6

“Is…uh…Nicolas around? Nico?” I asked, not sure which name he went by. “The doctor said he’s the guy who saved me.”

The nurse tossed her soiled gloves in the trash and started washing her hands. She spoke to me over her shoulder as she worked. “Alpha Nico isn’t here right now, miss.” She turned the water off and pulled some paper towels from a dispenser. “He’ll be back soon, though. He said so. Don’t worry.” She gave me a weird look, then left the room.

I pulled the top off the pudding cup and ate dessert. Just what the hell was going on? What had that look been about? I finished the pudding and ate half the fruit before my stomach told me it was full. More than full, actually. It had been over twenty-four hours since I’d eaten anything, but I didn’t want to make myself sick.

The nurse returned ten minutes later to take the tray. She put it aside and straightened my sheets, then checked my pulse and blood pressure again. “I know you asked about Nico earlier,” she said. “It’s kind of strange how he’s been acting. Do you want another blanket?”

“Uh, sure, that would be nice. Nico’s been acting strange?” I asked, not sure where the conversation was going.

She grabbed another blanket from a drawer and draped it across my legs, then nodded. “Very strange. Really protective of you. He spent most of the day with you, sitting right there”— she pointed at a stool that was beside my bed—“and making sure you had whatever you needed. Pretty strange for him. Do you…um…know him?” she asked, trying to shrug nonchalantly.

“No. I’ve never met him before. If he walked in right now, I’d have no idea it was him.”

“That’s what the doc and I thought, too. That’s what makes his reactions so strange.”

“Reactions? What do you⁠—”

The door opened and Dr. Carter walked in. “How are we after a nap and some food?”

“Better. Thanks,” I said, wishing he’d waited another minute or two before coming in. I’d wanted to know what the nurse was talking about.

Dr. Carter nodded to the nurse. “Thank you, Cleo, I think she’ll be fine now.”

The nurse mumbled a few words to him before leaving the room. The doctor stepped over and slid his fingers into my hair, probing gently at the base of my skull where I’d been hit. I winced in pain, and he pulled his hand away, making sure not to get his fingers tangled in my hair.

“Swelling is going down, but you’ll have one hell of a knot on the back of your head for a couple of days. It’ll probably be tender for at least a week.”

“Do you think I’ll be able to go home tomorrow? Has anyone talked to my friends?” I was still worried about Abi. I’d even glanced around the room from my bed while I ate, trying to find my phone. I was pretty sure it was still lying on the bar, though. That’s the last time I remembered seeing it.

“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.

4

NICO

T

he 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?”