Would you like something for pain or nitrous oxide?”

“Give me the gas!” she grits out with a growl. Her knees involuntarily pull up towards her belly with the next contraction.

“Just take deep breaths when you can,” I say as I take a few deep breaths of my own. Two breaths in, I hear the commotion in the hallway. “I’m going to go kick the Alpha and any others out of the hallway. I will be right back, I promise.”

Ryan keeps giving her words of encouragement, drawing her attention as I slip out of the room. The hall is crowded; Shane, Terri, Micah for some damn reason, Colin, Julia and my frantic Mate. My aura slips out as I get angrier. Do they not realize we are trying to have a baby over here?

“What is going on, Stavros?” 

*****

Terri’s POV

‘Terrier! Please be awake!’ came the urgent voice of Shane through my mind-link. Of course, I was awake. I’m a night owl burning the candle on both ends, I haven’t had more than 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep since Stav took over this Pack, it’s been 10 years or more. The first seven of those felt like an uncomfortable itch that couldn’t be scratched and seemed to be terminal. Luckily the Luna came along and the past three have been a soothing balm that blanketed all of us.

‘You know I am,’ I hope he can hear my eyes rolling. ‘What’s up, Buttercup?’

‘Red Bull Alert! On his way to the hospital, second floor.’ For f*ck’s sake, we haven’t had a stampeding Alpha incident in forever. For a half-second I consider leaving him to the wolves, in particular the Alpha wolf, but curiosity killed the cat and I wanna know what this idjit did to piss off the Bossman.

‘What the f*ck did you do?’ How many times do I gotta tell Shane to watch what he says to Stav? There is reporting the facts and there is getting to the f*cking point and leaving out the bits that send Stav into psycho-mode.

‘I didn’t mean to, he just asked where Caly was and I said we were in the hospital and then he cut me off the mind-link. He’s going to think Luna is in the hospital.’ Yes, yes he is, you bl*ody freakin’ moron.

‘No sh*t, Sherlock! I’m on my way down.’

There’s a bang on my door, but it doesn't sound like Stav. He would have just kicked it open, he’s charming like that.

I hop out of bed and throw the door open, not wearing a stitch of clothing. Micah is casually leaning his forearm on my door frame, but his face is all business until he sees my state of undress. I see his eyes darken and the tip of his tongue comes out to wet his bottom lip. Typical man. “What?” I say p*ssed off, even though I am amused by his reaction to me. “Never seen a naked female before?”

He flares his nostrils and snorts out hot so forcefully I can feel it against my shoulder. “I have,” he says flatly and rolls his shoulders to get rid of the tension and steps back from the door a step. “What’s got your Pack on high alert?”

“Depends, what did you see?” I ask suspiciously, he should be in his room, sleeping. What the f*ck is he doing out and wandering around.

“The Mated pair next door to you rushed that way,” he jerks his thumb to the front set of stairs, “And your glow stick was all lit up and walked through that door in a trance. Where does it lead? There’s an alarm on it, or I would have followed her.” 

“The back set of stairs has a separate entrance. Now excuse you, get outta my way, I gotta Code Red Bull to see to.”

“What’s that mean?” He narrows his eyes as if he could intimidate me. Pssh, whatev’s.

“Dude, I ain’t tellin' you s**t about my Pack,” I say as I grab my jeans and Tee to slip into, ignoring the bra and panties.

“Nice try, Terrier. Don’t try to distract me with the fact you go commando. I’m here on Elder D’s orders to keep the ‘gifts’ safe. The Seeker’s eyes were fluorescent, so we need to find her.”

“Yeah? Well, Elder D also said you were under my orders, so come with if you want, but stay the f*ck outta my way. I have to placate the Bull and if you annoy me too much, I’ll throw you in front of him.” I rush to the back stairs using my body to block Micah’s view of the door’s pin code. I don’t hold the door for him and move with my considerably fast werewolf speed. If he misses his opportunity, too f*cking bad.

I have no luck ditching Micah, he’s doing a good job keeping up as we place chase on the stairs. I can hear Stav shouting in the hallway, no doubt looking for Caly. Shane is trying to tell him calmly that the Luna is fine, but knowing Stav, he’ll want to inspect every inch of her body for injuries. Come to think of it, maybe that’s a good idea. If he’s distracted by her body, he might settle down on his own. 

I round the corner as Caly steps out of the room she was in at the same time Colin comes out of a different room. Julia throws herself in the middle of the mayhem, trying to get Colin to pay attention to her. 

“What’s going on, Stavros?” Caly chides her Mate.

“Shane said you were in the hospital! Why do I smell blood?” Stav sniffs her all over like a damn dog and man-handling her by forcing her to turn around, lift her arms, spread her legs to check her all over and Caly slaps his hands away.

“I’m not injured, settle down! Shane should be more careful with his words,” she sets her MoM-glare, the big Mother of all Mom glares at Shane and he gives her the puppy eyes. “That’s not going to work on me,” she warns him. “Speaking of pups, Stavros, who is watching our children?”

“I asked Rose to come over.”

“Good,” she says relieved. I knew she was worried, Stav sometimes forgets the important sh*t when he’s obsessing over her. “Terri! Good, you’re here. Now I can update everyone at once. Stavros, the women are malnourished and needed medical care, so I have brought them to the hospital.”

Stav opens his fat mouth to object, and the Queen stands proud to shut him down quickly. “We have assessed the risks. They are fragile, Stav. We are going to have a nurse see to them. Colin and Terri can talk to them, gently. Be nice to them Theressa, we don’t know what they went through. Shane can organize some guards and the safety measures we discussed in the meantime. Ryan and Tabi are getting ready to bring our newest little Pack member into the world. She’s bleeding out, so I am going to stay with her in case she needs me.”

“You shouldn’t use your energy…” Stav gets interrupted and put in his place with a demanding growl from the Luna.

“Stavros! My Pack member needs some emotional support. If she needs me, I will help her. Got it?!” You tell him, Queenie.

“Yes, Little Mate.” Stav looks like a scalded dog, all mopey and stuff. He’s so p*ssy-whipped, I have to hold in my laughter. She reaches up and holds his face in both her hands, he leans in a bit so she doesn’t have to strain herself to give him a chaste kiss. She marches back into Tabi’s room just as the Mamma grunts out a horrifying noise and those of us in the hall all cringe. That does not sound good, it just reaffirms the fact I am never doing that to my body. Ever.

I slap my hands and rub them together, time to get to work. “So what do we have behind door number two?”

“Two females walked into our territory about an hour ago, looking for the All-Mother,” Shane stands at attention in front of the door, looking Stav dead in the eye. “No resistance, they wanted to be caught.”

“All-Mother? Who’s that?” Micah asks. Silly boy, do I gotta tell him everything?

“It’s our Queen,” I scoff. “Try to keep up or take your useless b*tt back to bed.” He just scowls at me.

“Why are they in my Packhouse?” Stav growls, but only a tiny one. He wouldn’t want Caly to come out here and give him another public dressing down.

“As the Luna said, they are scarily thin, they have been on the run for a while, the younger one passed out before we could speak to her,” Shane tells him.

“They found what they seek. They seek our help.” Sage has taken over Julia. She’s holding onto Colin’s arm in a death grip.

Colin nods at her, “Can you tell if they are gifted, Julia?” 

“Yes. The Foreseer saw it.” Sage says flatly.

“Tabitha told you?” Colin questions her, confused.

Julia, well Sage, shakes her head. “No, the other Foreseer.” She places a hand on the door beside Shane. 

Two nurses hesitantly approach, they must have been on-call, they are in brightly coloured scrubs. “Excuse me, Alpha. The Doctor wants me to run an IV line until she can attend to them,” Karen says apologetically, even though it’s us blocking the way. Shane goes in with her, just to be safe. When the door opens, I can see two women who are practically skeletons with their ankles cuffed to the bed. When Caly said ‘precautions’, I thought she was just bullsh*tting her way with Stav. 

“Alright, we are going to let the nurse do her thing first. Let's discuss, we have another Foreseer, and any idea about the other one?"

"Healer," Julia announces.

"She’s on death's door! How tha' f*ck does a healer not heal herself?" Do none of these she-wolves with gifts have any sense of self-preservation. Maybe I should convince Elder D to send all these chicks here for my crash course in kick-@ss self-defence.

"She's overused. She's prob'ly like your Luna, she gets the healing bestowed from above during an emergency,” Micah pipes up with the corners of his lips turned down as he motions with one arm towards the ceiling, like we keep the Moon Goddess in our attic, (not that we have one) and ignoring the window by the nurses’ desk that I can see the full Moon from here. Sh*t full a Moon, all the crazies will be out tonight. “The rest of the time she draws it from herself. She's probably not meant to heal every hangnail and papercut. Who knows how many people she had to take care of? I’m going in,” he says with his jaw set defiantly. How cute.

“Okay, we all aren’t going in there. Me and Colin, that’s it.” If he thinks he can push me around Doc Murray is going to have herself another patient, so I decided to inform him of that fact, “Doc’s already pretty busy, I don’t think she’s got time to check on you if I cr*ck your skull open.”

“You can do all the talking, I just need to watch their body language. I’m just working, Terrier, same as you. Why don’t we call Elder Darryl and see what he says? I bet he could have the Council here sometime tomorrow morning…” the f*cker says, knowing full well I can’t wait that friggin’ long to get my answers. 

“Fine,” I say in my most deadly tone. I hold the door open for Colin and let it go as Micah gets near, hoping it will slam in his face. Unfortunately, the hospital doors have hinges that are slam-proof, so it slowly closes with an unsatisfactory click. Both Micah and Julia sneak in. WTF? Micah leans into a corner and gives the girls a critical glare. Julia also finds a corner to observe from, Sage still in control but her eyes aren't glowing freakily.

I give the girls a once over of my own. One looks about Caly’s age, early twenties, with signs of a rough life. She also has a fresh bruise on the inside of one elbow, Karen must have made an attempt to put the IV line up there before realizing the veins were collapsed, now there is a needle on the top of her hand. The other she-wolf is in her mid-thirties and is only in slightly better shape. They both look like spectres from a horror flick; long ratty hair hanging over their faces, so skinny their hospital gowns are falling off of them.

Colin decides to go first, “Hello Ladies, I am Beta Colin and you have stumbled into Blood Pact territory.” Good Cop always goes first.

“We came here to meet the All-Mother.” The older one speaks up. 

“How are you so sure she’s here?” Colin’s tone is gentle despite its accusation.

“I-I foresaw it!” she stammers out.

“Tell me, do you see things in the future? How far ahead can you see?” 

“You-you believe me? What I see depends on who wants me to see it. If I concentrate I can look forward a week or two. When Mother Moon wants me to see something, I can see months in advance. Do you believe in the All-Mother, too? Four months ago I was sent an image, I was told in a dream to find her.” She rasps out, her throat clogging up with her emotions.

“I do believe you,” Colin says somberly. Julia steps forward and grips his elbow, and for the first time, I think the chick notices our Seeker. Julia flashes her fluorescent green eyes, so different from her dull brown ones and the female gasps. “I am aware that some people in our world have additional gifts.”

“A-Are you the c-collector?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean,” Colin says confused.

“Do you have more than one gifted? My wolf is sleeping, I can’t feel her...” she says lost in thought.

“Mr. Beta?” Julia speaks up, her voice stronger and confident now. No umm’s or hemming and hawing.

‘Julia, don’t speak out loud! We are trying to see what they know, not what you can tell them.’ I hiss into her head.

‘Right, sorry. Sage thinks the Collector is Mr. Alpha. Get her to describe her vision of the All-Mother.’

“We are getting way off-topic. Tell us about yourselves, start at the beginning. You need to convince me you are telling the truth. Then we can discuss this ‘All-Mother’ person.” Micah grunts out before he folds his arms over his chest to look intimidating. What an @sshole, Bad Cop is my job.

“Quiet you, you are supposed to be “observing” not talking. I say “observing” nice and slow with air quotes in case he still has trouble understanding. He’s really getting under my skin tonight for some reason. I’ll blame it on the full Moon.

I turn my back on him, then swing my head around to catch him mocking me. I growl and he just smirks.

“Alrighty then. Please start by telling us your names and birth Pack, as well as any previous Packs you can remember the names of. We will work our way up to wherever you clearly just ran from. My associate Micah will take notes.” Yes, I did say that just to p*ss him off, I feel pretty smug about it.

“F*k you, Terrier,” I hear him grumble under his breath.

Colin looks between the two of us and scowls. He reaches into his pocket and takes out his precious phone to start typing. He won't tolerate lackadaisical note-taking.

“My name is Lina, I’m 35, I was from Lone Wolf, but I have been moving around nearly every six months since I was 17. I didn’t always live in Packs, a few times I was traded to vampire covens, even humans.” 

Vamps? Holy crap, this is getting intriguing already! “Do you remember the names or locations of any of those covens?” 

“Not really, I mean I was I guess what you would be called privately owned? I would be dumped somewhere in the basement of a mansion and brought out whenever the Master or Sire of the family needed me. Mostly I would hear an accent and just guess where I was. Lots of different places in Europe, and once I was in China, I think. Maybe it was Japan. It was hard for me to tell.”

Then she looks over at her friend, “There’s not too much to tell about her. Her name is Everleigh, I think she chose that name herself. She was an orphan and the Elder’s Council found her around the age of 10, but she doesn’t even know her own birthday, since she never-shifted. She figures she’s about 20 though. She’s a healer.”

“Who was her Council rep?” Micah asks intrigued, I shoot him a look.

“Elder Giles.”