Free Slate's Mistake by Tigertalez

while Tom made the calls.
Connie and Gale surprised him by going straight to work. They both assisted
Seamus while he and Tom started sifting through the bodies and debris, securing
the survivors.

Chapter Six
     
    Katie nearly gave in to the mating pull when Slate had
picked her up for their date, and again when he was naked, after running those
thugs off. That was why she chose not to stay at the house. Making that choice
had been brutal on her. There was no doubting whose side her dad and sister
were on. Twice, she was reminded how fortunate finding one’s mate was, by her
dad. He had always been open in telling them how much he himself longed for his
mate. And once she got home, her sister told her that even though she was
really young, no matter what phase of life she would find herself in, she herself
would drop everything for her mate. It just meant that much to them. Katie couldn’t
blame them. If you think about it, really what would anyone do to have their
soul-mate?
    Katie didn’t think she could fight it much longer. It was
so painful pushing away someone you already wanted to spend your life with, but
she kept holding on to the argument that she didn’t want to endanger him if she
couldn’t be healed.
    Shortly after she gone to bed her dad knocked on her
door, waking her.
    “Katie, wake up.”
    “What is it?”
    “Tom called. The alpha house was
attacked, and there are injured. Slate’s one of them.”
    Katie’s eyes felt like someone threw sand in them and
her body was heavy with fatigue, but hearing her mate was injured, her heart
raced with near panic. She staggered to her feet and hastily dressed and
climbed into the passenger seat of her dad’s pickup. The truck bounced and
rocked over the potholes, so she held tight to the seatbelt around the corners.
Her dad wasn’t driving slowly, but it was still slower then she would have
wanted. Her sister, Sara, sat in the middle, and they were all silent as the
characteristic rattle of a diesel engine droned through the cab.
    Katie worried about Slate, and she felt an over whelming
need to get to him and care for him. Damn
mating pull! She needed her concentration, but it had been constantly
botching her self-control.
    As they pulled up to the house, she could clearly see
some of the damage from the invasion. Windows were shattered, leaving some
shards still jagged in the sills. The white door lay splintered and broken in
the entryway leaving a clear view into the mess of the home, hinting at the
violence that had taken place. She had already reached the entryway and was
looking in to the lit space before she even registered that she had left the
truck. Bodies and blood were strewn everywhere, adding a metallic odor to the
smell of smoke.
    Debris crunched under her feet when she carefully made
her way over the slick surface as she entered the home. She didn’t want anyone
to mistake her for another attacker, so she tried to announce herself while she
headed toward the doctor’s room. “Anyone here?”
    Gale appeared by her side and gave her a worried look.
Katie stared at the thick layer of blood that coated Gale’s hands and went
clear up to her elbows. Blood smudged her attire in various quantities over
much of her legs and chest. “Hi, Katie, you’re a nurse, right?”
    Katie hesitated before she responded. She wanted to
first go to her mate and check on him and hold his hand, or something, just to
reassure herself that he was ok, but the atmosphere triggered her nursing
instincts and she knew she needed to prioritize life over her own assurances.
“Yes, where do you need me?”
    “Seamus asked for you to join him as soon as you
arrived. He’s in the medical room.”
    Katie carefully made her way to the room. She hardly
noticed the blood that painted the walls as she made her way down the hall to
said room. Wrapping her hand around the knob, she took a steadying breath then
twisted it and walked in.
    The air whooshed painfully from her lungs at