The two shared a dark look and his panic grew. "We lost the beta... Lily's alive," he started, but the way he said alive didn't give James a very good feeling. "We didn't have the wind in our favor. The silver fell all over us. She took most of it in the front but the worst is she breathed a lot of it in. She managed to go vamp in time but there's been some major damage done."
"How the hell is she alive after all that," Mitchell swore.
James wasn't sure but he swear he almost heard a touch of admiration in his dad's voice. "She's a hybrid," he told Mitchell then proceeded to explain her condition to him.
When they arrived at the hotel, they met a very disappointed looking Wendy. "Sorry little alpha, we found more injured before finding your dad," Donovan told her, racing over to help get Sanders out of the car.
Wendy nodded then pointed to a room. "Over there at 306, I had them prepare that room to accommodate the injured until Doc Wesley can take a look at them or my Uncle's pack doctor arrives." James was surprised to hear and feel the alpha influence in her voice. That's when he realized what was said. Nick was still out there and the teen was the acting alpha of her dad's people.
He breathed as he got out of the car, watching Bill and Donovan carry Sanders over to the room Wendy had pointed to. "She's in 302 but you can't see her until the doc is finished," Wendy told him.
"Did you see her?" James asked, looking at said room.
It wasn't until they were alone Wendy said in a soft, meek voice, "Yeah, I saw her. Her face wasn't bad as Sanders but her internal injuries are really bad."
"I'm sure your dad is okay," James told her, setting a hand on her small shoulder. "We and I'm sure his group as well, had the advantage that the wind took most of the silver away from us."
"Thanks but until I see him..." she said, sounding more like the alpha now.
"I know," he replied, seeing Bill and Donovan leaving the room. "I want to come with you," he demanded.
"No," Bill insisted. "It's too dangerous for any lycan's to go with us. There could be silver still in the air," he insisted.
"I don't care," James argued.
"No, I need you here," Wendy stated, surprising James. "I need you to lead the preparations for tomorrow night. My uncle is busy with his own defenses. With Charlie gone, Dad and Chris out there, I have no one currently working on ours and I refuse to wait for the vamps to wake up. After this, I don't know if the vamps will come for Tris but I fully expect they'll have something for us."
Still feeling a little off kilter from Wendy's change into alpha, James nodded. "Alright, Wendy. I'll take care of it. Can you let me know when I can see Lily?"
"Of course."
James went in the hotel to get to work while Wendy went on giving orders to people and Bill and Donovan left in the SUV for Nick's group. He was impressed with Wendy's sudden slip into alpha, James hoped Nick and Chris were not among the list of injured or worse. They really needed them now.
James sat around a table with four other wolves. One was from the local alpha, another two were Nick's and the last was a one of the wolves that had come with James and the others. They'd been working on a plan for almost an hour and hadn't gotten too far when they heard the door open. Everyone stood as they saw Nick limping into the room.
He had silver burns dotting his face, neck, and hands. "Good to see you made it out in one piece," he said to James.
"Same to you. What happened to your group?"
"When we hit the spikes, we assumed there was more to it. I thought snipers so Chris and I stayed in the car. Evangeline insisted on going out and check the situation and the Canadian insisted on going with her," Nick explained with a grim tone. "When the succubus tripped the wire, he threw himself on her to protect her from the blast... it wasn't pretty or quick."
"Just him or did Evan fall too," James asked, trying to use his analytical mind to keep his emotions from overwhelming him.
Nick ran a hand over his face then winced. "She's alive. She has some burns from the explosion itself and apparently silver doesn't sit too well with her kind either, but the worst is up here," he said tapping his temple. "The girl's blaming herself for the Canadian."
The door opened again. A tall, lanky black man walked in with an exhausted look. "Good to see you on your own two feet Alpha. You should be proud. Wendy did quite well in your absence," he said giving a tired smile to Nick. "I've come to give you an update on the injured."
James stood and joined the two men. This he had to hear too.
"Mitchell and Evangeline will recover but there will be some scarring and I doubt Mitchell will ever see out of his left eye," he began. "Alpha Sanders is stable thanks to Miss Xin Qian. If it wasn't for her, I believe we would've lost him. However, like Mitchell, I do not think he'll recover his eyesight."
"What about Lily?" James demanded, unable to keep himself silent any longer.
"Her condition is still uncertain," he replied. "I've flushed her lungs and believe to have removed all the silver. However, in her vampiric state, she's not healing and I can't guarantee her survival if she changes back to the wolf. I don't know enough about vampires correctly address this situation."
No, no, no! James thought, burying his head in his hands. This couldn't be happening! "What about Xin Qian? Can't she heal her enough to make the shift?" Nick asked, giving James some hope.
"No," the doctor said tersely. "I'll tell you what I told her. She's already given her all to save Alpha Sanders. Healing Miss Lily would need her to be a hundred percent. As of now, the girl is almost falling over with exhaustion. She can't help anyone else until she rests. I've made sure her mate knows this and he's making sure she gets the proper rest she needs."
"Is Lily stable?" Nick asked, glancing at James with a worried expression.
"I believe she is," he replied. "Being a vampire stopped further damage so I see no reason for that to change now."
Well, that was something, James thought and taking some comfort in that. "Is she awake? Can I go see her?"
The doctor's expression softened when he looked at James. "She was awake the whole time. None of my sedatives worked on her. However she can't speak or see you," he explained.
James' gut clenched and he felt that sickly feeling again. "Sorry to cut and Run," he started to tell Nick.
"Go, I'll take care of things here." Lily wasn't sure how long it had been since the explosion, but she did know that she wouldn't be able to stand being like this for much longer. Pain radiated throughout most of her body. It was like being stuck in that moment of death, the moment of endless pain right before the body shuts down and numbness takes over. The ever growing blood lust was just making it worse. The doctor and the nurses were lucky it hurt so much to move or she might've attacked them.
As much as she hated to admit it, Lily needed blood. She tried to tell the doctor and nurse that, but they only thought she was spasming. Lily never wanted to scream so badly in her life! The sound of the door caught her attention as one of the nurses came back into the room. Her scent made Lily's teeth ache with the need to feast on her blood.
This was all that leech's fault, Lily thought and anger trickled into her veins until it burned throughout her whole body like the silver. This was his fault! Her body started to shake. Despite, the pain, Lily sat up and slammed her fist into whatever was in her path. The sound of ceramic breaking on the floor told her it was a lamp. The destruction seemed to please some dark part of her and she brought down her fists where she assumed the table the lamp sat on was.
She felt the table give way and splinter into pieces. I'll find that son of a bitch, she vowed. And I'll rip his heart of his chest! Something dark and primal awoke inside her. Then I'll feast on his blood! Yes, I'll drink every last bit of it! Lily decided, the idea of his cold vampiric blood on her hands bringing her more pleasure than she'd ever thought possible. He'll make me stronger than ever!