Trinity: Heart of the Shifters (7 page)

He was not sure who the Gods had picked out for him. A man, a woman, he did not care. All he wanted was to find his mate. He had been alone for too long. Lagon found he had a romantic nature. He loved to take care of the people he had short relationships with. He would give them small gifts and pamper them, male or woman, all of them seemed to enjoy it. He looked forward to the day he would be able to pamper his mate.

He would make sure they wanted for nothing.

Pushing through the rubble, he found the man who lay closest to the woman he pulled out just moments ago. He was pinned also; hell, anyone in here would be pinned by something. He looked around and saw that some men were attempting to come in and help find people. He would have to be careful, although they could not see him, a floating board or two would raise some eyes. So he bent down, pulled the man from under the pile, and laid him in the direct path of one of the men who were getting close.

He heard him call to the others that he had found someone, good, that would bring more men here; Lagon could see a few more people lying in the debris.

He did the same thing for them as he did for the other man. He pulled them to a place that they would be in the path of the men coming to rescue them. Lagon was used to not taking credit for the things he did. When the Gods explained to him that he would be invisible, he wanted to see how it would work. Of course, over the years he found out that if humans could not explain something, they put it off to their mind playing tricks on them in high stress situation. The funniest had been when a car full of teenagers thought it would be a good idea to race down the curvy mountain road across from his cave.

He watched while they tried to make the hairpin turns with their inexperience, until one of the cars had begun to lose control. There were no barriers on the mountain road so if they had gone off the side they would have died. Lagon had flown quickly over and caught the out of control car as the front end had left the gravel. The kids inside had been terrified as well as the other car that pulled over to the side when they realized what had happened. Unfortunately, Lagon had not been able to push the car fast enough backward for no one to notice. The kids had been screaming and freaking out until they felt him lift the car backward. When they were safely on the side of the road, once again the teens had been shaken. But not enough to actually dismiss what they felt. The next day Lagon had gone and got a local paper whose headlines talked about the miracle on the mountain. He had laughed for days about the teen"s account of what had happened.

Of course, the Gods had chastised him. Then warned once again not to make his presence known until the time was right. Lagon lived in the cave for decades, with nothing to do but collect things and watch the humans. He had quite a collection of gold and jewels that he found over the years in the caves. Every once in a while, he would take a nugget in and get some cash, update his wardrobe and buy a few more of his trinkets that he loved. Yes, he was strange; he liked to collect pewter dragons. There was a man in Colorado who made beautiful pewter statues. His favorite had become the dragons. One of them resembled him in his dragon form. That was probably what drew him to them in the first place. He hoped the Chosen would give him enough space to bring his possessions. If they didn"t, he could always scare the shit out of them until they agreed. He knew once he revealed himself to them, they would be frightened at first.

Lagon walked through the fire and began to see more seriously injured shifters. He frowned, pulling them out and leaving them for the others to find may not be possible.

They looked like they could actually die if he did not get them out of here. He stood there for a moment and then finally decided he had no choice, their lives were in danger, and one of them could be one of Chosen.

Quickly Lagon pulled two men who were closest to him out. They had burns and broken bones. Obviously, they were in need of immediate care. Shifters could heal quickly but serious injuries took a lot longer to bounce back from. Lagon spread his wings and flew straight up. Hoping no one was watching. He landed on the far side of the house and looked around. No one was there so he laid the men down and went back. Once he had the people out, he would shift and call for help.

***

Ariel blew the hair out of her eyes as she looked around the triage center they had made.

The injuries varied from serious to critical. She was not sure what they were going to do since the town doctor laid a few feet away unconscious with broken legs. Until she shifted she was useless, and even then, it would take days for her to heal properly.

Blaine and Lacy"s mothers had training and were helping although they were understandably upset when Lacy was pulled out of the rubble and Blaine remained missing.

Casey was delirious. She kept talking about a beautiful dragon that saved her, and giggled when she said he was well hung too. Sid and Devon had been rescued and were lying on cots on either side of her. At least they were conscious. Casey had fallen on the bed she had been laying on which had protected her somewhat. The beam that landed on her legs though had broken her thigh bone. She was given an epidural to help. That had been interesting when Lacy"s mother had claimed to know how to do it somewhat.

Casey had freaked out and refused to let the woman near her. That is until she moved her leg during a contraction. Thank the Gods Adele had been teasing her; she explained she learned how to give an epidural during her acupuncture training. No one had found that funny.

Sid and Devon both had various broken bones and head injuries so they were unable to actually help her. But they were awake and able to talk and encourage her. Hell, she was having a baby in the middle of a fucking parking lot on a cot. Ariel did not know how much the encouragement helped.

Jordan had been critically injured. Since she was the only human that was in the room at the time, she had been the one who had received the most care. She was currently at the clinic that Cloe had with the nurses and PA"s on staff. She was undergoing a litany of tests. Ariel knew a little about her rift with her parents, but she still called them. The wolves had been beside themselves with grief and had taken the first plane out to get here. She hoped they arrived soon.

Ryan and she had taken over leadership for the meantime, and so far, no one had questioned that. But they were cats in a dog pound and sooner or later, they were going to have a few issues.

Ariel looked around for her husband, they had still not found Blaze, and he was getting more and more worried. The places they had not been able to get to were where the worst damage was. Anyone who had been that close to the blast was going to have serious injuries. She could not think about that right now, she needed to focus on taking care of the people that were here.

Ariel walked over to the small female Alpha, Cami, her mates were among the missing also. She leaned down and checked the IV that was hooked up. Cami began to stir and Ariel began to hope that she was coming out of it. From what they could see, she had a broken arm and leg on the right side of her body. It had to be how she landed. Probably had a few broken ribs on that side too, but until they X-Rayed her, they would not know.

She was next on the list to go to the clinic. Ariel knew the wolves wanted at least one of their Alphas to live.

Cami groaned and raised her hand to her head. “What the fuck just happened? I feel like I have a six day hangover and was hit by a bus.” Ariel didn"t want to because the seriousness of the situation but she chuckled. “Cami, its Ariel. You have been in an explosion.” She said calmly.

Cami"s eyes popped open and she tried to sit up. “Where are my kids and my mates?” She cried out and then sank back from the pain.

Ariel paused for a minute, how did you tell a powerful wolf that she had no idea where her family was in this devastation without getting her head ripped off her body? It was going to be a difficult discussion to say the least. “Cami, right now, we are not sure where they are. We have every wolf, cat, bear, and bird looking for them. The wing the babies were in was not damaged but we are unable to reach the floor they were on. Ryan is looking for your mates right now. Do you know where they were when the explosion happened?”

Cami laid there stunned. “Explosion? Shit, Casey! Jo! Where the hell is everyone?”

“We are still getting people out. Casey and her mates are over there. Jo is right next to you. Tey is still missing. We are trying. Do you know where they were when the explosion happened?” Ariel asked again.

“Uhh, most everyone was in the birthing room. The babies were in the nursery. Shit, why can"t I think? I was going to find Quin and Jaden when I felt the ground shake.

They would have wanted to be there for the birth. I think they were down in the security room. Blaine was with them. Trinity and her parents, Oliver, Spencer and one of your cats were in the meeting room on the other side of the security room.” Cami said and grimaced again.

“Trinity?” Ariel said and frowned. She would have remembered someone by that name, it was pretty. In fact, it was one of the names she had picked out for when she and Ryan had a child.

“She is one of the Chosen. Came this morning with her parents. Long story.” Cami muttered and then looked to the side to her best friend who was still not awake. “Jo?

How bad is she?”

Ariel looked at the other woman and frowned. “We aren"t sure; most of you have at least one broken bone, and a few burns. Jo has a leg broken like you. We aren"t sure about the rest. We are waiting for the nurses to move you to the clinic. Jordan is in there now, she is critical.”

Cami turned to her quickly again. “Oh shit, I forgot about Jordan, she"s human. How bad is it?”

“Internal bleeding, burns, I"m not sure what else.” Ariel said sadly.

Cami closed her eyes and finally the reality hit her and she began to sob. Ariel bent down, took her good hand, and squeezed. “We will make it through.” She whispered.

“You are the only Alpha right now, you have to be strong.” Cami nodded through her pain and then opened her eyes. “Who is in charge right now?”

“Ryan and I are the highest ranking shifters in the compound. We have locked it down completely, no one in or out. Guards are posted all around. And we have the people who were in the compound at the time of the explosion helping with rescue. We can"t call in the humans. Right now we don"t know who to trust.” Ariel said.

Cami nodded and then said, “Call this number. 555-225-5421. Ask for Big dog.” Cami said and then held up her hand weakly when she saw the smirk on the cat"s face. “Yeah, yeah, heard them all. Jaden thought it would be funny.” Cami said and then tears gathered again in her eyes. “They will know what to do. It"s the rest of the Denver Pack; the guards will allow them in. We have to find the children. Send Shane up to the nursery, he is an eagle shifter. Call the clinic and tell them they are going to have to get Casey out of here soon.” Cami said and looked at her friend who was panting and sweating. “She can"t have the babies in the fucking parking lot.” Ariel nodded and rose up with the walkie-talkie and began relaying Cami"s orders. They listened while everyone responded. People were beginning to move faster when they realized their Alpha was awake. She was small, but held a lot of power. She also held the hearts and admiration of all of her Pack.

“We need a list. I need to know who is where. The Chosen and their mates need to be taken to one spot. I don"t care if it is the clinic or one of the houses. It may be best to use the Bed and Breakfast. Just get people moving us. We can"t be exposed and out in the open much longer. This had to be Braden"s handy work, the little pecker. When I get my hands on him I am gonna twist his nuts off! Next, call the closest shifter communities. We need reinforcements. There is a Pack in Wyoming and a small den of bears in the mountains.” Cami"s voice began to get stronger. The Alpha was finally getting herself together. Ariel was glad; she would play second fiddle to her any day of the week and twice on Sundays, she thought and looked around at the people who were working. Ryan and she were going to have a nice long talk when all of this was over.

Their Pride may be in for a move. She was not leaving Jordan and Blaze here with so much going on.

Ariel took all the instructions and then walked quickly to make sure they were carried out. Adele and Blaine"s mother had things under control for now. She stopped to check on Casey and smiled when she saw that her mates had moved themselves around so that they were helping her as much as they could. A nurse came bustling to the cots and said that Casey was being moved immediately to the clinic. Ariel smiled. When Cami said jump, everyone asked how high. It was great. Ariel could learn a lot from this female.

Chapter 7

Braden finally reached the Rogue headquarters. He entered the place smiling and Roarke rushed up to greet him. “Master, I have just arrived myself. We have all the scanners and radio working so we can tell what is going on.” He said quickly and then looked around the room and pointed to the men who were hunched over computers and radios. “We will have reports soon.”

Braden frowned and said, “I want them now. It has been at least an hour and a half since the explosion. Things should be coming in; at least they should know if people are dead or not.”

Braden thought the whole way down here. If he managed to take out the Alphas with this blast, it would make their jobs so much easier. Quin and Jaden were in the security room when the blast went off. He heard them. Now he just had to wait for the confirmation. The rest of the Chosen would be injured or worse, he could easily step in and become the new Alpha, none of the Chosen would be in any condition to challenge him. In fact, even if Quin lived, Braden could challenge him and he would win. An Alpha could not refuse a challenge. It was one of the oldest laws on the books. He should have killed Oliver years ago and been done with it.

Braden often thought maybe he over planned for the situation. If he had killed Oliver years ago, the New Council would never have been formed. But, he had not wanted to look like the asshole he knew he was. Some of the shifters were going to have to be taught a lesson about loyalty and obedience. But he would do that behind closed doors.