by Fiona Roarke
The Grey brothers hemmed and hawed for a moment before producing a small digital info pad. “All the information we could find is on here.”
Bubba glanced through the file quickly to get the highlights. “She’s from a family of jewel thieves on one side and pickpockets on the other? That’s frightening.” Double-trouble.
“While she obviously has ties to some rather unsavory people,” Cam said, “she has also never been arrested or charged with anything until very recently, and even the defense barrister said she was innocent of the charge in that case.”
“Or more likely, she’s really good and just never got caught before. Maybe she can flutter her eyelashes with the best of them to sway her barrister and soften his attitude,” Bubba said under his breath.
“Or maybe she was framed,” Diesel said. “You have to look on the bright side, Bubba.”
“Do I?” Bubba didn’t find anything at all on the bright side until he saw her picture. Whoa. Green eyes. Honey-gold hair. Button nose. A smile that could light up a galaxy. He was left slack-jawed and surprised by her mere image. To say she was merely beautiful seemed like an insult. She was absolutely stunning. And yet likely a criminal. Such a spectacular pity.
Cam said, “If anyone could flutter her eyelashes and be convincing, it would be her. She’s certainly not hard to look at.”
Bubba shot him a disparaging look. Am I jealous? “Hardly a recommendation,” he said, to cover his shock at finding her so utterly, deliciously attractive.
Diesel clapped him on the shoulder. “I have every faith that if anyone can find her, it will be you.”
“Thanks.”
“But maybe double your Alpha protective gear, just in case.” He grinned and clapped him on the back once more.
Bubba glanced at his prey’s picture. She was beautiful and no doubt trouble in more ways than one. He would have to be strong in order to resist her charms.
If anyone could tempt him to the dark side, this woman could.
Chapter Five
<^> <^> <^>
Nocturne Falls General Hospital – almost a month after the crash
Victoria strolled inside as if on automatic pilot, turned to the left and headed toward the elevators as she’d done every single day for almost a month. She sniffed the center of the fragrant bunch of flowers she carried into the hospital, loving the scent of the small red and white carnations. Marigold always had such lovely flower arrangements at Enchanted Garden.
If Holden didn’t wake up soon, she was going to need help from Alienn to get him out of here. They’d have to do an emergency medical transfer or something. The only reason they hadn’t was because the doctor in Alienn feared a move might be bad for his health while he was in the coma.
The authorities in Alienn decided to keep her by his side in Nocturne Falls until Holden recovered and woke up. Mostly because she told them she would not abandon him. The doctor in Alienn said a month or more to recuperate wasn’t uncommon for a seriously injured Alpha.
The phrase a month or more had been daunting, but Victoria couldn’t just leave him. What if he woke up sooner? What if the hospital tried to take a sample of his blood again?
The emergency room had done an initial blood panel and CT scan when he arrived.
She’d had to invent a very specific spiritual belief that disallowed some basic modern medical practices in order to keep his medical team in Nocturne Falls from taking any more blood samples. They were allowed to put IVs into him, but no medical professionals were allowed to extract anything from him or take any CT scans or X-rays of his internal organs.
His primary doctor had wanted to take another picture of his head to see if the concussion was worse, but Victoria wouldn’t allow it. It had taken her almost two weeks to locate and destroy the one CT image they had of his injury that had been taken upon his arrival in the emergency room.
To ensure they didn’t accidentally take his blood, she spent the bulk of her time by his bedside. She wanted to be close by when he finally healed up and opened his eyes.
Victoria kept up the pretense of being his dutiful wife, visiting his room each and every day, all day, to talk to him, remind him of their life together and pretend they were madly in love.
While Victoria enjoyed her time in this unusual place, as each day went by, she missed her home in Alienn more. She missed her friends. She missed her family. She even missed her mother asking if she was dating anyone.
Wouldn’t her mother be shocked to discover she was fake married to the most gorgeous and wonderful man she’d ever known? Victoria knew he was wonderful because she’d made up several stories about their life together in order to make Dr. Duncan and Nurse Hilda believe they were a couple, numbering each one so as to keep track.
Victoria took another deep sniff of the flowers she carried.
“Hey! You have to sign in,” called a strident voice from the registration area. Victoria spun around to glare at the new person behind the desk. She didn’t recognize the girl.
Victoria waved at her. “I have permission to come and go as I please.” She started to move away again, but the very bombastic tone of the girl’s next question stopped her.
“Who do you think you are, the Queen of England? Come back here!”
“I beg your pardon?” Victoria, had in fact been named after a former Queen of England, but she also didn’t share that tidbit in this instance. She also didn’t want to sign in each and every time she came and went.
The girl pointed to the sign-in sheet, tapping her forefinger on the flat surface attached to the clipboard with a cap-less pen taped to a string hanging off one side. “You have to sign in. Everyone has to sign in.”
Victoria remained where she was. “What if I don’t want to?” It was a petulant remark, she knew it, but couldn’t seem to help it.
“Then I’ll have to call security.” The girl reached for the phone.
“Fine. I’ll sign in.” She inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly to cool her annoyance, walked over to the desk and signed her name. She didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. She had simply gotten used to the regular registration person and this was obviously a new one.
“Where is Ruth?”
The very young freckle-faced newbie whose nametag read, “Heather,” didn’t respond at first. Studying Victoria’s purposefully sloppy and unreadable signature, squinting and frowning, she answered, “I’m not at liberty to discuss other employees.” She straightened, but didn’t lose her frown, giving Victoria a hard look. “Also, I need to see an ID card.”
Not bothering to hide the rolling of her eyes as she pulled her ID out of her bag, Victoria decided her own bossy, superior attitude wasn’t working. She should try a different tack, doing her best to humble herself.
“Victoria Gregg,” Heather read out loud. She studied the fake ID and then looked into Victoria’s face as if to assure herself she indeed was the owner.
Victoria’s fake ID had been sent post-haste from Alienn weeks ago to back up the lies she’d told and facilitate her continued stay as Holden Gregg’s dutiful and faithful wife. It also came with a private insurance card to cover Holden’s care.
Sheriff Merrow had been very helpful in paving the way for her, keeping questions and difficulties to a minimum, but he couldn’t walk around with her every day to keep her out of trouble. However, this was the perfect example of a situation where Sheriff Merrow’s presence would come in handy.
A new receptionist meant new rules Victoria couldn’t get around. She inhaled deeply and exhaled deeply, going through her standard calming routine. She was a professional. She would adapt and overcome.
“May I go now?” Victoria asked, as sweetly as she could manage, discarding her initial tart attitude.
“Technically, visiting hours don’t start for another half hour.” Heather crossed her arms as if bracing for a battle.
Victoria pushed out a sigh. “Would you mind looking up my name to see if there is a special note attach
ed to the chart? My husband is in a coma on the fourth floor and has been for almost a month. Usually I’m allowed to check on him whenever I can get here.”
“Heather!” the sharp voice of someone Victoria recognized made her turn. She was grateful to see Nurse Hilda march up to the reception desk. “What are you doing?”
Heather pointed to Victoria and said, “She’s trying to get in, but visiting hours don’t—”
“She’s special. Get a good look at her face, Heather, and memorize it so you don’t hold her up again.”
“I… I…but…” the girl stammered.
“It’s fine, Hilda,” Victoria said magnanimously. “I’m sure that Heather was just doing her job.”
The desk clerk sent Victoria a grateful smile. “I’m sorry for the trouble. I won’t hold you up again. And also, I’m sorry your husband is in a coma.”
“Thank you.” Victoria turned to Hilda, looking for any sign in her face of a change in Holden’s condition, but not expecting one since it had been three and a half weeks. She was wrong.
“I’ve been waiting for you to get here. Holden is awake,” Hilda said with a grin and a wink as they walked to the elevators together.
Victoria sucked in a sharp breath. “Really? When?” Finally.
“About half an hour ago. Let’s get you up there to see him.”
Together they rode up to the fourth floor and hurried to Holden’s room. He had the room to himself, as no other patient had been assigned to the other bed after his former roommate was discharged.
Victoria came around the curtain separating the two beds on a mission to be convincing about being Holden’s wife. Hopefully, he remembered their ruse after his long sleep.
He wasn’t sitting up, but his eyes were open. Those beautiful light-blue eyes focused on her the moment she entered. A smile shaped his mouth. A very good sign.
She quickly walked to his bedside, leaned down and kissed his cheek. The sandpapery feel of his unshaven face abraded her mouth in a good way. Shaving him was one task she performed on her daily visits. He smelled delicious.
Victoria placed her forehead against his and whispered endearments to him because she well knew the nurse was watching. “I’m so glad you are awake, my darling. Please remember me. Please be okay.” She put a kiss on his forehead, backed up to look down into his beautiful eyes and reached for his hand.
Now that Holden was awake, she’d have to notify the Alpha doctor on standby in Alienn, waiting for her daily report on his condition. This time she’d have something different to say than, “He still has brain waves and he’s still in a coma. What do I do?”
She also wouldn’t have to hear the daily response, “Wait until he wakes up.”
Victoria hadn’t wanted to ask how long an Alpha could be comatose before a new theory on his condition arose.
She studied Holden, only glancing at the nurse, as if there were no more important thing to do than hover by his side until he recognized her and perpetuated the lies she’d been telling for almost a month. Once she got him alone, she’d fill him in on all the stories about their fake life that he’d have to memorize and recite. She had numbered them for that purpose.
Seating herself on the edge of his bed, facing away from the door and the nurse, Victoria grasped his hand, held it between her palms, and stroked his calloused fingers as if she planned to stay in that position until he called her by name.
Had he even been conscious when she revealed her name before he slipped into the coma? It had been so long ago, she wasn’t certain.
“It’s me, Victoria,” she said. It would be better if Hilda was gone before they started chatting about her fake wife status, because if he didn’t remember her or his memory had faded, he truly didn’t know Victoria from a hole in the ground. She’d hate to be kicked out of this place for lying about their invented marriage at this late stage of the game.
“Hello, beautiful wife of mine,” Holden said.
“You remembered this time.” Victoria winked at him as relief poured through her. “I’m so relieved.”
Hilda said, “I’ll leave you two alone and go see if the doctor’s available.”
Holden turned toward her and his blindingly beautiful eyes fixed on her face. Victoria was unable to do anything but stare. He blinked once.
“Hello, my darling,” she said in as reassuring a tone as possible, waiting to hear the room door shut and wondering how soon she could get him back to Alienn.
Once the door was shut, she relaxed. In a more normal tone, she asked, “How do you feel?”
“Like someone beat me up and left me for dead.”
“Do you remember what happened to you? The accident?”
His eyes narrowed and his gaze slid away from hers. “I remember unbuckling myself and falling to a grassy surface.”
Victoria looked over her shoulder before whispering, “They all think you were in a hit-and-run car accident.”
“Hit and run? Car accident?” The words sounded like it was the first time he’d ever uttered them. Likely it was. Hit-and-run car accident was more of an Earther phrase.
“That’s what the doctors think.”
His gaze shifted from her eyes down her body and back to her eyes again. He smiled and cleared his throat as if he were about to speak, staring at her like she was a complete stranger. Which she was.
Victoria opened her mouth to give him the lowdown on all she’d mentioned over the past month, but the hospital door suddenly swung open again with a whoosh. Spuds.
“Mrs. Gregg,” an unfamiliar voice called out. It was a different nurse, not Hilda. Victoria didn’t want to talk to anyone until she and Holden had a chance to converse privately and get their stories straight.
What to do?
The only thing she could think of was bold and very daring. She also had wanted to do it since the moment she stepped into this room. In fact, she’d done this each and every time she entered his room to find him all alone.
Victoria leaned forward and kissed him with the intent of getting the new nurse to leave them alone as soon as possible. Maybe she’d see them smooching, leave and come back later.
The moment their lips connected, a rush of what felt like electric current passed between them. Just like the first time she’d kissed him almost a month ago.
Wow. Looks like the spark is still there in our imaginary marriage.
<^> <^> <^>
The woods outside Nocturne Falls – almost a month after the crash
Astrid Harper was beginning to believe she was safe. Each and every day she thanked her lucky stars she’d found a good place to live and work after extricating herself from the wreckage of the spacecraft. The last memory was of being yanked out of her hiding place by an Alpha mercenary. A spray had been misted over her face, keeping her from identifying her captor, also knocking her out. After a long dream-filled sleep she woke up on Earth.
The memories she did have of Alpha-Prime—prior to her ill-fated journey to meet a member of the Royal Magistrate Guard—faded day by day as she made her new home here on planet Earth. She didn’t miss her former home like she thought she might.
The recall she focused on currently was the auspicious day she arrived in the woods. After walking away from the wrecked spaceship, Astrid’s short trek into the forest had led her through the amazing tall trees, each more wonderful than the last. Even in the dark with only her portable light to guide her, she stopped and put a hand on several tree trunks to marvel at the variety and height.
The glow she followed led her to a small stone house in the center of a clearing. On one side was what looked like strange alien plants growing in straight, carefully tended rows and on the other side was a small barn-like structure, doors open and a voice calling from within, “Is anyone out there?” In a lower voice, the woman said, “Please, someone be out there.” The unseen stranger’s voice elevated again, louder. “If someone is out there, could you come in here and help me, please?”
As
trid had approached the voice in the barn with care, portable light held tightly to use as a weapon if it was a trick or a trap. But it wasn’t either of those things.
Inside the two-story structure was a curious sight. A young woman with oddly green-streaked dark hair was caught in what looked like a person-sized net wrapped all around her, hanging from the center of the ceiling by a single rope. One arm dangled out of the net, the other was tucked along her side within the cocoon.
“How did you get way up in there?” Astrid asked, genuinely perplexed.
“It’s a long story. Would you mind cutting me down?”
“How?”
“Just cut the rope.”
Astrid had to walk behind the woman to see the rope from the ceiling was actually threaded through a loop and attached to a sturdy post at shoulder height with a firm knot. She grabbed a well-worn knife of dubious sharpness off a low table. “If I cut it, you’ll fall.”
“That’s okay. I’m so numb everywhere from being up here so long I likely won’t feel a thing. Besides, I’m only a few feet off the ground. Please go ahead. Cut me down. Let me fall.”
Astrid grabbed hold of the rope, with the idea she could help soften the girl’s fall by holding it once the rope was cut. The knife turned out to be sharper than it looked, slicing through the taut cord easily. The rope slipped out of her hand like a shot and the green-haired girl plummeted six feet to the ground. She grunted as she hit the ground, but it was a relieved-sounding grunt. Astrid pulled the net from her limbs and helped her stand up.
“Thank you so much.” The young woman shook one hand as if to wake it up and offered it to Astrid. “Hi. I’m Holli Williams. Pleased to meet you.”
Shaking her limp fingers, Astrid said, “I’m Astrid Harper. Nice to meet you.”
“I owe you a big favor for this.”
“That’s okay. I was happy to help. I hope you didn’t get hurt falling down.”
“Oh, no. I’m fine and very grateful to you. Come on in. The least I can do is offer you something to drink or eat.”