18. Chapter 18

When Tomas had proposed this whole idea, I never imagined it going down this way. I had thought we would simply spot the jerk in town and he would be arrested. That would be the end of the whole ordeal. I did not anticipate that he would attack my mate and so savagely rip him to shreds.

Taking him in by surprise was hardly fair fighting. Yet again, why should I expect anything less from him. He'd always been a piece of shit, and to disregard the safety of all shifters in an act of revenge? He completely deserved everything he got. It was a crappy way to die, fitting the crappy way he chose to live the last days of his life.

I'd known my mate had abilities beyond my understanding, but I still stood there watching the wolf burst into flames, unsure if I'd fallen asleep and it was a dream or not. It wasn't, and seeing the way the humans gathered around the spot where the wolf's remains were, talking about flare guns and how lucky everyone was that none of the cars exploded, it was not only very real, but it could've gone very differently.

As strong and victorious as Apollo had been, my mate had been hurt, and it was all my fault. Nothing was going to change that.

Apollo lay on the ground, his injuries severe but healing. Had we been home, he'd have shifted to assist in his healing, but we were in the human world. That wasn't possible. People could explain away a wolf, but a centaur? Yeah, that wasn't going to happen.

Tomas and the other members of Steelwick's team arrested a beta who had aided my former Alpha. I hadn't even realized he was even there with all the chaos. I recognized him, though. The humans would assume they were undercover cops, not because they worked that way, but because humans watched too much television and the shows tended to get everything horribly wrong, so wrong that I even knew they were.

I rushed to Apollo's side. "Are you okay?"

Terran was with the humans, distracting them from noticing Apollo. If they did, they would want to rush him to the hospital. As it was, that was going to be the case very quickly. At best we had a minute before the authorities arrived. There was no way that none of the humans had made a 911 call.

He wasn't okay, obviously, the question coming out automatically. Anyone with eyes could see how not okay he was. There was blood everywhere, mostly coming from his neck and shoulder where Alpha had sunk his teeth into Apollo's flesh.

"I'm fine, mate. I'm fine. Are you okay?" He was lying. We'd have words about that later, once I knew for sure he was healed.

"I'm fine. No one touched me." It had taken a lot of effort for me not to jump into the fight, to shift to my wolf form and at least assist, but I was not a fighter. And I most certainly wasn't a pregnant fighter. Suggesting my mate burn the wolf's ass to a crisp without saying those exact words was the best I could come up with at the time. Thank goddess it worked.

I pulled off my shirt and used it to staunch the blood. Tears came to my eyes. "I didn't want it to be like this," I said.

"Better me than you, mate. I'm glad I was the one out of the car. I'm sure he thought he could take me out and get to you."

He probably didn't realize he was fucking with a centaur. My mate smelled other, but not necessarily shifter. It gave him an element of surprise, that was for sure.

"You are safe, and that is all that matters. I would give my life to see you safe."

I'd do the same for him, for our baby. That didn't mean I had to like it.

"I hate seeing you hurt. What can I do?"

Apollo held my hand. "I will heal. I will be just fine. I hadn't intended to kill him. I'm not an executioner… a judge. But it was that or…"

"You did the only thing you could. His beta will go through his fair trial. And not only will he be convicted of his part in the previous crimes, but also in the assault and attempted murder now. He won't be running free anytime soon." Tomas reached out a hand and helped Apollo to his feet. "You did good."

Apollo laughed. "Happy to be a pin cushion for you."

"The operation worked. Now let's get you in the car and out of here before we need to fill out police reports."

I had a feeling someone still was, but better them than us.

"I would've liked to have drawn him out and not had any injuries, to avoid anyone being hurt." Tomas wasn't alone in this, but what was done was done. There was no way around it. "You two will be free to live your lives. Although, you'll have to testify in the trial and complete some interviews for the report. Once you are healed, obviously."

Apollo wrapped his arm around my shoulder, and I hugged him around his middle. I didn't care that blood got on me. If it was up to me, I'd shift to my wolf form and clean his wounds. Although I didn't think anyone around us would appreciate that, especially the humans.

"Do you think that you need a healer for that cut?" Tomas asked.

Apollo shook his head. "Take me back to Luan. I'm sure he has something I can put on it. If it doesn't heal between now and then. All I care about is that we can go home."

Tomas held out a hand. "You can."

Apollo shook it. "Thank you."

"That's it?" I asked. "We're just going to go?"

"If you wish, mate, I will take you home. All of this is behind us now."

Already the blood had stopped flowing. Apollo's wounds were healing themselves very quickly. If he hadn't been a centaur or other shifter, he'd have been long dead.

"I'd like a shower. Perhaps a long soak in the tub with you." He took his thumb and wiped the tears from my eyes. "How does that sound, mate?"

I grinned up at him. "Wonderful."

The babe inside my belly let out a soft thump. Apollo jumped and looked down.

"Was that…?" His eyes went wide.

"You felt that?" I said. "Felt our baby?"

"I did. He is strong. Like his father." He kissed my cheek.

The sounds of sirens in the far distance filled the air.

"Like his alpha father," I said. "Now let's go home."

The Steelwick pack was left to deal with the clean-up as I drove Apollo home. Halfway there, he insisted that he take over, my driving less than ideal. And fair enough. My nerves had me distracted from everything, not that I was a good driver to begin with.

"You need to develop your lead foot. Practice will get you there."

I bit back my laughter. I sometimes forgot how little my mate knew of the modern ways. He might've been on this earth for generations upon generations, but he lived them with his brothers and little phrases like this were not ones he knew.

"I'm sure it will." I kissed him soundly before switching seats with him.

His body was pretty much fully healed already, and based on the rate of healing, it would be back to normal before we reached home. And it was.

We parked and walked straight to Luan's. He would want to know how we were and would want to hear all that happened.

The kiddos were down for a nap when we arrived, and he took one look at Apollo and rushed over to inspect the wounds.

"So much for the ‘we are going to lure him out and arrest him before anything bad can happen' plan," he tsked. "Better get cleaned up before the kids see you."

"We wanted to wait until Terran and Marcus came home," Apollo said.

"Then off to the hot springs you go." Luan pointed in the direction of the spring. "Go. Get clean and do whatever it is you need to do as mates to reassure each other. Scram. They will be back before you know it."

Neither of us argued, walking hand and hand to the hot water, stopping only long enough for Luan to give me towels for me to dry off with.

"We haven't been in here before," I said as we arrived.

I'd seen it, of course. But we always bathed in the privacy of our own home. This was perfect, though. It allowed us to be close to the family and still manage to get my mate cleaned up. I helped him rid his body of his clothing and he took his centaur form and climbed inside the hot water.

"Is now a good time to tell you how terrified I was when I saw him attack you?"

"No, Walker. Now is a good time for you to kiss me."

"I can do that." And I did, the two of us stopping only when Luan called to let us know the others had arrived.