Wolf mate

Chapter 5

"Please come as fast as you can." It was the voice of a woman, actually the woman they talked to when they first got there.

Somewhere in the very distance he could hear the familiar sound of red and blue. Damnit.

"We need to get out of here," he turned back to his partner and started rising from the ground with a wince on his lips as he pushed one of his hands over the wound.

Beckett was on her feet in a second, her arm immediately going around his waist as her hand grabbed one of his to put around her shoulders in support. He was surprised that she didn't say anything, not a word about getting him to the hospital, but simply helped him out the back door and led him to her car. Getting suspicious he listened in on her heart and found it calmer than it had been minutes earlier. Was she in shock? Castle kept looking around them, observing and listening in order to be ready if someone was there. He could only hear two heartbeats from in front of the store and he assumed it to be the employees they'd gone through before they got to their perp. When his partner helped him into the car he had never been more thankful that they'd had to find a parking spot on the backside of the store instead of in front of it. This way they didn't have to worry about the employees spotting them and telling the police with certainty there had been someone getting injured from the shots they'd heard. Besides, it was a shorter walk from the back door.

The second they were both in the car and Beckett was focusing on starting the engine Castle was quick to take out his phone to send a quick text to his daughter, telling him he'd been shot but was okay and on his way home. He thought about writing another one to Marco, telling him who the killer was, but decided he could do that once he was sure Beckett wouldn't take him to the hospital.

"I... Y-You still should go to the hospital, it's the adrenaline keeping you up," his partner said, her voice almost in shreds at the panic she felt.

"No. If you won't drive me home I'll get out and find a taxi to take me," he half-threatened and felt her glance at him when he winced again.

Damn, it stung. He gave her a determined look and she bit her lip before pulling out of the parking spot and he was relieved to see she set the path towards his loft. In the meantime Castle tried to focus on the heart beating beside him as he leaned back and closed his eyes. Her heart revealed just how distraught she was, and her breathing was a mix between shallow, quickened inhales and deep, slow ones. He could feel the shakes she tried to hide in her movements when shifting the gear and turning the wheel, could feel every glance she shot his way whenever he moved or made the smallest of sound. He absolutely hated the way he was worrying her, but he still couldn't choke the small winces that escaped his lips.

"Rick?" He popped his eyes wide open at the sudden mention of his first name. She never called him by his first name. "We're here," she said, her voice betraying her as it was cracking with every word.

He looked out to see that they had come to a stop in front of his building. Hissing at the sting he pushed his back away from the seat and looked back at his partner with an idea.

"Can I borrow your scarf? The one you always keep in the trunk?"

She looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. "Wha-"

"I can't let Eduardo see me like this," he pointed towards the blood that had sipped through his clothes. He could see in his partner's eyes that she was mostly going on autopilot, as if she was so baffled she didn't know how to act.

"Okay."

She jumped out of the car and he clenched his eyes shut. Now it wouldn't be long until she knew the truth. God, what if she'd push him away? He jumped when she opened the door and winced at the pull on the healing wound in his chest.