Did telling someone ‘don’t panic’ ever really work? Eli already had more of a hold of himself, so he didn’t seize up, letting the women work.

“Can you tell us where it hurts?”

Eli was sure cursing when one of them tried to stretch out his arm was quite telling. “Everywhere.” He answered, with a grumble. Then he thought better of it. This would probably be easier for everyone involved if he directed them better. “My chest burns a bit.” He reported.

“I’m not seeing any open wounds.” The one on his left reported, wiping something over the side of his face.

“The blood isn’t mine.” Eli said. He wondered if these two had seen the severed hand in the boot. He’d been lying on a carpet of sticky, clumpy, partly-dried blood. His stomach turned, nausea swirling.

Noah groaned.

Eli jolted. “Noah?” he reached out his good arm, finding his shoulder, he gripped it through the blankets.

Noah mumbled something, but it was incoherent.

Next thing Eli knew they were at the hospital and Noah was carted away one direction, while Matthew dragged Eli the other. “Special doctor for you, kid.” He explained.

Eli was tongue-tied, wondering if he should correct Matthew. There was a misunderstanding brewing. “What hospital are we in?”

“Not your pack’s one.” Matthew replied lowly. There was an edge in his voice that made Eli’s heart speed up. He recalled V’s attitude to confronting the rogue’s, and wondered what attitudes were toward werewolves in general?

Eli, slowed. Matthew, quick, caught his hand before he could pull off the bandages.

“I want to see.” His voice trembled.

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

All that told Eli was that the thought was in Matthew’s head too. He stopped walking entirely. “We’re here.” Matthew took a firm hold of his good arm, and Eli was strong-armed into a room off the main hall. At least he thought he was. “Okay, you can take it off—easy—don’t hurt yourself.”

Eli tore it off, aware of the rasping of his breaths. He looked around the small room, taking in the bed, and the table of instruments set up next to it. Small metal containers, scissors, needles, gauze, bandages… next to the table was a bright-eyed woman whose eyes swept over Eli and looked at his eyes in surprise. She shot a questioning look toward Matthew, mouthing something to him, but her attention returned to Eli.

She shared an interested smile. “I’ve never seen silver before.”

Eli’s gaze darted to the side, catching his reflection in a mirror. The silver of his eyes was bright and reflective. After he’d taken it in, he noticed the blood smeared all over the side of his head, and the gaunt paleness of his skin. He wasn’t looking so hot. His attention returned to the silver. “I don’t know why they’re like that.” It was almost an embarrassed tone, but his voice came out too thin. Too shaky.

“Take a seat.” Matthew guided him with a hand on his lower back.

Doctor Amber introduced herself, and told him to just call her by her first name. Matthew stood in front of Eli in a wide stance, his phone held out in front of him. His expression kept changing, and Eli guess he was being contacted by his ‘men’. One of those men were Wren. Wren—Louis, Eli had known something was off about him.

“Can you check on them?” Eli requested as Amber cleaned his chest with disinfectant. There was a boot-shape of a bruise forming.

“They’re okay.”

Eli shuffed forward, “If you’re not going to check, I am.”

Matthew look pointedly at his eyes.

“Yeah,” Eli said in a clipped, brisk tone, “I’ll go showing off my eyes and all, but I need to know.”

Matthew stared him down, then put the phone into his pocket. “I’ll be two minutes.”

Eli watched him leave.

Amber was asking him a constant stream of medical related questions, but as she examined his shoulder her attention moved to the uninjured one, where she examined Cameron’s mark, and the fresh one laid on top of it.

“Is this a mating mark?” Amber asked, fingers hovering above the scar. “I’ve never seen one before.” She sounded fascinated.

Eli didn’t answer. No matter what they knew, Eli wasn’t about to go supplying more information—he’d heard enough lectures from Shane and Oliver to keep his lips sealed. But… this situation… they already knew about werewolves, or at least, knew enough not to find Eli’s eyes strange, and knew about Quint’s pack. But, if they knew a lot, they’d know the fact that Eli’s eyes were glowing strange, and that he wasn’t part of any pack.

“Can I use your phone?”

Amber’s expression tensed. When she hesitated, her eyes flicked to the door. As if on cue, Matthew came in.

“They’re all okay.”

“Awake?”

“Not yet.”

“My dad’s leg—”

“Being stitched up as we speak, and he’s getting a transfusion. Jenny’s going to wake up whenever she’s ready—her belt was too tight on her chest, and she wasn’t getting enough air so she passed out, but she’s fine now—and Noah took a knock to the head, but it’s not looking serious.”

Eli wrung his hands together. “That’s it?”

Matthew shot him a questioning look.

“Noah, I mean, it’s just his head? There was no more damage?” Eli could easily imagine the rogue tearing out his throat or snapping his spine, as easily as he stuffed Eli into that boot.

Matthew hummed thoughtfully. “So the werewolf was the one who got Noah, and not the car accident?”

Eli was certain he used the word on purpose. Shifter, he corrected. And then corrected himself to Rogue. Eli was deciding what to say when Matthew retrieved a metal chair and pulled it over. He seemed to put a lot of effort into looking friendly. “Your father hired my boss and I to protect your family. Now, I’m in the line of business of protecting people from certain things that fall outside police jurisdiction already, so this isn’t completely out of the blue for me or anyone working for my company. Seems to me you have a confusing situation, and I’m not going to even attempt to unravel it—not now anyway—but my bottom line is the same. I’m here to protect you and your family. Now, with keeping that in mind, maybe you can answer a few questions for me?”

Eli was squirming. He didn’t know how much he could answer. “Can I call—”

“Your pack? No.”

Eli shot him a look, conflicted because whether he confirmed or denied it, he was admitting that a pack existed. But shit, Matthew clearly knew that much already.

“It was a wolf that attacked you, Eli.” Matthew’s eyes bored into Eli. “Okay,” he said. “How about a few questions about the thing that attacked you today? I’m sure you don’t give two shits about throwing him under the bus, now do you?”

Eli thought it over and eventually said, “I don’t know who he is.”

“Neither do I, but I’ve been figuring it out. I’ll tell you what I know, you tell me what you know. How’s that sound?”

“Do you even know anything?”

Matthew’s smile was coy. “Bits and pieces. My information avenues aren’t the same as yours would be.” He glanced at Amber who was carting away the table of dirty gauze and bandages. “Would you mind grabbing us two coffees?”

“No caffeine for Eli.” Amber rejected the idea.

“He can have a decaf.”

Eli drew his legs up on the bed and moved back, crisscrossing them slowly. He tried to settle down. “A tea would be nice.”

“That much I can allow.” Amber said. “Hungry?” She asked him.

Eli shook his head.

Matthew relaxed back in his metal chair, eyes keenly on Eli. “Now, shall we get started?”