When they reached the hospital later that afternoon, barely any of the staff had made it to work and unless patients had an emergency—like a couple of car accident victims, a baby delivery, and an elderly man who’d had a heart attack—most people stayed away. Woe to the patients stuck in the hospital whose families couldn’t venture out in the storm to visit them.
Although Hunter hadn’t wanted to be taken in on a stretcher, the hospital staff felt otherwise as soon as they saw his condition. Poor Rourke had to wait longer to be seen, but once they thought a rabid wolf might have bitten Hunter, they took Rourke right in.
As soon as Hunter was resting comfortably in a room after surgery, Tessa, Rourke, and Ashton went in to see him.
“Only family can see Mr. Grey,” an officious nurse said, who had hovered over him ever since they had arrived. A striking brunette, tall, even more beautiful if she could manage half a smile.
Something about the woman irked Tessa. Maybe it was the way she cast Tessa condescending looks like she was beneath her, or maybe the way she’d taken charge of Hunter and dismissed them. Worse, a hint of recognition seemed to pass between Hunter and the nurse, and Tessa wondered if they had been lovers before. At once, she felt like an outsider.
“I’m his fiancée,” Tessa said, her chin up, her eyes glowering.
The woman tucked a curl of hair behind her ear that had loosened from her bun. “I don’t believe it.”
How the hell would she know?
The nurse pointed at Tessa’s unadorned fingers. “No engagement ring.”
Tessa offered a fake smile. “Left it at home. But I don’t really give a damn what you believe. The wedding’s scheduled for the spring.”
The woman laughed. “Right. And I’m the queen of England.” She looked at Rourke.
“I’m his brother.” He folded his arms. “Need any proof?”
“No. I believe you.” She considered Ashton.
“Another brother.”
Again, she laughed. “This is just too damned unreal. You’ve got fifteen minutes, and then visiting hours are over.” She squeezed Hunter’s hand like a lover would and brushed back a lock of hair from his forehead. Then she sneered at Tessa and left the room.
Hunter was sound asleep, and to Tessa’s relief, the doctor said Hunter would have the full range of motion in his shoulder once he had gone through months of therapy after it healed.
Rourke pulled a chair over to the bed for Tessa and then turned to Ashton. “Can you get Tessa a cup of coffee? She looks a little peaked.”
“Then I’ll miss my fifteen minutes with Hunter.”
Rourke raised a brow. “You don’t really think we’re going to allow that nurse to boss us around, do you?”
Ashton shrugged. “The thought had crossed my mind.” He left the room.
“He’ll be all right, Tessa,” Rourke said. “He’s a fast healer. And the rabies shots will ensure if the animal was rabid, Hunter will be fine.”
“What about you? How are you feeling? You still look feverish.”
“I received rabies shots and antibiotics, too. I’ll be good as new soon.”
“He didn’t mean it, Rourke. He didn’t bite you on purpose.”
“Yeah, but you never know when one little bite can change your whole life.”
She nodded and reached out to take Hunter’s hand. “He’s still awfully hot.”
“The antibiotics and fluids they’re giving him will make him feel like his old self before long. You were right to bring him here.”
“Do you think that nurse knew him?”
“I got that impression. How did you and Hunter really meet? I never saw him before.”
“The beach. We told you.”
Rourke stared at him for sometime and then looked back at Tessa. “Naked? Injured? Tell me the whole story.”
She hadn’t wanted to say anything about how they had really met, not when they’d had such a good cover—at least up until now. But Rourke seemed to suspect the truth, and she really was a lousy liar.
Chapter 8
HUNTER WOKE TO THE CLOYING ODOR OF HOSPITAL antiseptics with a roaring headache and his shoulder feeling like it was on fire. But Tessa had been right to bring him here. He would heal much more quickly after the surgery, enabling him to fight the grays again. The room was dark and quiet, and Tessa was sleeping in the chair, a blanket from the car wrapped around her. She looked like an angel. Not the kind of woman he thought he would want to have for his own.
He wanted to pull her into bed and hold her close.
He closed his eyes. Hell, he had bitten Rourke. It wasn’t the human bite that did it either. Already Rourke was aware of the change, although they hadn’t been able to talk about it, and he wouldn’t realize exactly what he was. His senses would be on higher alert. The urge to shapeshift hopefully would come on more gradually. But Hunter’s gut clenched as he thought of how he’d changed Rourke. Damn it.
The nurse walked into the room, a gray lupus garou itching to make trouble where Tessa was concerned. The woman’s eyes rounded when she saw Tessa sleeping there. When she reached out to wake her, Hunter growled low, “You touch her and you’ll regret it.”
The nurse folded her arms, her dark hair coiled into a bun, her amber eyes challenging him as she gave him a wicked look. “How did an alpha like you become so badly injured?”
“Don’t you have nursing duties to perform?”
“You can’t have her. So what’s the deal? Got anyone else lined up that you’re interested in? I need a mate.”
“What are you doing working in this place?”
“I wouldn’t put up with my pack’s politics. What are you doing with the woman and that other man?”
“Don’t mess with them.”
Her eyes sparkling with deviousness, she bowed her head slightly and then left the room. He didn’t trust her. But he knew if he breathed one word of leaving to Tessa, she would have a conniption. Rourke would understand. Somehow he had to solicit his help. Ashton would agree because of the perceived thrill of adventure. Rourke was bound to him as a newly appointed member of his pack. Of course, Rourke wasn’t exactly aware of pack traditions yet, but he was instantly gifted with a wolf’s wariness. The part about self-preservation of their species and keeping their secret was tantamount.
Hunter let out his breath in exasperation. Damn Rourke for poking that pill down his throat. Chomping down on the intrusive finger had been instinctual, but what a mess. Thank god he hadn’t bitten Tessa. Teaching Rourke was going to be enough of a pain. This was why wolves didn’t change humans. At least with lupus garous who were born that way, all the rules were known from day one, while their lupus garou parents reinforced the lessons from the beginning.
“Hunter?” Tessa whispered, her eyes trying to study him in the dark.
“Tessa, why don’t you get a hotel room and get some sleep?”
In fact, that was the solution. Ashton could take her there and stay with her. Then Rourke could sneak Hunter out of the hospital in the morning, and they could say the hospital had released him.
“Would the stalker have followed us?” she asked.
“In this storm? I doubt it.”
But then again, what if he and his brothers had? The three who had watched them from the woods when they were trying to get the truck unstuck from the snowdrift were different. Yet… familiar, somehow. He thought he recognized their scent, but not their appearance.
Hunter took a steadying breath. If the brothers had managed to follow them here, Ashton wouldn’t be any match for them. Although the one wolf’s leg shouldn’t have healed this quickly either. Hunter ground his teeth. Maybe staying put for a while longer was for the best.
With the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, Tessa drew the chair over to the bed. “Rourke’s upset with you for biting him. I told him you didn’t mean it.”
Hunter grunted. “He shouldn’t have had his finger in my mouth.”
“He was trying to help you. Would you have bitten me?”
“If I had, you’d have given me hell for it.”
Looking wiped out, but as beautiful as ever with her long red hair in tangles around her face, she sat in the chair. “Do you know that nurse?”
“No.”
“But you both seemed to recognize each other.”
He noted a hint of jealousy, but he didn’t want her believing he knew the woman when he didn’t—just that she was a lupus garou. “I thought she seemed familiar, but I’ve never met her before.”
“What about Meara? Who’s she?”
“Meara?” He frowned. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t recall.
“You said her name when you were delirious with fever. Is she your sister maybe?”
“Maybe, I can’t remember.”
Tessa reached her hand out to him. “Hunter, don’t get mad at me, but Rourke realized our cover story wasn’t true. I don’t know what made him suspicious, but now he knows about your amnesia and how I found you on the beach. About the fact someone may have tried to murder you, too. He won’t tell anyone. He’s promised.”
Rourke would know a hell of a lot more in a little while. “I figured he’d learn of it before long.”
Her posture relaxed a little. “What about Ashton?”
“Not a word to him. I don’t want to shatter his image of me.”
Tessa smiled and rested her head on Hunter’s lap, pressing against his groin and instantly he hardened. Despite the way his shoulder felt, she stirred his loins. Not only that, but her scent and the feel of her set his blood on fire.
“I wish we could snuggle together.”
Just what the doctor ordered. Hunter patted the mattress. “It’s small, but if we get really close, we should be able to manage.”
She raised her head and looked at him. “But I don’t want to hurt you.”