Chapter 44

(Tommy POV)
Will, Eli and I raced down the mountain as fast as our wolf forms would go without suffering the same fate. As soon as we reached the bottom of the mountain and stood before our friend we could see the severity of his wounds. He had gashes and cuts covering his wolf form and blood was pooling beneath him. He was gravely injured and currently unconscious.

“Noah? Noah can you hear me?” I had quickly shifted into my human form before kneeling beside him and giving him a soft shake.

He did not answer me but let out a pained whimper that was enough to tell me that this was serious. His external injuries seemed bad but minor, but internally he must have some serious injuries that needed to be addressed soon.

“We need to get him to a hospital! Now!” I say firmly turning to Will and Eli who now were also in human form.
“There must be a hospital in this village, I’ll go and find a local to give me directions!” Will said rushing off, forgetting that he was completely naked.
“Can we move him?” Eli asks taking a place beside me.

“I don’t know. We have to get him some help, but we don’t know how bad his internal injuries are. We could hurt him more. What we need is for him to shift, no one can see him like this.” I tell Eli.
“How are we going to get him to shift, many of his bones are probably already broken. It would be too painful, and he is barely conscious.” Eli reminds me.
“We need to start his healing, and speed it up enough for him to shift.” I tell him biting the inside of my lip trying to think of a way to wake Noah more.
“Tommy, what about Maya? We were so close; we may not be able to find her again now.” Eli adds with a solemn voice.
I could feel my chest tighten a the thought that we had to give up on the search for our mate, but Noah was in real trouble if we didn’t get help right away.
“Do you pick up any off her scent?” I ask Eli.

My own senses were being overwhelmed by the injured member of my pack. The alpha side of me was focused on my injured friend, and those instincts were making it hard to focus on anything else.

“No, I lost her scent on the mountain. It had been faint but since Noah was sure where we needed to go I didn’t bother keeping a fix on it. Now I don’t pick up anything. They must have moved her again.” Eli tells me.

I could sense his anger and frustration growing, even though I needed help getting Noah to a hospital I knew Eli would go crazy if he did not keep searching. His emotional connection had grown deep with Maya, and it would be hard for him to go back now. She was my mate first but I had pushed away our bond for so long in the beginning that I had learned how to ignore the more annoying symptoms of being separated from my mate. Eli and Noah had not experienced this yet, so their bond was strong and unbearable. If we did not find Maya soon, they would begin to feel the immense pain I felt when I was apart from her. I wondered if she would begin to feel it too, or if she ever did when we were apart. I snapped my mind back to reality before I fell down that hole of guilt and sadness. I needed to focus!

“Will and I will take care of Noah, you keep searching and call me if you find anything! Eli, you need to find her soon or your condition will become to severe to continue.” I warned him.
“How did you-“ Eli had been already developing early symptoms.

As his alpha I sensed the changes, and as someone who had gone through it I knew all too well. That anger and frustration he was feeling was becoming hard to control as his link to Maya was becoming strained. He would find it harder to control those emotions soon enough. Then the headaches would start soon after, followed by the body aches and cold sweats. It really was an awful experience. Noah would not feel this because he was not fully bonded. He has the urge to seek out his mate and finish the bond, which drives him, but he will not experience the loss as strongly as me and Eli.

My alpha side helps me keep these things at bay early on, but it would become too much in a few days. We needed to find Maya soon.

“Have you tried to connect with her through the mind link again?” I asked Eli breaking his concentration.

He had still been trying to pick up even a faint scent to know which direction to start searching again.

“No, I haven’t felt her through the link in some time now. They may have drugged her.” Eli says furrowing his brow in anger.
“Eli, you need to try and keep your emotions controlled. I know it feel impossible, but you do not want innocents getting hurt if you lose your temper.” I try to remind him of how our kind is meant to be hidden.
“It is getting harder. I want to tear this town apart to find her.” Eli admits.
“I know.” I admit lowering my head so Eli will not see my own pain.
“Tommy!” Will came running toward us in some random pieces of mismatched clothes. “I found a small hospital a couple of miles away. It’s he only one around here, so it is small, but they should eb able to help Noah. We just need to make him shift first.”

“Did you steal someone’s clothes?” Eli asked.
“Not the time to ask nicely!” Will said with a smirk.
“So how do we make him shift?” Will asks looking to me.
“There is a way, but it would be a bad idea.” I say groaning to myself.
“Wait you mean-…won’t that be stupid to do this close to so many humans? It would freak them out!” Will said.
“I know but is there another way to force a shift? As far as I know this is the only way. His wolf would not be able to resist.” I tell him.
“Yeah, but it’s a reverse shift, would it even work? I mean have you ever tried before?” Will asks lowering his voice.
“No I have never tired it, but it’s all I can think of and we need to do something quick.” I tell him.
“Ok, but this is going to cause a big fuss.” Will says shrugging.

I growled annoyed at him, and he threw up his hands and walked away slightly.

“Tommy are you seriously going to do this? He might get hurt more.” Eli tried to talk me out of what I was about to do.
“Look there is no other choice, now both of you SHUT THE HELL UP! I need to focus.” I say annoyed.
I stood up and looked down at Noah with sympathy. This was going to hurt.
“Sorry Noah.” I say under my breath.

I closed my eyes and took in some deep breaths as I began the half shift. I needed my wolf to come out but not shift completely for this to work. If Noah had been in human form than I would have shifted completely but he was in wolf form, so I needed to be in human form. At least that was how it was explained to me by my father during one of our lessons. I could feel my blood rushing as my body was fighting my wolf from emerging completely. I felt the pain of my canines extending and my eyes were stinging and with one last deep breath I opened my eyes and gave out a deep howl that echoed around us amplifying the sound so much the ground shifted slightly beneath our feet.

Noah’s body instantly reacted to the sound of the alpha howl and began to convulse and scream as his shift began.