Chapter 65 The dead of the night
Hands shaking and cold sweat down her spine, Serena woke up in the dead of night. The entire house was quiet, but Serena’s breathing filled her ears, along with the pounding of blood. Her heart raced in her chest, and no matter how much she tried to calm her nerves, her hands kept trembling. Something was wrong. It writhed in her gut, a warning that something bad had happened, or that something bad was coming.
Getting out of bed, Serena threw a robe on. She headed to each of the twins’ rooms to check on them. They were fast asleep in their own rooms, snoring and drooling on their pillows. Serena sighed, but she didn’t feel any relief! The knot in her stomach intensified. Checking the rest of the house, Serena made sure that the doors and windows were locked, not that she had to worry too much about crime within the pack. Still, with the attacks from Moonshine, she wondered if she was feeling some kind of residual warning to an attack, or maybe she was just anxious. She checked her cell phone and her answering machine. There were no urgent messages from the hospital that would indicate any kind of emergency. Normally,
Adriana would call the house phone because Serena kept one in her room with the ringer on so that it would wake her. A necessity in emergency situations.
Rubbing her temples, Serena did another sweep of the house. There was nothing! But the pain in her stomach and the tremors in her hands hadn’t subsided. She felt pain in her neck, lots of pain through her whole body! She didn’t understand where the pain was coming from, but it was coming and going. Clearly, it was another symptom of whatever premonition she was experiencing. Serena tried taking deep, soothing breaths, only to find her breathing labored. Shaking her head, she went to the front window in the living room. She looked out into the streets. Nothing was happening out there. The streets were empty, street lights flickering with old bulbs.
The entire territory was quiet.
Serena sighed again, trying to force herself to relax. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to get back to sleep, but she thought that if she could get her mind off what she was feeling, she could at least make the shaking stop!
Making herself some soothing tea, Serena sat down on the couch. She grabbed a book and tried reading. Every few pages, she would realize that she was stuck reading the same sentence over and over again because her mind was wandering and the feeling in her stomach hadn’t abated. Distraction wasn’t working. Gottina un again. Serena checked out the back window in the kitchen to the back yard. There was nothing out there either, no wolves moving through the trees, no animals. It was too late!
She was just about to give up and try to go back to sleep when there was a soft, timid knock on the front door. Serena knew that whoever had come calling this late couldn’t possibly be bringing good news! She turned the porch light on, hugged her robe around herself, and stepped out into the night air. Carson was standing on the porch, a somber look in his face.
The night air was crisp, but Serena felt sweat break out on her brow. Between what she was feeling and the look in Carson’s eyes, she couldn’t form words! “It is Logan,” Carson said. “Something has happened to him.” “Wh-what is wrong?” Serena asked, swallowing to unstick the thick words from her mouth.
“We don’t know,” Carson said, shaking his head. “He sent a message through the mind link. It barely came through because he was so far away.” “What was the message?” Serena asked, her whole body rigid and tense with fear.
“Rogues attacking,” Carson said shaking his head and growling in his throat. “I haven’t heard anything from him since, but a few of the patrol wolves…” he trailed off and Serena’s heartbeat was the only sound she could hear for several minutes. “Carson, tell me!” Serena demanded. The Beta nodded.
“The patrol wolves got a weak message through that Logan was injured in the fight,” he explained. “We haven’t heard anything since. No one knows where they are, and they have to be far out there.” “We have to go to him,” Serena said urgently. “I know,” Carson said. “I brought a medical truck, fully stocked and ready to go.” Serena gave a sharp nod. “Let me change and leave Dana a note,” she said. Carson nodded.
Serena hurried back inside. She went to her room and changed quickly into something she could leave the house in! She grabbed her stethoscope and a sweater. It was a chilly night! “Mommy, what’s going on?” Olivia asked, standing in Serena’s bedroom doorway. She was rubbing her eye and yawning. “Olivia, you should go back to bed,” Serena said. “Something is wrong” Olivia said. Serena picked up her daughter. “Someone is hurt,” she explained. She didn’t want to say it was Logan and upset her daughter more. “Mommy needs to go to the hospital and help him out, okay?” “Okay,” Olivia said, resting her head on her mother’s shoulder. Serena took Olivia back to her room, the girl already asleep again. Serena laid her gently back in her bed, kissing her forehead before departing.
In the kitchen, she scrawled a quick note to Dana about a pack medical emergency. She left it on the counter so Dana would find it when she went to make breakfast for the kids in the morning. She didn’t want to disturb Dana’s sleep to tell her she was leaving, but she knew that if either of the twins woke up
crying or screaming, Dana would go to their aid. She always did, whether Serena was there or not. Having a live-in nanny did have its perks when Serena had to run off in the middle of the night!
She rejoined Carson on the front porch.
“Do we know how badly he is injured?” she asked. The concern she felt for Logan had overshadowed the feelings in her stomach and hands. She couldn’t help but think that what woke her was linked to Logan being injured. “No,” Carson said, shaking his head. He climbed into the driver’s seat of the truck and Serena got into the back to analyze the stocked medical supplies. There was a gurney, oxygen, and a monitor for vitals. The back of the truck had tons of cabinets filled with different supplies.
It wasn’t an operating room by any means, but Serena knew it would get the job done in a pinch.
“I’m going to head in the direction of the territory border,” Carson told her, pulling the truck away from the curb. “Most of the Moonshine attacks come directly over the border.” “Good, go!” Serena said. That didn’t totally narrow their search down. The territory border was long.
“I know where the patrols were. Logan probably encountered the rogues in an area where there weren’t any patrols, otherwise he wouldn’t have been so vulnerable,” Carson elaborated.
Serena was still taking stock of the medical supplies. She was only half listening to Carson, getting the feeling he needed to talk as a means of making himself feel better.
“That is a good bet,” Serena agreed,
Carson was not a delicate driver. Serena kept getting jostled around in the back, but she leaned against the gurney for additional support. When they left the road and went into the fields, Serena had a much more difficult time keeping herself upright. “Can you drive a little more carefully?” she asked. “I can’t work back here with you bouncing all around” “I’m sorry.” Carson said. “Time is of the essence“
He slowed down a little, though. “I know” Serena said, “But I need this space ready to take on an iniured wolf by the
time we arrive.” She got the monitors turned on and the lead lines plugged in. From the cabinets, she pulled everything she thought she would need – cotton packing, a tourniquet, sutures, a splint, and bandages. She even pulled out some local anesthetic, pain killers, and antibiotics. It was the best she could do for a hospital on wheels. “I think I see something up ahead,” Carson said. “It looks like patrol wolves. They’re carrying something.”
“Dammit!” Serena hissed. “They moved him. That’s not good! Step on it! We have to
get them to put him down immediately!” Carson responded by honking the horn several times and angling the truck directly towards the patrol wolves. He rolled the front window down. “Set Logan back on the ground!” he shouted out the window. From her place in the back of the truck, Serena could see the wolves complying. “Turn around and back up to him,” Serena instructed. “We need to get him directly onto the gurney. I don’t want him being lifted or moved more than necessary.” “Got it,” Carson said, spinning the wheel of the truck sharply.