The Wallflower Mate

27

Ryker, Abraham, and Gary appeared at the chaotic scene just to see Mary stepping out of the fire right before the structure collapsed. In her arms, she was holding another female pack member.

With no hesitation, Ryker rushed over to her side. She was shaking a little from exhaustion. He grabbed onto her shoulders right after she released the female to medical staff.

Ryker's eyes did a quick sweep. Black streaks riddled her face and her hair looked a mess. She looked exhausted.

"Are you okay?" he asked in concern while his hands roamed over her body.

"I'm okay," she said, but the pained grimace on her face when he touched her left forearm didn't go unnoticed.

He lifted her left arm and turned it slightly to see that the scalding fire burned her forearm.

"Get someone over here to look at this now," Ryker ordered Gary.

The building was no longer standing, and with it the fire was dissipating. Ryker watched Gary leave. His eyes swept over the place. Many people made it out alive, but the fire injured some pack members during their escape.

He felt Mary leaned further into him. His eyes returned to her just in time to catch her as she collapsed unconsciously into his arms. He knelt onto the ground to stop her fall.

"She's a fool," Abraham whispered next to him, but Ryker could hear the concern in his voice.

Ryker cradled one side of her face and held her close to his chest. At the same time, he was trying to control the erratic beating of his heart. When he heard that there was a fire, he was afraid for his people, but when he appeared at the scene and saw Mary coming out of the fire, he never felt so much fear in his life.

"She's brave," Ryker whispered proudly.

"She went into a raging fire to save people she didn't know."

It wasn't an accusation. There was surprise in Abraham's voice. Ryker, on the other hand, wasn't surprised at all. This sounds very much like Mary. It made him proud, but it also scared the crap out of him. Mary had no fears. She charged right inside to rescue people without a single thought about her life or how much her life matters to the surrounding people-to him.

The medical staff appeared and knelt next to Ryker. Setting down his medical kit, he took hold of Mary's hand and turned it around to look. It was a severe burn. It scalded the entire backside of her forearm.

"It would leave a terrible scar," the medical staff murmured before opening his kit up. He pulled out a medicinal jar. "In a hospital setting, it would be more convenient to debride the bad skin tissue before applying medicinal herbs to increase the healing process, but..."

Ryker understood. There were many other people that needed attending too. Many of which who received more severe burns compared to Mary.

"This will relieve the pain and increase the healing process," the medical staff assured him.

"What is it?" Ryker questioned.

"No worries, Alpha. It's a herbal mixture that I learned a while back during my residency. It has gotu kola in it to help with skin repairing and aloe vera to help with the burn."

Mary didn't wake up. She slept through the dressing of her forearm too. When the medical staff finished tending to Mary. He packed away his medical supplies before separating from them to tend to others.

Ryker was in a dilemma. The leader in him felt the need to stay and manage things here, but the male inside of him wanted to tend to the female in his arms. Looking away from Mary's unconscious form, his eyes did a quick sweep of the surrounding chaos. People were distraught and soon they would start asking questions. Questions that he didn't have any answers for.