Chapter 59
Amie
ll of us were well rested as we headed for the stadium the next day. TheA mood amongst all the packs was nervous. Those who had participated before were talking about the last games they had seen or been a part of. I looked over at Elder. I had talked to him about setting up a meeting between me and James. James had told him he was too busy today. I got it. No one knew what state we would be in after the game. But he hadn’t wanted to book a meeting for tomorrow either. Which irritated me.
“Good morning and welcome to the last game for this year. After today's game, you will have tomorrow to rest and we will celebrate the ending of the game with a formal dinner. Everyone is welcome to participate. The following day your results will be available. That is always an interesting day. The day after we will hold the closing ceremony and after the ceremony, you are free to leave at your own pleasure. We expect everyone to have left within a week. Enough about the formal parts. Time to get on with what we are here for, your final game. The final game this year will be traditional hand to hand combat.” The stadium was dead silent. I looked at
Finlay, he did not look happy. ‘Are they crazy?’ Sam asked.
“The participants will duel it out one on one. You win by either forcing your opponent out of the fighting area or by holding them in submission for a minute. Shifting is allowed. No going for a kill. To make the fights as fair as possible we will have five groups, A to E. Group A will be for the strongest fighters, group E for the weakest. The other groups are a sliding
scale. Each pack will assign which participant will be in which group. Only one participant from each pack can be in the same group. We will randomly select who will fight who within the groups. The winner from each fight will move on to the next round. In between rounds, you may eat and drink freely and your healers will be allowed to tend to any wounds. You have ten minutes to decide how you want to distribute your pack members across the
groups.” ‘Fuck,’ Ramses said. ‘I will go in group A, Sam you will go B, Ramses C, Jake D and Amie E, or you sit this one out,’ Finlay told us. Everyone nodded. ‘Wait, no,’ I objected. Finlay gave me a look. ‘No, listen to me. I do not belong in group E. I should be in group C, I’m the Beta.’ ‘Amie, leave this to us,’ Sam said. ‘I will kick all of your asses if you don’t stop patronising me. I’m not kidding. Medow will understand when I explain, as will Shelly. I have no issues making you all walk funny,’ I told them. They all looked towards Finlay. ‘Don’t look at him, he will be right there with you.’ ‘Amie, you can get seriously hurt,’ he told me in our private mindlink. ‘I know. I’m still Beta and I refuse to be shoved aside.’ ‘Amie in group D and Jake in group E,’ Finlay told us. ‘Sorry,’ I told Jake. He shrugged. ‘I’ll just do the best I can,’ he said. As the official came to collect our names for the different groups, he asked us to leave the stadium and follow the warriors to where the fights were to be held. I walked next to Finlay. ‘You have to be careful,’ I told him. ‘Me? Don’t worry, I’m strong and well trained,’ he said. ‘I know. But so are most of the Alphas here. This is the last game. After this, I can officially accept the rejection. Then we will go home and I refuse to think we have gone through all of this just for you to be injured,’ I told him. ‘I will do my best. I have a date tomorrow I’m looking forward to.’ We were led to an area of the woods where, in between the tall, straight tree trunks, a large number of fighting stages had been set up. It looked to be
around fifty of them.
‘I don’t like this,’ Ramses said. ‘A lot can go wrong,’ Jake agreed.
‘Remember, if you think someone is going for your life or to seriously injure you, step out of the ring. We would rather take a low score than lose someone,’ Finlay told us. We all nodded. Five big screens had been set up, one for each group. It showed who was fighting who. I looked over the screens and could see none of us were fighting a member of the Ocean shore pack. At least not in the first round. That was a relief. I worried about Finlay going up against his brother, or James. I was happy knowing my brother would probably be in group B or C which meant I didn’t need to face him. There was one additional thing that was different from the other games. The support staff were free to move around the fighting stages, it meant the participants weren’t as isolated as before. Matilda walked up to our team and stood by my side. I smiled at her. ‘Matilda will be staying with you,’ Finlay told me. ‘Why am I getting an escort?’ ‘Because we can’t stick together in the team and there are at least two packs I don’t trust at the moment. Just agree with me on this so I don’t need to worry,’ he told me. ‘I’m only agreeing to it because I don’t want you to be distracted.’ ‘Thank you.’ It felt strange to split from the team as Matilda and I made our way to the fighting stage where I would face my first opponent. ‘I honestly have no idea what they were thinking, deciding this was a good final game. It’s as if they want to see wolves getting hurt,’ Matilda mindlinked me. ‘Yeah, I’m not too fond of it either,’ I agreed. To be honest, I was nervous. I knew I could handle myself in a fight, but I only had to use it once. I had insisted I could do this. I didn’t want to be bumped out in the first fight.
Each fighting stage had an official assigned to it. Their job was to make sure we followed the rules and to count down when we had our opponent in a hold. At least there were some security measures in place, I thought as I stepped onto the platform I had been assigned to for my first fight. On the other side another woman stepped up. She was assessing me like I did with her. My opponent looked trained and the way she looked at me showed intelligence. It wouldn’t be an easy win. The signal sounded, marking the start of the fight. We slowly circled each other, not looking away. Both ready to defend ourselves if necessary. She made the first move and charged at me. Keeping her centre of gravity low, bending her upper body as she
came at me. I understood she was trying to push me out of the fighting circle. I stepped to the right and bent my left leg, pulling it slightly upward.
My opponent did most of the work for me as her forward momento drove her face into my knee.
“Fuck,” she growled and tried to stem the nosebleed with her hand. I made the next attack, hoping she would be unfocused. She wasn’t and blocked my attack. Her nose stopped bleeding after a minute, but she looked feral with the blood-streaked face and top. We continued to circle each other, trying to find an opening, making attacks to test the other’s weak points. We were a good match as we seemed equal in strength and skill. It worried me as I didn’t want to spend too much time on this fight. It was the first of hopefully many. I couldn’t afford to waste my energy. My opponent attacked again, and I saw my opening. I sidestepped to the left, taking her off guard and as she tried to adjust her movement, I curled into a ball which had her torso move in over me. I rolled onto my back and her eyes grew bigger as she realised what I was about to do, but she had no way to stop me. When she was above me, I kicked out with my feet. I caught her in the stomach and sent her into a somersault. She landed on her back, on the ground outside of the circle. I smiled as I got to my feet. I was announced as the winner. I walked up to my opponent and reached out my hand.
“Good fight,” I said. She shook my hand.
“Yeah, nice move. I didn’t think someone would go down in order to win.
I will remember it,” she told me. ‘Good work,’ Matilda mindlinked me when I walked over to her. ‘Thank you. How are the others doing?’ I asked. Before she could reply, Finlay and Sam came walking. ‘All of you have won your first rounds,’ Matilda told us. ‘Jake and Ramses are just starting theirs.’ We walked over to the boards. We all had a break before our second match as the first round matches were still ongoing. ‘I’ll head over and watch Jake,’ I told them. Me and Matilda headed over to where he was fighting and Finlay and Sam headed for Ramses. Jake was in better shape than I expected. His training had made a big difference and he won his fight without breaking a sweat.
‘Looking good,’ I told him. ‘Thank you,’ he said.’
My next couple of fights were tough. My opponents knew what they were doing and as I barely managed to win my fourth fight, I had more scrapes and bruises than I wanted to admit. The last opponent had landed a full out kick to my ribs and I felt it with each breath. Finlay stood waiting with Matilda when I stepped down from the platform. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked as Matilda handed me water. ‘Yeah. I’ll survive,’ I told him. ‘Jake lost his latest fight and it’s starting to show that Ramses’ shoulder isn’t fully healed yet,’ he told me. I nodded. ‘How about you?’ I asked. He had a bruise on his cheek and claw marks on his shoulder. And that was only what I could see. ‘No issues,’ he said. We walked over to the boards to have a look at our next opponents. ‘Alpha Logan,’ Finlay remarked as he read the name next to his. ‘I don’t think I have met him,’ I said. ‘He’s a good Alpha. We usually get along. He’s strong, but I think he will fight fair. It will be an interesting match,’ Finlay told me. I was about to tell him again how much I hated this game when his face grew dark. I looked at what he was reading. I was to face one of the warriors of his old pack. I felt myself going pale. I had been insisting the brutes from the Ocean shore pack wouldn’t be as dominant as everyone thought, but now I admitted to being royally screwed. ‘You will step out of the ring the second the signal goes off,’ Finlay told me. ‘I might win,’ I insisted. Mostly because I hated the thought of surrendering, not so much because I believed it. ‘Red, nothing is worth you taking that risk. We know they are not going to play fair,’ he told me. ‘They won’t win anything if they go after me. It’s not like they will take me out of commission for the rest of the games, this is the last one,’ I said.
Finlay sighed and rubbed his eyes. ‘At this point, I’m guessing they are pissed enough not to care anymore.
They just want to cause harm to us. You will give up the fight. This is not about you being strong or not. This is about you not getting hurt and me not losing my mind.’ ‘I will give up as soon as I see it going south,’ I agreed. ‘Red.’
‘It’s the best I can do.’ ‘Fine. I’m never letting you go to one of these things ever again. Just so you know,’ he told me. I raised an eyebrow. ‘As if you could stop me,’ I told him. He looked like a dark storm cloud until he suddenly smirked. ‘I’ll just make sure you will be pregnant with my pup. Pregnant wolves are not allowed,’ he told me. I could hear the smugness, as he had found a perfect solution in his mind. I blushed. We had never talked about pups and this was the moment he brought it up. ‘Idiot,’ I told him and pushed past him to head to my next match. I couldn’t help but to smile. ‘Are you sure about this?’ Matilda asked as she walked with me. She sounded worried, which was not like her. ‘No. I’m thinking this will be a short fight,’ I told her. ‘Don’t be stubborn. You know I love that side of you, but all in moderation.’ I nodded as we reached the stage where I would be fighting.
As I made my way onto the platform, I looked at my opponent. He looked even bigger up close. I felt like an ant. Maybe I should listen to Finlay for once and just give up as soon as the match started. My ribs still hurt from my last fight, and even if I knew they would heal and I would be as good as new after a night’s sleep. I also knew that right now, my injury was limiting me. The way he looked at me gave me a bad feeling in my gut. He looked mad and the match hadn’t even started. We took our starting poses and the starting signal sounded. I moved backwards, away from my opponent. I had about ten steps to the edge. This should be over soon. I had taken two steps when he charged at me. I tried to move to the side, avoiding him. Too late I understood he wasn’t charging in order to attack me. He was trying to keep me from reaching the edge of the circle. He grabbed my wrist and swung me closer to the middle.
“You won’t get away, bitch. You will stay and let me play with you. My Alpha told me I needed to mess you up good. It will get his brother unhinged and ensure he doesn't move up in the game,” he whispered to me.
My insides turned to ice. I finally decided to give up and he wouldn’t let me? I yanked my wrist out of the warrior's grip and moved away from him.
He circled around me in a way which had me in the middle of the fighting area. As soon as I tried to move closer to the edge, he attacked me. I
managed to dodge most of his attacks, but even the ones that barely skimmed me had a real kick to them. This was becoming a real issue.
“He is intentionally keeping her in the middle,” I heard Matilda telling the official watching over the match.
“There is nothing in the rules saying he needs to let her step out of the match,” he answered her. The match seemed to go on forever. I had managed to get a hit or two on him. I took some pride from the fact he was limping slightly from me getting a good hit on his left knee. At the same time I had to be honest with myself, I was losing and it would only get worse. My energy was still high enough for me to block or avoid most of his attacks, but I was starting to fade. As I moved around in the ring, I saw Finlay had joined Matilda and he looked like he was going to kill my opponent. I needed to end this before I got so tired I made an easy target. I knew he wouldn’t end the fight quickly. At some point Finlay would step in, I knew it in my soul, he wouldn’t be able to stand to the side and watch the warrior pummel me into pulp. I had a plan, it was risky and I hated it, but it was the only one I had. I charged the giant warrior and as I leaped at him, I shifted into my wolf. My wolf knew her assignment and bared her teeth.
The warrior acted out of instinct to protect himself from what he perceived to be a full out attack on his life. He aimed a skilful kick at me and I did nothing to avoid or block it. I braced for the hit and felt his heel connect to my already bruised side. I could hear the ribs breaking and feel the pain radiating through my body. The hit halted my forward motion and instead sent me flying backwards. My wolf curled into a tight ball for the impact and when I hit the mat, I continued rolling. With a last thump, I rolled off the mat and down on the ground. I heard the warrior cry out in frustration at letting me escape and Finlay and Matilda were calling my name. Finlay was kneeling beside me. ‘I’m okay,’ I mindlinked both of them. I remained on the ground, needing a moment for the pain to ease back and for me to catch my breath. ‘I’m going to kill him,’ Finlay told me. His hands were hovering over my side and head, barely skimming my fur, as if he was afraid to touch me. ‘Do it and I will kill you. I just took a hit to avoid that scenario. Don’t let it be for nothing,’ I said. ‘He is not going to do anything stupid. He is going to march to his next match and let me take care of you. I have a change of clothes and Hugo is heading over here to patch you up,’ Matilda decided. ‘She will be good as
new when your match is over,’ she added to Finlay. I looked at him and I could see the pain, worry, and anger in his eyes. ‘Use it all to win,’ I told him in our private link. He nodded and got up.
Shortly after he left, Ramses and Hugo came walking. They hurried over to me and Hugo gently examined me. ‘You have a couple of broken ribs that should be stabilised until they heal. It’s best if we do it in your human form. It will hurt to shift,’ he told me. I scoffed because everything hurt at the moment. I regretted scoffing the moment a wave of new pain washed over me. I sat up and shifted. Hugo hadn’t been kidding. Shifting had not been painful since my first time, but now I gritted my teeth to keep from screaming as I took my human form.
Matilda helped me put on an oversized t-shirt and Ramses gently helped me to stand up. I saw his shoulder was patched up. ‘New or old injury?’ I asked him as we walked over to some tents set up for the healers to work in. ‘Old,’ he said, sounding less than happy. ‘It made me lose my match.’ ‘That leaves Sam and Finlay.’ ‘They will do us all proud,’ he told me as he helped me sit down on a chair and then pulled a screen across, leaving me and Hugo in some kind of privacy. Hugo helped me off with the t-shirt and wrapped my ribs tightly. At one point, I was convinced he was trying to kill me. He took a look at my
other injuries. Mostly bruises. ‘How long before I’m healed?’ I asked. ‘You are healthy and strong and haven’t taken too much of a beating in the games. I would say your body will mostly be back to normal by tomorrow,’ Hugo told me as he helped me dress in the oversized t-shirt. I didn’t want anything tight on my body at the moment, so it would do. I slipped my feet into slippers. ‘I am looking forward to tomorrow's formal dinner and especially the dancing part of it,’ I said. ‘You will be healed by then,’ he told me with a smile. Matilda and Ramses were waiting for us.
“Should we go and see what else is happening?” Ramses said out loud.
“Sure,” I agreed. We walked out of the tent and headed in amongst the fighting rings. We hadn’t walked far when I spotted Becky. I looked up at the ring and saw my brother fighting another male. I walked up to Becky and took her hand.
“Amie! Oh thank the goddess. I hate this. It’s his fifth fight and I feel like killing each one of his opponents,” she told me. I squeezed her hand, I would have given her a hug, but my body would likely break if she hugged me too tight.
“I'm out so I can stay and watch this one with you,” I offered and introduced her to Ramses and Matilda. Watching my brother fight was horrible. I understood what Becky had told me. Each blow against him had my gut clenching, each hit which connected with him had me wanting to claw at the other man. In the end, Elder managed to land a round kick at his opponent’s head which rendered him unconscious and Elder was proclaimed the winner. Becky hurried over to him as he stepped off the platform.
“Congratulations, you have some good moves,” I said. He smiled and then he looked at me and his smile fell from his face. Did I look that bad?
“What the fuck has happened to you?” he asked. I raised an eyebrow and looked at the platform he just had got down off and then looked him up and down. “Yeah, yeah. I know what happened. Let me rephrase. Who happened to you?”
“A mountain with muscles. I’m fine. Don’t think about doing anything stupid. You still have matches to worry about. And try to win a little faster from now on. You are giving your mate a heart attack,” I told him. He frowned, but placed a kiss on Becky’s temple.
“You shouldn’t tell me to win, it means I will beat your pack mate,” he pointed out with a grin. I shrugged.
“Not really. Ramses’ shoulder took him out of the game. Since we can’t win this group, I would rather you did than anyone else.”
“I’m sorry about that. It would have been interesting going up against you,” my brother told Ramses.
“We will have to make that happen sometimes, Beta,” Ramses replied.
Becky, Matilda and I rolled our eyes as one.
“Be smart, and be careful,” I said to my brother and gave him a kiss on his cheek.
“Take care of yourself, little sister, and don’t forget to call home tonight,” he reminded me.
“I won’t. Can you please try to arrange a meeting with me and James? I hate to put you in the middle but I would like to avoid needing to have our talk in public,” I said.
“We will make it happen,” Becky promised me. We said goodbye and we headed to find where our Alpha and Beta were. We were closing in on the final matches. Two rounds left and then there would be the final, where the victors would be decided. We watched Sam’s next two fights. I was reluctant to watch Finlay after watching my brother. Both Sam and Finlay won both of their matches. Meaning they both would be in the final event, as was my brother. We went to the board to find out who they would go up against.
“Oh no,” Matilda said. We had all seen it. Finlay’s opponent in the final fight was his brother.
“Maybe it’s a good thing. This way, they can fight without killing each other,” Ramses said. Matilda and I looked at each other and I knew we were thinking the same thing. The two brothers couldn’t kill each other, but no matter who won, their relationship would never recover. This was the final blow. Sam would be facing a Gamma from a pack I hadn’t heard of and my brother would face the Beta from Medow’s old pack. There was no way around it, I would have to watch Finlay fight. We split up. Ramses and Jake walked towards the ring where Sam would be fighting. Matilda and I walked over to Finlay. He was standing beside the platform with a frown on his face. When he saw me, the frown deepened. ‘I thought you would be good as new. You don’t look like it,’ he mindlinked me. ‘Oh thanks, just what a woman wants to hear. Easy on the compliments,’ I joked and tried to make him smile. His frown stayed put. ‘Honestly, I’m in better shape than when you last saw me. I’m standing up and I’m in my human shape. Hugo tells me I will be all better by tomorrow. So you will have no excuse not to dance with me,’ I said. He didn’t smile, but at least
his frown relaxed. ‘Good.’ ‘How are you holding up? We have done well over all, it would be fine for you to step down from this,’ I told him. ‘I won’t. I think we need to do this,’ he said. I knew by the tone he was set on it. I nodded. ‘Matilda and I will be here,’ It was his turn to nod. He took a deep breath and turned to walk up on the platform. The match was about to begin. ‘I don’t know how Becky managed to watch all of Elder’s fights,’ I linked Matilda and felt her take my hand. We stood side by side, holding hands
and watching the two brothers prepare to fight. Tamara came walking and stood on Matilda’s other side.
“I have done everything I can to not have this happen, and now the game has forced us to this point,” she said.
“Maybe it has always been unavoidable,” Matilda told her sister. I stayed quiet. It would have been easier for Finlay if his mother hadn’t stopped him challenging his brother eight years ago. I was almost certain he would have won. If he would have, he wouldn’t have created our pack, and I wouldn’t have met him. So, in a way I should be grateful to his mother. I decided it was in the past and no matter what I thought about it, it was too late to change. I focused my attention to the two men as the signal to start the fight sounded. I almost crushed Matilda’s hand as Finlay’s brother attacked him.
Alpha Ryder tried to swipe with his clawed hand at Finlay. Finlay ducked and moved to the left, under his brother’s outstretched arm. As he moved past, Finlay sent a punch at his brother’s gut. It hit home and I could hear Alpha Ryder release the air from his lungs. He staggered for a few steps, but recovered and turned to face Finlay again. I felt sick to my stomach as I watched a series of kicks from Alpha Ryder hit their target and Finlay almost went down on one knee. He managed to parry the final kick and found the strength to remain standing. After a while, Sam, Ramses and Jake came walking. Sam looked unharmed. I gave him a quick hug. ‘How did you do?’ I asked. ‘What do you think? I won of course,’ he told me. I congratulated him and asked if he was hurt. He reassured me he just had some bruises. ‘How is he doing?’ he then asked, looking at Finlay. ‘He is holding his own. He is faster and more agile. But Alpha Ryder is stronger,’ I told him. ‘It will be fine. Finlay even manages to beat me from time to time. He will be fine.’ I tried to smile at him. It was nice of him to try and comfort me. All members of the pack were now standing around us, watching their Alpha fight. Again, Finlay’s brother used his claws. This time he managed to catch Finlay’s arm and four long wounds opened up and started bleeding.
I did my best to tap down on my growl. Some must have escaped as Sam, Matilda and Tamara all turned and looked at me. I cleared my throat and Sam smirked. Both fighters looked tired. One way or the other, it would be over soon and they were terrifyingly equal. ‘Amie, would you do anything for the Alpha to win?’ Ramses asked.
‘Of course,’ I told him. ‘Then please forgive me for this,’ he said as he walked to stand behind me. He placed his hand on my injured side and pushed. I yelped as the pain which had been forgotten surged to new highs. Ramses had moved away from me as fast as he could when there was a growl from Finlay. I could see him searching me out and I thought Ramses’ little trick would only distract him. But then Finlay turned to his brother, and it looked like he had found a new strength as he attacked Alpha Ryder. The power of the attack had his brother moving backward to avoid being hit. The power behind each punch was clear. Alpha Ryder almost lost his footing as the back foot hit the edge of the platform. For a second I thought he would step off it, ending the fight. But he found his footing and tried to dodge around Finlay, to get away from both the edge and his brother. Finlay seemed to have expected the move and took a hold of his brother’s throat, he moved around his brother and kicked him hard in the small of his back, releasing his grip. It made Alpha Ryder land hard on his stomach. Finlay was on top of him in an instant, taking a strong headlock. His brother was pinned and the official started the one minute countdown. When he got to half a minute and Finlay’s brother still hadn’t managed to get back up, I could see the desperation in Alpha Ryder’s eyes. ‘He’s going to shift,’ I mindlinked the others. I had barely finished the sentence before we could see the shimmer surrounding Alpha Ryder. This could go badly. If Finlay’s brother managed to shift while Finlay was this close to him, he could use his teeth and claws before Finlay could shift and defend himself. But Finlay knew what was happening. He shifted his grip to his brother's throat.
“Don’t,” he growled. The shimmer around Alpha Ryder vanished and the official finally reached a minute. Our pack howled as Finlay was declared the winner. We surrounded him as he got back down off the ring and congratulated him. I could see he was moving stiffly, meaning he had taken more damage than he wanted us to know.
“Okay, okay. Give him some space and let him get checked out by the healers,” I told everyone and they made room around him. It was then I realised his mother wasn’t with us. I looked around and just caught a glimpse of her walking away with his brother. “Come on, time to get
checked out,” I told him.
“I’m fine,” he insisted.
“I believe you, but everyone just needs a little reassurance at the moment.
It won’t cost you a thing.”
“Fine, but we do it back at the cabin, I had enough of this place,” he said.
I nodded. I was on the same page. As we walked past the board, I saw my brother had won his final match as well. I was happy for him. The walk back was not comfortable, but I did my best to hide it. We finally got back to the cabin and I realised I needed to climb two sets of stairs.
“I’ll just go and grab some milk. You can head up first,” I told the others.
I needed a moment to brace for the task and I would rather not have everyone else standing around to watch when I tried to do it. I should have known Finlay and Sam would follow me into the kitchen.
“Milk?” Sam asked.
“Yeah.” I took the milk out and filled a glass. “You want?” I asked.
“No thank you,” Sam said. Finlay remained silent. Looking at me. I drank my milk slowly. No one spoke. As I put the glass in the sink I was ready to
face the stairs.
“How bad is it?” Finlay asked.
“Not that bad,” I said.
“Bad enough to avoid stairs,” Sam pointed out.
“Not avoid. I just needed to prepare.”
“Red.” There was a clear warning in his words.
“Three broken ribs.”
“Fuck,” Sam said.
“It’s okay. I will be fine by tomorrow.”
“I’ll carry you upstairs,” Finlay told me.
“Don’t think I don’t see that you are hurt as well. You try to hide it, but something is wrong with your left side,” I said.
“He got in a lucky hit,” Finlay muttered.
“I will be fine. It will just take some time for me to get up to the room.
Go on ahead, Hugo is waiting on you,” I insisted.
“I will carry you. I have already been checked out and I only have some bruises,” Sam told us both. I saw Finlay almost objecting. Then he paused
and finally he nodded.
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Come on, Amie. It will be fun.” They both walked me to the stairs. The rest of the pack had gone to do their own thing until dinner. Sam made sure he kept my injured side towards him as he gently lifted me. I couldn’t see
any pain on his face and he walked up the stairs as if he wasn’t carrying me.
Finlay walked a step behind, making sure we made it safely. At the third floor, Sam gently put me down on my feet. “Think of me as your personal elevator until you have healed,” he told me. I had to giggle.
“Thank you, Sam,” I said.
“Just let me know when you need me. Now I’m off to take a shower and call Medow. I’m happy she didn’t know what the final game was. She will be worried enough hearing about it when she already knows I’m fine.” Sam walked off to his room. Hugo stood outside Finlay’s room.
“Go and get checked out and take a shower. Tell me when you are done and we can have a talk,” I said to Finlay. “If he is being stubborn, let me know,” I told Hugo.
“Take it easy,” Finlay told me. I nodded and walked into my room.
