The Defiant Claim - The Claim: Book 2 [LGBTQ+]

Lying on the stretcher on his stomach, Mik gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut as they carried him out of the basement cell and set him down on the flatbed of a pickup truck. The pack doctor jumped into the back with Mik while the other two males jumped into the cab and sped off as fast as the bumpy, uneven terrain would allow them.

“Details,” Mik gritted out through his teeth as pain ricocheted throughout his body with the jostling of the vehicle. “Tell me everything.”

“His heart is giving up. We had to resuscitate him twice last night.”

Mik released the breath he’d been holding. “Fuck.” He took another one in, picturing Sam in his mind as he slept peacefully on the couch. Tucking the blanket around his shoulders and brushing the hair away from his face. He exhaled. “What do I have to do?”

He cracked open an eye and peered up at the doctor as they bounced along.

Dr. Waaban shook his head. “Just be there. Talk to him like he talked to you while you were unconscious. You won’t be able to move much anyway without tearing open your injuries again. Let the matebond work its magic and pray. That’s the best we can do.”

Mik furrowed his brows. Not only could he not remember the last time he prayed to the Moon Goddess, but the idea of talking to someone when they were unconscious seemed awkward and weird. “He spoke to me while I was unconscious?”

“Yup. He took care of you from day one. Wouldn’t let the nurses bathe you, massage your limbs, or dress your wounds. He insisted on doing as much as he could for you.”

Fuck. Mik closed his eyes and hung his head. His chest constricted more to the point he grimaced in pain.

Dr. Waaban didn’t miss it. “What’s wrong?”

“My chest...” Mik groaned, curling his fingers into fists at his side.

“Shit,” the doctor murmured and turned to the driver in the cab. “Go faster!”

Mik tried to slow his breathing to ease the pain but it held tight, constricting tighter around his heart. “How much farther is it?” he gritted out.

“A few more minutes.” The doctor sighed and murmured under his breath, “Hold on, Sam.”

Grunting in acknowledgment, Mik closed his eyes again and focused on his breathing. Slowly in and slowly out. The pain in his chest held tight, his lungs unable to expand to their full capacity.

When the pickup truck jerked to a stop, the pain in his chest lifted a little, but he still struggled to get enough air in his lungs.

His back burned as they lifted him out on the stretcher. Any wounds that hadn’t opened up earlier opened now and the stink of his blood saturated the air around him as they carried him quickly into the building and into the infirmary. Blood dripped a trail behind him as they carried him into the backroom.

A pair of nurses drew away from a bed that had stirrups and wires and monitors around it as they rushed Mik in. An uneven slow beep mirrored the beating of a broken heart.

“Over there.” The doctor pointed to the bed next to the one with all the equipment. “He needs to be as close to Sam as possible.”

The two males set Mik as gently as they could onto the bed as he clenched his jaw shut. The splitting pain in his back was unbearable. His blood immediately began saturating the sheets.

Mik tried to listen in on the whispered update Dr. Waaban demanded but couldn’t make it out as they moved him.

“Thought so... The matebond struck him... Yeah... No, I’ll dress his wounds. Sam would want that,” Mik heard the doctor mumbling to the nurses.

“Oh, I don’t mind. We’re well-acquainted already,” came that middle-aged old hag of a nurse. As if Mik could ever forget her... whatever her name was.

“You’ve been up with Sam all night, Eloise. Take the day off and rest up.”

There it was. Eloise. How could he forget her?

Well, if she was up all night taking care of Sam...

He cracked open his eyes and looked to the bed across from his. He couldn’t make out Sam’s face—a machine was blocking his view. His entire body appeared to be encased in casts. Wires hung everywhere from the bed, attached to more machinery than Mik had ever seen around a person. How anyone could reach the male or make sense of it all was beyond him.

There was someone else there with them and Mik picked up his scent now as the medical team left to gather supplies. He could feel his presence, his eyes boring into him from the other side of Sam’s bed. Mik closed his eyes and inhaled his scent. Sam’s friend. Cameron. The one who foiled his plans—twice.

“What are you doing here?” Mik demanded.

“What the fuck do you mean? He’s my best friend. I’m all he’s got right now.”

The male stood up from his chair and Mik watched him step away from the machines and around Sam’s bed until he disappeared out of sight. Mik could still feel his eyes trailing over his flesh, focusing on his back as his disgust poured from his pores.

“Luna’s ill. Alpha’s busy taking care of her, their pup, the pack... I’m all he’s got because you sure as hell ain’t worth shit.”

“Dr. Waaban seems to disagree. Thinks I’m the only one capable of saving him now. Clearly, your presence is worth shit.”

Cameron snarled and lunged for his neck. His fingers curled around, pressing into his tender flesh.

The door swung open and the doctor barked at Cameron to back off. “If you so much as touch him again, I will break your arm.”

Growling, Cameron’s fingers twitched—battling instincts that demanded justice.

“If you want to help Sam recover, you will release him now,” Dr. Waaban stated, authority lifting his voice and stance behind him.

Slowly, Cameron pried his hand away from the back of Mik’s neck. A growl rumbling from his throat told Mik of his intentions if he hadn’t gotten interrupted.

“Unfortunately, we need him and you know it,” Dr. Waaban told him. “Alpha doesn’t like it any more than you do, but that’s how the bond works.”

“Don’t I fucking know it.”

“Go to your mate now and hold your pup. It will make you feel better. I need to work here without interruption.”

“I’m not leaving him. He could die—”

“He almost died three times in the last four hours. Mikwam is here now and his presence will be more beneficial here than yours. Get some rest, shower up, and spend time with your loved ones. Come back tomorrow. You look like hell.”

Dismissed, Cameron reluctantly left, grumbling and growling under his breath.

Dr. Waaban heaved a sigh as he wheeled a cart with the stinky salve and bandages to put on his back. “I’m too old for this shit.”

“Sorry,” Mik grumbled.

“You all have a lot of issues to work through once Sam recovers.”

“I know.”

“Hold still now. I have to peel back the old bandages.”

Gritting his teeth, Mik held back his peals of agony as the doctor stripped away the old, sodden strips and applied fresh ones with the icy-hot salve that burned like a mother-fucker. He was exhausted by the end of it and drenched with sweat. The steady beeping of Sam’s heart monitor held his focus through it all. It was still slow, according to the doctor, but it was steady. A small improvement but an improvement nonetheless.

Once he was done with Mik’s back, he left and a pregnant nurse came in to check his blood pressure and put an IV in. Mik wondered if this was the nurse Sam would be replacing.

Or was supposed to replace.

“How’s he doing?” he mumbled, looking over, half expecting to see something different than the machine blocking his line of vision.

“It would seem that he’s stabilizing... for now.”

“Will he be well enough to help deliver your pups?” He swallowed, pain gripping his heart, but it was a different sort of pain. “He was looking forward to that.”

“I know. He’s such a sweet male, but I don’t know.”

Heaving a sigh, Mik closed his eyes. He felt exhausted even though he hadn’t done anything in days.

The nurse left and silence filled the room, interrupted only by the ventilator and the heart monitor’s constant beeping.

Mik fell asleep and woke up momentarily every time someone came in to check on Sam. No one disturbed him except when Dr. Waaban came in to change his bandages. Whatever they had hooked him up to helped him rest, ease the pain, and take care of his hunger and thirst. He felt time slipping by more comfortably as his fever passed and the pain in his back lessen.