Page 20 of Assisting the Alpha
“Shit. You okay, kid?”
I grip Irving tighter, silently begging him to hang on. “Call Doc P. Please.”
I don’t recognise either of the vamps, but they’re decent enough people that they nod. While one backs away, phone out, the other carefully moves Irving off me. He’s panting more than he should be and looks up at me with hunger in his eyes before backing away.
“Sorry, kid, I can’t… We’ll stay with you, though. Make sure no one comes back.”
I nod, glad they’re old enough to have the self-control to not attack us when the smell of our blood must be overwhelming for them. It takes me a minute, but I finally find the strength to reach for my phone with my good arm. My hands tremble as I tap the screen, and although it takes me longer than it should, I manage to find Ethan’s number.
As soon as he picks up and I hear his gravelly voice, probably half-asleep, a tiny bit of the blinding panic leaves me.
“Ayo?”
“Ethan. Fuck. They were here. The shifter. Doc P is coming, but Irving is unconscious, and it’s bad… and my head hurts, and… the vamps are helping, but there’s so much blood. I need you. Please. I just…”
My head is swimming, and I’m not sure I’m making sense. There are faint noises in the background—maybe a zip, the jangle of keys, and a door closing? That could be something at this end. Everything is too fuzzy for me to tell.
“I’m coming. Where are you?”
“Um…” I can’t remember. “I… We’re at…”
“The back of Love Bites on Trinity Street,” one of the vampires calls out, hopefully loud enough that Ethan can hear them with his shifter hearing.
“Got it. The others are on their way too. Hang on, Ayo. Keep talking to me.”
I want to, I really do. But my vision is getting darker. Did the street light go out? Wait, I think my blinks are getting longer.
“Ayo, talk to me.” Ethan sounds tense now.
I don’t want my wolf boss to be grumpy with me. But as my vision goes dark, I don’t think I can do what he asks.
Chapter Six
ETHAN
I race across town faster than I should when there are still humans out and about, but hopefully, at two in the morning, most of them are too drunk to notice. I live close enough to Trinity Street that it wasn’t worth taking the time to go to the basement to get my car out and drive over here, but it occurs to me that I don’t have a way to get Ayo to a safe place.
Fuck it. The others will have brought vehicles, or I can send one of them back for one.
I race down the side of the club and reach a couple of vamps who seem to be guarding the alley, or at least blocking the three onlookers.
One of the vamps inhales. “Ethan?”
“Yeah.”
That’s all they need; they stand aside and let me pass. Not that I’d have let them stop me, but I don’t have time to fight my way to Ayo. My heart hasn’t stopped pounding since someone picked up his phone and said he passed out. Probably one of the vamps I just encountered.
I round the back corner of the building to find Ayo sprawled on the cobbles in the small yard next to a big guy with brown hair and nasty gouges on his back. Doc P is crouched next to them both and glances up when he sees me before quickly returning his attention to the pair. The scent of blood combined with the sight of Ayo unconscious with blood on one side of his face sends my mind spinning and my wolf howling.
I drop to my knees beside Ayo. “Tell me what you need.”
Doc P doesn’t look up this time. “Guard me while I work.”
I don’t want to move away from Ayo, especially while he’s not awake, but since Doc P is the best person to take care of him and the big guy, I stand up and step back, my entire body vibrating with tension.
I tell my wolf to ignore the fact that Ayo and the big guy smell like each other and focus on protecting our—on protecting everyone here. The injuries appear consistent with the murder victims, so after making sure the two vamps are still stopping anyone else from getting down here, I focus entirely on scent.
In addition to the two vamps, there’s Ayo and the big guy, Doc P, rubbish in the enormous bins on the other side of this yard space, and a recurring scent of a third vampire that I suspect belongs to an employee. Beyond that it’s just the further away scents of the people trying to see what’s happened.
