CAGED

Chapter 2

He was dead. He had died many punches back, but I hadn't been able to stop myself. His face was completely unrecognizable, but for good measure, I snapped the baseball bat in half, and finally the rage clouding my head gave way to a fully fledged panic burning a hole straight through my chest. I'd never dialed 911 before, but I found myself switching between screaming and sobbing, begging the operator for an ambulance. I had never begged anyone for anything in my life before, but cradling my mate's obtuse, bloody skull, jagged and fractured the same way my heart felt, I found myself ready to do many things I had never done before - things that scared me.

I found tears tumbling down my cheeks, heavy like my emotions as my mate was loaded onto the stretcher. During the ride to the hospital, medical workers milled about the ambulance busily, but I found that holding his delicate hand was the only thing anchoring me to reality - everyone else might as well not have existed. By the time the ambulance made it to the hospital, I was a mess of feelings I wasn't familiar with at all, like I was a stranger in my own body.

Wires were connected, needles were inserted, and machines hummed to life, displaying the weak vitals proving that my mate was still alive under all those bandages. Eventually, the doctors finished poking at him, and told me he needed to rest for a while. One doctor, whose white coat's embroidery proclaimed to be Gage Rothfeld, MD, reassured me quietly, "Your wolf would bring him a lot of comfort while he rests. He's in a bed for two for a reason - go keep him company." He smiled at me as he left the room, and I barely even managed to strip to save my clothes for later before I shifted, quickly trotting to his bedside and bounding up next to him, involuntarily whining and licking at his face a few times before settling beside him. My gigantic wolf would have crushed his bruised body if I'd curled on top of him like I'd wanted to, so I settled to gently nuzzle his side with my oversized muzzle a bit before gently bringing it to rest lightly atop the crook of his arm and shoulder.

Even though I hadn't slept at all, and the night was rapidly pacing into morning, I still couldn't sleep - my protective drive produced enough adrenaline to keep me awake and alert as my mate remained comatose. Somehow, though, time still passed too quickly - laying with my mate was wholly new, and something I wanted to cherish while I could. My feisty mate would have more words for me when he awoke, words that I totally deserved, but for now the simplicity of just being filled my chest with an unexpected warmth, given the circumstances. I hoped that next time, I'd be able to earn it instead of him being on the brink of death.

I could feel time passing but somehow it also felt still as my treasure's life hung by a thread. I'd never felt anything other than anger, aggression, and dominance from my inner wolf, Fenrir, but for the first time, I could feel nothing but despair emanating from his being. Not only had his overpowering alpha instincts to breed hurt our mate, our mate might never live to see the unconditional love we felt for him already.

After being beaten down his whole life, he'd stood up to an alpha as threatening as me right after being knocked out twice - Fenrir just wanted to make sure no one could ever knock him down again. I'd never seen Fenrir gentle in my life - he was all testosterone and violence, a total alpha, the beast lurking within that I never let out outside of the octagon - but this tiny omega had easily wrapped him around his finger when none of the strongest alphas in the world could even hope to dent him. I'd trained myself to be a combat machine, and Fenrir lived for the fight. Together, we'd fought our way to the top of the world - and suddenly, none of that stuff mattered to me at all.

After what felt like a handful of minutes but also like many hours, I perked my ears to knocking on the door. Dr. Rothfeld entered with his head lowered toward the floor, moving slowly. "We need you to shift so we can take your mate in for surgery. He won't survive without it - and it needs to happen before his skull sets improperly," he called gently. Reluctantly, Fenrir relinquished control, and I gave my mate's face a gentle lick before padding across the room to my clothes and re-aligning my bones back into my own form.

I could hear my mate stir slightly in his sleep at my absence as Dr. Rothfeld crossed the room, no longer intimidated by an overprotective alpha in his dangerous natural state. Jotting down notes from the beeping monitors on his clipboard, Dr. Rothfeld spoke again. "You should stay here for your mate's safety. An operating room where they are cutting into him is too risky to have a powerful alpha present."

As much as it hurt, I understood - Fenrir would not understand anything but fury if they cut into him, regardless of intent. I nodded at the doctor, but before his gurney was wheeled away, I managed to gather enough strength to clear my throat and croak, "Please. Bring him back to me."

A reassuring smile spread across his face before disappearing behind the doorframe. "You have my word."

My eyes burned with tired but I couldn't sleep without knowing my mate would be alright - and I certainly couldn't sleep with the knowledge he was being cut open and his life was hanging in the balance. Hell, I couldn't sleep just because he was in another room. I wasn't sure if it was possible to shatter fluorescent lightbulbs with sheer anxiety, but I was getting pretty sure I would soon find out. Breaking my concentration, for what must have been the thousandth time, my hopes surged at the sound of wheels squeaking as they rounded the corner at the other end of the hall - but to me it was a splendid aria, a chance my mate could be coming back to me.

It's strange - our bond was only in its infancy, we'd only touched once, no marking or mating had occurred - fuck, there wasn't even a real emotional bond. Still, I could just tell that this time, it was him. My senses were so heightened that I could make out his unique breathing through a closed door and down the hall, picking the sound out from the squeak of the wheels. My senses had always been good, I had always been an alpha even among alphas, but to be able to pick a tiny noise out from that many louder noises at this distance was unheard of, even for an alpha like me.

He was already driving me haywire and my body was literally changing to protect my mate. I had no idea what kind of hormones he'd triggered, but it was an uncomfortable level of awareness in the sterile, artificial astroturf of the hospital. Now, however, it was totally welcome - I could hear his breath, so he was alive and on his way back to me.

Instantly leaping to my feet, I made sure to get the door for the doctor long before he was even close. Barely holding myself from climbing into his bed and holding him close, I helped Dr. Rothfeld wheel him back to his bedside and gently placed him back in his bed.

"He's stable," Dr. Rothfeld broke the silence. I felt knots of tension unfurl like sails in my stomach as joy blew wind into them. "I'll let you two have some privacy now."

As soon as the door clicked shut behind him, my shorts hit the floor, and shifted faster than an excited pup seeing a squirrel. I licked my mate's face and let my tongue loll as Fenrir settled into control for some time with our mate.