Chapter 85

She reaches out to him slowly, touching his cheek as he pushes his back into my chest.

“That’s okay, Cole. The ck out is likely a form of shock from the physical and emotional trauma that this would cause. Unfortunately, this does mean that Demetri will have to do a more extensive hands–on physical with you to verify that we have found all your injuries.”

I nod in agreement when she looks directly at me..

“It’s also important that if you remember any injuries at all about the fight you need to tell us about it.”

“I’ve had….. a headache….. since Saturday.”

“Thank you, Cole. It’s possible that you have a concussion that we will need to keep track of. Now back to the issue of your leg. Did this happen with the rest of the injuries we’ve found today?”

“Yes….. ma’am.”

“I feared as much. If this silver is of high enough concentration there is a possibility that we’re looking at a third degree chemical burn simply from theck of medical care. The deeper it burns the higher the possibility of the infection getting into his blood and he will go septic if that happens.”

He stiffens up badly as I feel his breathing change. It only takes a few seconds for me to realize that he’s counting. That he’s using the slow count I coached him through when he first arrived.

“Cole. I need you to talk to me. You’re in a slow count right now which means you’re trying to keep your panic at bay. What’s wrong?”

After several deep breaths he starts trying to talk but I can still hear the underlying panic in his voice .

“I’ve gone….. septic before…. I can’t…. do it again…… I don’t know how….. to survive it again….. I’m scared…. I can’t do this …. alone again….”

“We’re not going to let it get that far and you’re not alone. I’m sorry Jamie but I’m going to have to cut your visit short. We need to go ahead and get this

taken care of.”

I speak thest part of it as I look Ang in the eyes. She immediately gets up and starts getting everything ready for the surgery. I pull out my phone and dial Patrick’s number. We use cell phones a lot more than other packs because we have wolves from other packs more often than not and it’s not fair for them not to hear what’s going on. I put my phone on speaker so Jamison can hear the conversation.

“Hey boss, what’s going on?”

“Are you busy?”

“Not really, just babysitting the rest of the whiners going around the track. I’ve decided to use going to their rooms as motivation to get them moving a bit faster. Everyone is only on the secondp of their second run. They’re moving so slow I’m cutting this punishment off early. It took them nearly all morning just toplete the first ten miles. When they finish the fifthp they can go back to their rooms. We’ve got two hours before White Fang and White Moon packs are here.”

“I ept your change in ns. I need you toe get Jamie from Cole’s room and escort him back to his room. He’s on house arrest like the other three.”

“Is he a strict arrest or a simple arrest ? ”

“I’m giving him some allowances that the others don’t have. Make sure he gets some water and the vor packs if he wants them. Let him choose a game system and three games if he’s interested. Also, get him a remote and the code to the Roku as well.”

“What is he allowed?”

“Games, videos, music, books, whatever he’s interested in.”

“Yes sir, I’m on my way.”

“Thank you.”

I hang up and look at Jamie.

“I don’t normally have an expectation as to who’s right in a situation. You better be telling me the truth about that fight .

“What is there to hide, sir?” He shrugs shoulders as he continues. “Das was talking shit about Cole, I tried to defend him. When I tried to lease, chard wouldn’t let me.”

“I always like hearing consistency.”

A short knock on the door startles Cole causing him to yelp and fight lightly as Patrick opens the door. To my relief Jamie seems to understand Cole’s needs and wraps his arms around him quieting Cole’s fight easily with just a few words.

“ What was that about, boss ? ”

Patrick walks up to us causally.