~ Chapter One ~

Warning, new wave of patients coming through.

I sighed as I stared down at my phone. I'd been quite happy to have the day off as the pack doctor, not that there was ever a day off in such a busy pack. Training, eating well, working out, cross-country running - most of our lives focused on the idea of training our bodies. It paid off, we were all fit and healthy and all we ever wanted to do was train more... at least, some of us felt that way.

I was not a part of "some."

The door to my office opened and three little kids I adored slid through, followed by their mother, Valerie. She gave me an apologetic smile as she hoisted her youngest onto the bed. Meanwhile, the twins were at my legs, tugging at my pants.

"Doc, Doc!" Tony was calling to me. "Jakey isn't well, Doc!"

"He isn't well," Bree repeated.

I looked between them with a smile before looking up at Valerie in questioning and meeting tired eyes. She always seemed to be tired and, as the rest of the pack had to live with her kids, too, I couldn't say I was suprised. My room was at the opposite end of the house and I could still hear when Jacob decided it wasn't actually bedtime, but I'm-going-to-scream-for-hours-and-there-is-nothing-you-can-do-about-it time.

"What's wrong with Jakey, Val?" I questioned, rolling over to the bed on my chair. The twins followed eagerly, latching onto the arms either side.

"He's got quite the fever," she replied sadly, "but I don't know the cause of it. He's been particualrly bad the last couple of nights, yelling his head off - I'm sure you already know. I'm thinking it's because he's too hot all the time and being under covers at night..."

"That could certainly affect him," I agreed slowly. "Let me take a quick look at him, can you step outside? You know it isn't you I'm worried about..."

"No problem." Valerie snapped at her kids to get them to leave the room while I leaned over Jacob to see his face.

He looked quite flushed, but not so much that I would usually worry. When I felt him, however, I realised he was scorching hot; it was amazing that he wasn't always in tears - and a miracle I'd be grateful for. His heart rate was regular, his breathing regular, and he wasn't acting strangely at all or seeming to feel faint. He was just hot, and that usually only meant one thing, though that shouldn't be possible considering his age.

I got up to call Valerie back into the room to tell her that her son was a very, very early bloomer, but as soon as I opened the door, I found her arguing with Beta James. The twins were clutched to either one of her legs, scared, and I looked past the group to see why.

A large, muscular man I'd never seen before lay on a stretcher behind Beta James, handled by one of the pack warriors, Harper. He looked tense and kept glancing at the stranger on the stretcher as though he thought the man would just get up. By the looks of the blood covering his chest and some of his face, the last thing he was going to do was get up.

"Beta," I called when I saw him almost raise his hand to Valerie - it wouldn't be the first time he decided to be a complete dick.

James looked up at me, relieved for a moment, then stormed through the hall. Harper started pushing the stretcher, too, but I held a hand up to stop him.

"We need you to quickly save someone," James told me. "It is urgent. Whatever you have in there isn't."

"What I have in there is a four year old boy," I snapped.

"Not urgent."

I glanced at Valerie, who was now shielding her kids away from the stranger. Although normally I would continue to argue with James until my throat hurt, I knew I could get Valerie back to their rooms safely if I just complied right now.

"Give me just a couple of minutes to send Valerie and her kids on her way. You can bring the patient in and wait inside." James just nodded, motioning Harper to push the stretcher into the room. Valerie let out a terrified gasp, to which I said, "I'm bringing Jakey out now, don't worry." I hurried inside before the little boy and unknown man could be together for too long.

James and Harper stood protectively next to the hunk of muscle while I ushered Jacob out to the hall with his mom. He instantly ran to her, obviously sensing her distress about him, and I rushed over to them for the briefest briefing ever to brief. "I believe he is an early bloomer, go back to your rooms and I'll visit you after."

"An early bloomer," Valerie repeated in a trance for a moment, then nodded and pried the twins from her legs. "Thank you for getting him out of there."

"Just go," I insisted.

The family headed down the hall so I went back into my office, where James had now shifted the big man onto the chair. I normally would clean it before the next patient, but I supposed we could overlook that in this case, considering this guy was clearly either very important or so dangerous we had to fix him up before he woke up.

"What am I looking at here?" I asked after locking us into the room.

"Multiple injuries. Possibly a broken rib, claw marks - that have bled a lot up to this point, and a head injury from hitting the floor too hard. Maybe a concussion if he wakes up too soon," James explained.

"And who is he?" James looked back at Harper, unsure whether or not he should tell me. "If I am going to be operating on him, I think I should know who he is," I reasoned.

James sighed. "We believe him to be an alpha from another pack, potentially coming here to attack us. We can't take any chances so we're sending him to the basement as soon as we're done here."

I nodded. "Okay, sit over there and be quiet. Let me get my job done."

"Keep me updated on everything," he warned, then he walked over to one of the chairs. Harper joined him despite being clearly uncomfortable, and I turned to the alpha on my hospital bed.

It turned out that he only had a bruised rib, rather than a broken one; his head injury was at the back as if he'd been hit, which didn't coincide with James's story at all; the blood was all coming from various claw marks all over his chest, back, and one gnarly hit on his thigh. I was able to ice his rib, clean and stitch up his head injury, and clean up the rest of him. The claw marks were already starting to heal on their own, which I warned James and Harper meant he was close to being able to come back to consciousness. But I inisted on continuing my examintation when they tried to tell me it was time to take him to the basement.

A part of me wasn't just looking at his wounds, but also the rest of him. His face was quite handsome, despite the dirt that covered half of it, and I imagined how soft his light brown hair would be if it was washed and not matted with blood and sweat. I could picture him to be quite a well-kept male, considering the body below, and definitely worthy of being an alpha.

No one but Alpha Roger and Beta James really knew about other packs and their leaders, because we were under strict rules to keep to ourselves. It'd been a questionable rule that most weren't happy with, but when it was keep to yourself or face a whip - yes, a whip, then you got over it pretty quickly.

As I moved to check the stranger's pupils for the third time in about half an hour, I felt one of his muscles tensing beneath me. I had been leaning on his forearm for a better balance, but the moment I felt him tense, I shot upright and backed up a step. It wasn't enough to alert James or Harper as they were both deep in conversation across the room.

I stared at the alpha nervously, waiting for him to wake. Because when muscles tensed like that, a person was usually awake. Taking into consideration the fact that his chest, back, and thigh wounds were all completely healed now, leaving only dirt and sweat - and the ice pack for his rib, I was pretty certain he'd wake up any second.

The arm that had tensed flexed now. Slowly and carefully, like he didn't want anyone to see the movement. His eyes weren't open but moving under the lids, a sign that he was, in fact, more than conscious. I tried not to attract James or Harper as I carefully touched my palm to the alpha's bicep, and those lids flicked straight open.

A pair of brown eyes caught onto mine, stealing any of the breath I had left in me.

Because this wasn't just any wolf, or alpha, or even just any guy.

This was my mate.

Follow my Twitter :) @GracieMackinto1