Chapter 7 Ezra

*Alpha Connor*

My Beta parks the pickup in the parking lot of Lakeweed General Hospital, the nearest trauma center where Nurse Amy was brought to. I wanted to keep a close eye on her and her baby after Lockwood turned up roasted to a crisp in his car. If I am correct in my assumptions regarding the paternity of Amy's baby, the the baby is Lockwood's heir...and that means the baby is now the new target.

We get some coffee from the vendo machine and wait for the Doc to update us. I heard from one of my men, the baby was doing well and was in the maternity ward.

I was tired and sleepy that I think my mind is playing tricks on me. I thought I saw a pack member of mine in one the hallways of the hospital who shouldn't actually be here. I press my eyes shut and open them again, making sure I was seeing all right.

"What is it, Alpha? Headache?" My Beta caught me shutting and opening my eyes.

"Nah, I just thought I saw Ezra over there." I pointed toward the direction of the hallway.

"Ezra? What would he be doing here? He's on watch tower duty at the territory." He pauses, looking down at his coffee, thinking. "Come to think of it, he would have seen everything that happened to the nurse if he was up there tonight." My Beta frowns and heads to the part of the hallway I pointed at and started sniffing. Instead of coming back to me, he disappears, turning the corner, following the scent he caught.

I nod for one of my men to follow my Beta. Whatever is at the end of that scent trail is definitely going to put up a fight.

Suddenly, I heard the crash of bed pans hit the floor, a yelp from a nurse, and a cart crashing into the wall. My Beta emerged unscathed, forcibly guiding a now handcuffed Ezra to me.

"What are you doing here?" I could smell the scent of the nurse on his breathe. It took every ounce of my body not hit him in the face.

"Someone said all hands on deck, so here I am, Alpha, helping out."  Ok, my bad, I called it.

"I see. So why do you have the scent of the nurse on your breath?"

"You're mistaken, Alpha. It's probably just the new mouthwash I'm using." He clearly has to use mouthwash. He stinks of the nurse's blood.

" You smell like her blood." I look him in the eye. Lying low-life bastard.

"I thought she was a rogue. Honestly, Alpha. I thought she was a rogue." He averted his eyes when he said that so I knew he was lying. I see the Doc come out in her scrubs on and with the face she was wearing, I knew I was going to hear more bad news.

"Sit your ass down while I get an update from the Doc. You better pray she's alive because if she isn't, you won't be. If he moves before I get back, break his arms." My men push Ezra on one of the chairs in the waiting room. I approach the Doc and guide her to a corner away from prying ears.

"Amy is in a coma. After all that blood loss it's just a matter of time until she passes." The Doc sighs, and presses her hand on her forehead. It's always hard when you can't do much more. "I've notified next of kin. Her family should be here shortly."

"What about the baby, Doc?"

"A healthy beautiful baby girl with emerald eyes." She pauses and frowns, trying to find the words to what she had to say next. She laughs and shakes her head, "I can't believe I'm actually thinking like this?"

"Alpha, you remember the story we use to hear when we were kids? The one Grandma used to always tell us about some flower?

"About the wolf with the lotus flower? The Moon Goddess will grant a wolf a part of her pure soul. This wolf would be marked by the symbol of the lotus flower. The wolf will seek retribution against those who have sinned against him as well as those who have sinned against the Moon Goddess for this will be her will. He will be judge, jury and executioner.  It scared the hell out us pups back then. Why all the sudden interest?" I yawn, remembering how that story had always made me sleepy.

"Alpha, the baby girl..." she comes closer to whisper in my ear, "she has a symbol of the lotus flower on her arm." I stare at her, confused.

Was this all coincidence or was the Moon Goddess going to finally clean house?

There were so many bad wolves out there, it was time they were all punished.

A loud noise broke me from my thoughts and one of the nurses yelled, "Doc, code blue!" She also was deep in thought, but snapped out of it when they called her. "Alpha, I have to go. I'll keep you updated." She runs to the hallway and turns the corner heading to her emergency.

I approach my men who were guarding Ezra. "Have you called the Sheriff to pick up the trash?" I asked my Beta.

"Yes, Alpha. He's on his way now." My Beta nods his head. I sit down next to Ezra so he wouldn't do anything stupid until the Sheriff arrives. I was thinking of putting him in the truck, but he'd probably escape. Better the Sheriff takes him so we could transport him back to the territory without him trying to escape.

A wolf with the symbol of the lotus flower. It wasn't just a fairy tale, it was real. Judging with all the wrong that has happened to that baby today, I wager, she'll be coming to get her vengeance.

"Alpha, the men back at the territory found some money in Ezra's room. Around a hundred grand." My Beta looks at Ezra, demanding an explanation. I turned my head to Ezra, trying to catch any of his two eyes, but he looked down not wanting to look at anybody.

"That money, I had saved up." Ezra explains to us.

"How can you save money when you have gambling debts to pay?" One of my men said, blurting out his secret.

"You have gambling debts?!" I shook my head to clear it from the anger rising up in me. "So where did that money come from?"

Ezra opened his mouth to say something, but closed it, thinking it was better to just shut up. The hospital wasn't a place to interrogate him anyway. To make a wolf speak, you have to be very convincing.

"You better get your story straight before we get to the territory, Ezra. Because you aren't going to like what I'm going to do to you. That's a promise."

It took a good thirty more minutes for the Sheriff to get to Lakeweed Gen. I was getting antsy just waiting for him to show up, but he had to deal with 3 burnt victims found in that expensive car. He arrived harried and stressed. One look at his eyes and you knew he was wishing for the night to end.

He took one whiff of Ezra and recognized the scent of the nurse on him. He shook his head and yanked Ezra off the chair and escorted him into the police car parked outside the hospital.

I followed them making sure Ezra wouldn't do anything funny. We had to get the why's and who's and I had a feeling I'd get answers if I push the right buttons.

"Sheriff, the men are waiting for you and Ezra at the territory. Place him in the dungeons until I get there. He knows something and I need to know what."

"Why did he attack the nurse?"

"Ezra said she thought she was rogue. She stank of wolf and since we've had a number of rogue attacks these past few months, so his story is plausible. But she did call 911 thinking she hit someone. That's not typical rogue behavior." I explained to the Sheriff how I viewed the situation.

"There is another thing, Sheriff, I need you to find out which gambling dens Ezra here frequents. He has a hundred grand stashed in his room at the pack house, but one of the men said he has gambling debts. I want to know how much he owes and who he has been talking to. Maybe if we have that information, we can get to the bottom of this."

I will find out who is the mastermind in all this and I will make sure the baby will be safe. The nurse's family is on the way.