Doc handed her his cell phone from the small table between the hospital beds, which she used to call Liam.
“Hello?” Liam’s voice came on the line.
“Liam, it’s me,” Kate said.
“Is everyone is okay? We haven’t heard anything.” Liam said rushing his words.
“We’re a little banged up, but we’re okay. How are the boys?” she asked.
“We put them down just a while ago. They couldn’t hang on anymore. Do you want us to keep them for the night?” he asked.
Kate heard his voice soften when talking about the boys. Looks like they had conquered another Alpha. She smiled and looked at Caleb, who nodded.
“Yes, please. We’ll barely have enough strength to get back to the Pack house tonight,” Kate explained.
“I can imagine. Don’t worry. Uncle Liam will watch over the boys and in the morning, we’ll have ice cream,” Liam said and in the background she heard Rian say, “I’m the uncle, not you, Liam. And you can’t give those boys ice cream for breakfast!”
To which she heard Liam say under his breath, “Watch me.”
Kate just smiled.
“We’ll be over first thing in the morning,” she promised and hung up with him.
Bran walked back in and went to his mates. Kate wrapped Caleb’s arm around her neck and reached behind her to wrap Bran’s arm around her waist. She luxuriated in the moment with both her mates close to her and safe.
“The perimeter?” Ma asked of Bran.
“Closed,” Bran said simply and she nodded.
“Landon and Lucas?” Bran asked.
“Liam is keeping them through the morning. I told him we were wiped,” Kate said, laying her cheek on his shoulder.
“Good idea,” Bran said yawning.
“The pack is okay?” Caleb asked.
“Surprisingly everyone came through this relatively unscathed. Just some bites here and there. I think everyone’s anger at the attack made them more ferocious than normal because their animals sensed a threat to the pack.” Bran started to sway.
“Come on, Alphas, we’ll drop you off at the Pack house before heading home,” Kaden said.
Bran blinked. Kate had to push her men forward.
“Thank you, Kaden. Come on, guys, time to head home.” Kate pushed and pulled both men out the door and toward the truck.
When they got to the Pack house, she saw pack members crashed on couches, in chairs and even on the rug in front of the fireplace. People had just curled up in the closest empty spot. She eyed a patch on the floor behind the couch longingly. Caleb shook his head and prodded her up the stairs as she grumbled every step of the way. Bran maneuvered them into the shower and managed to clean the blood away. After her shower, Kate left the room and came back with Landon’s and Lucas’s stuffed lions. She cuddled them close and fell into bed. After a cursory towel-dry, Bran and Caleb collapsed into bed and wrapped themselves around Kate, all of them too tired even to fool around.
* * * *
Kate felt as though she had just closed her eyes when she heard a cell phone ringing. She picked hers up to see that it was dead. She fumbled around and picked up Caleb’s. It wasn’t ringing. Finally she found Bran’s.
“Hello?” she said hoarsely.
“Kate, hyenas have attacked the Pride house. The boys are fine. They slept through the whole thing. We were able to dispatch the hyenas with no issues. In fact, my lions may have had too much fun. In any case, we have a problem. My scout traced their scent back and they crossed over the perimeter just an hour ago, well after you killed Elias Wade. He wasn’t the breach,” Liam explained.
He paused and then yelled to someone in the background, “Get those dismembered body parts off my lawn! I do not want to smell that shit in the morning!”
Kate was wide awake.
“What!” She sat straight up, accidentally rolling Caleb off the bed. He landed and woke up cursing.
“What the hell is going on?” he asked.
“Kate?” Bran asked, sitting up.
“Hyenas have attacked the Pride house,” she said, stunned. “Elias wasn’t the breach,” she said in almost a whisper.
“Son of a bitch!” Caleb said, going to the dresser and pulling out clothes. He threw jeans and a shirt to Bran.
“Landon…Lucas?” he asked.
“Fine, they’re fine,” she said to Caleb before turning back to the phone.
“Liam, we’re heading over to the clinic. I bet Ma is still there with Aleks and Rebecca. I’ll call you back when we figure something out.” She hung up, jumped up, and went to the closet. She pulled down her jeans and zip sweater.
She met both men at the bedroom door and they made their way down the stairs.