“Two adjoining rooms will suffice,” Hunter said. “But drop by the hospital first, will you?”
Leidolf cast a questioning glance Hunter’s way.
“To get Tessa’s ankle x-rayed.”
Leidolf found the hospital and when he parked, Hunter skipped getting a wheelchair for her and carried her in. Once a technician had taken her in for an x-ray, Leidolf took a seat in the empty waiting room while Hunter stood nearby.
“So what was that all about?” Leidolf asked.
Hunter looked over at him. “What?”
“Not wanting to turn Tessa until the next moon appears. You’re a royal. You can shapeshift anytime it suits you, moon or no.”
“I want her to be ready for it.”
Leidolf shook his head. “She’ll never ask you to change her. The idea of confronting Devlyn bother you? If I were you, I’d have doubts.”
“I’m not turning her over to you and your pack, Leidolf, so quit suggesting it.”
Leidolf smiled and sat back in his chair. “She’s too petite to be a gray. She couldn’t handle your pack when you’re away, could she?”
Hunter looked back at the hall where Tessa had disappeared.
“Three newly turned lupus garous all in one pack make for an awful lot of trouble. What are you going to do about her brother? Ashton’s father, the sheriff? What about Rourke? Has he got any family?”
Hunter tried to ignore him, but the truth of the matter was he had no idea how he was going to handle any of it.
“Ashton might not be very close to his father, which will help some, although his father seems to keep tabs on him. But, Tessa, you can tell she’s really close to her brother.”
Hunter would deal with it, damn it. All of it, somehow.
The sound of a wheelchair rolling along the floor down the hall drew closer and Hunter’s spine stiffened.
A nurse pushed Tessa into the waiting area, but all that Hunter focused on was Tessa’s smiling face as she held onto a pair of crutches, her enticing lips beaming, her green eyes sparkling, the dimples in her cheeks endearing. His frown evaporated and he let out his breath as he hurried to join her.
“The ankle’s not broken,” she said. “Just a bad sprain.”
“Good show. I’ll take her,” he said to the nurse and wheeled Tessa out of the hospital.
“Want to get something to eat?” Leidolf asked, walking them to the Humvee.
“It’s late and it’s hard for Tessa to get around. We’ll get room service.”
Leidolf opened the back door for Tessa. “Sounds good to me.”
When they returned to the hotel and got the rooms, Leidolf dropped off their bags and leaned Tessa’s crutches next to the bed while Hunter deposited her on the mattress.
Leidolf bowed his head slightly. “See you both in the morning.”
Tessa frowned. “You don’t want to have room service with us?”
“No,” Hunter said, and then gave Tessa a half smile as soon as he realized how harsh he sounded. “Leidolf drove all that way. I offered to relieve him while you were sleeping, but he won’t let anyone drive his Humvee. So he needs his rest.”
“I’d take you up on sharing a… meal with you, Tessa, but I believe Hunter is feeling a bit possessive.” Leidolf shrugged. “It happens to the best of us from time to time. If you have any trouble in the middle of the night, don’t hesitate to holler for my help. Just keep the adjoining doors to our room unlocked, and I’ll come running. Good night.” He slipped into the hall and closed their door.
“You should have let him eat with us,” Tessa chastised.
The lock to the adjoining door clicked open.
Wanting to be alone with Tessa and not about to change his mind, Hunter removed Tessa’s parka and didn’t comment.
“Aren’t you going to unlock our door for Leidolf?” she asked, her voice annoyed.
“Later.” Hunter lifted the phone off the hook and called room service. “Two steaks, one rare, one medium, baked potatoes, everything on them, blue cheese dressing on the salad, water. Thanks.” He hung up the phone. For a moment, he stared at her.
She folded her arms. “What?”
“Pajamas?”
“Of course.”
He turned the heat on in the room and then he came over to the bed and began unbuttoning her sweater. “I like summer best.”
“Why’s that?”
“Fewer clothes to remove.” He grinned at her.
Her cheeks heated. She could just imagine he would be half-naked—no totally naked—all summer long. “As if it matters to you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
She smiled. “I can imagine you don’t wear much at all in the summer.”
“You’d imagine right.” He kissed her forehead and then unwrapped Tessa’s injured foot. “I’ll get some ice in the bucket for it.”
He unlocked the adjoining door, then grabbed the bucket and headed for the door to the hallway. When he opened it, Leidolf had his hand raised, ready to knock. In the other hand, he was carrying a full ice bucket.
“For Tessa.” He handed it to Hunter.
Feeling annoyingly humbled, Hunter gave him the empty one. “Order your meal yet?”
“Yeah, a rare steak. It’s on it’s way.”
“Bring it over to our room when you get it.” Hunter closed and locked the door, and then turned.
Tessa smiled at him.
“What?”
“Nothing, Hunter. Well, except you’re a paragon of mixed messages. I can’t understand why your people left you.”
“They were mad about losing their homes in the forest. They have some notion that if they live in the city, or in the case of the others, down in the California vineyards, they’ll avoid this tragedy again. It’s understandable to an extent. But we’ve always lived on forested land. I can’t imagine making do anywhere else. However, I don’t begrudge them their choice. Pack members can leave any time they want.”
“Except for Ashton, Rourke, or me.”
“That’s different. You’re right. You’ll need plenty of supervision for the first year at least.”
“I don’t like to be supervised, I can tell you that right now. I’ve always been responsible for my brother, the one in charge, the one who’s had to deal with everything.”
“Then it’ll be a nice break for you.” Hunter set the bucket of ice on the bedside table.
“I won’t give up my independence, Hunter.”
Someone knocked on the door. “Room service!”
Tessa folded her arms. “It’s not something I do because I’ve had to. I’m wired that way. And not you or anyone else is going to take that away from me.”
Hunter shook his head, grumbled something about another Meara under his breath, and opened the door. As soon as he did, he hesitated to let the man enter with the food. To Tessa’s surprise, Hunter tried to shove the door closed in the man’s face. But the metal cart blocked him and with a hard push, the server rammed it into Hunter’s stomach.
He stumbled back, cursed, and tried to regain his footing.
But what happened next, chilled Tessa to the bone. Two wolves charged into the room, while the man with the cart brandished a large carving knife and taunted Hunter with it.
“Damn it to hell. They’re royals,” Hunter said.
The heavier-set wolf jumped onto the bed. Tessa grabbed one of her crutches. Swinging it at the wolf, she hit him in the side of the head with a whack. He yelped and jumped off the mattress and landed with a thud on the carpeted floor.
The other leapt up next, while Hunter seized hold of the food cart and rammed it into the knife-wielding menace. Tessa swung her crutch at the white-faced wolf, the one who had bitten Ashton, but he dodged her blow. And then he dove in again.
Unable to move the crutch fast enough, she dropped it and instinctively threw her hands to block him from ripping out her throat. She grabbed hold of his neck, his teeth snarling and snapping, but she was losing her grip.
Leidolf threw open the adjoining door when the wolf bit Tessa’s arm. Hunter yanked the knife out of the gray’s hand and plunged it into his neck.
For an instant, everyone seemed to stop in mid-motion. The man collapsed, holding his jugular, blood spilling all over the carpeted floor. The two wolves dashed out of the room. Hunter turned to Tessa.
Tears blurred her eyes and she held her bloodied arm.
He hurried to her and gave her good arm a squeeze. “I’ll get a towel. Call 911, Leidolf.”
“He’s dead,” Leidolf said, feeling the man’s pulse.
Hunter let out his breath, grabbed a towel from the bathroom, and wrapped it around Tessa’s arm. “Do you feel any differently?”
“Sick to my stomach.” Tears trailed down her cheeks. “My arm hurts. And I twisted my ankle some more.” But what distressed her the most was the sight of the dead man in their room. Why couldn’t the men have left her alone?
Sirens sounded as emergency vehicles headed down the street toward the hotel.
“Guess someone else called the crisis in,” Leidolf said. He pulled some yellowed newspaper clippings out of the man’s pocket. “Are you sure you don’t want to give her up to me?”
Chapter 15
AS SOON AS HUNTER SMELLED THE GRAY WHO’D BEEN wielding the dinner cart, he knew they were in for trouble. But he never expected the three brothers were royals.
“He might not have changed Tessa,” Leidolf said, as Hunter paced in the jail cell across from him. “You can’t worry about things you have no control over. Besides, she’ll be all right anyway since there’s no moon out tonight.”
“What about the brothers of the gray I killed? What if they locate her?”
“The police said they’d watch her. So quit worrying.”
Quit worrying. Like that was a possibility.
“When you called your lawyer, how long did he say it would take to get us out of here?” Hunter still couldn’t believe the human police arrested them. It was clearly self-defense, but some witness, probably one of the brothers, had stated otherwise.