Luke's Surprise (15 page)

“Good to meet you, Mark.”
The doctor extended his hand.

Mark shook but he wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries.

“How is Luke?” he asked. It felt like he’d been asking the question all night and now he was finally going to find out the answer. He sucked in a long breath and waited for the doctor’s response.

Doc Browning smiled warmly at Mark. The small gesture alone undid most of the knots in Mark’s stomach and he let out the breath he’d been holding.

“Luke’s going to be just fine. The x-ray confirmed my suspicions that the pellets missed his major organs, but he did lose a lot of blood. I was worried about that at first and of course Luke did lose consciousness a few times. But wolves have great healing abilities and already Luke’s wounds are starting to look better. His breathing and heart rate are almost back to normal too. I had to put a few stitches in his chest to close the wound initially, but if he’s lucky they won’t scar. It looks like he’s going to wake up soon.”

Mark felt as though he could breathe properly for the first time all night. He could do nothing to prevent the relieved tears from rolling down his face.

“Thank you, Doctor. You don’t know what that means to me.”

“Oh, I think I have an idea,” Doc said with a wink.

“Can I see him now?”

“Of course, although hospital rules,” Doc Browning said, looking between Mark and
Kelan
, “say only one visitor at a time, I’m afraid.”

Kelan
clapped his hand on Mark’s back.

“You go on ahead. Now that I know Luke is going to be okay, there are a few phone calls I need to make.”

“Thank you,” Mark breathed.

Doctor Browning and
Kelan
walked together down the corridor, leaving Mark alone outside Luke’s room. Mark took a couple of deep breaths and with trembling hands pushed open the door.

As he entered the room, Mark’s breath caught in his chest when he got his first look at his mate lying in bed. Luke was hooked up to a heart monitor that bleeped ominously in the background. The sound sent chills through Mark’s entire body.

Luke’s complexion was ghostly white. His eyes were closed and his body was still. He looked incredibly small and frail lying there
like
that. Mark crossed the room and took a seat in the chair next to Luke’s bed. He reached over and took hold of Luke’s hand, gently stroking his fingers over Luke’s palm.

“I was so worried about you, baby,” Mark said quietly. “I thought I’d lost you. Don’t ever do that to me again, okay?”

Mark wasn’t sure how long he sat that way but he was so engrossed in his thoughts, he nearly jumped out of his seat when Luke’s fingers twitched under his hand and his eyelids began to flutter.

“Luke? Luke can you hear me?”

Luke opened his eyes a little and frowned at the bright light. He tilted his head to the side and saw Mark next to him, looking at him expectantly. He wasn’t sure where he was exactly, but he remembered he had to tell Mark something.

“Don’t leave me,” he rasped.

His throat felt like sandpaper and the words hurt as he choked them out, but he had to say them before he fell asleep. He was so tired.

Mark didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. All he knew in that moment was that he could never leave the man lying in the bed in front of him. His heart couldn’t take it. Mark got up and leaned over Luke to place a soft kiss on his forehead.

“Never,” Mark said resolutely. “You’re my world.”

A faint smile ghosted over Luke’s face as his eyes fluttered shut and a soft snore broke free from his lips.

Chapter Nine

Luke couldn’t believe the number of well wishers that stopped by the hospital to see him in the few days he had to remain there. He was both shocked and extremely delighted to hear Cody had finally found his mate. Luke couldn’t be happier for his brother. Mark had told him that Cody and his mate had called to see him the night of the shooting, but Luke had been so out of it that night, he couldn’t remember seeing anyone except for Mark.

Sheriff Ferguson had taken a statement from Luke informing him he had no news on Ethan’s whereabouts. Luke had stiffened each time the sheriff mentioned Ethan’s name but through it all, Mark remained at his side, clutching his hand tightly in his own.

* * * *

The night before Luke was due to be released,
Kelan
came to visit. Mark was lying on the small bed with Luke, arms wrapped around his mate, engrossed in their first passionate kiss since the shooting. When he heard a throat being cleared in the room, he broke away from Luke reluctantly.

“Jeez, do you guys ever come up for air?”
Kelan
asked around a grin.

Mark chuckled when he noticed Luke’s face fill with colour. He was indescribably happy that he still got to witness that charming trait of Luke’s.

“Any news?”
Mark asked after
Kelan
had taken a seat in the chair Mark had rarely vacated since the night of the shooting.

“None, I’m afraid. We still haven’t found Ethan. I took my betas over to Joe’s place, but it seems he’s run out on his parents. They were as shocked as could be when they heard about everything Ethan has been up to. I don’t much like Joe, but I still didn’t take any pleasure telling them Ethan tried to kill Luke. Don’t think he even believed me at first until the police showed up and confirmed what I’d said. Course, telling them he was gay was another matter—man went so red I thought his head would explode. After everything he’s said about our family,
that
I enjoyed.”

“What about Gus and Jacob?” Mark asked, swallowing down the anger he felt towards all three men.

“No word on those two either. Joe hadn’t even heard of them. I’ve been asking around trying to find out some information on them but nobody seems to know anything about them.”

Mark frowned. “We have to find them,
Kelan
. Luke’s not safe until we do.”

“I know. We’ll get them.”

Luke had remained silent throughout the conversation between his brother and his mate. When they had finished talking he sat up in the bed and voiced his opinion.

“I think I have an idea on that.”

“You know where they’re from?”
Kelan
asked.

“Not exactly but one of the many times Ethan was pestering me to go out with him, he talked about this bar out of town. Jackson’s, I think it was called. He kept trying to get me to go with him. Anyway, he said it was full of wolves from all over so it was a great place to meet new friends. From what I could gather, it is some sort of gay friendly place. It’s not much, I know, but it may be a good place to start looking. Ethan said he went there a lot.”

“I know the place,”
Kelan
said, nodding his thoughtfully.
“Haven’t been there for years myself.
Stopped going around the time the bar was sold. The new owners practically ran the place into the ground. Let all sorts of undesirables in. There was trouble there nearly every night.”

“Then it sounds like the perfect place to look,” Mark said.

“Yeah, I think you might be right,”
Kelan
replied, “I’ll check it out.”

“I want to come with you,” Mark said quickly.

“What?” Luke gasped.

Luke’s quick intake of air caused a coughing fit which left him clasping his chest in pain. Mark rubbed soothing circles on his back.

“Breathe baby, breathe, that’s it.”

Mark reached for a glass of water and handed it to Luke. When Luke finally stopped coughing, he took a sip of the water before turning to glare at Mark.

“Are you out of your mind? You’re not going.
Nuh
uh, no way,” Luke said petulantly.

“I want to help catch them, Luke,” Mark implored. “I have to do what I can to protect you, and you’re not safe until Ethan and those degenerates he’s rolling around with are behind bars.”

“For what it’s worth,”
Kelan
said, “I happen to agree with Luke on this one. I don’t think you should come, Mark. Besides, you just said yourself Luke isn’t safe until they’re caught, so I think the best thing you can do is stay here to help protect Luke.”

Mark frowned. He wasn’t happy with the situation but he knew they were both right. He’d never forgive himself if something else happened to Luke and he wasn’t there to protect him.

“I guess you’re right,” he conceded.

Kelan
grinned. “Always am.”

* * * *

The following day, Luke was released from the hospital. Doctor Browning had made sure only himself or one of the other wolves on duty changed Luke’s bandages. That way no suspicions would be aroused about Luke’s super fast healing ability. The scars on Luke’s back and chest were nearly gone, but it was the mental scars that Mark was most worried about.

Luke stiffened every time Ethan’s name was mentioned and he jumped every time the door to his room was pushed open in haste. Luke kept denying that anything was wrong, but Mark could tell by the tight set of his mate’s shoulders and his skittish behaviour that Luke was afraid Ethan might make an appearance.

Cody had wanted to arrange a welcome home party for Luke but Mark had luckily been able to dissuade him. Mark couldn’t think of anything worse for Luke than a bunch of people jumping out to say surprise. It seemed he was the only one aware of the change in Luke’s demeanour.

“Watch your step, baby,” Mark said, helping Luke up the stairs to the porch in front of their house.

“I’m not an invalid you know,” Luke huffed. “I was shot in the chest, not in the leg. Besides, I’m fine now, it’s healed perfectly well.”

“I don’t care. I intend to wrap you in cotton wool for the next, oh, fifty years or so.” Mark ushered Luke through the front door to the ranch.

Luke rolled his eyes but his mouth curled up into a small smile. Mark was sure Luke had no idea Mark was distracting him so that Luke wouldn’t look at the place he’d been shot and get upset again. Mark had a hard time looking at the spot himself. The anger within him grew every time he entered or left the house. The more time that passed without finding Ethan, the more anxious he became.

Mark was of a mind to pay a visit to Jackson’s himself, even though he’d made a promise to
Kelan
he’d stay clear of the place. He was not the type to disobey his alpha, but the sitting around waiting for something to happen was killing him. He wanted to be doing something to help with the search, but at the same time he was afraid to leave Luke’s side. He’d never felt so torn.

* * * *

Luke hadn’t been left alone for a single minute in the week after his return home from hospital. He knew Mark and his brothers meant well, but he was beginning to feel smothered by their constant attention.

He’d tried to sneak out once to go to the store in town, but he only made it halfway to the truck before Mark was at his side, demanding to know where he was going. Even though he was now fully healed, his family still treated him as though he were fragile. He was tired of it. After the seventh day of walking around the house with a shadow, Luke finally lost it.

“I don’t need you to carry my damn plate for me,” Luke snapped, getting up from the table after lunch one day.

“I was only trying to be helpful,” Mark mumbled.

“Well don’t. I’m sick of it.”

Mark looked silently at Luke for a moment then turned on his heel and left the kitchen. Luke sighed and set the plate down on the counter top. He hadn’t meant to shout at Mark but he just wished the man would stop trying to do everything for him.

“There’s no need to snap at him,”
Kelan
said sternly, picking up his plate and carrying it to the sink.

“Don’t tell me how to run my damn relationship,
Kelan
,” Luke seethed.

“The man’s worried about you, Luke. We all are.”

Luke’s shoulders slumped. Now he was snapping at his brother too when neither man had done anything to warrant his wrath.

“I know, I’m sorry.
I didn’t mean to snap. I just feel so helpless. And y’all trying to do everything for me
is
not making it any easier.”

Kelan
shrugged his shoulders. “It’s not me you need to be apologising to.”

“You’re right, but I’m sorry anyhow.”

Luke left the dishes where they sat and went in search of his mate. He found Mark in the stables, grooming Misty.

“I’m sorry,” Luke said as soon as he entered the stall.

“’S okay.”

“No, it’s not. I know you’re all trying to help me, but I’m fine, really. I just want things to get back to normal around here.”

Mark put down the brush and wrapped his arms around his mate.

“I know, Luke, but until we catch Ethan that’s not going to happen.”