The Lupine Necklace

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The alpha walked over and bumped my shoulder in congratulations, while Ian looked me over in worry. Shifting, he said, "Shift, Layla. I need to patch those up." He motioned to the teeth marks in my shoulder and the gashes on my stomach.

I did as he told me. As the adrenaline slowly left my body, the pain was becoming worse and worse. I knew that the injuries were pretty bad, but I would survive. We just needed to get them patched up so that I could make it home and to the doctor.

I laid on my back on the carpet, blood slowly trailing across my stomach, down my sides and over my shoulder. Ian looked me over worriedly, before going into one of the rooms in the hall and coming back with some tshirts. He ripped them into strips before carefully binding all of my wounds.

Sitting back on his heels, Ian looked down at me, his face pinched. "Layla, you can't run home like this. You need stitches."

I shook my head. There was nowhere nearby that was safe for me to go to for medical attention. "I'll be fine until we get home, Ian," I promised him.

He copied my movement, shaking his head, not backing down. "You can't run for two hours like this. You know it, you just don't want to admit it. Xena can stitch you up if we can find somewhere to do it and some materials."

"Then find some materials and stitch me up here," I said through clenched teeth. I didn't see any other option, he would just have to make due.

"I don't want to worry about Derek's wolves trying to attack out of spite while we're patching you up, Layla," he told me. "There's only one place I'm willing to take you and you're not going to like it."

I glanced up to meet his eyes warily. There was only one place near here that I knew well enough to know that I didn't want to go, and it better not be what he was talking about.

"We need to go to your mom's."

And there it is. I have went to my mom's once already, and I definitely didn't want to do it again. I could tell by the look on Ian's face that he didn't want to take me there, but he felt it was the only option we had at the moment.

Then another thought hit me. "Just patch me up here. I'm alpha of this pack now, the wolves should leave us alone. And if not, we have everyone else here. I'm not going back to that house if I don't absolutely have to."

The alpha left to go let everyone know that the fight was over. He would tell his pack and my friends and then Lee, Nate and Xena could tell Derek's wolves that they have a new alpha.

"Help me up," I told Ian. "We can go downstairs and once everything is settled, Xena can stitch me up."

He made a face, but he did as I asked. He pulled my arm over his shoulder, resting his around my waist, and pulled me into a standing position. Pain shot through my abdomen, but other than a grimace, I didn't give a sign that it bothered me.

Ian grimaced as he felt my pain through the bond and looked over at me worriedly. I gave him a small smile. "I'm fine," I told him. "Let's just get downstairs."

He sighed, and we began a slow journey downstairs. He kept my arm around his shoulders and his around my waist even though my legs were fine. He was trying to keep me as stable as possible so that walking didn't affect my stomach as much.

When we walked out the door to the house, wolves were standing everywhere but no one was fighting anymore. They were all just standing around and staring at each other warily. My friends trotted over to me, Xena nosing my hand in worry. I gave her a slight smile to let her know that I'm okay before looking at the wolves that used to be under Derek's command.

"Your alpha is dead," I told them in a strong, confident voice. "I challenged him for his title and I won. For now, I'm you're new alpha, but I do not intend to remain as such. I plan on sending someone out here to take over for me as my pack is two hours away from here."

A wolf in the middle of the yard shifted, staring at me angrily. "Why challenge our alpha if you never intended on taking his place?" he growled. "Do you just enjoy killing people?"

I growled back at him. "I killed Derek because he threatened not only me, but my friends, family and pack! He's kidnapped me twice and I've managed to escape and I was sick of dealing with his shit! I am your alpha now and you'll just have to deal with it until I send over my replacement!"

He didn't look happy but he didn't reply. The rest of the wolves stayed silent as well, waiting to see what I would do next.

"Could someone tell me where the medical supplies are kept?" Ian asked and a wolf shifted into a young woman.

"I can take you to them," she told us, her voice soft and complacent. She walked by us and headed back for the house. I tapped Xena's head to let her know I wanted her to come with us and then Ian and I followed the woman, Xena right behind us.

"What's your name?" I asked the woman as we followed her up the stairs.

"Clarissa," she replied, looking back at us over her shoulder. "I'm a lower ranking pack wolf here." She looked slighty nervous as she told me.

I smiled in understanding. "You don't have anything to worry about, Clarissa," I assured her. "Whoever I send to take my place will treat everyone in the pack with respect."

"It may not be my place," she began and I motioned for her to continue. "Do you have an idea of who you're going to send to replace you?"

I nodded. "I have an idea but I need to speak to the person first, to see if they're willing to do it. I don't think he'll have a problem with it, but it's always good to double check."

She turned to a door, opening it and leading the way inside. It looked like a hospital room and had a walk in closet full of supplies. "We don't really have a pack hospital, just a few rooms that have the necessary supplies," she told me, wringing her hands nervously.

"This will work fine," I assured her with a gentle smile. "Thank you for bringing us up here. You're welcome to stay or go back downstairs with your pack members."

She smiled thankfully at me. "I'll stay if you don't mind. I don't really get along well with my pack. They can be overbearing sometimes."

I nodded in understanding. "Xena, can you shift please? I need you to do my stitches."

In seconds, Xena was standing beside me, butt naked. I grabbed a white doctors coat off a hook on the wall and handed it to her. She gave me a quick smile, before motioning for me to get on the bed. I sat down as she went into the closet to try to find some pain killers and a kit to sew me up with.

Ian took a seat beside me, taking my hand and kissing my forehead. "Once you're all patched up we can go home," he told me reassuringly. "I'm sure Jason will be ecstatic to see us and know that the danger has passed."

I grinned in agreement. "I'm pretty ecstatic myself," I told him, leaning over to kiss him on the cheek, but pulling back with a hiss when it stretched my injuries.

Ian placed a gentle hand on my back and looked me over. "Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.

I grimaced. "I'll be much better when Xena gets back with something to kill the pain," I told him.

Right on cue, Xena stepped out of the closet, a metal case in one hand and a syringe in the other. She had an evil grin on her face and she pranced to my side. "You ready?" she asked, shooting some liquid out of the syringe, trying to look like an evil scientist.

I rolled my eyes, laughing slightly. "You're having too much fun with this," I told her.

"I know!" she remarked happily, stabbing me in the arm with the needle.