When last we left, Lija had survived a parking lot attack with Maggie watching in horror from the car. They drove to the lair where Noah attacked the Druid in a fit of jealous rage. As we rejoin the action, Lija has just headed inside, leaving Noah and Maggie alone outside the lair door to talk.
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Maggie shook her head at her lover. “Noah he is hurt and it’s partly because of me. He was protecting me. He needs our help.”
Noah grabbed his mate’s arm as she moved to follow the Tore inside. “That may be but you wouldn’t have needed saving if you hadn’t been out with him. You know the prophecy; you know how much danger you are in right now. Why tempt the fates by running wild with...him?”
The young doctor looked at the leopard as he grabbed her arm. She didn’t want to have this discussion, as she was no longer sure of her heart. Sighing at his stubborn stance, “Because I am going stir crazy, because Zane was getting on my nerves, because I just wanted to have some fun. You do remember when we used to that before you turned into super guard twenty four seven.” Seeing the hurt look in the man’s eyes she added, “You know I love you. Can’t we leave it at that for the moment?”
Noah sighed afraid to push to far. He helped her up and walked with her into the lair. “Until we find out what trouble you've found this time, I guess so.” Noticing her tense, he stopped and pulled her close to kiss her. “You know I love you too. Let’s go check on Tore while I’m still in a mood to be kind.”
The pair headed inside and down the stairs.
Noah, walking through the lair with his mate, stopped at the security office. “I want to make sure the place is locked up and all the monitors are functional and viewable from the lab if that is where we're heading.” At Maggie's nodded assent, he flipped a switch to send control of the console over the lab. The pair headed out of the room and down the hallway.
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Luna was worried about Maggie. She could sense something was very wrong with from the panic hitting her like waves from her soul sister’s mind.
Coming down the lair hallway at a near dead run the leopard almost ran into Lija and the sight stopped her in her tracks. He was covered in blood. For the moment the smell didn't rouse her beast. She thought to herself, ‘get him into the lab. Maggie will be down here soon to take care of him.’ Pulling one of the druid’s arms over her shoulder and wrapping one arm around his waist, the pair slowly started to make their way to the lab.
The female leopard couldn’t contain her concern. “How bad is it?”
“I don't know how bad it is. I'm still tryin' to figure out what did it.” The injured man hissed.
“ Whaddya mean, WHAT did it. Don't you know?”
“I didn't even sense him. I ripped him from top to bottom and he got up. He didn't shift. He just healed and got up.” The tore still couldn’t quite believe it what happened before his eyes.
“Jesus, that doesn't sound like a were but a vamp with boosted powers. Are you sure it wasn't a vamp?” Luna’s cop training kicked in, searching for possible answers.
“I was a little busy to check for fangs.” He grimaced.
“What the hell kind of trouble were you trying to get into tonight?” The woman’s concern for her sister coming out as anger.
“We were just going to the Midnight Rodeo to dance. I'd stopped at the hotel to change. They were there when we came out. I put Maggie in the humvee and told her to lock the doors and get on the floor.” The tore tried to keep her focused on figuring out the nature of his attackers as they made their way to the lab.
“Did you notice anyone following you when you were headed to the hotel?” The cop was trying to a get a mental picture of the attack in her head.
“No. No one followed us.” He seemed sure.
Luna nodded as they reached the lab. She punched the security code for the lab then kicked the door open. The pair made their way through the door to an exam table. “Okay buddy there's no easy way to do this, hop up, and I'll help you off with the shirt and pants. I'll get you a sheet I think I know where Maggie keeps 'em.”
“So now you want to get my pants off.” He raised one eyebrow at the woman.
Rolling her eyes, she replied. “Please I've seen the whole package. I wasn't impressed then; I doubt I will be now.”
“I'll take my shirt off you go get the sheet.”
“ I'll get the sheet in a minute. I wanna make sure you don't need help while I'm off searching for the damn thing.” She couldn’t help muttering under her breath, “Stubborn man!”
Lija reached up stiffly and pulled the tee over his head. “Stubborn keeps me alive, Oya.”
Still muttering the woman added, “and celibate.”
“Yeah that too.” The Tore sighed as he lay back on the exam table.
Looking at him with a glint in her eyes, she replied,
“What! All I said was I bet.
At his disbelieving look she shrugged and went to look for the sheet.
Ignoring the woman, he closed his eyes to run the events through his head. Did he miss something? Was there someone following them?
The door came crashing open as Maggie rushed into the lab with Noah close behind.
The leopard guard growled, “Damn it, you know about entering rooms first!”
Luna could be heard yelling from the other room. “Oh can it Superman!”
Looking back at Noah, his mate added, “You know who was in here because we looked on the cameras right before we walked down.”
Coming back into the main part of the room with a folded sheet under one arm Luna looked from the pair to Lija, “Okay you stubborn ass, off with them pants now. Maggie's going to need to take a look at that wound.”
“Stubborn...uh huh.” Sitting up, the druid started to try to pull off his boots.
Relieved to see her sister, the doctor smiled weakly. “Hey Looney.” Looking over at Lija, she assessed what she would need before turning to Noah. “I'll get some supplies. Help him finish getting undressed. He'll need help with the boots.”
Noah, moving over to help take off with the boots, exchanged glances and growls with the tore. Looking over, he grumbled at his pard mate. “What are you doing here at this hour Wonder Woman?”
Putting a hand on Lija's shoulder and firmly applying pressure, Luna told him, “Lie back, ornery ass.” She spared Noah a glance. “Oh this and that.”
“He has to know every move any of us make. Don't cha Noah….Mr. Security.” The druid glared at the male guard.
Lightly slapping Lija's shoulder, she tried to keep tempers at bay. “Don't bait him. He's just concerned.”
“When it concerns my mate YES.” Noah angrily answered the other man. He made a mental note to check all the security tapes before leaving.
“She's not a fuckin' trophy you know.” The druid struck back.
Luna looked first toward Noah, “Superman, chill. You're not doing any of us any good with smothering us.” Turning back to Lija, she added, “That is just about enough out of you. Lay back and shut up.”
Noah growled low at his pard mate’s suggestion. “I'm sure you would prefer that.”
“Stupid little boy.” The druid closed his eyes. “You don't know what you have.”
Raising her voice, Luna told both men. “Children that is quiet enough out of both of you. Noah do you have those boots off yet?”
Noah dropped the boots he had just taken off the tore, his hands balling into fists.
Lija opened one eye to look at Luna. “Do you have to yell?”
The female leopard snarled at the druid, “I'm going to do more than yell in a minute.”
“Humph. Yeah.” The Tore muttered, putting an arm over his eyes. Luna ground her teeth, trying to control her rising temper.
Maggie walked back out of the supply room to see Noah about to lunge at her Druid friend. “ Noah! You've already knocked me off my feet once tonight. If it wasn’t for the connection with Luna, I would probably have broken ribs. You think you two could can it?”
The moisture in his eyes said the woman’s mate was feeling more than a bit guilty. “I said I was sorry. You know better than to get between two fighting weres anyway.”
“I don't know what Maggie sees in you.” Luna shook her head.
“Me either.” The druid sighed. “I wasn't doing a whole lot of fighting.”
Looking from Noah to Lija then over to Luna the doctor shrugged. “Sometimes love isn’t just blind, it's mentally handicapping too.”
Exasperated on Maggie's behalf, the female guard turns to her pard mate. “Noah that's no excuse. You of all people need to remember that we are constantly under scrutiny. The rest of the were community thinks we're a bunch loose cannons. You're actions tonight are not going to make us look any better.” Sighing she continued. “You know they really think that I'm just waiting to over throw Anita so I can take over the pard. They think under me that our numbers will increase to the point that we will rival the lukoi and rodere. Please Noah you need to think each and every action out to it's final conclusion before you act.”
“Look let's get this over with. I wanna get out of here.” The druid tried to get them back to the problem at hand.
Noah’s eyes flashed to gold as his temper rose. “Luna you know why I would react the way I did. Turning self righteous on me won’t solve anything!” Looking from Lija to Maggie, he growled, “Fine, tend his wounds. But my mate leaves me with ME when you're done! I'll be in the security office.”
He stormed out slamming the door as Maggie threw a beaker at him. Shattered glass flew everywhere as the doctor screamed, “MY FUCKING NAME IS NOT MY MATE!”
The Tore’s eyes flew open at the woman’s words, “Just patch me up Doc so I can go home.”
The human blushed, embarrassed, “Sorry, even I can only take so much.” She picked up disposable gloves and suturing supplies as well as sterile cloths and rubbing alcohol. “I'll get you patched up in a jiffy.”
Turning to her sister, Luna asked, “If you don't need me I'm going to see if I can talk to the idiot.”
“No Luna. I think it would be a good idea if you stayed.” The druid looked over at the leopard.
She turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “I believe I asked Maggie if she needed my help. Besides,” Looking pointedly down at his wound she added, “I'm not going to be much good any way.”
“He doesn't trust me.” The man explained.
“All the more reason I should go talk to him.” The guard held her ground.
“Fine go then.” He sighed. “Doc please hurry.”
“ Luna, Noah is not gonna listen to you right now. You will just end up fighting.” The doctor looked at her sister with concern.
“Kitten, I gotta try. He's killing us by inches. I refuse to live under lock and key.”
Shaking her head she walked over to the Tore to begin to clean the blood off his skin around the wounds with alcohol. “This may sting.”
“I think I've felt worse. It's okay I won't cry and fidget.” He added giving the doctor his best smile.
Maggie looked up at Luna. “Try if want. Don’t be surprised when you fail.” Looking back at Lija, she smiled at his reassurance. “Aren’t I the one that is supposed to comfort you? Which one did you think was the silver blade wound? We should treat it first.”
“The lower one.” He hissed as she began to work. “The wounds shouldn't be too hard to stitch.”
Sighing she moved to look at the lower wound. “It would be that one that one. Okay.” The doctor heard the door close as her sister left. She tried to focus only on the wound, making sure it was completely clean before stitching it. “I know they shouldn’t be too bad. I just don’t want to sew gravel under your skin. You were rolling around on the ground out there.”
“I remember.” He sighed as he added, “I just need a good
night’s sleep Doc.”
The woman continued to work on her friend’s wounds not daring to guess how
things were going with her sister and lover outside the door.
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Walking out of the lab and down the hall, Luna saw Noah just turning the corner. “Damn it Superman wait up! My legs aren't as long as yours.” She had to give in and run just to catch up with him. Grabbing his arm to stop his forward momentum she added, “Jesus, would you please stop. I need to talk to you.”
Noah stopped. Running his fingers through his hair, he tried to hide the hurt in his eyes. “What now Wonder Woman?”