Irregular (mlm)

Chapter 35

Kai's arms were around his mate in less than a second before he went limp. He was crying and shaking, and he looked way, way too pale. He'd lost too much blood.

Kai cradled the back of his head gently and put his other hand on his cheek. He was scorching.

Shit.

Kai scooped him up in his arms, mindful of his injured leg, and ran like hell. He didn't even know where he was running, considering he'd never been in this part of the warehouse without someone leading him along a confusing path, but he could hear commotion from above. If he could just get closer, he could follow the noise to get out of there.

He didn't run into anymore of his father's wolves as he went, but he still peaked around corners and kept his ears perked for any noise.

Finally, he heard voices coming from a hallway ahead of him, to the left. He slowed down, barely breathing, and listened. Male, three of them. One sounded familiar, but he couldn't place it. The other two were speaking too softly to make out.

Then the first voice spoke louder, "This hallway is clear. Careful around the corner."

Kai couldn't cried at the relief that flooded through his body as he recognized the voice. Alec. The guard posted at their apartment.

He slowly walked around the corner, hoping they wouldn't shoot out of reflex at the movement.

Alec flinched and they all raised their guns as he rounded the corner, but Alex recognized him first. "Holy shit! It's Owen and Kai!"

Kai stumbled forward, losing his strength. "Owen is hurt. It's bad."

Alec waved at the other two. "Go get the paramedics. Now!"

They raced off, shouting into radios on their shoulders, and Alec surged forward. He took in the state of Owen's knee, using his hands to try and staunch the steady flow of blood seeping from the wound as Kai kept walking to meet the paramedics when they arrived.

Alec swore. "What the hell happened?"

"My father." Kais brain was going fuzzy. "I think I got shot."

Alec stared at him in horror. "Where? Are you okay? Should you even be walking?"

"I'm fine. It barely left a mark."

Alec looked at him funny, but Kai didn't have the brain power to read into it. His mate was bleeding in his arms, barely conscious, and he could feel his own body beginning to get heavy.

The trip outside was agonizingly long. Alec directed him in where to go, and at some point paramedics with a gurney intercepted them and took Owen. Kai jogged after them, his heart beating rapidly and his eyes locked on his mate.

The sun was much too bright outside. Early morning, but the looks of it. Sunrise, peaking through trees and a chain link fence.

There were more policemen, all werewolves, than Kai had seen in town. There must be some from neighboring towns, other packs, who had come to assist. Everything was too loud, too fast.

Kai tried to walk after the gurney holding his mate, but his legs gave out. He collapsed, falling to his hands and knees as seething pain jolted through his knee. He shouted, cluchting his leg, and heard Owen screaming.

He was screaming.

Kai snapped his head up, body shifting without him willing it. He was in wolf form, his regular wolf form, not the one he'd been in the warehouse. He ran for Owen, where three paramedics were trying to hold him down as another used rods and bandages to immobilize his leg.

Kai shoved one of the paramedics to the side with his nose and rested his head on his mates chest, trying to bring him some comfort. He was crying, now, begging them to stop hurting him. Kai closed his eyes and pushed his head down, adding weight to Owen's chest until he finally seemed to realize he was there.

Owen wrestled one hand free and tangled it in his coat, pulling painfully, but Kai didn't care. He was settling enough for the paramedics to set his leg without him thrashing.

Kai whined as his own leg mirrored the pain of his mates. He didn't know that it was possible, to feel the pain of your mate. Maybe, hopefully, he was taking some of the pain away by feeling it himself.

Kai felt a hand land on his back and he snarled, eyes snapping open and looking towards his back. It was Paxton. A cut laced across his brow one, and he was sweating. He'd been in a fight.

"Kai. They need to take him into the ambulance. The nearest hospital that treats our kind is an hour away, and he's only going to get worse." Paxton gently tugged him back, until he was no longer touching his mate.

Owen's hand fell down, limp, and he slid his teary eyes to Kai. They shut slowly, and Kai knew he had passed out.

Kai's heart lurched. They wouldn't let him in the ambulance, he was too big, so he'd run behind it. He'd follow it to the hospital—

He began to step forward, but Paxton held him by the collar. "Kai."

Kai stopped, irritated. He huffed a growl towards the alpha, and he removed his hand. "That boy is like a son to me. And even with all of the wolves from the surrounding areas, your father still managed to escape. We will never catch him."

Kai narrowed his eyes. What are you saying?

Paxton read the question on his face. "You will never be safe with that man alive." He jerked his chin towards the ambulance, beginning to pull away now. "He will never be safe."

Kai turned to face the man, lowering his head in question. What was he implying?

"Go find the bastard," Paxton said. "And kill him."

Kai felt something settle in his bones. His entire life was tormented by the man that had planted him in his mother's belly. He'd been beaten, tortured, and experimented on. All of that, he could deal with. But Owen getting hurt?

Kai slowly moved around Paxton, walking back towards the warehouse door. He could smell the stench of his father's blood somewhere inside. If he could follow it...

He could feel Paxtons eyes on him as he stalked forward, malice leeching off him like toxic gas from a bomb. Other wolves moved aside, allowing him a free path inside.

He didn't looked back when he turned a corner into the belly of the warehouse.

He had his father to kill.