76 Didn't You Take an Oath
Caleb guided Galen to the hospital. Other than asking about his pain level, they did not speak on the way there. Galen asked for Bell when they arrived, but the nurse reported that Bell was unavailable after checking. Instead, a young man approached them.
“Ah, I see you came back,” the dark-haired man said, crossing his arms in a display of irritation.
Caleb looked at Galen questioningly.
“When I was brought in yesterday, Peter,” Galen sighed, pointing to the irritated man, “was the one who was supposed to treat me.”
“Supposed to?” Caleb asked.
“I kind of left before he got a chance to treat me,” Galen smiled awkwardly.
A low growl came from Caleb.
“I planned to get treated. Instead, I just… got distracted,” Galen replied.
“How?” Caleb growled.
“Flirting,” Peter sighed as he grabbed a pair of gloves.
“Was not!” Galen defended quickly.
“Sure,” Peter rolled his eyes, “open the shirt.”
“Here?” Galen asked, looking around at the nurses and patients in the area.
“Relax, I just want to see if I need a surgical room prepped.”
“I’m sure that won’t be nec–” Galen began.
Caleb ignored his friend and pulled the shirt apart in the middle, popping several buttons off.
“Hey!” Galen shouted.
“Be quiet. If you can’t take care of yourself, then there is no need for you to speak,” Caleb growled.
Peter smirked before he came around to get a closer look at the wound on Galen’s abdomen.
“Whoa!” Peter cried out. “What the hell is this!?”
Caleb looked at the wound. He had expected to simply see a bloody open wound. But, instead, he was surprised by the metal disc that was turned on its side and half embedded into Galen’s flesh.
Another low growl grew in his belly.
“Caleb…” Galen began, “listen, it’s not my fault.”
“Take us to a room,” Caleb growled to Peter.
“Yep,” Peter replied, “not ruling out surgery, though. I need a better look at how deep this thing is.”
Once they had been placed in a room, Peter began cleaning the wound. Caleb stood back, leaning against the counter and watching closely.
“This thing is pretty deep,” Peter sighed. He lifted his head to look at Galen, “but that’s not an arrow, so this isn’t what you came in for last night.”
“No…” Galen sighed as he heard yet another growl from Caleb.
“Arrow?” Caleb asked through gritted teeth.
“Yea,” Peter replied, going back to work cleaning the wound, “last night it was an arrow in the abdomen. Now, we have the same spot but no arrow; instead, a mystery disk. Are you a piñata? Do prizes come out of you often?”
The wolf sounded excited; Galen was irritated by his casual chatting and overall lack of awareness at how his words were calling forth the harbinger of death. Galen looked up at Caleb, trying to give him a friendly smile. But receiving his cold gray stare instead.
“And how exactly did an arrow get into the abdomen of my Beta?” Caleb’s voice was cold and hard.
Peter stopped moving. He felt a cold chill over his spine as though someone had walked over his grave. He lifted his head and met Galen’s eyes.
Eyes that confirmed his fear. He spun around on his stool to face Caleb with eyes wide.
“I… you… are you Alpha Caleb?” Peter stuttered, his face blanching at the realization.
Quickly standing from the stool, he turned to Caleb and gave a proper salute.
“My apologies Alpha Caleb. I did not realize who you were.”
“Peter, maybe you could go check if the nurse has my IV fluids ready yet?” Galen offered.
Peter glanced back at Galen, then to his wound. The cleaning was mostly done, and the IV fluids did need to be started right away. But the disk had to come out. Though he feared Caleb, his duty came first.
“I will check on them. But it will only take a couple of minutes. Then I will be back to continue my work.” ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
Caleb nodded to him in acknowledgment. Then, after another glance at the wound to make sure it was safe to leave, Peter removed his gloves and left the room.
Not a minute later, Caleb’s growl filled the room.
“Speak,” he demanded out loud.
“You already know I got into a fight with Granger. Ashleigh said as much,” Galen sighed.
“Galen,” Caleb warned.
“Okay, okay,” Galen huffed. He took a deep breath and explained what had happened the night before.
Galen told Caleb about seeing Bell in tears. How it had led him to seek Granger. He explained how he had found Granger speaking to Saul and heard the way Granger was disrespecting not only Caleb and Galen but also Saul.
“Like Saul said, it was training in respect, really,” Galen said.
Caleb growled.
“I know I shouldn’t have done it, but it’s done. So I can’t exactly take it back,” Galen huffed.
“What happened after Saul left?” Caleb asked, looking away from him.
Galen told him about the fight, how it started and ended. He chose to omit the part where Granger gloated after realizing it wasn’t a practice arrow.
He was outwardly quiet. A frightening thing to Galen, who knew that in his mind, Caleb was tearing apart the room to let out his frustration and anger. Galen glanced around to make sure there were no laptops.
Caleb took a deep breath, letting it back out slowly.
“She said you almost killed him,” he stated. “But from what you described, I don’t understand how that’s possible.”
“I don’t know either,” Galen replied.
Peter entered the room again. He immediately went to work hanging the IV bags.
“Honestly, I held back. But, yeah, I definitely did some damage, but nothing life-threatening,” Galen stated.
“I’m going to take the disk out of the wound now,” Peter said as he washed his hands. “Alpha Caleb, you are welcome to stay. If you don’t mind my presence, feel free to continue your discussion.”
Caleb nodded.
Peter sat back down and began to slowly cut around the disk.
“You were the one who was meant to treat Galen last night, correct?” Caleb asked.
“Yes,” Peter replied, keeping his attention on his work, “I saw him when he was brought in, did a quick assessment, and had a nurse begin cleaning the wound. But I had to check on the other patient. By the time I got back to this one’s room, another doctor had hijacked him. Ten minutes later, I heard he had ripped the arrow out of himself and left.”
“Ripped it out himself?” Caleb growled, turning cold eyes on Galen.
“Doc, you’re really gonna get me killed … didn’t you take an oath or something?” Galen pouted at Peter.
“We will discuss this later,” Caleb told Galen. Then, turning back to Peter, he continued, “may I ask you a general question about the other patient.”
“Uh…” Peter started, “maybe… I can’t give you any real details, especially since you aren’t even from this pack.”
“I have no interest in prying. I only want to know how serious his injuries were. I am told his life was in danger,” Caleb stated.
Peter furrowed his brows and sat up, pulling his attention from the wound. He looked at Caleb.
“Are you talking about Granger?” he asked.
“Yea,” Galen replied.
“Granger was no closer to death than I am right now,” Peter replied with a roll of eyes and a chuckle. Then, returning to his treatment of the wound.
“He had a few broken ribs, a couple small fractures, and a lot of bruising, but nothing his natural healing couldn’t take care of in a few hours, a day at most.”
“Are you sure?” Caleb asked.
“I’m the one who treated him. Bed rest and an IV of antibiotics for a cut on his hand.” Peter shrugged.
“A cut?” Galen asked, “I never cut him. I didn’t have any weapons at all.”
“Did he cut himself when he picked up the arrow?” Caleb asked.
“He thought it was a practice arrow, until….” Galen said, pointing to his wound. “So I doubt it,” Galen replied.
Peter looked up once more. He glanced back and forth between the two men. Finally, he let out a deep sigh.
“Look, I can’t prove it, so don’t ask me to say this to anyone else,” he began, “but what I saw was a deep cut, not a scratch or a scrape. I would guess by the angle and depth, it was made by holding an arrowhead in the palm.”
“So?” Galen asked.
“So,” Caleb growled, “Granger knew it wasn’t a practice arrow. He intended to stab you.”