Twisted Souls (Edited) 3rd Edition

Chapter 10

What happened next was something akin comedic. Each shifted pack member that wasn't dangerously wounded rounded up the teetering blinded men. Several of the motherly members, came out and helped the blinded men into truck beds. Only then did the fighters of the pack shift, clothed, and take the truckload of blind men away. Slowly, children were released to help clean up. The blood wasn't something anyone could hide from them, since they had two spirits themselves and could smell the metallic stench.

Jazzy appeared next to Ian with clothes for him and for Kaya, who were still unconscious. Their eyes met when the once chained man moved in his sleep. "Who is that?" Jaz asked her brother as she pulled the shapeless dress over Kaya's head, weary of the girl's wounds.

"I don't know." Ian replied, now shifted back and clothed. Inside, he squirmed.

All the wounded were carried or helped back into the house; people with first aid and further doctor training attended them. Kaya was placed on a pallet and the mother of Tiny and Angie, a beautiful woman with flowing blonde hair like her children called Elise, worked quickly to bandage the deep cuts and staunch the blood while Ian supervised.

"Ian, if you don't stop breathing down my neck, I will put your whole head in a cast while you sleep, you fool." Elise muttered as she piled her patients' long hair into a net to keep loose strands from getting into the open wounds. "What in the hell was she thinking, fighting like that?"

Ian shrugged.

"Well, you will be glad to know," She grunted, cutting off her words as she lifted one of Kaya's shoulders, then started where she left off, "only one of her wounds will most likely scar. Everything else is superficial, not even cutting the skin all the way." The cut on the girls' shoulder blade was stitched up and bandaged. "I'm off, Ian. She should wake up in a couple of hours. Maybe."

"Maybe?" Ian intoned, not liking that word.

Elise looked at her leader for a moment, trying to find a way to ease the subject out. Sighing, the doctor walked to the door and stopped, peering back at the worried friend of hers. He was a great man, having taken in her and her children when her mate was murdered in the city three years ago. His heart was large enough to love everyone, even those who faulted him. But the man was too stubborn to admit it, and pulled off a cocky, indifferent attitude that was easy for her to see through. Her thoughts shifted to his mate. Mind made up; Elise looked down at the sleeping form of her savior's mate. The girl's mouth opened, and a soft snuffling snore filled the silence in the room.

"I've never seen anyone do what she did with that man. The heat they emitted could have pushed her into a coma for all I know." Turning back around, she said, "You'll just have to wait and see, Ian," and left.

Never had the cabin been so quiet. Conversation was not something anyone wanted to take part in. So, silence held reign as the sun crested its zenith. Injured were patched up, eating food the kitchen was upchucking like a restaurant had magically situated itself within the four walls. The warming air didn't hold promise of a comfortable afternoon watching children frolic and drinking alcohol to celebrate the nearing end of summer.

While the wind picked up speed, blowing leaves through the open door and around the cabin, no one moved to close the screen or shut the house up. Ian was sitting, stiff in his perch, on a stool at the breakfast bar. Jazzy was stirring a pot lazily, staring down in the red soup, mesmerized by the smooth circling motions. Ameli came over and moved her sister-in-law out of the way. "You aren't doing much help there, Jaz. Why don't you get sit down next to Ian?" Jaz didn't reply, doing what she was told. Miguel frowned at his younger sister, concerned, but he rolled out the dough for fresh bread he was kneading without making a move to go over to his siblings.