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She was dead, probably. Humans weren't that hard to kill and he'd smelled the blood as he ran away. She was dead and Rig would be hunting him down. What were his options?
He could go rogue. The idea held no appeal, he liked the structure of a pack and still had aspirations to climb the ladder and gain authority. Which meant he needed to join a neighboring pack.
Breaking the bond with one pack and joining another wasn't something done lightly, but it wasn't unheard of. He shifted back to wolf form and started trotting west. Somewhere out here he'd pass into the territory of a large pack run by Alpha Beckett, a big bear of a man he'd met once briefly. Surely they'd welcome someone with his skills.
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Rig sat staring at a sandwhich his mom had handed him, food didn't hold any interest but he toyed with it to make her happy. He scanned his surroundings mentally, trying to grasp that connection he'd felt with Georgia when she'd been so frightened. He couldn't feel anything from her, but he did get the feeling she was nearby. Of course, he knew she was nearby, but it was almost like he could bump against her with his mind and get a sonar like ping back that she wasn't far away.
Was that normal? He didn't remember his parents ever mentioning that. He knew they sensed strong emotion from one another, had a deep connection that was almost as if they could read eachothers minds. That he knew was part of bonding with your mate. He had always understood that the ability to feel one another in that way happened after the bonding ceremony though. He sighed and glanced toward his mom, stealthily slipping his food back on the stack of similar sandwiches while she was engaged in conversation.
Everything with Georgia was different and unfamiliar. Not only was he in new territory having finally found his mate, he had the added complication of a human mate and all the weirdness that brought with it.
He got up and wandered toward the front of the clinic, standing in front of the glass entrance and staring out into the dark. Helen's reflection appeared beside him in the glass.
"You ok big brother?" She slipped her arm through his and leaned against him.
"Yeah. I'll be better when I get to see her, but I'm more worried about her mental state than her physical one now."
"This wasn't a good way for the big reveal to happen."
Rig snorted, "That's an understatement." They stood together quietly for a few minutes.
"Still. . . " He paused, trying to find the right was to say what was on his mind,"As bad as this is I have to admit I'm sort of relieved. I didn't have to be the bad guy and scare her. It's kind of like we just ripped off the bandaid and now we just have to deal with soothing the sting."
"I get that," Helen nodded, "But that's a hell of a sting."
"Yeah." What else was there to say?
They turned as the doctor pushed through the double doors, quickly scanning the waiting area. He nodded respectfully toward the Alpha's before heading toward RIg. Everyone followed behind, forming a loose semi circle around them as the doctor finally gave them a full report.
"Rig, good to see you." He held out his hand and gave a firm handshake, "I want to start by saying she's going to be just fine."
Rig let out the breath he was holding, his shoulders slumping. "When can I see her?"
"As soon as we are done here I'll take you back. Sound good?"
"Yes, thank you go ahead."
"Alright, as you know she took a nasty spill, her tailbone cracked when she hit the pavement. Additionally she has a nasty concussion. I know the bleeding from her head looked scary but that was a fairly minor cut, she's got about 6 stitches in her scalp and will heal up without any problem. Other than that she has a few scrapes and bruises but nothing that requires more than rest and time to heal."
The group visibly relaxed as the doctor delivered positive news. Marian hugged her mom, her eyes bright with tears.
"Now that's another matter altogether, time. If you were in here with a broken tailbone and a concussion I'd be sending you home already. Georgia being human means it's going to take considerable longer. We'd like to keep her overnight for observation, to make sure the swelling in her head goes down and there's not any further complication. It will take about a week before her head is really feeling better. I'll send her home with something for the pain."
Rig nodded, trying to retain the important points but impatient for the doctor to finish.
"The fracture to her tailbone will take 2 or 3 months to fully heal. She will need to take things very easy for several weeks"
"2 or 3 months?!" It was difficult to imagine anything taking that long to heal.
"Humans heal dramatically slower than we do. You will need to be very patient, she's going to be in a lot of pain and have trouble getting around initially."
Rig nodded, glancing over the doctor's shoulder toward the doors George lay behind.
"Rig I know you are eager to see your mate but we need to discuss a couple more things before you go back."
He focused on the doctor, "Yes, sorry, I'm listening."
"From what I understand she didn't know, until the incident that resulted in her injuries, that werewolves existed."
"Yes, we'd just met, I hadn't had an opportunity to talk to her about anything yet." He felt a pang of guilt remembering the terror on her face as Jason shifted in front of her.
"We've kept her asleep but are weaning her onto a lighter sedative now. I think it's wise to keep her as calm as possible to prevent her hurting herself. I'd like you to be there when she wakes up, not that I think you need any convincing." A light chuckle from the crowd gathered around them.
"You need to be prepared to answer a lot of questions and try to keep her from getting too worked up. That is going to be difficult but let's do what we can. Now, I've got one more thing to discuss that we should have a little privacy for. Why don't you follow me and I'll take you to see Georgia." The doctor gestured toward the double doors Rig had been watching for the past couple of hours.
"Doctor," Will spoke up, "After you get Rig settled will come back and speak with us please? We have a few additional questions."
"Of course Alpha Smith." He bowed his head towards Will and Karen before ushering Rig towards the back of the clinic.
On the other side of the doors the doctor pulled Rig into an office and shut the heavy door behind them.
"Rig I know the instinct to claim your mate is strong, but you need to understand that Georgia will be in no shape for any kind of mating for at least a month, maybe two. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"
Rig nodded, "I was prepared to take things slowly anyway, Will and Karen have been helping me navigate the minefield of claiming a human mate."
"I can imagine it's much more complicated than if she were one of us." The doctor nodded sympathetically. "By the way, she had about a dozen wood splinters in her back and shoulders. Would you have any insight as to how that happened?"
Rig had a vivid mental image of dragging Georgia toward him across the picnic table. "She was, uh, laying on the picnic table out by the lake."
The doctor cocked his eyebrow and grinned. "I see. Well we got her all cleaned up while we were stitching up her head. Maybe put down a blanket next time."
Rig grinned back, the doctors easy manner and knowing he was about to see his mate putting him in positive frame of mind. "Thanks doc, for everything."
"It's my job, well, a bit different than my usual job but still my job. Now let's take you to your girl."
She was sleeping, her chocolate hair matted and tangled under the gauze wrapping her head. She had an IV in one arm, a blood pressure cuff on the other. Monitors glowed silently around her. Her mouth turned down slightly, frowning, her brows were drawn together. She looked tense and unhappy.Rig hesitated, desperately wanting to touch her but afraid to hurt her.
"You won't hurt her Rig," The doctor assured him, correctly reading his hesitation,"It will help her feel more comfortable to be in contact with you."
Rig pulled a chair up beside the bed and took her hand, careful not to dislodge the oximeter on her finger. Her brow smoothed and her mouth relaxed as he took her hand in his.
The doctor watched the monitor, noting her pulse had slowed and evened out. "Interesting." he murmured.
Rig glanced up at the doctor. "Everything all right?"
"Yes, yes, everything is just fine. I will admit I know very little about human mates, it's not a common occurrence as you know and I haven't ever encountered a newly found pair." The doctor stood watching them for a moment as Rig kissed her hand and the tension left his body.
"How long until she wakes up?"
"Probably within the hour, she will be very groggy, be gentle with her."
"Of course." Rig brushed a few strands of hair from her face.
"Very good. Let us know if you need anything." He moved toward the door, stopping just before leaving to watch them for another moment. The similarities and differences between this mating and what he usually encountered had him intrigued.
Rig pulled out his phone and texted his mom, "She's asleep and all bandaged up but looks pretty good considering, doc says she is doing good."
"Thanks for the update son. Dad's here, we love you."
He smiled, he could always count on his family for support.
Out in the waiting room Will's phone rang. He frowned looking at the caller ID, holding it up to show Karen the Police Chief from the nearby city was calling.
"This is WIll, how can I help you?" He answered, walking outside.
"Hey WIll, this is Frank Hannigan, how you doing tonight?" The familiar voice greeted him.
"Doing ok Frank, what's got you calling me this evening?"
"Well WIll," Frank sounded tense, "We have a bit of a situation. We've got a girl in here worried about her sister. She hasn't been able to get ahold of her all day, and when we ran a trace on her phone it's showing up smack dab in the middle of your territory."
"Ah, are you looking for Georgia Allen?"
"Yeah," Frank confirmed in surprise, "Yeah exactly, do you know where she is?"
"She's the mate of one of my pack members, they spent the day together out by the lake, she probably didn't have any reception. Then she had a bit of an accident, we are at the clinic now actually, she's had to get some stitches but will be just fine."
Frank made a relieved sound, "Thank god, I really didn't want to have to lead a search party through your land Will. Can you have her call her sister?"
"Yeah she's still in with the doctor but I'll get her phone to her and have her call."
"Thanks Will, always a pleasure working with you. I'll tell her sister we've located her and she'll hear from her soon."
"No problem Frank. As always we appreciate your discretion."
Will hung up shaking his head. What a mess. He dialed one of his higher ranking betas.
"Alpha Smith?"
"Hey Jack, I need you to run over to the Cabello's, look around their driveway for a stray cell phone and bring it to me at the clinic. Fast as possible would be good."
"No problem Sir, I'll be right there."
Karen came out to join him and he explained what was going on. She sat with him on a bench by the entrance, enjoying the cool, quiet night.
About 15 minutes later Jack pulled up in a small green pickup. He hopped out and trotted toward them, holding out Georgia's cell phone.
"Sir? Do you know there's human blood all over the driveway over there?"
"Yes Jack, I'm sure the gossip will be all over the place by tomorrow morning but Rig Cabello found his mate, she's human and she had an accident in their driveway and is currently being treated here in the clinic."
Jack looked stunned, "Do you need me to do anything?"
Karen nodded, "Actually we do need something Jack. If you would keep an ear open for gossip and set people straight if you hear anything fantastical."
"We'll call a pack meeting in the next day or two to make an announcement, for now please reassure people that everything is fine and we are in control of the situation."
"Sure thing." Jack saluted and hopped back in his truck.
Will hit the home button on Georgia's phone and was relieved to find she didn't have a passcode on it. He opened her texts to find a string of increasingly frantic messages from her sister. He looked back over their previous conversations and tried to match Georgia's usual tone as he texted her sister.
"Hey Sam. Geez, freak out much? I was out of cell range most of the day, I took a tumble and am getting a couple stitches, but I'm FINE and I'll call you in a bit when the doctors are done with me. Repeat I AM FINE." He handed the phone to Karen who nodded approval and hit send. Almost immediately Samantha texted back.
"OH MY GOD GEORGIA. I have been freaking out, I went to the fucking police for gods sake! Call me as soon as you can. I won't be truly convinced until I hear your voice understand?!"
"I'm sorry I worried you sis :( I will call you as soon as possible I promise." Karen responded.
"Why do I feel like we are weaving a web that's going to tangle us up?" She asked handing the phone back to Will.
"It's a valid concern. Now we'll have to convince that poor girl in there to call her sister and lie that everything is just fine and dandy."
"I don't think things will be fine for her for awhile. I can't imagine finding out like that."
They walked back into the clinic to join the waiting family.
Georgia felt like she was trying to push her way past thick cobwebs. Her eyes were so heavy and her mind was sluggish. She was laying in a comfortable bed, she could tell that much, and from the feel of it she was heavily drugged. It was similar to waking up after she'd had her wisdom teeth out, things filtered in slowly through a thick fog.
She managed to crack her eyes open and had a mixed reaction to seeing RIg sitting beside her bed. Her immediate reaction was relief and happiness that he was there with her. Close on the heels of that was terror. What was he? What had happened? Where was she?
"Shhhhh, sweetheart it's ok, you're safe, you're at the medical clinic and you are going to be just fine." Rig rushed to reassure her, watching as her sleepy eyes went from confused to panicked in a split second.
"No, no no no." She muttered, shaking her head, then wincing as the movement caused her pain.
"Baby it's fine, just stay calm and I'll answer any question you have. You've got a concussion from falling in my driveway, you need to stay calm."
A nurse poked her head in the door having heard their voices. "Is she awake?"
"Yes, she just woke up." Rig glanced over his shoulder at the nurse.
"I'll let the doctor know. Do you need anything?"
"No, not yet." He turned his attention back to Georgia who was regarding him with a frown and furrowed brows.
His hand felt so good holding hers, she couldn't deny that it was comforting. But a million questions were crowding her head, all trying to get out at the same time.
"Where am I?" Her voice was thick and shaky.
"Still in my community, we have a medical clinic here, I brought you here for treatment."
She looked around as best she could without moving her head. "I fell." She stated simply.
"Yes, you fell. Your tailbone is fractured and you have a concussion. They put 6 stitches in your scalp where you hit the pavement."
She lifted a shaky hand to her head, feeling the gauze wrap. "I saw something." She dropped her hand heavily into her lap unable to hold it up. Her focus fell on his hand holding hers and he felt her fingers twitch.
He waited, watching the expressions changing as she tried to sift through her memories.
"Your neighbor. . ."She looked across the room, her eyes unfocusing as she searched her memory,"Your neighbor changed into a wolf."
She focused on Rig's face, waiting for his denial. Surely it was some elaborate hoax, some kind of prank or trick. But no denial came.
"Yes, he did." Rig suppressed the urge to spill the whole story, flood her with information. She was barely coherent, he had to let her process this slowly.
Georgia studied his worried expression. He'd simply confirmed that yes, unbelievable, his neighbor was what? A werewolf?
"Werewolf?" She asked.
"Yes." again he simply confirmed and let her think about it.
She closed her eyes. Through the enforced serenity of the drugs she mulled over what he was telling her. Werewolves were real. He wasn't surprised by this. That meant he already knew.
She thought about the gated community an hour outside of town. They had their own school, their own medical clinic. She thought about the kids asking if she was human.
Her eyes opened and she focused on him again. "All of you?"
He knew she had to find out eventually but he was terrified that this was the moment when he lost her.
He took a deep breath and took the plunge "Yes all of us."
The monitor beside him beeped and he glanced at it, watching the heart rate rise rapidly. "You are safe Georgia, nobody is going to harm you." He assured her, squeezing her hand.
"Get out." She turned her head away, closing her eyes.
His stomach flipped violently and he felt a stabbing pain in his chest. "Georgia please, give me a chance to explain."
She tugged weakly against his hold on her hand. "Get out." She repeated, a tear slipping from under her closed eyelid to roll down her cheek.
"I can't lose you George, I can't. Please don't do this. I know it's scary and unbelievable and I had no idea how I was going to talk to you about it, but now you know and you've got to give me a chance to explain. Don't push me away."
She turned her head, cringing, The pain and tears in her eyes broke his heart. "I don't want to be around you right now." She paused, the effort to speak clearly sapping what little energy she had. "Just go please." She tried again to pull her hand from his grasp.
"Rig." Will spoke softly from the doorway. Georgia closed her eyes and turned away again, more of them the last thing she could handle. Rig looked back at his Alpha, heartbreak clear on his face.
"Give her some space Rig, this is a lot to take in. Go talk to your parents, let everyone know she's awake and ok."
Rig turned back to Georgia who kept her face turned from him. He kissed her hand before releasing it, then stood and walked quickly from the room. She trembled, his lips against her skin causing a reaction even through the pain and drugs.
Will and Karen approached the bed quietly. They'd agreed Karen would be the best person to speak with Georgia, so she took the lead.
"Georgia I'm Karen Smith, this is my husband Will. We are the Alpha's of this pack, basically we keep everything running smoothly." She sat in the chair beside the bed, "I'm sure you have a million questions and we'd be happy to answer them for you."
They waited quietly while Georgia kept her face turned away. Her pulse was slowing and her breathing was steady. Finally she turned toward them and opened her eyes.
"I want to go home."
"I can understand that Georgia, but the doctor says you need to stay overnight for observation. You took a nasty blow to the head and they like to make sure no complications arise."
"I don't feel safe here." She closed her eyes for a moment, fatigue nearly swamping her. Her head was beginning to throb.
"Will call the nurse, she's clearly in pain."
Will stepped into the hallway and summoned the nurse. Georgia kept her eyes closed as the nurse bustled in and checked her vitals. She responded that yes she was in pain and the nurse pushed a syringe into the IV, watching as it quickly took effect and the tension left Georgia's face. She nodded to the Alpha's and slipped back out to the nurses station.
