Chapter 30

Serra

Sam and I drove to work together the next day and I could feel the anxiety rolling off of him. He wasn't just nervous about the hunt, he was nervous about having me involved. I glanced at him, smiling gently. "We're gonna be fine, you know."

"No, I don't know," he said, refusing to make eye contact. "I don't like this."

"You don't have to like it, Sam."

He rolled his eyes at me and shook his head. "What's the final game plan?"

I explained, again, what Dean and I had discussed the night before and he nodded. "I guess that will have to do."

"Will have to do?" I furrowed my eyebrows and turned to stare at him. "What is with you lately? You have turned into the biggest pussy I have ever met."

Offended, Sam turned towards me and puffed out the breath of air he held. "Great, thanks. Real mature, Serra."

"Seriously, Sam!" I yelled, "You weren't like this when we met! You had a backbone! You took what you wanted. You put an effort into life!"

He closed his eyes and shook his head as we waited for the red light to change. "Jesus, Serra, where do you get off? I told you when we started dating that I didn't want to be a hunter. The only reason I was in it was because Dean dragged me, kicking and screaming. And yeah, I was good at it, but a lot of shit went down from when we started to now, and I was kinda hoping that we could just fucking deal with life without monsters for a change." He stared at me, his forehead wrinkled in anger. "I died last year. Grace and Cas came to get me from Heaven." He enunciated each word as if he was talking to a child. Tilting my head, I watched him as he continued to rant. "A pussy? I became a father this year, and now that I'm back from the dead, I would like to live long enough to enjoy my time with my son and my wife."

I was so turned on. Finally, after months of thinking that Sam was just going to lie down and take it, he was finally defending himself.

"Jesus, Serra," he repeated, "I thought you of all people would understand where I was coming from. You practically died last year, too. Grace had to bring you back." He glanced at me, his face red. "I want a normal life. I want more kids, and I want to live long enough to see them grow."

Pulling into the parking structure of the hospital, he went up to the third story and parked next to the staff elevator to drop me off. As soon as he put the El Camino in park and pulled the key, I pushed him over, pulling his hips towards mine and bringing his legs up onto the seat. His entire mood shifted and he laughed, laying his head against the door. "What are you doing?"

"I have," I checked the watch I wore and grinned, "eight minutes until I have to clock in. That's more than enough time."

"Wait, wait, wait," he said, still laughing, "first you call me a pussy and now you're jumping me in the hospital parking structure?"

"You finally fought back," I said, attacking his neck in the best possible way. "You stood up to me. It does things to me."

I yanked his belt and pulled off my scrubs, trying not to rip them. In one motion, he flipped the both of us, so that he was leaning over me, kissing me deeply. He glanced up, taking a breath and grinning at me, his dimple showing and it drove me wild. He stared out the windows of the El Camino and laughed. "Someone's gonna see us," he said, laughing.

"No one else gets here until seven thirty," I answered, pulling his face back down to mine. "Shut up and make it fast. You've got five minutes." We fucked, hard, and before we knew it, we were both sighing with contentment, collapsed around each other. I pulled my arm out from under Sam and checked it, laughing. "See, now, I'm late."

"Well, find your shirt and get the hell out of here."

I slapped his chest and pulled my scrubs back on. "Glad we got that all fucked out," I said, giggling to myself. I glanced at my husband and kissed him once more. "Dean's bringing the Wagoneer today. We're heading to the motel at three."

"I'll meet you guys over there. My last class is at 2:00."

Nodding, I grabbed my bag and slammed the door to the El Camino. "Love you!" I yelled over my shoulder as I trotted to the elevator.

The day passed uneventfully and we got closer and closer to the end of my shift. I ate lunch around 11:30 and cuddled babies until 1:00. There wasn't much that could ruin my mood.

…

"Cece is heading towards the farm to take care of the Alpha along with Dylan and Cade. I'm going with you to the hospital and you two can go for the body shop where Alpha's mate is."

"If you wait long enough," Dylan said, "Alpha's mate will meet Beta at the hospital. We would have greater numbers."

Edgar shook his head. "No, Alpha's mate is Marked. He is strong alone, stronger together with the other hunters. We need to make sure they do not unite."

Dylan nodded, licking his lips. "Divided, they fall."

"Let's do this," Cece said, moving towards the door. She flew out, shifting in mid-leap and ran down the road towards the fields that connected, hiding in plain sight, all the way to the city.

…

Constantly glancing at the clock is the best way to make sure that time slows down. I paced around the nursery, checking and rechecking the babies that were under my care at the moment, all of them stable and happy. I leaned on the counter, tapping my nails on the granite and glanced at the clock again. 2:12.

Claudia came into the nursery; clipboard in hand, closely followed by Alana and Lindsey. They grinned at me and Alana shook her head, obviously disappointed in something that Claudia had done again. She wasn't the brightest nurse's assistant that we had ever hired. The elevator on our secured floor dinged and we barely looked up. "Hey, ladies, what's happening?"

Alana smiled and gestured, "Taking Claudia on my rounds, trying to get her to remember the new kids without having to check her notes."

I glanced up through the tempered glass and wired window and stared at the overly large, scarred man in front of me. A moment of recognition flashed through my mind. It was the man that had almost seen Dean and me as we ran around the corner of the motel a few nights before. He was here, staring me in the face. There was a werewolf in my ward. I glanced down the hallway and my eyes went wider as I glimpsed a smaller man at his rear flank. Make that two.

Two werewolves in my ward.

"Shit," I said under my breath. He grinned, knowing he had me trapped. I could hear the double door click as Claudia scanned her security card to exit the nursery. "Claudia, freeze."

She stopped moving and glanced slowly back at me. "What's the matter, Serra?"

"Lock it down, now," I said quietly. I could see Claudia raise her eyebrows, questioning me. Alana stepped in front of her, taking her security card from her hands and slamming the double door closed again. She knew better than Claudia and didn't waste time wondering what the problem was. She and Lindsey knew enough about me and my family to trust what I was saying when I said it. Lindsey's hand shot out, slamming down on the red button near the exit. I looked around expectantly, waiting for the alarms to begin and lock down the hospital.

Nothing happened.

"Shit," I repeated, as the larger of the two men approached. I turned to Alana and Lindsey. "Get away from the glass," I said, edging my way to my leather bag, in the back of the nursery.

"What's happening, Serra?" Alana asked quietly, eyeing the man on the other side of the glass. He began pacing like a caged animal, back and forth in front of the window. "Who is that?"

I stared as he paced, running through a plan of action in my head. This isn't what I was prepared for. "Not who," I said, as he hit the glass with his fist out of frustration, "what is a better question."

"What?" Alana stared as the big werewolf hit the glass again. "Okay, what is he?"

I pulled one of my .45s from my purse and checked the clip, taking the safety off and sticking it in the waistband of my scrubs. "He's a werewolf," I replied quietly as the other man began pounding on the glass, trying to find a weak spot. "They both are. They've been hunting us for weeks." I dug through my purse, still looking for my other gun.

"You've got a gun in a hospital?" Claudia's shrill voice came through the pounding.

Finally, I pulled my other silver-on-black, specialty Colt .45 out of my bag. "Actually," I said, sliding the clip back into place as I heard the tempered glass window crack, "I've got two."

"Werewolves?" Lindsey said, panic seeping into her voice. "What are you going to do, Serra?"

One of the babies began to cry as the pounding continued. "I'm going to kill them. You are going to move the babies as far back into the NICU as you can. There's a lot of room in the back because everyone has been so healthy lately."

"Serra…" Lindsey said, watching the men pound on the glass, making slow progress. "He's gonna come through the glass."

"I know," I said, spinning my first suppressor into the gun barrel of the Colt I held. I wanted to do this as quietly as I could.

Claudia shrieked in fright as one of his arms came through the wire and glass, bloodying his hand. He shifted while his arm was through the window and a small part of my brain wondered how he managed to do it on command. "Go!" I shouted to the women surrounding me, "Get them back!"

The girls began rolling the cribs away from the glass, trying to stay out of reach as I spun the second suppressor onto my other gun. I took a deep breath and popped my neck, taking one gun in each hand. Alright, I thought to myself. Bring it.