~ Chapter Seven ~

Only once the woman was safely outside did I finally stop to do or say anything. She was still bleeding, losing lots of blood every second, and I was worried I wouldn't even get a chance to know her name before she was out.

But, for once, I had to hold a little faith that Roger hadn't really killed his mate, that she could at least go running and hopefully be free of all the issues he would've caused her. If there was any way to change Alpha Roger, clearly love was not going to cut it. It'd have to be something much, much more meaningful specifically for him.

Connor still hadn't arrived, so I worked on putting pressure to the deep wound. Blood was covering my hands for every moment I pushed down.

"W-Who are you?" the woman whispered so softly I thought she might really be dead.

"I suppose I should've already said," I muttered. "I'm Erica Keller, the pack doctor here. I'm going to work on making sure you live through this, okay?"

"My mate really stabbed me," she realised aloud.

I ignored her hoping to get her mind off of what was happening. "What is your name, miss?"

"Gina."

"Gina..."

"Morone."

"Okay, Gina Morone," I said, "I've got someone on their way with a stab kit. I need you to understand that I do not like working outside, but I can't have Roger finding me saving you. He's not the mate you might've always dreamt of, he's dangerous and cold and we will *both* die if he comes across what's happening right now."

"I understand," Gina managed out. "I never wanted a mate anyway."

"I can't imagine the Moon Goddess will allow your bond will continue after this. You should be free." I smiled half-heartedly, wondering where Connor was and why he was letting this woman die out here. If I couldn't stitch her up soon, pressure wasn't going to help.

Gina turned her head side to side like she was having some sort of nightmare. "Do *you* have a mate, Doctor Keller?"

"You should save your breath," I replied hastily. "Perhaps we can talk when you're stitched up."

"I'm distracting-" Before she could finish her sentence, I saw Connor running through the back door towards us. Gina was watching, too, as he tried to duck around a window so that no one saw where he was going or what he was doing.

My anxiety started to crawl up my spine, unpleasantly reminding me that I could get into so much trouble for this - and so could my mate, who was helplessly chained downstairs in the basement.

Connor came crashing down beside us, flinging the kit toward me. I caught it and immediately instructed him to put pressure on the wound instead while I prepared my tools. We may be in a rush, but I was pretty sure Gina would rather have her wound stitched up tidily than to get some sort of infection tomorrow morning. As long as I could keep her alive today, though, I was starting to not care so much.

The three of us were silent while I stitched. Luckily, although the wound was deep, it wasn't so deep that it couldn't be fixed by an accurate couple of stitches, and the promise of Gina's survival came close to guaranteed by the time I was snipping the thread. Connor had brought some water out with him, so we gave that to her and I shedded my small jacket to avoid her getting too cold out here, as the temperature was slowly dropping.

As Gina was drinking, Connor subtly nodded me to the side. Out of her earshot, he said, "Keller, I have really bad news about Roger."

"What is it?" I demanded.

"He stopped me before I could get out here, told me that he was planning on getting- getting rid of the prisoner... and I don't have any choice in the matter. I'm going to have to..." he trailed off when he met my widened eyes. "You- you could try to talk to him, but I don't think it'll get you anywhere. I thought you should know."

"I... Thanks for telling me," I whispered. "Will you try to make it quick?"

"Of course." Connor gave me a sad smile, which I ignored as I nodded and turned back to Gina.

"How are you?" I asked, pretending my body wasn't shaking, like my heart wasn't pounding, like I didn't feel a huge sense of dread washing over me.

"Alive," Gina replied and put the water bottle to the side. "Thank you, Doctor."

"It's nothing."

"What did the big guy want?" She nodded at Connor, who was keeping watch of the house in case someone came out here and caught us.

"Just giving me an update on Roger," I sighed. "We'll have to get you out of here without him seeing. Do you have a phone? Someone you can call?"

Gina nodded slowly, reaching toward a pocket. "I'll call my men to come and pick me up. They're likely worried about what's going on anyway if they haven't heard from me." I stepped back to allow Gina to take her call, and mindlessly rubbed at my pants trying not to think about anything that'd upset me right now. I didn't need that.

Connor caught my eye, but he didn't look for long. We were both dreading what was to come, how it'd change so much about the both of us.

I realised in a fleeting moment that I had to at least try to stop this, and Roger was the only person who could make the call.

"Connor," I whispered, causing him to look at me. "I need to talk to Roger."

"Ke-"

"No," I gave him a look, "I have to at least try."

"Did you not see what he did to his *own* mate, Erica? I mean, come on, do you really think he'd change his ways at all for you? He doesn't believe in mates even more now. There's no way he'll do anything but bring the date forward."

"What else could I do, Connor?" I asked desperately. "I can't just let my mate die."

"There's something you could do," he told me.

"What?"

"Hey," Gina called quietly, interrupting our conversation. I was tempted to tell her just to go to wherever she was being picked up, to leave us be, but I knew I had to help her some more. I turned to her after giving Connor a warning look to tell me later. "My men are driving over now, I told them to meet me further up the road. They don't know what happened."

"I can walk you up there," I decided as I moved across the small space.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "You seemed to be having a pretty serious conversation just now." Her eyes flicked to Connor over my shoulder in questioning.

"Roger isn't just screwing you over, let's just say that."

"You could come with me," she offered immediately. "You're clearly not crazy or happy here. I wouldn't be opposed to making space for you in our village. In fact, there are a couple of houses that are being built and a spare room in my home."

I smiled at the thought of getting away that easily, as if Roger would ever allow that to happen. I supposed for a moment I could dream.

Until Dimitri's face flicked into my head and I remembered that I had something too important here I needed to deal with, or say goodbye to.

"Thanks but I have to decline."

"I'm in your debt," Gina told me seriously. "If this is something I can do for you..."

"There are things here I need to deal with, people I care about." I smiled sadly, motioning at Connor over my shoulder. "It isn't so simple as running away."

"Okay," Gina conceded. "My men weren't far away, we should start walking. I may need some help."

"I'll do it," Connor suddenly offered, causing both me and Gina to look at him in surprise. He didn't explain, he just stared at us in wait. Gina let out a soft sigh of acceptance and nodded, looking back at me. I didn't say anything either, just gave her a soft, saddened smile.

Before Connor left with her, he whispered in my ear, "Talk to the girl in your office as soon as you can. She has hope for your mate."

**Follow my Twitter :) @GracieMackinto1**