Alpha’s Betrayal Luna’s Revenge (Samantha) novel Chapter 12

Ellie’s POV

It had been a long day. I fixed the cranial cruciate ligament on a Labrador named Quinn this morning. There was a minor complication, nothing I couldn’t handle. But it made the operation run longer than I expected. But I didn’t care. The animal on my table would get the time she needed.

This caused my clinic to start late. Everyone with booked appointments was annoyed, but that was their problem.

Should that be their pet, and I experienced a problem, they’d expect me to spend the additional time needed to address it.

Over the last few days, there has been an increase in out-of-town dog owners requesting emergency

appointments. This was good for my pocket, but it caused me to finish late every day, and I was cranky. Not because I was tired, but because the woods are full of humans.

Which meant I haven’t had the chance to let Kiki have any freedom. She’s restless and frustrated, which is rubbing off on me. I know it’s not her fault, and she knows it’s not mine. But l am reaching my breaking point with her.

When she arrived on my 18th birthday a few years ago, I told her I liked my space. To which she informed me we could both block each other out. When she explained the process to me, I must have misunderstood, as she said it so casually. But my understanding was that we could send each other consciousness of our mind, to be alone, surrounded by darkness for an infinite amount of time. It sounded horrific. I’m not sure if I would want to do that to someone hate, never mind the wolf l am going to spend eternity with. Kiki snickered at my unique perspective and has never blocked me out, either.

All of this was because a millionaire put up a lucrative reward for the safe return of his children. In a franțic search for the missing kids, those fools have been pushing their dogs to their limits. It ticks me off that humans disregard the health of their animals, using them as tools solely for their gain. Maybe that’s why I prefer animals to humans. You always know where you stand with an animal. Whereas with people, you just never know whattheir ulterior motives are.

It was late when I finished charting, and I planned on staying at my clinic throughout the night as wanted to check on Quinn. It should have been her owner’s responsibility, but he felt she was better off in my care. It also meant that he could join the search party with his buddies. His bill was going to be huge for the overnight observation performed by the town vet. But he didn’t care. He was confident that he and his buddies would find those kids tonight and that he would receive a decent reward. Even if he does, l am going to hit him where it hurts the most, his pocket.

It was late, and after I had checked on Quinn, I planned on nipping home and taking a shower. I might even call in at the diner for a burger on my way back. I switched on the internal security camera to watch Quinn while I was at home, and I rushed out the door.

As I locked up, I couldn’t help but notice the lights on John’s cruiser in the distance. “That’s odd,” I said, as he didn’t have his sirens on, just the lights. I watched as the cruiser drove at speed. towards town. John wants to be chief someday and follows every rule and regulation, so his speeding is out of character for him. He wouldn’t be speeding unless it were urgent. While I waited, I pulled out my phone to play a game of Sudoku. I had 27 missed phone calls from John.

Now that is odd. He has never called me, never. A text once or twice a week to arrange a hookup. We have been bed buddies for a while, and we text to arrange hookups, but that’s it. We barely even acknowledge one another’s existence other than those encounters. This works for us both, as neither of us wants any attachments.

To my. shock, his cruiser skidded to a halt in front of me.

How did he even know I was still at work? Then again, I turn my phone to silent while I am at work. The first thing I do whèn I get home is play the daily level have an impressive streak, and I wouldn’t be losing it, not for anything.

John jumped out of his cruiser and ran around the car. He was shouting about how he needed me. We had sex only a few nights ago. He can’t need me that badly, and I certainly won’t be having sex in my place of work. It all made sense when he opened the door to the back of his cruiser. I instantly got hit with two scents. First is the scent of an animal that l am very familiar with, as Kiki rubs herself all over my clothes when she is in her form.

The second smell tells me that the wolf has badly infected wounds. Which is why John brought the animal to me. I can either save it or let it help it die.

But when I looked inside the cruiser, a woman was lying there practically unresponsive. I knew instantly she was a – shifter, like me. I had never met a shifter in my adult life. I had a shifter family when I was young, but they were taken from me, or should I say they were taken because of me.

don’t remember much about my life before, only what dream about. They never have faces, and I now know they were shifters. I know they fought to protect me. Then in my dream, l am escaping a cage with two boys, and then I am falling.

What I do remember is waking up in a hospital, then being moved to an orphanage. The woman who adopted me lived in South View, and this is where I stayed with her.

She loved me and made me feel safe. Safe from the people who hurt my parents.

“Poor girl,” Kiki said.

“Why do you say that?” I inquired. I knew she was in a bad way. But I didn’t know why Kiki offered her sympathy.”Her wounds. She must have been cut with some silver.

Otherwise, her wolf would have healed them.” She informed me. I knew I was allergic to silver. I never knew all shifters were.

I cracked open a vial of ketamine. It was for show, as knew William would eventually turn up. He would undoubtedly question why the girl was unconscious. Or how I cleaned her up without her being in pain. I warmed the saline to be kind. Then, with plenty of gauze and a gentle touch, I began to clean one wound at a time.

Externally, all of her wounds were red and inflamed, a clear sign of cellulitis. But the wounds themselves.

Everyone of them was green and stank. The deepest one was the worst. It made me upset that someone would have done this to her. This is going to scar her mentally and physically for the rest of her life. If she lives.

If she were an animal, I would have cannulated her and given her a steady stream of antibiotics to fight the infection. I would have put her on a drip to hydrate her. I would have packed those wounds to absorb the oozing pus. But she is human. “She isn’t human,” Kiki reminded me, “She’s a shifter. You are well within your limits to treat her.”

“If William finds out she is a shifter, can you imagine what would happen?” I could practically see the dollar signs in his greedy eyes.

“Oh crap,” I responded. I am going to have to take care of her. How the hell am I going te get away with convincing him to leave her in my care? Grimacing at the thought of being nice to him. I was about to cannulate her. with a dog cannula when William walked in like he owned the place. ” What do you think you’re doing, Ellie?” he bellowed.