Free Violet (The Silver Series Book 4) by Cheree Alsop Page A

half-circle around us. Kaynan
approached slowly, his gaze wary, but the wolves made no move to
stop him. Jaze followed with Nikki, his girlfriend. Jet, their
dark-haired, silent friend, came close behind with his girlfriend
Taye who carried bandages and wraps. They greeted me warmly,
something I felt I didn't deserve after leaving so abruptly.
    “ He's real bad. A cougar
attacked me and he saved my life,” I explained quickly.
    Taye and Jaze knelt by Rafe. Taye lifted the
backpack slowly and Rafe groaned but didn't open his eyes. Taye
looked up at Kaynan and Jet. “He's in bad shape.” She met my eyes
and said honestly, “I've never seen a werewolf recover from wounds
like these. He'll be lucky if he makes it to Meg's.”
    “ Roger, Charles, and Dr.
Benjamin will be waiting for us,” Kaynan said, helping me stand up
while the others slid Rafe onto a blanket and lifted him. “If
anyone can save him, they can.” His gaze slid to the form of the
cougar lying a few feet away. “That’s what did it?”
    I nodded. “The cougar attacked me and Rafe
saved my life. I had to kill it to get it to let him go.”
    My brother opened his mouth to say
something, then shut it again and shook his head. He kept an arm
around my waist and guided me to the helicopter. “I can walk,” I
protested.
    He gave me a serious glance. “Have you
looked in a mirror lately? You look ready to drop dead from
exhaustion, there's dried blood in your hair, and your clothes
smell like they're growing their own forest. You can use a little
help.”
    Nikki climbed into the helicopter first,
then took the corners of Rafe's blanket along with a scrawny,
brown-haired werewolf I hadn't met before. After they had Rafe
settled as comfortably as possible on the floor, the pilot
maneuvered the chopper away from the trees. I had one last glimpse
of the wolf pack before they were lost beneath the branches and
pines I had come to think of as home. I sat down next to Rafe and
ran a hand gently along the soft fur at the top of his head while
the others sat around him and on the other seats.
    “ Take us straight to
Roger's,” Jaze said into his headset. The pilot nodded and the
scrawny werewolf named Mouse gave Jaze a thumb’s up from the
copilot seat.
    No one spoke above the pounding of the
blades. Nikki and Taye wrapped new bandages over the makeshift
clothing I had used, but other than that, there was nothing they
could do until we reached the others.
    Rafe didn't move the whole trip home. We
landed in an empty parking lot about a block from Meg and Roger’s
as the sun was starting to rise. Jaze’s neighbors barely waited for
the skids to touch the ground before opening the door. The others
hurried around and carried Rafe straight to the house. I followed
them through a living room, down a hallway, and into a small
operating room that looked like it had once been a garage. They set
Rafe on a stainless steel table and two other men came from the
hallway.
    “ Colleen, this is Charles
and Dr. Benjamin. Charles is a veterinarian who has treated
werewolves, and Dr. Benjamin helps us out on serious cases at the
hospital,” Jaze explained quickly.
    Charles gave me a warm smile. “He's in good
hands,” he reassured me.
    “ I don't know if I'll be of
any help here,” Dr. Benjamin said. He cast a quick glance Jet's way
and I know I didn't imagine the bone-chilling look the werewolf
threw him back. Dr. Benjamin turned to Jaze. “I didn't realize he'd
be in wolf form.”
    “ We thought it best that he
stay that way so that he didn't do more harm to himself phasing,”
Taye put in before I could say anything. I threw her a grateful
smile and the doctor turned away grumbling about treating an
animal.
    Meg lifted the backpack gently from Rafe's
stomach, then cut the clothes I had wrapped around him. She gasped
when the makeshift bandages parted to reveal his stomach organs
partially obscured by torn skin and blood-caked fur. Dr. Benjamin
quit complaining and began