Chapter 1

Yara Ellis is a medical student, hiding in a human university while she studies to become a doctor. Unlike most, Yara is majoring in human medicine, veterinary medicine, and minoring in zoology. Since the packs are constantly at war, there are never enough doctors to help injured pack members. She’s been on her own for several years now, escaping from her previous pack and making her own way in the world, hoping to one day return to her roots and become the premier doctor of the packs.

Warren Hill is an Alpha, caught up in the constant wars that abound between the packs and the battles that are never-ending. He’s a strong and powerful Alpha, but because of the constant fighting between the packs, he’s never been able to find his mate.

One day when Yara is letting her wolf run, she comes across Alpha Warren, caught in a bear trap. She’s heard of this, packs leaving traps so that other pack’s members will get caught and either die a slow death or are easily killed.

Warren is in his wolf form, unable to shift without ripping his leg off. Yara carefully springs the trap, releasing him from his metal capture. However, Warren recognizes her as his mate and when his pack arrives, he’s unwilling to leave her behind.

Yara doesn’t want to return to Warren’s pack but is unable to fight against the Alpha and his warriors. When she hears that the one who desperately wants her, the one she ran to get away from, is now Alpha of his pack, she realizes that the safest place for her may be with Alpha Warren, even if he is her mate and even if he is unwilling to ever let her go.

Chapter 1

Yara

It’s been too long since I’ve let Annika out to run. With the number of classes that I’m taking and the heavy schedule I’m keeping at the university, there isn’t a lot of time to eat, much less let Annika run. But I have to let her out. She’s becoming more and more restless.

‘School is boring. Humans are boring. I want to do something fun,’ she grumbles in my head.

‘We’re going for a run, Annika. Calm down.’

‘Next time, don’t wait so long.’

It’s been a couple of months since I took her out. She’s right, it’s been too long. But I know how the packs fight, and I haven’t wanted to risk getting in the middle of a battle, or worse, getting caught by Simon.

‘I’m too smart for him to catch us. Besides, he has no idea that we’re still so close to the pack.’

By ‘so close’ she means two hours, but it is too close. A wolf can run nearly as fast as a car, and when that wolf is on the hunt? Goddess forbid anyone gets in their way.

In the past, when I’ve taken Annika out to run, I’ve taken her in the opposite direction of Simon’s pack. Well, technically, it’s not his pack, it’s his father’s pack. Alpha Solomon has been the Alpha of my previous pack for as long as I can remember. His son, Simon, is a nasty piece of work. He loves to fight and he loves to kill. The two of us couldn’t be any more different. I like to heal, and I like to save.

For whatever reason, Simon set his sights on me. I don’t know why. I’m an orphan, I’m not ranked. My parents were warriors and while I can fight, I prefer to use my biggest strength, my brain. Simon much prefers to use his strength, his Alpha strength. He doesn’t have to work for it, being genetically predisposed to being larger and stronger than most wolves in the pack, so he doesn’t appreciate what he has, in my opinion. Me, on the other hand, I’ve had to work for everything I’ve achieved in this life, with the help of Alpha Solomon.

My parents were killed in a pack war when I was young. Alpha Solomon took over as my guardian and made sure that I was cared for all my life. Maybe it’s because he never had a daughter, or maybe it’s because I’m more like him than his own son, but he’s always looked after me, even to the point of sending me away from the pack when he realized that his son had taken an interest in me. He knows Simon is no good, and he didn’t want me to suffer with his son’s infatuation.

When we get to the spot where we like to run, I stop, sniffing the air, making sure there are no other wolves around here.

‘Annika?’ I ask, making sure she’s not smelling something I’m not.

‘No other wolves,’ she says, almost sadly. She misses the companionship of being in a pack. I look around once more, then make my way into the forest before stripping off my clothes and tucking them onto a tree branch, high enough that someone would have to look up to see them. I have a spare set of clothes in the car, just in case anyone steals these. It doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. Rather than assume that someone was being malicious, I choose to believe that they needed the clothes more than I did. They’re only clothes after all.

I let Annika pull the shift, feeling my bones snapping and reshaping after so long of not shifting. It’s more painful than it should be, but soon enough, Annika is shaking out her reddish-brown fur and taking off into the woods.

Even though I’m in the background while Annika runs, I can feel how good it is to stretch her legs, to feel her muscles flexing in her body as she runs. It’s quiet tonight, thankfully, and Annika’s paws on the ground are nearly silent as she runs, giving both of us a chance to enjoy the sounds of the forest around us.

I’m not sure how long she’s been running when we smell it, blood. She slows, lifting her nose in the air.

‘There was fighting nearby,’ she says in our shared mind space.

‘Do you hear anyone?’ I ask.

‘I’m not sure. I hear rustling, what sounds like a wolf in trouble. Do you hear it?’ she asks as she tilts her head from one side to the other.

I do hear it. It does sound like a large animal who is struggling.

‘Annika…’

‘I’ll be careful,’ she says, knowing that, if I can, I will want to help this animal, even if it is a werewolf. It may not be possible, they may not let me get close enough to help. But I’m going to school to become a doctor for a reason. So, I can help wolves in just this type of situation.

Annika slowly and carefully makes her way to the sound of the struggling animal. As we get closer, I can tell that it is a wolf by the soft sounds that it’s making. I can’t figure out what it’s doing though. Maybe it’s caught in a snare of some sort and trying to figure out how to get out. Or maybe it’s just stuck in a hole that one of the packs dug to capture other pack members so they can interrogate them for information.

‘Please be careful, Annika. We can’t afford to get caught.’

“I’ll be careful, Yara.’

When we get close, she begins to belly crawl, slowly making her way closer. When the wind shifts, her whole body goes rigid, the scent of teakwood filling my nose and making my body tingle with unwanted desire.

‘Mate,’ she says softly.

‘WHAT?’

‘That’s our mate, Yara. Our mate is injured.’

This is terrible. This isn’t just an injured animal, it’s our mate. I can’t leave him out here to die, but I also can’t have him trying to take me back to his pack. I have school, and I’m still in hiding from Simon.

It’s takes me a moment too long to realize that the wolf, my mate, has stopped moving around.

Annika barely breathes, waiting to see what he’ll do.

He chuffs at us, letting us know that he knows we’re here. I’m not sure how I know that he’s not going to hurt us, but something in his chuff seems more like a request for help, than a threat of violence.

Annika slowly and carefully makes her way through some bushes until we can see him. SHIT! He’s caught in a bear trap. No wonder he’s still in wolf form. If he shifts, it will rip his leg off.

‘I can’t believe he’s not howling in pain,’ Annika says.

She’s right. His leg, where it’s caught in the trap is shattered, no question.

‘You have to help him, Yara. He’s our mate. You have to,” Annika practically begs me.

‘I know. I will, if he’ll let me.’

As much as I hate the idea of being naked in front of this unknown man, even though he’s my mate, I have no choice if I’m going to talk to him and try to help him.

I pull the shift, standing in front of the midnight black wolf who is watching me with his beautiful, intelligent green eyes.

“Hey, big guy. I see you’re caught in a trap. I want to help you. I know you can’t shift, or you’ll rip that leg off and that looks really painful. Your bones are probably shattered but I want to help you, if you’ll let me,” I say softly, keeping my tone gentle.

I slowly approach the wolf. Mate or no, this wolf must be in terrible pain and he’s going to be feeling vulnerable, unable to escape. I extend my hand, letting him sniff me and see that I mean no harm.

“I’m a doctor. Well, I’m studying to be a doctor, to both humans and wolves. I don’t want to hurt you. Will you let me see if I can help you?”

The wolf sniffs my hand, then nuzzles me. I gently run my hand through his fur, stopping when I come to stiff fur that smells like blood. I don’t want to know what else is in this wolf’s fur, but I can guess that guts and bones are stuck in there as well. He’s obviously been fighting and whether he got separated from his pack, or he was part of a group that intentionally separated out trying to cut off the other pack’s escape, he’s now out here alone without anyone to help him. Well, anyone except me.

I look up, trying to see where the moonlight is so I can get a better look at the trap.

“Okay, big guy, are you able to move to your right a bit? I need the moonlight to help me see how I can spring this trap and set you free.”

He moves to his right, keeping an eye on me as I carefully look over the trap. “Nasty piece of work,” I mumble to myself. “Stupid idiots doing this to each other.”

I look back up at him. “Okay, I think I’ve figured it out. Before I spring this trap, you need to know that when I release this, it’s going to hurt, really bad. But then you’ll be free and I can take a look at how badly your leg is broken,” I tell him. I already know it’s shattered. I can see bone splinters sticking out of his skin from above the trap.

I move my hands in position. I’m going to need Annika’s strength to help me open this trap. “Try not to bite me and if you can, try not to howl. I have no idea if there is anyone else nearby that might hear you, or try to come hurt you,” I tell him. He chuffs at me again, letting me know he understands.

“On three, ready? One… two … three!” I say and push the release with all my strength, Annika pushing with hers as well. I feel the spring give and the trap snaps open. The wolf yelps but it’s quickly cut off as he moves away from the trap, keeping his injured leg off the ground.

He turns, looking at me a moment before his bones begin to snap as he shifts back into his human form, his ridiculously gorgeous, tall, muscular form.

Chapter 2

Warren

I can’t believe that Arric and I got caught in this bear trap. Fucking Brady! I know he’s the one who set this trap. He knew that he and his pack would retreat this way. I raced around, attempting to cut off their escape route, but I’d ended up caught in the trap.

I know my pack will come back for me, but they’re in a battle and I’ve been waiting for them to find me for hours. When I wasn’t able to cut Brady off, they continued following his pack, hunting them down like the fucking dogs they are.

I knew immediately that I couldn’t shift. While I could use my hands to spring the trap, it was too risky. I wasn’t willing to lose my leg and therefore my rank as Alpha. While the pain is significant, Arric and I are strong Alphas, and I know it's only a matter of time before the pack finds me and gets me out of here.

We’d been struggling with a way to get the damn trap off when we’d smelled her. I’ve been looking for my mate for over ten years and now, here, in the middle of the forest, in the middle of an area covered in blood from a recent battle, I find her. Her cinnamon and nutmeg scent instantly calms Arric.

Her wolf is a beautiful reddish-brown color and she’s obviously a skittish little thing. Through all of her conversation with Arric, she never once gave us her name. So, as soon as she releases the trap, I step back and begin to shift so I can talk to her.

The shift hurts like a fucking bitch, my bones trying to reshape but unable to in my leg because they’re in pieces. I watch her eyes go wide and she scoots back, farther away from me.

“Easy there. You just got me out of a trap. I may be a vicious Alpha when I’m hunting my pack’s attackers, but I’m not the kind of man who kills someone who just helped me,” I say. Because she didn’t give me her name, I’m resistant to giving her mine until I know what pack she’s from.

“You said you’re a doctor?”

“I’m studying to be one,” she says, watching me carefully.

“For humans and wolves?” I ask her. It’s unusual and I’m in desperate need of a good doctor in my pack. My doctor needs to retire. I need someone young, someone intelligent, someone like my little mate here, to take over my pack hospital.

“What pack are you from?” I ask, not sure I care. I’m at war with so many packs that the odds of her being from one of them are highly likely. Of course, she’s out here on her own, not fighting with a pack, which is also unusual.

“I’m not from a pack. I’m a lone wolf. Did you want me to look at your leg?” I notice that she changes the subject away from her. Interesting. Or maybe not, lone wolves are alone for a reason. It makes me wonder what happened to make my mate a lone wolf.

“Yes. I would appreciate your medical assessment,” I say, wanting her closer to me. I know her touch will help with the pain.

She moves closer and her intoxicating scent fills my nose as I take in her beautiful body. She had looked shy but determined when she’d shifted. Her lean body isn’t as muscular as the wolves in my pack, which makes me think she hasn’t been part of the pack wars for a while. However, the softness of her only adds to the allure. My finger twitch with my desire to touch her.

“What’s a lone wolf doing out here all by herself?” I ask.

“Letting my wolf out. It’s not easy when you go to a human university,” she says, not looking up at me. I, on the other hand, can’t look away from her. She’s beautiful. The reddish-brown fur of her wolf is now long reddish-brown hair on the woman. It falls over her shoulder as she looks at my leg and I watch as she distractedly flicks it back over her shoulder and out of her way, as if this is a common occurrence in her daily life.

“You know there are pack wars going on around here,” I say. She may not be mine yet, but I want her safe.

“There are pack wars going on everywhere. If I tried to find someplace where war isn’t happening, I’d have to run in the human areas and risk hunters shooting Annika. You’re going to need surgery on this leg. You have multiple fractures, several being compound fractures,” she says, once again diverting the conversation from herself.

I already knew I was going to need surgery. I could see Arric’s bones sticking out of his leg when we were in the trap.

“Annika? Your wolf’s name means merciful? How appropriate for a doctor,” I say, still studying her. Her fingers on my leg are gentle. She seems to inherently know where to touch so that it only causes minor discomfort.

“Gracious or merciful, yes. And Annika is a wonderful wolf,” she says proudly, still not looking up at me.

I’m about to tell her that Arric agrees when I hear my Beta’s howl.

My mate’s head snaps up and I smell the scent of her fear as her heart rate spikes. However, she doesn’t run. She looks like she’s about to take a protective stance in front of me. A perfect Luna, pushing her own fear aside to help someone in need. I smile. She’s perfect for me.

“Relax, it’s my pack coming back for me,” I tell her.

“Oh, well then, that’s good, you need to get someplace safe. Hopefully, they won’t attack me for helping you.”

“I’ll protect you,” I say, smiling at her discomfort.

My warriors come rushing up, surrounding us as my Beta, Charlie, shifts and snarls at my mate. “Who are you?”

I snarl at him, startling both of them. “She’s the one who got me out of the bear trap I was in. Stand down!” I command. I won’t allow anyone to disrespect my mate.

He looks at her, then turns back to me frowning before crouching to look at my leg.

“How bad is it?”

“Bad.”

“Okay, let’s get you back to the pack,” he says, getting a couple of warriors to help me up. I wrap my arms around their shoulders and lift my bad leg, gritting my teeth against the pain.

“Ready, Alpha?” Charlie asks.

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Charlie shifts, taking point as guard, and the warriors holding me start to move fast.

“Wait!” I say, and everyone stops. “Bring the doctor."

"The doctor?" one of my warriors asks.

"The girl! Bring the girl," I bark, turning to look at her. I can see that she was ready to slink away. I watch her turn and look behind her as if judging whether or not she can make a run for it.

“Don’t even think about it,” I say to her. Charlie’s wolf, Gregor, moves swiftly to her side, nudging her forward with his head. I don’t like how close he is to my naked mate and Arric growls softly.

Her eyes flash up to mine. “I should go,” she says. “Like you said, there are a lot of pack wars going on around here. I probably should get home.”

“Home?” I ask. I know I sound arrogant. The woman is a lone wolf going to school. Where exactly is home for her? I’m not letting her go back to wherever she wants to go. I’ll never see her again. I know from the little I’ve learned about her that she’ll never let her wolf run in these woods again. And, by the time I healed and went to find her at the university, I’m sure she’d have transferred. She’s too skittish to stay where she might get caught.

“School,” she says, clarifying her intended destination.

“Hmm, well, as you just reiterated, it’s not safe out here, especially for a lone wolf. What kind of Alpha would I be if I left you to fend for yourself? No, I think you should come with us,” I say and my voice holds no room for argument.

She presses her lips together and stands, nodding, and reluctantly following behind me.

Chapter 3

Warren

Charlie orders two wolves to flank my mate, keeping her safe, but also making sure she follows my order.

‘Alpha?’ Charlie asks in the mind link.

‘She’s my mate.’

‘Oh shit.’

‘Yeah.’

‘Does she know? She doesn’t act like she recognizes you as her mate.’

‘I’m not sure. She’s a lone wolf, but she’s going to school for human and veterinary medicine.’

He turns and looks at her. “Wow. A smart one.’

‘Apparently.’

‘What did she say about your leg?’

‘That I need surgery.’

‘Well, no offense but I could have told you that.’

‘Let’s see what she says when we get to the pack. And find her a shirt. I don’t like her walking around our warriors with no clothes on.’

He takes off, rushing toward our pack lands. When he returns, his wolf carries a shirt to her in his mouth. I watch while she looks up at me.

“We’re about to enter my pack. You’re an unmarked, unknown, young female. I thought you might like a shirt to put on to cover yourself,” I say.

If she says no, I’ll insist, but I’m hoping she’ll choose to put it on without me having to demand it. Thankfully she does, looking almost relieved. Good. She’s not the kind of woman who flaunts her beautiful body for all to see.

When we get back, I’m taken straight to the pack hospital, asking Charlie about other injuries the warriors sustained and what happened to Brady’s pack. He gives me the list of injuries as we walk in, shifting and continuing to talk to me out loud as Dr. Stevens rushes up.

“Alpha, let’s get you into a room so we can look at your leg. You’ll need x-rays,” he says.

“Yes, I will,” I say. “The girl comes too.”

“The girl has a name,” she mumbles. I stop and turn to look at her, her eyes going wide. She obviously hasn’t been around a lot of Alphas or it’s been a long time. She keeps mumbling to herself as if I can’t hear her. It’s kind of cute.

“If you’ll give me your name, I’ll be happy to use it,” I say to her.

“Yara.”

“Yara. I’m Alpha Warren. Come with me,” I say, turning back and letting the warriors help me into the x-ray room.

“Who are you? Get out!” Dr. Stevens barks at her as we walk into the room.

“She’s with me,” I say, ignoring his blustery attitude that a young woman is in the room with us.

She looks at him and I’m pleased when she instinctively moves closer to me.

I get settled onto the table and Dr. Stevens sets up the x-ray machine. While he does, I watch Yara. She has a very expressive face. Now that I can see her in the light, I can tell that she’s a pretty little thing. I’m sure I’d think so even if she weren’t my mate, but based on the glances my warriors keep giving her, she’s a natural beauty. Yep, good thing she’s got that shirt on, or I’d have to rip their eyes from their sockets.

Because I’m watching her, I see her frown, her head tilting to the side as she watches Dr. Stevens. I crook my finger at her beckoning her forward as Dr. Stevens leaves the room.

“What was that look?” I ask, realizing that my mate’s eyes are a grey-green color, almost sage. My eyes are green too, but not as dark as hers.

“What look?”

I just raise an eyebrow at her. Perhaps the pain in my leg is making me less amenable to small talk. I’m trying to ignore it, but it’s not easy and Arric can’t heal me until the bones are set properly. So, I’m not as patient as I might normally be in this situation.

She turns and looks behind her to see if the doctor is there, then leans in, her scent filling my nose.

“Why isn’t he taking side views? He only took a view from the top,” she whispers as Dr. Stevens walks back in. He glares at her but puts the x-ray up on the lightbox.

“Well, Alpha, your leg isn’t salvageable. I’m afraid we’re going to have to remove it,” he says dispassionately, as if he didn’t just tell me that my entire world was about to collapse around me. I feel my stomach clench and my heart skips a beat. At the same time, I hear Yara suck in air.

“Dr. Yara, what do you think?” I ask her. If she has any suggestions for me to save this leg, I’m doing it. I don’t care how much pain it’ll cause me, or how long it will take me to recover. I’ve been an Alpha for twelve years. Before that, I was an Alpha in training. Without my rank, without a pack to lead and protect, I have no idea who I am.

She looks at me, then at Dr. Stevens who is glaring at her again.

“Doctor?” he asks condescendingly. He’s of the old school mindset where women are nurses, meant to be at the beck and call of a male doctor. It’s another reason he has to go. My nurses are constantly complaining and threatening to leave.

“Studying to be, but I would suggest getting x-rays of the sides of the leg before determining if the leg has to be removed,” she says, more confidently than I was expecting. She may not be comfortable around me, or even in the pack, but here, in this hospital room, her confidence is clear.

“You heard her, Dr. Stevens. Side x-rays,” I say, seeing her glance at me appreciatively for supporting her. In truth, I’m thankful she’s giving me an option, any option to save my leg.

“Young lady, what are your credentials?” he demands.

“HER credentials are not in what’s in question, doctor. I gave you the order. Side x-rays! NOW!” I bark.

Yara jumps as I yell, but really, this asshole is going to tell me my leg needs to be removed and think that I’m not going to fight it?

He continues to glare at Yara while he does the x-rays, and when he comes back, he puts them on the lightbox and turns to her with a sneer on his face. I’m about ready to come off this table and rip that look off his smug face.

“What do you think now, doctor?” he asks, as if questioning the truth in her title.

Yara walks to the lightbox, looking closely at first one, then the other x-ray. “Do you have the original?” she asks, turning to Dr. Stevens. He huffs, but hands it to her and she sets it up on the lightbox beside the others.

She stands back, her head tilting from one side to the other.

“Yara?” I ask, unable to stop the flutter of hope in my chest.

“We can salvage the leg,” she says, turning to me and making me sigh in relief.

“You’ve got to be joking!” Dr. Stevens says. “His leg is shattered!”

“Yes, it is. And it will take a lot of time and patience. But Alpha Warren has time, and I have patience,” she says, looking at me.

“Do it,” I tell her, putting my future into this woman’s hands and hoping I won’t regret it.

Chapter 4

Yara

I’m not sure if Alpha Warren brought me here because he recognized me as his mate and he didn’t have the strength to reject me in the woods, or if he knew that his pack doctor was well past his retirement years. Either way, I’m here and since I am, I’ll help this Alpha. This is the reason I chose medicine. He doesn't have to lose his leg. It will take a lot of effort on my part, but I'm excited to finally get to work on a werewolf, an Alpha no less.

“I’m assuming you want to do this now, Alpha?” I ask him.

“Yes, the sooner the better.”

“Okay.” I give him the list of items that I’ll need to get his bones put back together properly. “Oh, and we’ll need to sedate you,” I say, looking around the room to see how they have their hospital rooms set up. “Is this where…”

“No,” Alpha Warren says. I turn to look at him.

“No?”

“No sedation.”

“Okay then, a nerve block, I’ll just need…”

“No,” he says again.

“Alpha, please, I’m going to have to wash the area, scrub it clean, I’m going to cut your leg open, pin your skin and muscle back so that I can get to the bones and then slowly put them back where they belong. The pain will be excruciating. You need the nerve block.”

“No,” he says again, holding my gaze. I finally look away, mumbling about stupid, stubborn Alphas.

When I turn back, he’s watching me with a raised eyebrow as if he heard me. I wasn’t that loud, was I? Crap, I’ve been hanging around humans who can’t hear anything for too long. How much can he hear of my mumbling.

The irritable Dr. Stevens comes in, throwing the things I asked for on the table. I jump when I hear a warning growl, looking up to see Alpha Warren glaring at him.

“Will there be anything else, doctor?” Dr. Stevens asks. He somehow makes my title, which is the same as his, sound like a dirty word.

“No, thank you, doctor. I’ll take it from here.”

I go to the sink and begin scrubbing my hands. I’m nervous for a lot of reasons. First, I’m in an unknown pack with an Alpha who is my mate. I have no idea what to expect from him, or really why I’m here. And almost worse than that, he wants me to operate on him while he’s awake! What the hell kind of crazy Alpha is he?

“You’re thinking so hard that there’s steam coming out of your ears, Yara. What are so worried about?” he asks me.

I turn and look at him over my shoulder. How does he even know I’m worried? Why is he paying so much attention to me? Is this the mate bond? I’ve only had exposure to two Alphas in my life, Alpha Solomon and Alpha Simon. Alpha Solomon is a good Alpha, but he was never this in tune with what I was doing or thinking. And Simon…a shiver of revulsion rolls through me. He was in tune for a whole other reason. The man gave me the creeps.

When I finish scrubbing my hands, I turn back to Alpha Warren. I see he’s waiting for a response to his question. “This is going to be very painful. Can I at least give you a local anesthetic?

“No, I need to be alert so I can protect my pack,” he says.

“You can’t exactly protect your pack with only one leg, Alpha," I snap, my nerves making me bold.

“Warren. Call me Warren, and you said you could save my leg.”

“I can, IF you are under sedation and I’m not worried about you flinching or yanking your leg away while I’m operating.”

“I have a very high tolerance to pain.”

That doesn’t surprise me. He wasn’t even whimpering when Annika and I found him. He also has multiple, very faint scars all over his body. The man has been fighting in the pack wars for a long time. He must have a very strong wolf that is able to heal him, over and over.

“How strong is your wolf right now?” I ask, getting his leg prepped to wash.

“I am very strong, little one,” a deep voice says, and my eyes snap up as Annika begins purring in my head. Warren's wolf is forward, answering for himself.

Warren smiles, once again looking as if he knows the effect his wolf is having on mine. Can he hear Annika purring?

I shake my head, trying to clear it. I need to focus my attention and NOT on Warren’s incredible teakwood scent.

“If I hold the bones in place, one at a time, how long will it take for you to set them?” I ask.

“Not long, little one,” he says but it’s practically a purr. “I am a very strong, powerful Alpha wolf.” The way he says it isn’t bragging, but more like preening. My brain flashes an image of a peacock strutting around flaunting his feathers for his chosen mate.

“Right,” I say, feeling my body responding to the deep tenor of his voice. It feels like his voice is caressing the nerves in my body, making them all light up with a need I’m unused to feeling, especially when I’m about to do surgery.

I look up into the intense, jade green eyes of Alpha Warren. “Are you ready, Alpha?”

“Warren,” he corrects. I nod.

“Are you ready, Warren?”

“Yes, Yara.”

I grit my teeth, hating that I know this is going to hurt him, but if he won’t let me at least numb his leg, I can’t help it.

I begin washing the blood off his leg, laying a wet cloth over the bloody area, careful that I don’t tug on the bones that are still jutting out. His body is covered with caked blood, guts, and bits of bone, just like I thought it would be. Under the teakwood scent, he smells like war and death. It’s good practice for me, learning how to ignore the smell of battle while I work. I don’t get this kind of training at the university.

“Talk to me,” he says through gritted teeth.

“What do you want to talk about?” I ask, not looking up as I begin to scrub the blood from his leg.

“You know what you are to me?” he asks, although it’s more of a statement than a question. My stomach feels like it’s twisting into knots.

"Yes," I say without looking up. "After you have healed, you can reject me. If you do it before, it could impact your healing." I don’t know why the thought of this man rejecting me feels so painful. I don’t even know him. I have no intention of becoming his mate and returning to the packs, at least not until I’m done with school anyway. And this pack is much too close to Simon for my comfort.

"Who says I'm going to reject you?" he asks, sounding offended. Now I do look up at him.

“But I’m a lone wolf.”

“What you are, is my future Luna.”

“You don’t even know me,” I say going back to my work.

“I know that you’re intelligent, you’re compassionate, you’re brave, and I know that you’re lonely,” he says.

The intelligent and compassionate parts I get. That could easily be discerned from me being a doctor and helping him, those two make sense. The brave part I’m not sure about, but the lonely part…

“Why do you say I’m lonely?” I ask him, wiping off the blood and turning to get the scalpel. I lift it up, showing him that I’m about to cut into his leg. He nods and continues.

“The closest university with a medical school is about an hour north of here. Between here and there, there are many areas where a lone wolf could run, if she wanted to. But instead,” he stops, grunting as I carefully slice into his leg. “Instead, you chose to come to an area that is full of wolves.”

He’s partially right. Annika misses being in a pack, she misses the companionship of being with other wolves. Me, I’d be fine living alone the rest of my life, but my wolf likes the smell of the forest and it makes her feel more settled to smell the scent of other wolves.

Warren hisses and I glance up at him, watching him take deep breaths to control his pain.

“How do you do that?” I ask.

“Do what?”

“Manage this level of pain?”

“Mind over matter. Physical pain will break you mentally if you let it. That’s why people get tortured for information. If you can break the body, you can usually break the mind. My mind is stronger than my body and my body is very strong.”

I glance at the scars on his legs again. They're a testament to the accuracy of his words.

“You’ve been fighting for a long time?” I ask, cutting and pulling the muscles away from where his bones have snapped into pieces.

“Since I became an Alpha, nearly twelve years ago.”

“Twelve years?” I exclaim, standing up and looking at him. He’s older than I thought.

That eyebrow shoots up again. It’s an arrogant look, but on Warren, its oh so sexy.

“I took over the pack when I was eighteen, I’m now thirty, that’s twelve years, little wolf.”

“Annika’s not that little,” I say, returning my attention to his leg.

“She is compared to Arric.”

“Well, Arric is an Alpha wolf. Only another Alpha would be larger than an Alpha wolf,” I say, as I carefully pluck out the first bone. I look at it, checking to see where it goes and then I press it against the bone it snapped off of.

“Okay, Arric, let’s see what you’ve got,” I say, carefully holding the bone in place so Arric can begin to heal the fracture. I watch as the bone begins to connect and seal in front of my eyes.

“Cool!” I say, forgetting where I am and who I’m with. I’ve been working with humans for so long that I forgot how quickly wolves can heal, especially Alpha wolves.

“Is it that exciting?” Warren asks me drolly.

I shrug. I know not everyone finds medicine and surgery thrilling, but I do. “It is for me.”

“Then it must be my lucky day,” he says, just as there is a knock at the door.

I look at the door, then at Alpha Warren, wondering who could possibly be knocking.

“I told you I would protect you,” he says smiling. His smile is so beautiful that it nearly takes my breath away. “Come in, Charlie,” he says, not taking his eyes off of me.

“Alpha…what the fuck are you doing in here?” he asks angrily, striding quickly to the table and looking at Alpha Warren’s leg, filleted and open on the table.