The woman covered her face and started to cry as she saw Adam and the blood on the sheets. “Oh god, Adam, are you all right?”


    “I’ll be fine, Alice,” he said as he looked back towards her. “A couple days in bed and I’ll be good as new.”


    “I’ll prepare your room,” she said before she rushed off.


    “She gets a little upset when we get hurt because we can’t go to the hospital,” her husband said. “I’m n, n Johnson, I’m this guy’s big brother. I keep telling him he’s not as fast as he thinks he is.”


    “It was four on one,” Adamined. “I got away from the first two.”


    “Come on, let’s get him inside,” Meghan said as she grabbed some extra sheets and put them on his back. We lifted the stretcher, then n and I carried him up the stairs and into the house. It was beautiful, with an open floor n and loft ceilings. Alice met us in the hall, leading us to his room where she had already taken off the nkets on his bed. She and Meghanid some of the extra hospital sheets down, Meghan having told her he might still bleed until his healing kicked in. We got him in ce, and he was asleep before the covers were put over him.


    The four of us walked out and to the kitchen, where Alice started to make coffee for us. “Thank you for taking care of him and bringing him back to us,” n said. “What Pack are you in?”


    “We’re humans,” Meghan said.


    “Our motorcycle club in St. Paul has known about werewolves for decades,” I said. “Meghan is the only doctor left in the country who works on them. She started working with Doctor Vivian when she was thirteen.”


    “Doctor Vivian? Vivian DelMara?” n’s face was shocked as I nodded. “Oh Luna, she survived.”


    “For a while,” I said. “She was my wife. She died almost eighteen years ago in a fight with a pack in Wyoming.”


    He pulled his wife tight to his side. “Doc Vivian was the Pack Doctor when I was a pup here. When she was forced to run away after the Alpha threatened her, that was the beginning of the end for our Pack.” As we sipped the coffee, he told Alice about the way the curse hit his Pack, but he only knew from his end. “Eventually our Alpha got greedy, went after another Pack and that is when ours was attacked and wiped out,” he said as he wiped a tear away. “Adam and I were lucky, we were at our family cabin and escaped.”


    I then filled him in on what had happened on our side; Vivian’s escape, her hiding with our Club, us falling in love. I told him about her efforts to save the women and babies, culminating in the birth of Eve eighteen years ago. Both of them were crying as I told them about how Vivian died at the hands of a thirteen-year-old Alpha widow.


    “So did youe back to visit your old Pack,” n asked.


    “No, not that simple.” I exined to them the prophecy and the curse, and how we had tried to find Eve’s true mate in Chicago. “She was rescued by a man I thought I could trust, but he was trying to take advantage of her for himself. They ran and ended up at the old Pack House, which is where Adam found them.” I paused and looked at my hands. “Adam and Eve are true mates, n. They are the end to the curse, their mating will save the race.”


    “Eve… Eve is Jessica’s daughter,” n said as he tried to process it all. “He gets to have his mate.”


    “If they ept each other,” I said. “After their introduction, there is some work to be done there.”


    n reached over and tool Alice’s hand. “I don’t mean anything bad when I say this, Alice. I love you and I gave up my wolf to be with you. The mate bond, it’s something far stronger. He’s stubborn, but he won’t be able to withstand the pull.”


    We talked for a while longer, but when I heard the motorcycle pulling up I knew time was up. I introduced Abaddon to them, letting them know I trusted him with my life and that of my daughter. “She’s out with the Pack for a while, since her wolf won’t react well to being too far away from her mate. Their wolves have recognized each other, even if the human part is resistant,” he told them. He gave them a paper with his cell phone number. “I’ll be setting up in town somewhere, call me if you have any problems or questions.”


    “What do we do about them,” Alice asked.


    “Let nature work its course,” Abaddon said with a smile. “They are destined to be together, it will all work out.”


    “Well, I might have to help things along,” she said. “We should pull out your old photos, find some pictures of Doctor Vivian or Jessica.” The Minnesota Long Goodbye then took ce, a thirty-minute evolution that began in the kitchen and ended with n outside my window in the ambnce, and Alice talking to Meghan on the other side. We had exchanged numbers and promised to get together again soon. I told n I’d bring back some of Jessica’s photos of their old Pack to look at, and he’d see if they had anything of Vivian. Abaddon fired up his motorcycle and started to move out, clearly done with the whole process.


    “Thank you for everything,” n said as he shook my hand.


    “Come back soon, I’ll make some hotdish!” Alice gave Meghan a hug, and we finally pulled away from the two of them. I was d we hade with the ambnce, but I realized that I had driven all the way up here to see my daughter and I’d never even seen her.


    “I never hugged Eve,” I said as we drove through the rutted path towards the road. Tears ran down my face as I drove. “I miss Vivian,” I said, “but she isn’ting back.” Meghan held my hand as I let go of her, feeling the weight lift from my soul. It was time to move on.


    Meghan’s POV


    I was so relieved to hit the pavement again, my kidneys felt like they’d done ten rounds in the Octagon. I was so d I’d stowed everything properly in back, as the ambnce had been tossed side to side on the uneven ground. Abaddon was waiting for us at the side of the road, he pulled out ahead of us as we were making the turn. It was a short drive to Silver Bay, then we headed south towards Duluth.


    The day was beautiful, thete afternoon sun was warm on my arm despite the cool breeze off theke. I was looking at the hills to the inside, theke to my left past Snake’s head as he drove. The roads was busy, lots of tourists and bikers around. We were in a section where the road uphill had gone to twones, with one of oing traffic; our ambnce was tucked in with the old people, the trucks and the recreational vehicles. I watched the faster traffic pulling past us on the slope, listened to the rumble of a Harley as it passed. The woman driving it was grinning, her ck hair blowing in the breeze. “When we’ve taken this beast home, you’reing back, right?” He nodded. “Wantpany on the trip?”


    “Sure,” he said. “That might help me with thedies.” He smirked a little. “I think you got the easy end of our little deal, Meghan. You’re young, smart and beautiful, I bet you could line up dates for the rest of the year in an hour just off those who have already asked you.”


    I blushed a little, he really didn’t know what it was like for me. I was the Ice Queen, the prodigy who had never been to a school dance, never asked to a sleepover with the girls my age. While the other girls my age were learning to dance and put on makeup, I was studying microbiology and taking college courses. When they were having their Proms and going to football games, I was graduating from college. While they were dating fraternity boys and partying all weekend, I was doing my residency. My entire life I had been on the outside, never dating, never having fun. It was easier to turn them down than to deal with the fact I’d never learned how to do anything. I graduated and still hadn’t had my first kiss.


    I looked up just in time to see a car in the rightne ahead of Abaddon suddenly changenes to the left. Thene wasn’t empty, though; the motorcycle that had just passed was in the space the big Lincoln was moving into, blissfully unaware of what he was doing.


    The Harley locked its brakes, barely holding on control as the driver finally saw her and panicked. He locked his brakes up, leaving her a pair of bad choices. She chose not to risk the oing traffic, instead she skidded hard right and slid across thene into the ditch. Sheid it down on the pavement, sliding off just before the front wheel hit the guardrail and flipped over. I watched her head and shoulder hit the rail before she rolled to a stop.


    “SNAKE!” I screamed as heid on the brakes, the big vehicle slowing as we pulled over to the side of the road. Abaddon had stopped just ahead of us, his Harley at the edge of the road as he ran forward to the body resting against the guardrail. He hit the shers that we had added when we made the transportpany official, and in moments I was out the door and running for the back. Snake met me there, and he grabbed the backboard as I took the medical kit.Belongs to ? n0velDrama.Org.


    Traffic was already slowing and moving around us as we ran back up the hill to where Abaddon was kneeling next to the woman in ck leather. “Stay down, the doctor ising,” he was telling her as she tried to move. I could hear her cussing up a storm that would make a drill sergeant blush, something about assholes not looking where they were going and how she’d like to stick his phone so far up his ass he’d have to use his tonsils to dial. I nced at Snake, he was smiling a bit, knowing this meant she probably was not hurt bad.


    I set the bag down, opening it up and pulling on gloves from the pouch in top. “I’m Doctor Jenkins, what is your name?”


    “Mia. Mia Taylor,” she said as she grimaced in pain.


    “OK Miss Taylor, I’m going to examine you for injuries if you consent. I need you to rx and just listen to me, all right?”


    “Yes.” She rxed back into the road. I was sure as I examined her that she’d be in bad shape if she hadn’t been wearing her protective gear. Her helmet wasn’t a full-faced racing helmet, but it was enough to have taken the impact of the guardrail. I could see paint where it had bounced off. She had on a heavy leather jacket, leather chaps and heavy boots, plus she had full-finger gloves. I checked her papiry response with a shlight, they were equal and reactive.


    “Any neck pain?” I gently touched down her neck and shoulders, careful not to move her.


    “It’s sore but not bad,” she said. I continued with checks of her extremities, verifying she still had sensation and control. “My shoulder hurts a lot, though.”


    I had seen her bounce off the guardrail, and symptoms could be hidden. I took the neck brace and carefully fitted it around her head. “Miss Taylor, we’re being careful here because we can’t rule out a head or neck injury on the side of the road. I know it’s not the mostfortable thing, but we’re going to tape you down to the backboard for transport. It’s a precaution to make sure nothing moves around.”


    A State Trooper pulled in near us, directing traffic around. Snake and Abaddon carefully moved her to the backboard while I stabilized her head and neck, then we used tape to fix her helmet to the board. Abaddon ran back and got the gurney, we picked her up and rolled her back to the ambnce doors. I jumped in, and the two pushed her forward. “My motorcycle,” she asked as she was slid in.