“I don’t know about your friends, but I know Nico will be here soon. He wanted to check in on you once you woke up. He’s been…very worried about you.”
“Okay, but what about my first question? When can I go home?”
Carter’s eyes swept away from mine, breaking contact. His right hand fidgeted with a pen and the left slipped in and out of his coat pocket. Every bit of his body language screamed
I’m hiding something.
It didn’t sit well with me. I was about to press the subject when a throat cleared in the doorway.
Dr. Carter glanced over his shoulder. “Ah, Nico. I just told her you’d be here soon.”
The doctor moved out of the way, and Nico stepped into the room.
My eyes widened, nostrils flared, and my heart rate went through the roof. I was glad I wasn’t on the monitor, which would give away what I was feeling. I could imagine my embarrassment as my heartbeat went beeping all over the room as he walked in.
I sighed a breath out of my lungs, even as breath escaped me when he took another step into the room. Things had somehow moved into slow motion. Something inside me sparked to life. Something I didn’t even know lived within me. I couldn’t explain it. Was it an ache? A pang?
I watched the muscles in Nico’s arms flex, and my eyes moved across his body and back up to his face. A burning need swept through my body, desire like nothing I’d ever experienced in my life. He was the most beautiful man I’d ever laid eyes on in my life. A voice in my head started murmuring a single word. As he drew closer, the voice rose in volume, first a whisper, then a shout, then an earth-shattering scream, all inside my skull.
Mine.
NICO
The wolf within me erupted with need. It was more possessive than I’d ever known it to be in my life. It was all I could do to keep myself calm as I walked into the room. I could practically feel my pupils dilate as I looked at her. It was the first time I’d seen her awake. Her own eyes had widened in what I assumed was surprise. I gritted my teeth as the wolf tried to release a growl of desire.
Doc stepped over and put a hand on my arm, stopping me. “Take it easy, Nico. She’s been through a lot. She doesn’t need an alpha scaring her,” he said with a grin.
I knew he was trying to sound calm, but I could see something in his eyes. I must have had a strange look on my face. The look on his face told me I must have been radiating an aura of menace or anger. The problem was, that wasn’t what I felt. I truly had no idea what had come over me since I first saw the woman.
I swallowed and took a breath as I nodded. I wasn’t trying to scare her.
I gave my wolf a mental scolding, then patted Doc on the shoulder. “All good, Doc. I just want to make sure the patient is okay.”
The woman, who was sitting up in bed, watched me as I crossed the room. Her eyes were taking in my every movement. Part of me thought she kind of looked like a prey animal, scared of the big bad wolf coming toward her. On second look? She was no prey animal. Her look was so intense that I had the feeling she was trying to dissect me with her eyes.
“Who are you? What the hell is going on here?” she asked.
I grinned and bobbed my eyebrows up. “I was hoping you’d help me with that. By the way, my name is Nicolas Lorenzo. Call me Nico.”
“What do you mean, you hoped I could help? I was attacked by shifters. You’re a shifter. Shouldn’t you know more about all this than me?”
Her distrust towards me was coming off in waves. There was something else there as well, though. A look I couldn’t quite put my finger on. My throat felt dry, and even though I was putting on a brave front, she was making me feel strange. I needed to figure out what the hell was going on, but that was going to be tough. Just being in the same room as her, and smelling that scent? It was almost too much. It was worse now that she was looking at me with those eyes.
“You still haven’t answered me,” she said. I realized I’d been standing there for several beats, not saying anything.
“Did you know the shifters who attacked you?” I asked.
She let out a heavy sigh and shook her head. “No. We get them in pretty frequently. Not those exact guys, but shifters. That night was the first time I’d ever seen any of those guys.”
“Okay. Were they…I don’t know…rowdy? Causing trouble? Did they threaten you during the night before coming back after closing?”
“No. Honestly, the guy in charge was”-she rolled her eyes-“kinda hitting on me most of the night. Or at least I thought he was.”
“Do you think that’s why they jumped you? Pissed off they got shot down?”
The look she gave me could have peeled paint off a wall. “I don’t think six dudes would try to murder me just because I didn’t want to bang one of them.”
I held my hands up in an attempt to ward off her fury. “I get it. Okay. Can you describe them?”
“Probably. Yeah. At least a little bit.”
“All right, hang on a second.” I turned and pulled the door open. “Luis, I need you to hear this.”
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