Page 54 of Baiting Kong

“Scout, you need to stay awake until they can take a look at you,” Creature insisted, gently brushing his hair back from his face and lightly smacking it.

Scout moaned and blinked up at him, seeming confused for a moment before he finally nodded.

“You did good, kid,” Creature told him as he hugged Scout and Axel together. “But why the hell didn’t you call anyone to come help you once you’d reached the road?”

“D-didn’t think a-anyone would help s-since I’m not protected,” Scout stammered, giving voice to what Creature had feared.

“You are now,” Creature said. “And in case anyone needs me to say it a little louder, Axel, you and Scout both belong to me now. Anyone fucks with you, they are fucking with me, got it?”

“Y-yes, s-s-sir,” Scout muttered against the leather, all of his weight supported by Creature now.

As long as he kept talking, Creature would let the EMTs get Sawyer loaded up before he carried Scout into the back with him, but he was rapidly growing concerned over how slurred Scout’s speech was becoming.

“Just stay awake, okay?”

“S-sawyer’s o-o-kay, right?”

“Yup, they’re getting him on the gurney now,” Creature said, gently stroking his hair. “Sounds like he’s going to be just fine. So let’s get you over there and into the ambulance with him.”

“P-please.”

He felt much too light in Creature’s arms when he lifted Scout and carried him to the back of the ambulance.

“He’s hurt too,” Creature declared as he climbed up in the back and sat Scout across from his brother’s gurney.

“Sir, we can call for another ambo, but—” the EMT began, only Creature just turned and shot him a look before stepping back out.

The EMT nodded to the other, who closed the doors and hurried around to the driver’s side to do his fuckin’ job and get them to the hospital.

“Come on,” Creature said, motioning for Axel to go back to the bike so they could follow the ambulance.

As he turned and passed Kong, he grabbed a fistful of the big man’s shirt and slammed him against the brick wall behind him.

“If you ever pull a gun on one of my boys again, I’ll shoot your fuckin’ toe off,” Creature snarled.

“Why’s it gotta be a toe?” Danger, ever the smartass, asked.

Creature shot him the bird with his free hand but never took his eyes off Kong’s, the deep tones brimming with fury.

“Your boy?” Kong snarled. “Just because he’s working for you doesn’t mean he’s yours.”

“That’s exactly what it means when you leave him so uncertain about whether you have his back or not, that he didn’t reach out to anyone for help.”

“I told him that he’d earn my protection when he told the truth,” Kong snarled, batting Creature’s hand off his shirt.

“And then you walked away without giving it, the same as if you were cutting him loose,” Creature declared. “Which makes him mine now. I might share, but only if you earn it.”

“E-earn,” Kong sputtered. “Who the fuck do you think you are?”

“His keeper,” Creature said before turning and walking away, certain his club brothers had heard the exchange.

Good.

That meant that they’d spread the word that Scout wasn’t to be fucked with, though something told him most of them were already aware of that, due to the protective feelings Kat had developed for him. The last thing he heard before he fired up his bike was Mark telling her to meet them at the hospital.

Axel’s presence at his back was the only thing that kept him from breaking speed limits to get there. He still arrived a few minutes before his club brothers, who came roaring into the parking lot as he and Axel strode towards the emergency room doors, a trek that had become far too frequent over the course of the last two years.

Creature knew the drill. No one would be able to tell them anything for however long it took to assess, treat, and orderwhatever tests they planned to run. He just wished he knew if Scout was still alert and talking or if he’d passed out.

---