Surprise

Chapter 22: Butthead brother

Stella’s POV

I left the living room quickly in search of clothes for my dad, but only after moving his human body onto the couch.  “You’ll be okay, Daddy,” I whispered as I helped him lay down.

I burst into his bedroom that he shared with my mother and hurriedly searched through the drawers in his dresser and pulled out two shirts and two pairs of pants, not caring at all how they looked.

I ran back to the room and tossed Brandon the clothes.  He looked well enough to dress himself and my dad, being barely scratched, but weak.  Obvious fatigue consumed him more than my father.

“Brandon, can you help out for a minute?”  He nodded and shooed me out of the room, standing up, a blanket covering… what needed to be covered.

Two minutes later he let me back into the room and I knelt by my father and examined him.  His worst wound seemed to be the one on his neck, but aside from that, he might have had a broken bone, but nothing more.

“I’ll be right back,” I said, standing to run to the kitchen and get a damp cloth to clean the gash.

He looked as though he wanted to say something, but he couldn’t seem to make his mouth open.  It scared me to see him this way.  He was the Alpha, and my father.  He was the strongest person I’d ever known, and if he was hurting this much, it must be bad.

I walked out of the room, fighting tears as I left.  When in the kitchen I picked up the first rag I could find and put it under the faucet and filled it with water, wringing it out lightly and ran back to my father.

My mother was finally there, checking in with Brandon.  Without a word to her, I rushed back to my dad’s side and placed the rag on his bloody neck.  He winced, but I put a hand on his arm and hushed him.  “It’s alright.”

“Stella,” my mother said, walking over to me.  “You take care of Brandon.  I’ll help your father.”

I nodded and we switched our positions, me sitting in front of the chair Brandon sat on, her dabbing the cloth against my father’s wound.

“What happened,” I asked him.

“We went looking for the shifter from yesterday.  She was strong and had the upper hand.  But we saw her human form.”

“What are we going to do?  We need to find out what she wants, don’t we?”

“Yes.  We’ll probably bring along the most experienced recruiters.  We need a team, not just two of us.  We hardly even wounded her.”

I hardly knew anything about shape shifters to be honest.  “Is she stronger than most?”

“Yes.  Whatever she’s doing here probably has something to do with that.  She could be an assassin for the Elders or something.”

“What did she look like,” I asked him.

“When I get my strength back I’ll shift and show you through the link,” he promised me.

All I could do was nod and not try and push for any more information.  “What’s wrong?  Are you alright, or do you need help?”

He began to stand, wincing.  “I just need to rest.  No major injuries, I just lost all my energy.

I nodded.  “I’ll help you on your way then,” I said, grabbing his arm to help steady the very unbalanced man.

“Thank you.”

He stumbled and tripped over his own feet as I led him up the stairs to the room he stayed in alone.

He opened the door and I released him into the room.