A Battle of Elevators

Thomas

I had to turn back a couple of steps out of the door to grab my gun off the counter and slide the holster into the back of my pants. I am usually calm and cool, but I feel like I am out of sorts right now. I know Cassie is with Emily and that should have me calm and thinking clearly, but I still feel like I am about to lose my shit. I am pressing the down button on the elevator like I am rubbing for a genie, but nothing is happening. I thank the Goddess as soon as the doors open to let me in and start pressing the first-floor button. I am bouncing from one foot to the other, waiting for the elevator doors to open. Why is the elevator so slow? The elevator finally comes to a stop, and I hear the ding as the doors open and I squeeze my way out before the doors can completely open and I am running. I make it to the hospital doors without incident and I can see guards running to the parking lot. Some are already there. From what the guards are saying through mind link, the shots came from the parking structure. I already know that whoever shot into that room will already be gone so I do not bother heading there.

I am not about to wait for another elevator, so I run up the stairs. taking them two steps at a time until I get to the private ward, and I swing the doors open to run down the hallway. I had left six guards on this floor, but it looks like half the pack showed up. I pass by the nurse on duty at her desk and she looks pale. I can tell she is scared. I give her a reassuring nod before continuing on to the room I left Emily in.

I walk in and Emily is next to Cassie on the floor, trying to staunch the flow of blood from Cassie's shoulder. Cassie looks fin to be, and a bit amused by Emily's efforts. She seems to be making more of a mess than helping. It is not even that much blood, but Emily is getting it everywhere. I release my breath and I calm down. I walk over and life Emily off the ground and start checking for injuries; I turn her around a couple of times and pat her down, leaving her squeaking and squirming. I grab her face to look for scratches and I squish her cheeks in my hands; she looks startled, and her cheeks are glowing red. I give a grunt of satisfaction knowing she is not hurt and release her but keep her close. I notice she is wearing Cassie's clothes, and I feel a twinge of jealousy, but I shove it down. Now is not the time to go barbarian.

I glace around the room and go to the window. Five shots in total came in. He is getting bold. I need to interrogate his friends again. I honestly do not know what his obsession with Emily is. He did not want her. He could simply just after the attack. Outside my jurisdiction I would have had a hard time reaching him and he could have just disappeared. Not that I want him to go, I want him. I am going to do a lot of things to him and none of the things I am going to do are enjoyable. At least not for him. I am definitely going to enjoy them.

I go sit across from Cassie on the padded pleather double seat and pull Emily down with me. She falls into my side and slides down until her butt hits the seat, and I hear her small gasp. She gives me a small glare and mutters something about handsy Gamma. Her irritation with me leaves me smirking, but I do not have time to see how irritated I can make her. She cannot be that mad at me since she has not tried to put any space between us. I look up at Cassie and see she is trying not to laugh. It is odd seeing amusement on her face. She is usually all business and angry eyes. When she is not trying to kill, she is trying to get into the female warrior's pants. She is like a butch perverted.

Cassie rests her head back against the wall and closes her eyes. I know she is not sleeping; she is probably processing. "Give me the short version of what happened and then get yourself medical attention" I order. I hear Emily hiss next to me and I turn to her.

"Can't she go get help first and then explain? Or I can explain." Emily keeps looking over at Cassie and I can see she is worried about her. "She is still bleeding," she ends in a mumble. I sigh deep enough to ruffle her hair and I am about to let her know Cassie is fine, but Cassie beats me to it.

"I am fine Emily, it is a flesh wound, and I am embarrassed, and a bit insulted you do not think I can handle this much." Cassie shifts around uncomfortably and mutters under her breath "and in front of my Gamma" her cheeks are a bit flushed. I am slightly amused by the two of them and Emily sits future back, a little hurt. I lightly squeeze Emily's knee and turn back to Cassie.

"Get to it" I order once again and lean back with my shoulder over the back of the chair, leaving Emily nearly wrapped in my arm. Cassie gives me a brief rundown of everything that happened since she entered the room. When she is done, I am satisfied, and I tell her to get up and to go have her wound looked at. She gives Emily a wink while standing up and grabs her backpack by the door before waltzing out of the room like she owns it.

Cassie does not know yet that I have her on my short list for the Delta position. I have slowly been increasing her workload to see what see can handle or see what she is capable of. I have her training both the male and female warriors on alternating days, as well as scheduling and recruiting. So far, she has met all of my standards and, in fact, has gone above and beyond my expectations. For now, I will put her on personal guard duty full time until this issue with Jake is resolved. I can trust her with Emily, and I can tell they get along well.

I lean forward and rub my face with my hands. "Are you okay? I should have stayed. I'm sorry." I feel guilty. I feel her hand on my arm and I look down at her small, bloody hands. She should not even have blood on her. Since I have met her, she always seems to have blood on her, and I do not like it.

I raise my eyes to hers and she looks calm; I do not see fear or anger; I do not see blame. "I am fine. Because of you and Cassie, I'm fine. In fact, I am better than fine. I have never had anyone have my back. No one has ever been there to help me or protect me. Shit, you even offered me a job. I finally feel like my world is getting bigger. So, never say you are sorry for shit you have no control over. None of this is your fault. If anyone should say sorry, it's me, I am the reason all of this is happening. I feel so guilty it is almost stifling. I do not know how to fix any of this." She puts her head down in shame and she is twisting the bottom of her shirt. I take in what she just said, and I sigh and put my arm around her and run her back.

"This is not on you. You are not responsible for the actions of an asshole. No one really understands his reasoning, but I can say for a fact it is not your fault." I lift her face up, so she is looking at me and I repeat, "This is not your fault." She nods her head and continues to stare at me for a moment before blushing and pulling her face away from me. I look back down at her hands, and I want to clean them.

I lift Emily up and she gasps while I carry her to a sink; I let her feet fall back down to the ground. My back is flush against hers with her stomach resting against the sink and I turn the water on to a comfortable temperature and I wash her hands until all the blood is gone. When I am satisfied, I grab a towel and dry her hands and then release her to go call the nurse in. I am going to have her discharged now so that I can take her out of her. She will be safer with me. I turn back to her, and I see she is just staring off into space in a daze. I am amused by her reactions to me. She is easy to read. I let her know she is going to be staying with me for a while until we catch Jake, and she just slowly nods her head in agreement, with her eyes wide as saucers.

A few minutes later, I am escorting Emily down a back passage to an underground tunnel that leads to the pack house. I do not want to take her outside. If I were Jake, I would have shot at the room not for a kill shot but to flush Emily out. I do not want to take any chances with her life. No one but upper-level pack members know about or can use this tunnel.

I walk ahead of her while holding her small perfectly shaped hand in mine. Her hand fits like it is meant to forever be in my hand. I notice Emily is lagging behind and I feel like an ass. She is not fully recovered, and I am dragging her around. I lift her up and swing her to my side with her legs wrapped around my waist and my hand firmly holding a firm, round butt. She chirps out what I am assuming is a complaint, but it sounds garbled, and she starts sputtering trying to find words. I pretend I am going to drop her. She lets out a large gasp and a squeal and her arms quickly wrap around my neck, holding me tight. I cannot help but laugh and give her a fat smile. I adjust her once again, so she is pressed against me, and I shift her backpack higher up my shoulder and I continue onward. I can feel her fiery glare and I like she is not afraid of me like most people are.

It does not take us long to get to the packhouse and I enter through a secret door on the second floor directly across from the elevator. I step a few feet to the elevator and push the button. We stand there waiting for it to open; she tries to wiggle out of my grasp again, but I tighten my hold until she finally understands I am not putting her down and she settles down. The elevators open and Alpha Brodey is in the elevator already looking down at his phone until he senses me in front of him and looks up. I march in and turn around towards the opening and push the button again to go up. I can hear a few more chirps from Emily, who is now hiding her face in my shoulder. Brodey looks us up and down with a broad smile and says he wants a full briefing in the morning. I know he is not just talking about the attacks; he is looking at Emily in my arms. I can see the laughter dancing in his eyes, and I know he is going to give me shit tomorrow. The elevator dings and Brodey gets off and throws out some parting words full of amusement. "I will get an introduction another time. I need the sauce, as the kids say!" I am pretty sure he is using that wrong.

The elevator closes and I can hear Emily's heartbeat still racing, her breath is warm against my neck, and I can feel the heat between her legs since her core is against my waist, my body is reacting to her and that has me prying that the doors open faster. If I squeeze her a little closer, I could probably rub...no, no, I am not doing that. It is going to be a struggle not to take her on every piece of furniture in my house the minute we walk through the door. I have never needed to mate or breed anyone this badly. If I have sex, it is only to scratch an urge and then it is over, and I move on with my life. This feeling is more primal, like I need her.

The elevator dings and I shake the haze that filled my head just as the doors open. A couple of minutes more and I can put her down and regain control over my lust. I am positive I will be jacking off again tonight.