Packless Monsters

Chapter 43

You eased Loki to the ground gently, cradling his head. "Loki, wake up!" you bid him urgently when he was safely down, but he wasn't stirring. His face was flushed already. That wasn't good. "Shit," you cursed. You touched his forehead. He was fevered already, though no one else would realize, not yet. He was only slightly warmer than human warm. They wouldn't understand the danger of a frost giant being that warm.

Samuel and Dan ran over. You crouched over Loki, still caught in the battle fury, ready to defend your mate, one of Loki's daggers in your hand. It was damn useful that he kept them hidden everywhere. "Easy, Omega, let us help," Samuel's voice was the soft gentle croon of an Alpha calming one of his people.

Allies. Allies were useful. You cleared your grief. Grief would come later. Right now you had to save Loki before the bite and infection killed him. "Samuel, call your father, tell him what happened. You two will clean up here? I need to get him back to the tower, now," you snapped as you shifted position to kneel beside Loki. Samuel knelt too and touched Loki's forehead.

"The fever isn't bad..." he started, not even upset that you were barking orders.

"Yes. It is," you corrected him quickly as you cut Loki's jacket sleeve away. You ripped material from your shirt, which had been laying on the ground where Loki dropped it when he was attacked, to use to bandage the still-bleeding wound on his arm. "Loki's not human. He runs colder than a human. The fact that he has a fever at all is deadly. I need to get him home, but we didn't drive..." No one questioned that you were taking Loki to the tower. A hospital couldn't help him and you couldn't take werewolf problems to a hospital.

"Take my car. Samuel will give me a ride home after we clean up here," Dan told you and tossed you his keys. You caught them automatically and nodded. "His is a rental," he added before Samuel could complain that he was supposed to offer his vehicle for your use. You took Loki's comm device from around his ear and settled it on yours.

"J, patch me in," you ordered, Loki's comm wouldn't automatically respond to your words unless you told it to.

"Yes, Miss," Jarvis replied, the AI a reassuring presence.

"Loki's injured. I'm bringing him home as fast as I can drive. Thor, if you're there, it's bad. Really bad," you told the tower and anyone who had a comm to hear you. They should all be there, but you weren't waiting for their answer.

"Are you ok to drive?" Dan asked. You glared at him as you moved to stand, reached to lift Loki from the ground.

"Let me," Samuel told you gently.

"Careful. If he wakes-"

"If he wakes right now, I will gladly accept the miracle and the subsequent stabbing," Samuel told you, not unkindly. He lifted Loki easily from the ground. The three of you made your way to Dan's car and got Loki settled as comfortably as possible laying across the back seat. "Are you ok to drive?" Samuel repeated the, noting your injuries, which you were completely ignoring.

"I'm fine," you snarled at him. You ignored that you were completely covered in blood, with broken ribs, still bleeding from the wounds on your arm, stomach, and face.

"Go take care of your mate. We will clean up here and I will call Fenrir," Samuel told you. You nodded and climbed into Dan's car, an old battered vehicle that he was obviously expecting to have an injured werewolf in. Thank the gods it wasn't his nice car.

"Jarvis, can you clear the traffic?" you asked as you stepped on the gas.

"Traffic has been cleared, Miss. You have a clear path back to the tower. The team is waiting for you," Jarvis replied. You could have wept in relief. You floored the gas and drove as fast as Dan's car could go. There was a police barricade blocking the street you needed, but Jarvis must have told them what vehicle they were looking for, since they got out of your way well before you mowed them down. Thank all the gods, because there was no way you could explain the amount of blood you were covered in, your injuries, or the unconscious god in the back seat to the police.