Marked (Eternal Guardians #1)

by Elisabeth Naughton

Casey clenched her hands in her lap, released her fingers and fought the urge to pop her knuckles. What the hell was taking so long?

  She glanced at the wall clock in Dr. Carrow’s exam room Monday afternoon and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. Ten minutes she’d been waiting. Only ten minutes. She needed to get a grip and settle down.

  Two more minutes passed. Two minutes in which Casey felt like crawling out of her skin.

  Okay, so sitting still wasn’t going to do it for her. The paper crinkled as she hopped off the table and held the pink cotton gown together at her back. Coming here was a smart thing. Playing the what-if game over her exhaustion and nausea wasn’t doing her any good. There was a logical explanation for the way she’d been feeling lately. It didn’t mean she was going to end up like her grandmother.

  A crisp knock sounded at the door, and Casey whipped around at the sound. “Come in,” she said quickly, moving back to the exam table.

  Dr. Jill Carrow walked into the room dressed in slacks and a navy blouse. Her auburn hair was pulled into a ponytail, a stethoscope was looped around her neck and she held a medical chart in her hand. She was, Casey thought, probably not much older than herself, but she exuded a confidence Casey had never known. And that put Casey at ease. At least a bit.

  Jill smiled. “It’s good to see you, Casey. It’s been a while.”

  “Yeah.” Casey shrugged, feeling stupid for not calling the woman who’d taken care of her grandmother up until the end. She balled her hands into fists at her sides against the vinyl cushion and thought of the thousand excuses she’d conjured up for why she hadn’t scheduled that lunch date as she’d promised six months ago at her grandmother’s funeral. They all sounded lame now. She settled on the truth instead. “Doctor’s offices aren’t my favorite places to hang out.”

  Jill chuckled. “Trust me, I know. No harm done.” She sat on the swivel stool, opened her folder to study her last notes and then looked up. “So tell me what’s going on.”

  Casey took a deep breath. “Nothing much. I mean, well…” Here’s where she sounded like a hypochondriac. She crossed her dangling stocking feet at the ankles, twisted her hands together in her lap again. “I’ve been having some symptoms. Nothing major, but…” She bit her lip.

  Jill immediately nodded in understanding. “But you just thought you’d get them checked out to be safe.” She rose from her seat and set the folder on the counter along the far wall. With one hand she pulled a penlight from her pocket and flashed the beam over Casey’s eyes. “Let’s take a look.”

  “It’s probably nothing,” Casey said quickly. “I mean, a little insomnia’s not a big deal, really. I—”

  “Casey.” Jill put her hand on Casey’s arm. “A smart woman takes cues from her body. If she notices something out of the ordinary, she gets it checked out. You did the right thing by coming in. I’m sure it’s probably nothing, but it’s worth a quick check. And considering your family history, it’s a smart one.”

  Casey released the breath she’d been holding. Of course Dr. Jill got it. She’d been foolish to think the woman wouldn’t. She managed a weak smile. “Thanks.”

  Jill smiled. “Okay then. Now tell me what’s going on.”

  Casey described her symptoms—insomnia, nausea, loss of appetite. She tried to downplay the bits of memory loss she’d experienced over the weekend because it hadn’t been anything her grandmother had gone through, but one scathing look from Dr. Jill and she threw them out there anyway. Might as well be completely honest.

  A small furrow creased between Jill’s eyes as she felt behind Casey’s ears and down her neck. “So they’re not exactly blackouts but—”

  “More like lapses,” Casey said quickly. “And only the past couple of days.” She decided not to mention her weird dreams for fear the good doctor might send her to a shrink. Instead she added, “I remember going home from the club but not how I got into my car or why I left.”

  “Hm,” Jill said. “Could just be exhaustion. You’ve got some marks here on your neck.” She moved to study the side of Casey’s throat closer. “They look like—”

  Heat crept up into Casey’s cheeks. “Oh, yeah. That.” She reached a hand up to rub the mystery hickey from the mystery man she’d very nearly had a one-night stand with.

  Theron. That was his name. Another of her lapses. She remembered his name, but not much else about him, other than that he seemed to be a walking sex god who had a strange way of speaking. Oh, that and the fact that there was something oddly familiar about him, and that she’d wanted to jump his bones the moment she met him.

  But the important stuff—like how he’d ended up at her house and where he’d gone when he vanished after their impromptu make-out session—were still a mystery to her.

  “Casey?” Casey’s eyes snapped up to Jill’s curious face. “Something you want to tell me?”

  Yeah, right. Casey gave her head a swift shake. “No. Ah, I mean, that was from a date.”

  Sort of.

  A sly smile spread across Jill’s face. “Well, at least I know you aren’t so sick or tired that you’ve given up your social life. That’s a good sign.”

  Casey frowned. She wished that were the case. Her evening with Theron the Mystery Hunk had been a definite exception to her measly love life. Or lack thereof.

  “You’ve got a couple swollen lymph nodes,” Dr. Jill said. “Nothing major, so my guess is your body’s fighting off the flu, which is why you’re not feeling so hot right now. Just to be safe though and to rule everything out, let’s do a complete physical, okay? I see from your chart you’re due for one anyway.”

  Casey blindly nodded. Knowing she wasn’t doomed to the same fate her grandmother had been dealt was worth suffering through a half hour of poking and prodding. “Okay.”

  Jill smiled. “I’ll get the nurse and be right back.”

  As Jill moved out of the room, Casey leaned back on the angled table and rested her head on the pillow. The paper crinkled beneath her. She stared up at a tiny fairy hanging from a strand of fishing line from the ceiling, crossed her hands over her belly and breathed out a sigh of relief.

  She was good. All was well. When she left here she could go back to doing exactly what she’d been doing before her crazy weekend rendezvous with Theron. Mainly, figuring out a way to keep her grandmother’s bookstore afloat. She really didn’t have a choice, did she? If she couldn’t make this work…where else would she go?

  At some point she had to stop wandering and settle in. Quit looking for that elusive paradise where she’d fit in and grow roots. She was twenty-seven years old, for crying out loud. It was way past time. Her grandmother had loved this town, had loved the bookstore. Casey was determined to make this last move work.

  As she relaxed farther into the pillow, she thought briefly of her almost one-night stand again. Her cheeks heated. Not the smartest thing she’d ever done, but at least one of them had come to their senses before it was too late. She’d just chalk the whole experience up to bad choices. And being overworked. And exhausted. But one thing was certain. It definitely wouldn’t happen again.

  “Casey?” Dr. Jill called from the other side of the door with a soft knock. “Are you ready?”

  “Yes,” Casey said. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”