onyx

The vans come to a stop in front of the pack hospital and warriors begin to climb out. The injured wolves are brought inside, followed by the captives. The place is flooded.

The door to the van I was inside opens. Gray sticks his head in and immediately moves to grab Cloud. The two warriors who had been sitting in the driver and passenger's seats move to help get Gaius.

I follow quickly behind them as they take him inside and he's placed on a wheel stretcher. I want to follow after but the doctors stop me.

"Move!"

"Alpha, please-"

Turning around, I see a very angry Gray arguing with one of the poor doctors. The others are wheeling Cloud away. Shaking my head, I move closer to them and place a hand on Gray's shoulder.

"Come on," I say when he looks at me.

Gray scowls and pushes me slightly before returning to glare daggers at the poor doctor. His mouth opens, probably to yell some more, when someone calls out to him.

"Gray."

Gray turns around and Luna Quinn stands there with a toddler in her arms. The toddler squirms out of her grasp and runs straight towards Gray who immediately scoops her up.

"Daddy!"

A small smile makes its way to Gray's face before it disappears and he glances in the direction of where the doctors took Cloud.

"Come on," the luna urges. "Let them do their job."

With a frown, Gray allows the luna to lead him away. Shaking my head, I look around and spot Novak pacing. Making my way towards him, he stops when he sees me.

"How is he?" I ask.

Novak lets out a humorless laugh. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about Gaius. Seeing how different he looked earlier scared me and now that we're back home and it's actually sunken in, I'm worried that they're not going to be able to help him.

But I'm not the only one struggling.

Maybe it's a way to keep myself from worrying, but focusing on others is the only thing keeping me going right now.

"He should be okay," Novak says quietly. "It's just...seeing him on the floor..." his head drops. "I wish I could've been there for him."

"But you're here now," I tell him. "Don't beat yourself up over the past."

Novak nods and the two of us sit in silence for a minute. Part of me feels guilty knowing that Everest got hurt because of me.

"Take your own advice," Novak suddenly says. "Your face screams 'guilty'," my face heats up at that and Novak turns to me. "Neither Everest nor I blame you, Onyx. Just remember that."

I open my mouth to say something, but a growl from down the hallway has me stopping. My snaps turns in the direction before Gray's eyes catch mine.

It's Gaius' growl.

Before anyone can stop me, I'm already halfway down the hallway and Gray's close behind me. When we get there, Gaius is still in wolf form, his eyes are still a deep red and his teeth are bared. The doctors are trying to restrain him while he's trying to bite their heads off it seems.

Gray moves to help them while I move to Gaius' side. I try to reach out to him, but I'm pulled back just as he moves to try and bite my hand.

Another doctor enters the room and they inject him with something. He continues to fight for a second before his movements become sluggish and he passes out again.

"Please give us the room," one of the doctors tell Gray and I, but my attention is still on Gaius.

What did they do to him?

"Onyx, come on," Gray orders.

Gray grips my arm and pulls me towards the door. I follow him, but I look back one more time before the door closes in our faces.

Gaius.

Gray continues to lead me down the hall until we're outside of the hospital. He leans up against the wall and turns to me.

"You okay?"

I nod slowly but I'm not one-hundred percent sure I really am.

"This is all your fault!" Someone shouts just as the councilors come into view.

Foster is walking with them as they drag Michael and Dexter away.

"My fault?!" Michael scoffs. "If you weren't so fucking useless, we wouldn't be here! Of all the mates I could've gotten, it had to be you!"

"Useless? I didn't see you going out of your way to catch the beta or any of your other subjects for that matter! And yes it's your fault, if you didn't rush the fucking process, he would've been perfect!"

Gray rolls his eyes and moves towards the councilors to presumably try and quiet them down.

"And why didn't that bitch get captured too?!" Dexter yells.

My brows furrow. Who is he talking about?

Before I can contemplate it anymore, someone bumps into me and I see Councilman Steele emerge from within the hospital. He takes one look at Dexter and Michael before annoyance takes over his face.

"Get rid of two idiots, get two more," he shakes his head.

"Are Gaius and I those idiots?" I ask with a small smile.

The councilman blinks as if he's just now seeing me and rolls his eyes. "Who else would they be?"

I shake my head and turn to him. "You know, you might be an asshat but you weren't that bad, Councilor."

He rolls his eyes at this. "I was willing to let you he killed at one point."

My brows furrow. "I don't remember that."

For the first time since he's been here, Councilman Steele lets out a laugh. My eyes widen and I stare at him in shock.

"What?"

"I didn't think you knew how to laugh, or smile for that matter," I tell him honestly.

He rolls his eyes. "I'm not a robot."

I shake my head. "No, it just seems like you always..." I trail off.

"Always?" He raises a brow.

"Always have a stick up your ass."

The councilman glares at me before he begins to move towards the other councilors.

"I'll miss you, Councilman!" I call out in a teasing voice.

"Fuck you!" He yells back. "And don't forget you still have a trial to attend!"

Trial?

The councilors load Michael and Dexter into the van and they exchange words with Gray and Foster before three of them climb inside and the others shift into their wolves and surround the van. They start up the car and begin to drive off. I make my way up to Gray and tap his shoulder.

"What did the councilman mean by 'I still have a trial to attend?'"

Gray's blue eyes widen slightly before he shakes his head. "It was before you shifted. Don't worry about it, I doubt they'll still go through after everything that's happened."

I nod slowly before turning back to the hospital.

"So much has happened and I'm still going to have to come back here," Foster shakes his head as he stares at the hospital.

"The price of getting your mate pregnant," Gray tells him.

Foster rolls his eyes and the three of us make our way back inside to wait for the Doctors. Novak is still there when we come in, and I gesture him to come and sit beside me. The four of us stay like that for what feels like hours; just talking to distract each other.

Eventually Foster and Gray leave to do paperwork and check on everyone. Novak eyes me as I stare down the hall where Gaius is being kept.

"He's going to be okay," he tells me.

"How can you be so sure?" I ask and Novak grins.

"You'll be by his side. Just like he was for you."