“I’ve got the antiseptic to put on these bites and then I’ll bandage the bigger ones,” Meg said to Kevin.
“Fine,” hissed Kevin. “Just hurry up and finish before I loose any more blood.”
“Hey, I got most the bleeding stopped,” she said. “Besides, once I get you cleaned up, I have Luc and Peter to see to.”
“Shit, ” Kevin said with an intake of breath as the antiseptic cream stung. “Didn’t think Luc got hurt,” he said through clenched teeth.
“He hurt his hand from what I could tell. Don’t know if he caught it in the door or what,” Meg said as she wiped her hands off and started to apply bandages. She tried to be gentle, but knew that it hurt Kevin. “Who attacked?” she asked.
“That was Duke,” Kevin said as he watched Meg wrap his ribs with sport tape over the bandages. He winced as she snugged it up. “Careful, I think I cracked a rib or two.”
“Probably, considering the way you landed and rolled about,” said Meg. She stood up having finished with the sports tape. Kevin looked a bit chagrined with bright pink sports tape wrapped around his ribs. She smiled. “Now let’s see how the others are and I want some explanations,” she said walking out with a fresh washrag and the first aide kit.
They found Luc and Peter in the living room. Duke was nowhere to be seen, so Meg figured that he must be locked up somewhere out of sight. At this point, she really didn’t care. Peter was cradling his hand and an arm. She didn’t see any gaping wound, but she knelt beside him first. She knew that if Luc was badly hurt, Peter would have said something.
“Okay, what’s wrong?” she asked Peter.
“I think I dislocated my shoulder when I threw Duke in the cage,” he said. His voice was thready with pain. “He woke up and got aggressive,” he gasped.
“Um, I don’t know how to put a shoulder back in,” Meg said. “Should we call Jeff?”
“Already have,” said Luc. “He’s on his way as well as Ginny and about half the family,” he finished. Luc didn’t sound happy.
“And how is your hand?” Meg asked.
“Just scratched from punching Duke in the nose,” Luc said and held up his hand. It was already scabbing over.
Meg nodded and wiped at it with the washrag since there was nothing she could do for Peter. When she was done, she took the kit back to the bathroom. She heard the door open as she turned back to the living room. Jeff walked in followed by a few people she didn’t know. Ginny was the last one in and closed the door. Jeff went straight to Peter and started working on his shoulder. Ginny walked over to where Kevin and Luc were sitting.
“Where is he?” she asked.
“On the back porch,” said Luc. He pointed towards the back of the house even though he knew she was familiar with the house.
Ginny nodded and two of the men followed her. As she got close to Meg, she stopped. “Are you okay?” she asked.
Meg nodded. “Just confused and coming down off the adrenaline rush,” she said.
“Get some food for you and the guys. I’ll start some coffee when I’m done with numb nuts,” she said with sub-vocals coloring her tone. Ginny was pissed.
Meg nodded and proceeded to grab crackers, and cookies out of the cupboard. She went into the living room and handed out snacks. Kevin took a handful of crackers and Luc snagged a couple of maple cookies. She put the rest down on the table and then went to answer the door. There were more people at the door that she didn’t know.
“Hello?” she said looking at a tall man.
“Hi, I’m Sandy. You must be Luc’s mate,” he said and held out his hand.
“Yes, I am,” said Meg still confused.
“My son here will answer the door for you,” he said before she could say anything. A smaller version of Sandy stepped in behind him and smiled up at Meg. “Let’s go see Luc,” Sandy said and prompted Meg to head into the living room.
Meg went in and sat down next to Luc. Sandy followed, said hello and then seated himself next to Peter who had his arm wrapped mummy style against his chest. Jeff was checking her handy work on Kevin in another corner of the room.
“Are you okay?” Luc asked quietly.
“Yes, just a little shell shocked and confused. What the hell happened? Why did Duke attack us?” she asked.
“He attacked you,” said Luc. “I think he just lost it, but we will find out in a few minutes.”
“Okay, so what’s with all the people?” she asked next as she cuddled next to Luc.
“This is family and pack business. Everyone here is related to either Ginny, Duke or me,” Luc said. “Guess you could call it a trial. I’ll explain in more detail later.”
“Oh,” said Meg. She looked around the room at the people packing into the 12 x 15 space. Some moved chairs or tables out of the way. She found herself thinking that it was a good thing Luc didn’t have much in the way of living room furniture. There must be thirty-five or forty people in here by now. Meg realized that there were family resemblances in the crowd. Some had the dark brown hair that matched Luc’s. Others looked more like Ginny. Just when she thought that there wasn’t room for one more person, Sandy’s son came into the room and found his dad. He whispered something in his ear and then sat at his dad’s feet.
“We’re all here Luc,” said Sandy.
“Alright. Inside or outside?” Luc asked looking around at the people gathered in his living room.
“Not sure,” said Sandy. “Lots of injured people and I’m not sure Duke will behave himself inside.”
People nodded and murmured in agreement. Luc took a deep breath and gaged how he felt. Looking at Peter and Kevin, they nodded. Luc stood up slowly and headed towards the back porch where Peter had locked Duke up in the kennel he’d used for his husky a long time ago. Meg wrapped her arm around his waist. She knew he was too proud to let anyone else support him. Instead, it looked as if he was protecting her. The rest of the people followed Luc out to the back yard.