An Unwanted Second Chance (JB Tirado) novel Chapter 85

Chapter 85

Pax ran fast, tearing his way across the field into town as fast as his legs would take him. They had felt it,

Riley’s injury, though they had no way of knowing what was happening. Pax was frantic, unable to speak to Rose and aware that Riley could not heal without her wolf.

The front of the hospital was full of doctors and nurses rushing through the wounded warriors to determine

who needed treatment immediately. Kent shifted, rushing up the stairs, glancing around frantically.

Penny had mindlinked him that she had gotten one of the runners to take Riley back to the hospital, but

hadn’t been able to tell him the severity of Riley’s wound. Only that she was losing too much blood.

“Alpha!”

Kent wheeled around to see one of the nurses, Angie, Wesley’s mate waving him towards her.

“They’ve taken her inside,” she yelled towards him.

He ran inside, rushing through the doors into the emergency room of the hospital, looking around.

“Here,” said a woman whose name he couldn’t remember, pushing a pair of shorts into his hands. “Put these

on and I will take you to the luna.”

Kent needed no more instructions. He pulled the shorts on and the woman hurried down a hallway and into a room. Laying on the table was Riley, blood covering the left side of her face and neck. Her shirt had been cut away and he could see deep gashes on her left shoulder. He moved closer, staying clear of the doctor and nurses who were working around Riley’s arm.

He gasped when he saw it. Her left forearm was mangled, blood pouring out of the wound.

“How bad is it?” Kent asked.

“Bad,” muttered the doctor, not looking up. “We’ve just done one flush with the wolfsbane antidote, but we don’t know how much she’s been given. She can’t heal right now without her wolf. She’s losing a lot of blood.”

Kent briefly wondered if Riley felt this helpless when he was hurt during the last attack. He ran his fingers through her hair and her eyes fluttered open.

“Kent,” she rasped.

“It’s ok,” he whispered, leaning over her so she wouldn’t see the doctor working on her arm. “I’m right here.”

“Kent,” she whispered again before her eyes fluttered shut.

“I love you, Riley,” he murmured, kissing her forehead, not sure if she could hear him. “I love you so much.”

“Alpha.”

He turned to see the doctor, still working on Riley’s arm.

“We’re taking her up for surgery to try to stem the blood loss,” he explained quickly. “We need to take her now. You can’t go.”

Kent swallowed hard and nodded, reluctantly stepping back as they began to roll her bed away.

**

Chapter 85

Riley moved her right hand first, her fingers touching something soft. She rubbed whatever it was in her fingers, trying to force her eyes open. It was as if someone had sewn her eyelids shut, making it almost painful to open them.

The room was dim. A machine beeped softly somewhere to her left. She turned her head to find the soft material that she was stroking was hair. Jet black hair on the head of the man who had clearly fallen asleep sitting next to her, his head almost in her lap.

Mate is here, Rose said softly.

Are you ok? Riley asked quickly, relief filling her at the sound of Rose’s voice.

I’ve had better days, but I’ll survive.

Riley rubbed her fingers into Kent’s hair, scratching gently against his scalp.

“Mmmm,” Kent mumbled, tilting his head into her fingers like a cat.

She continued lightly scratching his scalp until he started to wake, slowly lifting his head. He stared at her for a moment, his eyes clearly lost in the fog of sleep before he seemed to register that she was awake.

“Riley,” he gasped, launching himself from the chair and onto the side of the bed. He pulled her tightly into his arms, burying his face into her neck. “You’re awake,” he murmured into her skin.

She wrapped her arms tightly around him. “How long was I out?”

“Almost two days.” Kent began kissing her neck, up her chin and then showered her face with kisses, causing her to laugh. “You are never, ever, ever leaving my sight again,” he insisted in between kisses.

She laughed harder, pushing at his face to try to stop him. “I’m fine, Kent.”

“Penny said you fought that wolf in your human form,” he said sharply, pulling back. “Do you have any idea how stupid that is? You could have been killed.”

“Connor’s wolf was hurt,” Riley pointed out. “She was going to kill him if I didn’t do anything.” She gasped, pulling back a little. “How is Connor? And Penny? And Evan? And…”

“They’re fine,” Kent cut her off with a slight smile. “They’re fine. Connor is already healed and back with his mate, Evan was in the hospital for a day. They had to operate on his arm to set it properly, but he’s going to heal up alright. He and Max are already back home. Penny didn’t even get hurt too badly. Just some scratches that healed up fine.”

“Leo? Wesley? Patrick?”

“All fine,” Kent assured her. “We lost some warriors, sadly, but we can go over that later when you’re not in the

hospital.”

“How did you guys get so many warriors so quickly?” Riley couldn’t stop thinking back on the battle

“Your commander brought them.”

“Commander Whey? He’s here.”

Kent nodded. “Came with Doug Hart and Alexis Kemper and about fifty warriors. More than enough for us to

launch an attack on the camp.”

“Thank the Goddess you waited for them.” Riley ran her fingers down his face. “They expected you to come right away. She was going to kill me in front of you. I’m so glad you waited for help to arrive.”

Chapter 98

He winced. “Well, that wasn’t me. I would have come out as soon as possible, but everyone else felt that we

should wait. I would have gone except Penny convinced me to wait.”

Riley smiled slightly. “It sounds like we owe her quite a bit.”

Kent kissed her gently. “I owe Penny a debt that I’ll never be able to repay.”

Comments