When last we left our young friends, they were in the parking lot of Lija’s hotel. Maggie was locked in his Humvee and he had just tossed off the second of his three attackers. Maggie had moved to unlock the car door, wanting to help her friend….

 

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 Hearing the passenger door unlock Lija turned around forgetting about the third man. “Maggie stay in the car!”

 

The young doctor relocked the door at his insistence and watched in horror as the third man approached him. She tried to scream. “Watch out behind you!”

.

Seeing the fear in her eyes, the druid turned away from the humvee to find the third guy had closed the distance between them. Lunging the attacker threw all of his weight into the tore and they both went down rolling on the concrete. Lija could hear Maggie screaming from inside the humvee as he fought the man. He could only hope she heeded his words and stayed inside the vehicle.

 

Meanwhile inside, the woman was too terrified to move as she watched the action.

 

Rolling under the front of the humvee, the druid was trapped by the tire. That's when his assailant’s knife bit into him. All of the tore’s were sense kicked in. He rolled away from the vehicle, pulling the other man with him and managed to end up on top of him. Without thinking, Lija slashed him open.

 

There was blood everywhere, most of it the unknown man’s, but a lot of it the druid’s. The druid watched in amazement as the other man’s wounds started to knit and heal before his eyes. “What the fuck!”

 

Rising, the druid rushed to the humvee and knocked on the window.  Maggie seemed paralyzed.

 

Heart racing, the doctor was unsure what to do. She finally manage to whisper, “Lija?”

 

“Maggie. Open the door. Hurry!” His voice sounded ragged.

 

Looking from her friend to the ground, it took a moment for what he was saying to register. Once it did, she quickly unlocked the door. 

 

Getting in, he started the engine. “I don't know what ....he's....” Stunned, the tore couldn't seem to move.

 

“Lija...what's wrong?” The doctor became more panicked as she watched her friend zone out.

 

Looking over at her, the young man shook his head.  “What?” He put the humvee in gear and started to pull away. The third attacker suddenly jumped onto the hood causing both of them to jump as Maggie screamed.

 

“What is that thing?” The woman sobbed.

 

“I don't know!” The druid responded as he slammed on the accelerator and dumped the jumper, to speed out of the lot as several police cars arrived.

 

The woman looked back in surprise at the police cars as they left. “Are we gonna be in trouble?”

 

“Not if they don't catch us.” Lija muttered as he watched to for a tail.

 

The doctor bit her lip, unfamiliar with being on the wrong side of the law but trusting her friend implicitly. “Oh....Kay.”

 

“ Maggie don't worry. You didn't do anything and I was only protecting us but I have a feeling they won't find much evidence.”

 

Slumping back in the seat, the woman’s head was swimming. “No.... evidence... why?”

 

“Just call it a hunch.”  Looking down at his shirt, he added, “I think I'm gonna need stitches.”

 

Looking over at her friend, she noticed the blood and it finally registered that some of it was his.  That was enough to turn her focus away from her overwhelming fear. “Where are you hurt? How deep is the wound? Was it silver? Are you okay to drive?”

 

 Reaching over, the doctor tried to exam his wounds heedless that she might distract from his driving.

 

The tore gently pushed her hands away.  “I think that last… thing had silver. The other one, no.”

 

“Well where did that that thing stab you? I couldn’t see what was going on very well.” She reached over again trying to find his wounds.

 

“Maggie!  I need to concentrate on my driving. My vision is kind of blurry.”

 

The doctor was a bit upset when she realized she was hurting more than helping. She was also worried about what his blurred vision might mean. “I'm sorry. I just want to help.” Looking out the windshield she asked, “How far are we from the lab?”

 

“Not far. I didn't mean to yell at you.  I've never seen a were heal that quickly.”

 

She shook her head.  “It's okay. You're hurt and you were right. You do need to concentrate. Was it a were? What did you sense from it?”

 

“That's just it I didn't sense anything. Nothing.” Taking a corner way too fast, the woman fell against him. Laughing he remembered that Luna would probably shoot him for not making the young human put on her seatbelt.

 

Gasping, the doctor was afraid she had hurt her friend more until she heard his laughter. “Are we having fun now? And how could you sense nothing?”

 

“I don't know!” Realizing he snapped, he tried to calm down and repeated more gently. “I don’t know.”

Looking in the rear view mirrors, the woman tried to reassure her friend. “Well it doesn’t look like we were followed so we'll figure it out after we get you patched up.”

 

“Maggie I ripped the guy from his throat to his waist and he got up.” There was no reply to that and the next five minutes of the drive were spent in silence. Eventually they pulled into the parking lot of Jean Claude’s lair.

 

The doctor sat quietly in the car, not noticing they had arrived. The druid was apparently still trying to sort things out in his own head as he spoke aloud. “Not even the most powerful weres can do that, not without shifting and healing first. Christ. What was he?”

 

 

Looking up, the woman noticed they had arrived at the lair.  Viewing her friend’s bloody shirt, she rubbed the tears from her eyes with the back of her hands, afraid her fingertips may have touched were blood, and sighed.  “I don’t know but we need to get you patched up.”

 

Lija killed the engine and started to open his door, but it was yanked opened for him by a very pissed off Noah. The wereleopard pulled the tore out of the humvee screaming at the top of his lungs, words that the tore couldn't quite make out. Instead, he just threw up his hands. That was a bad idea because Noah took the opening to land a punch right in his gut doubling him over.

 

Maggie screamed as she saw Lija pulled out of the car by Noah.  She quickly opened her door and got out herself, yelling over his screaming. “NOAH!!! We were attacked. He's hurt. PLEASE!”

 

Sinking to his knees, the druid refused to fight back. He was getting too weak to anyway. He just let the angry leopard pound on me. Running over to the pair, Maggie tried to put herself between the two of them to stop them fighting.  “Noah you need to listen to me now!”

 

Noah, not realizing Maggie has gotten near, swung an arm out to hit Lija again and instead knocked Maggie in the stomach, throwing her off her feet.

 

Dazed and winded, the woman looked up through tear streaked eyes from Lija to Noah, “Now that we are all hurt....” She gave Noah a critical look. “Well two of us are, can we go down to the lab? Lija needs stitches and I…” coughing, she gasped for breath before continuing, “may need oxygen and a lot of Advil.”

 

Seeing Maggie go down pissed the tore off and he kicked Noah's legs out from under him. “Now we all hurt.”

 

Noah, seeing Maggie lying on the pavement, quickly allowed his anger to dissipate as it was replaced by concern for his mate.  Crawling over to her from where the damned Tore knocked him down, he asked, “Angel are you okay?  I’m so sorry.”

 

Still coughing, the woman replied, “Yeah, peachy. Lija was seriously hurt protecting me. All he had to do was hand me and his car over and he would have been let go. Would you please help him get to the lab so we can get him patched up?”

 

Standing stiffly, Lija told his friend, “I can find my own way. I'll meet you there.” He slowly walked to the entrance and disappeared through the door, leaving Maggie and Noah alone to hash things out.