by Sadie Carter
Part of her wanted to confide in him, to take what he was offering. But she couldn’t burden him with her problems. And she didn’t want to risk him rejecting her. She wasn’t sure she could take that. It was her fault she was in this situation. She’d pushed him away, and she had to learn to live with the consequences of that decision.
Besides, how would he feel if he found out she’d nearly slept with another man?
“Cassie’s still in with the doctor. No one can see her yet. Some of the pack are in a waiting room.”
“Then that’s where I want to be.”
Cain stared at her for a long moment. “Lean on me. Use this.” He handed over her walking stick. He must have retrieved it from Laney’s car.
Dusty concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other as they moved down the corridor. She looked around the waiting room. They were at the human hospital, but the room’s only occupants were Shadowpeak wolves.
Stopping briefly to hug Laney, she nodded at her other packmates as she made her way slowly to a chair, hating that they could see how weak she was.
Dusty sat with a grimace. She detested hospitals. They sapped her, stole her strength.
She knew they pumped something into the air in these places.
As she sat there, bits of memory came back to her in patchwork fashion.
Someone calling out to her, asking if she was all right.
A car squealing as it quickly arrived.
Jay’s stricken, pale face as he and Cooper worked to free a badly injured Cassie.
The ambulance arriving.
Cain by her side the entire time.
“Here, take these.” Two small pills rested in Cain’s large palm. In his other hand was a plastic cup filled with water. Huh, maybe she was still a little out of it. She hadn’t even seen him move.
“No.” She shook her head, explaining as his gaze narrowed. “They’ll make me drowsy and slow.”
“These are your day pills, they won’t make you sleepy,” he told her.
She shook her head again.
“You take these, Dusty, or you and I are going to have words. Do you really want that?” His voice remained calm, but she heard the strength of will behind them. He meant every word.
She took the pills.
His dark gaze focused in on her face, possessive, infinitely hungry. An answering stir of heat bubbled in her stomach as she stared back at him. She ran her gaze over him, trying to memorize every detail. She’d nearly died without touching him again, seeing him naked.
Now that would have been a tragedy.
Beneath the loose, blue t-shirt he wore his chest was muscular, his stomach trim, his chocolate-colored skin smooth and hot to the touch. Her gaze lowered. He wore a pair of tight jeans, faded from numerous washes. She wished she could see his backside, could reach out and squeeze his tight ass. He had the best butt she’d ever seen. She should know, she’d spent many hours admiring it.
“Dusty, can you tell us what happened?” Cooper’s voice interrupted her perusal. She glanced up at Cain quickly, almost blushing at the heat in his eyes. She averted her gaze, looking over at Cooper, who stood across the room. Laney sat next to him. She was pale, her eyes glistening with unshed tears. Cooper’s hand rested on her shoulder in an obvious gesture of comfort.
“Oh shit, it was Laney’s car.” Man, she was slow today. She hadn’t once questioned why someone was after her and Cassie. “He attacked us because he thought it was Laney driving. It must have been the bastard who’s been sending you threatening letters. What the hell is going on?” she asked the petite blonde, not really expecting an answer.
“I don’t know, but someone seems to want me dead,” Laney replied hoarsely.
“That’s not going to happen.” Steel infused Cooper’s voice.
“This is my fault,” Dusty exclaimed.
“What?” Jay turned from the window he’d been staring out of, his back hunched, his pain easy to see. “How is this your fault?” His voice was a low, ominous growl. Jay was the most easygoing werewolf she’d ever met, someone she considered a close friend, but right now she barely recognized him.
“I called Cassie. I asked her to come and get me.”
“Why don’t you tell us what happened,” Cooper commanded. Looking around the room, he added, “Without any interruptions.”
“I, ah, woke up this morning at Wild Oaks. I needed a ride to get my car. So I called Cassie. She said she was coming in anyway. She had some stuff to drop off at the bookstore. I didn’t think anything of her driving Laney’s car. I dropped my guard, it was unacceptable.” Dusty kept her voice strong, her shoulders back. Any punishment Cooper wanted to dish out was well deserved.
“I’m the one who told her to take my car.” Laney’s voice held yards of self-reproach.
“Enough,” Cooper ordered. “I’m waiting to hear the rest.”
“We stopped about a quarter mile from Mackenzie’s Rock. This car came up behind us, and I saw someone exit, a gun in his hand. He fired and hit the back window. We took off, but we were never going to outrun him. He was trying to force us into the ditch. There was a turnoff coming. I was hoping we’d make it, that he’d overshoot it to give us some more time. But we didn’t.
“We went into a spin, landing in the ditch. I was sure whoever it was would come down and finish us off. But another car came along. It was an older couple. I must have blacked out because the next thing I knew, you, Cain and Jay were there, and well, you know the rest.”
“What were you doing at Wild Oaks?” Cain asked.
“Doesn’t matter.” She couldn’t meet his gaze.
“What color was the car?” asked Reed, Laney’s oldest brother.
“Dark gray.” She straightened at the command in his voice. Reed was the head enforcer, her boss until she’d been injured.
“Make?”
“Ahh, it was a sedan, a Ford.”
“Number plates?”
“Started with SIY, but the rest was dirty. It had tinted windows. They must have been following us.”
“They were probably watching the bookstore. If they’d been watching the estate, we’d have seen them,” Reed concluded.
“So you think this person was staking out the store on the chance that Laney would come in? They’d have to want her badly to waste that much time waiting around,” Cain commented.
Reed frowned, pulling out his cell. “Go over Laney’s car with a fine-tooth comb,” he ordered whoever was on the other end. “Yeah, see if you can find a tracking device.”
Laney stared at her brother. “Shit.”
Reed ended his call and sat next to Laney, drawing her into his arms. Laney was the only person Dusty had ever seen Reed touch in a loving way. The normally cold werewolf softened visibly around his sister.
“I’m going to change Cassie,” Jay spoke up suddenly. “I’m going to make her a werewolf.”
Chapter Three
Everyone went silent, turning to gape at a clearly distraught Jay. His shoulders were tense as he stared out the window. He braced his hands against the window frame as though he was using it to prop himself up.
“Jay, you know that’s not possible,” Cooper pointed out reasonably. When the packs had revealed their existence to the world, they’d agreed to the Government’s stipulation that they would never change a human.
Converting a human was punishable by death—a sentence carried out by the guilty werewolf’s pack. Not that the Government knew that. The death sentence was a secret held by the packs. The packs wanted to keep the human authorities out of their business as much as possible, so they had come up with their own discipline.
The sentence was strict, dire. But it was there for the greater good of all werewolves. There were many humans who hated werewolves and would like nothing more than to prove they were dangerous, lethal beasts who needed to be controlled or eliminated.
Werewolves lived outside human society, on estates set away from human cities and towns. S
ome liked it that way. Others, like Cooper, believed that segregation was only going to lead to the demise of the packs. That they had to assimilate in order to show humans that they were no threat to them.
“Cassie’s so fragile, so breakable. If she was a werewolf, she’d be harder to hurt. She wouldn’t be here, fighting for her life.”
It was impossible. For Jay even to consider this, Dusty knew that he really thought there was no hope Cassie would live.
“Jay, even if I could allow it, Cassie isn’t strong enough to risk it.” Cooper’s face was solemn as he spoke. “She wouldn’t survive.”
Reed stood and walked toward him. “I know you’re worried, Jay, but you’re not thinking—”
Jay glared at his oldest brother. “You never wanted her here!” he yelled. “You’d probably be happy if she died!” He turned back to the window. Reed stared at his back, his face impassive but his shoulders tightened.
Laney stood, but Cooper caught her arm with his hand.
“Leave him be.”
“But—”
Cooper shook his head, pulling the petite blonde into his arms as tears ran down her face.
Dusty glanced around the room, seeing the pain and worry she felt reflected on everyone’s faces. Cassie had come to mean something to them. All of them.
Her gaze landed on Samantha, and she frowned. What was she doing here? Samantha wasn’t close to Cassie. The petite brunette sat beside her mate, Jesse, who was an enforcer and good friends with Jay. Jesse and Dusty had been close once. But when he’d mated Samantha they’d drifted apart. Dusty had never liked Samantha and knew the feeling was mutual despite Samantha’s gushing niceness to her face.
A small grin crossed Samantha’s face as she stared at Laney, gone again so quickly that Dusty wondered if she’d imagined it.
A doctor entered the room, and everyone turned to look at him. Instantly Samantha’s expression morphed into one of concern. What the hell was she up to? Dusty shook her head. She didn’t have time or energy to worry over Samantha.
“Mr. Chance?”
“Yes?” Jay turned.
“Perhaps we could talk privately?”
“Everyone here is family. Is she going to be all right?”
Cain stood and moved to Jay’s side.
The doctor hesitated before shaking his head. “I’ll be honest, her injuries are quite severe. I’m very sorry, sir.”
Jay stood still for a moment, his hands clenched at his sides. Then he threw his head back and howled. His roar shook the room with its intensity. To his credit, the doctor stood his ground, frowning.
“Sir, I know you’re upset…”
The rest of his words faded as Dusty’s attention was caught by the man entering the room. Looking relaxed and only mildly interested, he gazed around. Dusty cursed softly under her breath.
Blond hair glistened under the harsh hospital lights as he walked up to Jay, staring at him as though he were a sideshow in the carnival. No one in the room even spared him a glance. She gulped.
“It can’t be healthy for the other patients, having to listen to that,” he commented, strolling over to her side.
“He just heard that his mate is severely injured, probably dying. Have some compassion!” Her voice was barely a whisper, even so, she got a couple of looks from the packmates closest to her. It was obvious none of them could see him.
Shit.
He gazed at her, raising his eyebrows in clear surprise. “Don’t worry. She is not going to die.”
Dusty bit her lip to stop herself from questioning him as he moved around the room, inspecting everyone. Cain strode back and sat beside her, taking her hand. Immediately her palm melted into his. She should pull back. But it felt so right, having him close. A slow, simmering burn suffused her skin, lighting her nerve endings.
Jay continued to argue with the doctor. The poor man looked suitably alarmed but was doing his best to explain the situation.
“Dusty, I’m going to take you home,” Cain insisted.
“Were you hurt, hellcat?” Blue eyes turned black as Algernon turned back to her.
“No, I’m ahh, I’m okay,” she answered both of them. “She’s got to be all right,” Dusty whispered, disbelief filling her at the idea of Cassie dying.
“She will be.” Crouching in front of her chair, Algernon used the tip of his finger to raise her chin. Both he and Cain now touched her. His touch sent cool, sharp shocks over her skin while Cain’s touch counteracted the cold with sizzling heat and fire. It tore her apart and yet thrilled her in ways she couldn’t explain. She whimpered and pulled back, unable to touch them both without exploding.
“Dusty?” Cain frowned, and she swore he stared straight at Algernon. The ridiculous name still did nothing to ease her attraction to the other man.
“What?” she whispered. Cain narrowed his eyes.
“It’s strange, for a moment, I almost felt like someone was here.” Cain shook his head. She looked at him, amazed at the caring and concern in his eyes. Cain usually guarded his emotions and thoughts so carefully.
“This is too bizarre,” she muttered.
“Yeah,” Cain replied, obviously thinking she was speaking of Cassie’s accident. “Let’s go.” Cain stepped in front of her, holding out his hand.
“Good idea, hellcat, I need to go see Cassie now, anyway.”
Why? She mouthed the word as discreetly as she could.
“Ahh, now that’s for me to know and you to find out.” He stepped away, gliding toward the door.
“Can I see Cassie before we go?” she asked quickly. Looking around, she saw that Jay and the doctor had disappeared. The others were talking quietly among themselves.
She didn’t think Algernon would hurt Cassie. However, she was determined to get herself into that room, just to make sure. He’d reached the door by now and turned back to grin at her mischievously. “Can’t keep away from me?”
“More like I can’t trust you,” she muttered, ignoring the looks everyone sent her. Yeah, she was crazy, as if they didn’t already know that.
She attempted to stand but her leg collapsed, and she fell back into the seat with a bang. “Shit!”
“Dusty,” Cain growled, but she held up a hand, sending him a hard stare. He would not smother her. She would not allow it.
“I’m fine. I’ve been sitting too long. I have to see Cassie.”
Cain looked over at Cooper who nodded, staring at her with quiet concern. Great, just what she needed—the close scrutiny of the Alpha.
Before she could attempt to stand again, Cain lifted her in his arms and carried her out into the corridor.
“Cain,” she protested, trying desperately not to lean into his heat, not to sink into the strength of his embrace.
“Don’t, Dusty. I am near the end of my patience with you. Be quiet, lie still and let me take care of you.”
Dusty shut her mouth in surprise and stared up at him, amazed by the small flickering of a muscle in his cheek, the only visible sign of his temper.
“And here I didn’t think you had a temper,” she exclaimed as he strode down the corridor. Devon and Josiah, two enforcers for the Shadowpeak pack, stood guard by Cassie’s door.
“I do, and you manage to trigger it easier and quicker than anyone else.”
Josiah opened the door, and Cain stepped into the room. A heavy weight settled on her chest as she spotted Cassie. She looked so small and fragile lying on the bed, her head swathed in bandages, her face lifeless. A tube was taped into her mouth, obviously helping her breathe, while other tubes ran from her arms.
A broken doll.
Jay sat beside her, his gaze fixed on her face. Her small hand was clasped gently in his big palm as he ran his other hand over her hair. Cain set Dusty down on the other side of the bed, beside a grinning Algernon.
“I’ll leave you guys alone,” Cain said with a sympathetic look at Jay. “Just call out when you want to leave.”
She was dying to quest
ion Algernon as he clasped Cassie’s free hand, his face deep in concentration.
“I need more energy,” he muttered to himself. He turned his gaze to her. “Tell him to kiss her.”
“Whhhmmm?” She turned the question into a clearing of her throat. But she needn’t have bothered as Jay never shifted his attention away from Cassie.
“Tell him to kiss her. She is so close to death that she needs more energy than I can give her. He can give that to her. If he kisses her.”
“She has a tube in her mouth.”
“He can kiss her in other places.” A wicked grin crossed his gorgeous face. Dusty sent him a dirty look, grateful that Jay never looked up. “Look, she needs touch, his touch. He’s bursting with energy. If he touches her, I can help her suck up that energy.”
“That’s ludicrous,” Dusty scoffed.
“Dusty?” Jay asked. She ignored him, her gaze intent on Cassie. She looked so sick. Hell, what did it matter if it was a load of lies? There was nothing to lose.
“Touch her,” Dusty demanded. “Jay, touch her. Kiss her, caress her.”
Jay glanced at Dusty, and she nearly gasped at the pain that filled his eyes. “What?”
“I know I sound crazy. But please, just try it. I saw it on this reality TV show. This man brought his wife out of a coma through touching her,” she lied. “What can it hurt?”
Jay turned his gaze down. Dusty thought she was going to have to beg when he ran his hand along Cassie’s cheek.
“More,” the other man demanded.
“Keep going. I-I know she can feel it. She needs to know how much you love her. That you want her back.” She wasn’t sure at all, but it sounded like the right thing to say.
Jay leaned over and kissed Cassie’s forehead, her too-pale cheeks, her nose. He brushed his hand over her body as he whispered in her ear, kissing the corner of her mouth.
“Well, it’s a pitiful attempt, but I guess it will do.” The blond man sighed and closed his eyes. Nothing happened for a long moment, and then Cassie’s skin appeared to shine, color returning to her face.
“Look,” Dusty whispered, watching in amazement as Cassie moved. She started choking.