The Four Beta Brothers
Chapter 55

JUNIPER

I flipped around, forcing myself to face what had just happened. Axel stood over the body of the hunter, still in wolf form. His chest heaved up and down as he stared at the hunter with the intensity of a murder. The gun was bent in half.

The hunter stared at Axel with wide eyes, blood covering his chest. His lip twitched with fury, and whatever Axel had done wasn't enough to stop the determination in the hunter's eyes. The man's hand moved down, and I saw a flash of silver. I howled to warn Axel, and he jumped back, just narrowly missing the swipe of the blade.

Axel dashed towards me, and I felt him urging me to run.

Not without you, I thought. I'm not going anywhere without you.

I knew he couldn't hear me, but he reacted as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. He nudged me with his nose, as if saying he'd be right behind me this time. I hesitated to move, my body still frozen from the moment I thought Axel had been shot. Axel nudged me again, desperation filling the air. The hunter started getting up, and that was enough to break me out of the spell. I started running, following our scents back to our clothes. I stopped, preparing to change back to my human form, but Axel dashed in front of me and growled, making me pause.

He grabbed our clothes in his jaw and motioned for me to keep going. He took off, and I followed after. I didn't know what we were doing or where we were going, but I trusted Axel, so I pushed forward, following him as closely as possible.

He kept glancing behind him, making sure I was keeping up with him. He ran faster than we were moving before, confirming that he was letting me get away earlier. It didn't take me long to realize we were running back towards the motel. I didn't understand why we hadn't shifted back to our human form in the middle of the forest, where it was safe from prying eyes. Once we were back in our human form, there was no reason for a hunter to come after us, but the closer we got to the town, the more we risked someone seeing

us.

Axel didn't stop until buildings peeked out between the trunks of the trees. He dropped the clothes and started transforming, and I followed his lead.

As soon as I could speak, I said, "Where did you go back there?" My voice cracked, and the full brunt of my fear filled my body, making my hands shake.

"I'll explain later. We have to go now." There was urgency in his voice that made me on edge.

I started putting my clothes on immediately, still not understanding what was going on. Even though a hunter had tried to shoot us, we should've been safe.

"The motel is close by. Shouldn't we be okay?" I asked, pulling my sweatshirt over my head.

"That was a werewolf hunter," Axel said. His voice was unusually strained.

"How do you know that?" I asked. I curled my fingers into fists, trying to stop them from shaking, but it didn't work.

"Because he was using silver bullets."

I glanced at Axel, and for the first time, I noticed the blood covering his side. I yelped, and I felt sick at the sight of blood. My head swam, remembering blood surrounding me. Too much blood.

"Juniper," Axel said, his voice sounding far away. "Juniper." He grabbed my arms, and I felt myself coming back to the moment. He wasn't using my nickname, which made everything feel that much more serious.

"Look at me," he said, his voice a sea of calm and determination.

I took a breath, trying to pull myself together. Axel was the one who was hurt, yet he was still the one taking control. My eyes met his, and I knew I trusted Axel with my life.

"Good. Now listen carefully," he continued. "We have to go now. We don't have time to get our stuff. I'm okay. It's just a surface wound. The blood is making it look worse than it really is."

I nodded. "Okay." I didn't feel okay, but I had to at least pretend I was okay. If that man was a wolf hunter, there was a chance that more of them were around here, and it wouldn't be safe to stay. Plus, Axel needed help. Even if the wound was a surface wound, silver would still cause extra pain and weakness, especially if any of the silver got into his bloodstream.

Axel took my hand, and we ran straight to his motorcycle. He had his wallet and keys on him, but his leather jacket was still in the motel room. Luckily, there was nothing else of importance left behind.

The engine roared to life, and I squeezed Axel's chest as we started to move. His body tensed, and I quickly pulled back, realizing I couldn't hold him tightly because of his injury. His blood smeared on my arm, and even though he was acting fine, each moment that passed terrified me.

I wished he had time to stop and at least dress the wound, since we had a long way back to the university, but if Axel was right about that being a werewolf hunter, we couldn't afford to stop. I just hoped the wound was as small as he made it seem.

***

The ride back to school had felt painfully slow, but we made it back in one piece. Axel stopped his motorcycle at Ethan's apartment.

He killed the engine, and I felt like I could hear the world around us once again.

"J.J., I'm going to need you to help me get to Ethan's apartment," Axel said. He put the kickstand down, and he leaned forward. His breath was ragged.

I slid off the motorcycle and moved to his side. His eyes were shut tight, and his face was unusually pale and covered in a sheen of sweat. He was in worse condition than when we started the trip back. Either he had lost too much blood, or there was silver in his system, and either option terrified me.

"We need to get you to the doctor," I said.

"No." Axel's voice was firm. "Take me to Ethan."

"But-" "Please."

I inhaled deeply, unsure if this was the right decision, but I knew Ethan would at least know what to do.

I helped Axel off his motorcycle and helped him into the apartment building. He leaned on me with more weight than I was used to, but I ignored my muscles screaming, knowing Axel needed help. His usual warmth was gone, and his blood was sticky and wet. When we reached Ethan's apartment, I started banging on his door and shouting for him. I didn't care that I sounded like a lunatic. I knew if Axel didn't get help soon, his wound could be deadly. Please be home. Please be home. Please be home.

If Ethan wasn't here, I had no idea what I'd do. I didn't have a car to take Axel to the school doctor, and I didn't even have my phone to call for help. I hit the door with desperation.

The door swung open. "What on earth-Juniper." Ethan's eyes were wide as he took in the scene in front of me.

"Axel was shot by a werewolf hunter. He's bleeding, and I think he's lost a lot of blood. I wanted to take him to the doctor, but he insisted on coming here." My words were rushed, and I felt like there was so much more I had to say, but I didn't know where to begin. Axel suddenly got heavier, and he started falling over. I wasn't able to support his weight on my own, but Ethan had a hold on Axel a moment later. "Help me bring him to the table."

Together, we dragged Axel to the kitchen. He was going in and out of consciousness, but Ethan was able to take on most of Axel's weight. I quickly cleared the table, and Ethan lifted his brother onto the table as if he weighed nothing.

He ripped Axel's shirt, revealing the wound. There was an entrance wound under his ribs. Ethan rolled Axel over, and his face creased with worry.

"There's no exit wound. You said a werewolf hunter did this?"

"That's what Axel said. He said he knew because the hunter was using silver bullets."

Ethan cursed under his breath. "We have to get that bullet out of him, or he won't heal with it still in his body. When did this happen?"

"An hour ago. We were taking a run through the forest when we came across the hunter. We rushed back here on his motorcycle as fast as we could," I explained.

"He drove in this condition for an hour?" Ethan gawked. I nodded. "I don't know how he did it, but we don't have time to get a doctor, so we'll need to do this ourselves."

"Us? Do you know how to do something like that?"

"I can do it," Ethan assured. "But I'll need your help. Go to my bathroom and get the first aid kit from under the sink. There should be towels in there, too. I'll call the doctor. Go now."

I ran to the bathroom and easily found what I was looking for. When I made it back to the kitchen, Ethan was standing over Axel with his eyes glazed over. He was linking somebody. His eyes focused a moment later and settled on me.

"This isn't going to be easy, but we have to work quickly. Put one of the towels in Axel's mouth. This is going to hurt, and he is going to scream, but I need you to stay focused. I need you to help me keep him as still as possible. I can't have him move while I dig out that bullet, otherwise..." His voice dropped off, but he didn't have to finish his sentence for me to know what he was going to say.

Axel had lost almost all of his color, and as much as this terrified me, the thought of losing Axel was so much worse.

"Okay. I'm ready."

Ethan nodded and picked up a pair of long tweezers from the first aid kit. He sanitized the tweezers and took a deep breath. "Hold down his shoulders. On the count of three, I'm going to pull out the bullet. One. Two..." He took another breath. "Three."

He plunged the tweezers into Axel, and Axel's body flared to life. His screams were muffled by the towel in his mouth, but the anguish was clear through his entire body. I couldn't breathe as I waited. All I could do was pray to the Moon Goddess that Axel was going to be okay.