Derik was having trouble controlling Ballith. First, he found his mate and held her for a while. Then she wriggled on his cock like a bitch in heat. Now he had been told to stay away from her. The way she had cried while walking away from him had broken his heart. He snarled when one of the twins tried to speak to him. It had been hours and Ballith was still pissed.
"Watch out!" Simon yelled From the back seat as Callin lunged for the steering wheel. Derik slammed on the brakes hard as the truck swerved, barely missing the girl in the familiar pink dress that had sprinted into the road. The old wood fence put up no resistance as they plowed over it and came to a stop just before the tree line. Simon leapt out of the truck and started to yell at the girl but stopped suddenly. "Ezzy? Fuck that looks bad. What the hell are you doing out here?"
"Please help! I can't wake her up!" Esmeralda wailed as Derik sprung from the truck. He could smell the metallic tang of blood as the wind blew past Esmeralda. He was seeing red. A lot of red. Her dress, the line dribbling down her chin from her split lip, smeared across her face like she had wiped it from her nose. Her bare feet and fingers in the icy night. And causing his vision to blur. He was furious. The little girl in her arms was wearing what appeared to be a thin red blanket but what might have been a towel.
"Give her to me!" James instructed as he adjusted the sweat pants he had pulled on after shifting. Everything sounded far away.
"Ezzy, it's okay he's a pediatrician in the ER at the pack hospital. He can help her." Simon reassured her.
"He'll hurt her." She whimpered.
"Do you think I'll hurt her." Derik asked as he stepped in front of Esmeralda and gently put his hands on the child.
"No."
"Give her to me." She did as she was told and passed the small girl into his arms. The girl couldn't have been more than two years old. Her blond curly hair was matted on with blood on the left side of her head. Derik turned and passed the child to James. "What's her name?"
"V-victoria." Esmeralda watched as James knelt down and began to rub Victoria's chest as he gently said her name. "He shook her. Then threw her down the stairs."
"Who? Who shook her?" Simon was shaking with anger. Esmeralda just put her face in her hands as she shook her head. She was sobbing uncontrollably now.
"Who shook her?" Derik's Father asked as he pulled a very large t-shirt over his mate's bare body. She just wailed louder.
"Esmeralda, Who threw her down the stairs?" Simon asked as he pulled her away from Derik who snarled viciously at him.
"Don't look at them. Look at me. Who threw her down the stairs." Simon's calm demeanor belied his cold rage. Derik knew if Simon got his hands on the person who had hurt Victoria they wouldn't survive.
"My stepdad!" Esmeralda wailed. "Don't let her die! Please don't let her die!" Derik broke at that point. His mate was in distress and there was nothing he could do to fix it.
"Derik! Your keys! Now!" His father snapped in his alpha tone. "Go!"
"Dad I-" He tried to protest but was cut off.
"You're no good here! Just go!" He growled low in his chest as he fought the order.
"It's okay son. We'll take care of them." His mother said gently. He nodded and sprinted toward the tree line. By the time he made it Ballith was in full control. He wanted to turn around and hold with Esmeralda, tell her everything would be okay. But he kept running.
It was hours before Ballith had calmed enough to let him have control again. When that happened he went straight to the hospital. Fated or not, he would not leave Esmeralda to deal with all of this alone.