His face was blank. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I only know I feel like I took a dive off a cliff and landed on some rocks. Everything hurts.”
“You don’t remember?” she inquired softly.
Define remember. “I don’t know how I ended up like this.” Which was honest, if not just this shy of shady.
Her head cocked, her soft brown hair glistening in the hall light. “You shifted. Sort of.”
His ears pricked. “Sort of?”
“Something’s not right, Shaw. You only half shifted. It was like watching a mythological creature, half man, half cougar, war with his two halves. I’ve never seen anything like it.” She made an attempt to hide her shudder, but Shaw caught it all the same.
“So it was bad.” If it was anything like he felt, bad was probably a minimalistic word.
“You want honesty?”
“Always.”
“It was bad. We had to sedate you, it was so bad. We fought with you for what seemed like a lifetime.”
He wanted to bolt upright and apologize, but his body just wouldn’t allow it. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He’d never forgive himself.
“Hah! We’re seasoned vets, baby. We’ve seen a brawl or three. It’s like Nina says, there’s always drama. No way you could have taken the both of us down, but I admit, there was a moment or two when I thought we’d need an act of God.”
Shaw physically cringed. “Did Katie see?”
“She did. She’s who sedated you.”
Instantly, he wanted to protect. Find her. Hold her. “Is she hurt? The . . .”
“Baby?Yes, I know about the baby. Katie’s fine. The baby’s fine.”
He craned his neck, scanning the hallway behind Wanda’s slender frame. “Where is she?”
A shadow fell over her face, but she covered it with a faint smile. She just didn’t do it quickly enough to hide it from him. Wanda was a horrible liar. “She’s sleeping, which is exactly what you should be doing. Even if your shift wasn’t successful, it still can drain you when it comes on so violently.” She chuckled almost to herself. “Ask me, I know.”
His wanted to ask what that meant. He also wanted his eyes to stay open, but they weren’t cooperating. “I don’t remember the shift, or half shift,” he muttered, realizing his voice was fading.
“Then color yourself lucky. For this moment right now, you’re safe and well. Sleep, Shaw. Tomorrow’s another day.” He felt the blanket being tucked under his chin with hands that soothed in a matronly fashion.
Tomorrow was indeed another day.
A day when everything would change for him. For Katie. But it didn’t change how he felt about her.
And she was just going to have to like it.
CHAPTER 16
So.
She was a screamer.
Sue her.
“Doc?”
“Niiinnnaaaa?” she hollered as they soared over the landscape of Piney Creek while she clung to Nina’s neck, her legs around her waist in a vise grip. Lights winked from down below, mocking her to remind her she was flying.
Fly-ing.
Nina tweaked her fingers, prying them apart, but no way was Katie moving an inch. “If you don’t shut the fuck up and let up on my neck, see that pointy church thing down there?”
Katie gulped, but couldn’t look down. “You—you mean a steeeeple?” she stammered.
“Steeple, people, banana-fana-fo-feeple. What the fuck ever. If you don’t loosen up, lady, I’ll drop your ass on it. Now shut up and let me concentrate. I’m still working on the finer points of this flying thing. I lose my concentration, you potentially need bionic limbs. So shut it.”
Katie whimpered against her back, her hair whipping around her head in a tangled mess, her eyes shut tight. She shivered. Not just from the height, but from how much colder it was up here.
In the clouds.
God, oh, God, oh, God.
Her fingers clawed into Nina’s infamous hoodie. Her teeth chattered and her heart raced so fast, she was dizzy from it.
“Doc, I think this is it. Now clamp it. Darnell said this dude’s on the third floor. Help me look for his room. Which means you have to open your eyes, pansy.”
Katie pried one eye open only to find her stomach lurched and heaved like it was in water. “Okay—I’ll look—look—for Darnellll,” she gasped.
“There he is.” Nina pointed a finger to a corner room. “Now let’s just keep our fucking fingers crossed that no one’s looking out their window. Hang on tight, Doc. This is gonna have to happen fast.”
In a shot they were at Daniel Green’s hospital window where Darnell stood, waiting, his cheerful grin shining at them from inside the room.
Nina began to lose her hover.
Three stories up.
Oh, if they fell, she was going to be picking a carburetor out of her teeth for many moons to come.
“Open the fucking window, Darnell!” she yelped between clamped teeth, making an upward motion of her hand.
Darnell waved his fingers, spreading them then making a fist. Magically, the window popped open and Nina dove for it, thrusting them into the hospital room and smack into Darnell’s big body.
He caught them both like baseballs, with flawless effort, losing only two steps backward and emitting a grunt.
Katie clung to his thick neck, letting her nose fall to his shoulder, inhaling his pleasant cologne and the sweet smell of safety.
“You aiiight, Doc?” he whispered, thumping her on the back and hoisting her up on his hip while letting the braver Nina slide to the floor.
Her teeth wouldn’t stop chattering, so she simply nodded, reveling in Darnell’s solid warmth. “Aiiight then, c’mon now. Suck it up. We got some work to do fo’ that ratchety old nurse comes back. I swear she could smell a demon, always lookin’ ’round the room like somebody up in here wantin’ to hijack her. She makes me feel all dirty.” He shivered, prying her legs from his waist with gentle hands, and coaxing her to let him go.
She took several deep breaths of air, reaching for the end of the bed to steady her wobbling feet. Wiping her sweaty palms on her jeans, she finally took in the comatose form of Daniel Green, and her heart squeezed painfully.
Fragile and thin, Daniel Green lay swallowed up by institutionally white sheets. Tubes ran into his nose and arm, and monitors beeped at short intervals. Her heart clamored in her chest. He was so frail. The bruises, scattered all along his body in more places than she could count, had begun to yellow and fade in some spots, but they were still there, big and ugly. Age spots covered his bare arms in a pattern that blended with the bruising and the blue of his prominent veins.
Darnell put a hand on her shoulder, his expression full of doubt. “He been quiet tonight, Doc. Don’t know whatchu gonna get outta him.”
Nina sat at the edge of the bed, surprising Katie when her chin fell to her chest, and she took Daniel’s hand. “Dude,” she whispered, her voice shaky. “You’re in bad shape. Christ, who the fuck would do this to an old guy? If I ever find the shit eaters, I’ll kick their asses. Just for you, pops.”
Her sympathetic tone rang in Katie’s ears. Nina, for all her mouth and fists of fury, hurt for Daniel Green.
She stroked his hand, crooning low and soft. “Okay, so I’m Nina, and here’s the thing. I don’t know if you can hear me, but I don’t want you to be afraid. We need answers, Dr. Green, and we’re running out of time. I’m here because of Shaw. He needs your help, and I know you want to help him. When you feel like someone’s nudging your brain from the inside out, that’s me. But I swear to Jesus, I mean no harm. I would never, ever hurt you. So help me on my Nana Lou’s life. So relax, and just let me in.”
Silence prevailed when Nina closed her eyes.
Katie held her breath while Darnell massaged her shoulder with a comforting hand.
Nina’s head popped up, her eyes gleaming in the eerie glow of the machines when she turned to them both. “Nissa!” she whisper
-yelled. “She’s Shaw’s . . .” She cocked her head as though to listen. “Mother. She’s Shaw’s mother? Yeah. I think that’s right.”
Katie almost wept with relief. Call her pathetic, or even insensitive for having this thought at this very inappropriate moment, but Shaw didn’t have a girlfriend.
Yippee-kay-aye-a, motherfucker.
“She’s in danger.” Nina shook her head, confusion riddling her beautiful features. “Slow down, Dr. Green,” she whispered in his ear. “Why is Nissa in danger? And from who?” Nina frowned. “From herself? I don’t understand . . .”
Daniel became agitated in increments, his muscles flexing and tensing rigidly, and if his blood pressure rose, he’d set off the alarms, alerting the nurses. Katie came to sit on the other side of the bed, running a tender hand along his arm. “It’s okay, Dr. Green. Please don’t be upset. I’m Katie Woods. I’m a doctor, too. Of veterinary medicine. Shaw’s my . . . my friend. I want to help him. I can do that if you’ll just talk to Nina. Please,” she couldn’t help but add, desperation dripping from her plea. “We’ll do whatever we have to, to help Shaw. I swear it.”
Nina cocked her head again, her long hair falling across her cheek, hiding her eyes. “Okay. Nice and easy now. Let’s forget Nissa for just a second and move on to Shaw.” She paused, biting her lip and nodding. “He’s in danger, too. I get that. From what? Why?”
Katie held her breath, watching the blood pressure cuff and continuing a soothing stroke along his arm.
“The collar?” Nina asked. “What collar?” She gritted her teeth. Knowing Nina, even if only for a short time, Katie knew her patience had to be running out, but then she hissed again. “Wait, he’ll die if he turns again? Do you mean Shaw? Please, please, please, Dr. Green! Slow down. Damn, I can’t make out what he’s saying anymore. His head’s a fucking mess of shit I can’t make out.”
Daniel began to shift in the bed, his grip turning to steel when he clamped Nina’s hand and sat upright. His eyes popped open, wide and unblinking, looking directly at them. His vacant stare penetrated everything and nothing. Alarms began to sound, piercing Katie’s sensitive ears.
“Shoot,” Darnell whispered fierce and low. “Those nurses are gonna be in here lickety-split, ladies. We gotta blow!” With a flash of his hand, Darnell blew the window open, but Katie ignored it and continued to cling to Daniel’s hand.
“Please!” she pleaded, her professionalism and better judgment for Daniel Green’s condition lost to the fear she smelled on him. He knew something, and if they could just make sense of it, maybe they could fix this mess. “How is Shaw in danger, Dr. Green?”
“Katie!” Nina hissed. “We gotta get outta here. Move it, blondie!”
Just a second more and maybe she’d have something else. “Just give me a second!” she cried, refusing to let go of Daniel’s weathered hand.
“I said now, Katie!” Then Nina was there, grabbing her around the waist with hands of steel and lifting her off the bed to jettison out through the window like some kind of paranormal football player, heading for the goal post.
Katie fought a scream on the way down to the parking lot, closing her eyes and putting her fists against them. They landed with a jarring slap of Nina’s feet to the ground. Nina set her down hard and Katie had to grab blindly at the air around her to steady herself.
Nina grabbed her up by the lapels of her jacket, her face an angry mask, her fangs out and shiny in the glow of the parkinglot lights. She gave Katie a hard jerk. “Listen, Bun in the Oven Barbie, didn’t I fucking tell you if shit started to go down, we were out? Could you be any more selfish? Did you forget Wanda and me are in the shitter with the cops in this backward-ass town, you moron? Not to mention, that’s one jacked-up senior in there who shouldn’t be riled up. Even I, hardcore bitch that I am, am sensitive to that. I know you wanna help your man, and all that bullshit, but don’t be so fucking free with my goddamned freedom and that old man’s health, lady!” She gave Katie a hard shove, sending her backward and making her fight to keep her feet under her.
Horror and shame washed over her in waves of red-hot embarrassment. Nina was right. Nothing had mattered but helping Shaw. Not Daniel’s dire medical state. Not the fact that Nina and Darnell could have been so much toast. Nothing. Her hands went to her face in embarrassment. Then she hurled herself at Nina, throwing her arms around her neck and hugging her tight just because Katie knew she hated it. “Nina, I’m so sorry. I got so caught up in—”
“Like our fair Nina doesn’t know what it’s like to be selfishly caught up in a moment,” someone chided, someone British. “So what’re we gonna do tonight, Pinky?” Shaw asked, looking down at her with amusement.
Katie whirled around to find Shaw, still weary around his eyes, but upright and mobile, minus three paws. “What the hell are you doing here?” Her hands instantly went to his face, checking for warmth, running her thumbs along his bruised cheeks to assure herself he was all right. “You should be in bed asleep.”
“Yeah. So should you. But look at us.” He spread his arms wide with a grin. “Not asleep.”
Nina didn’t bother to address Shaw’s poke at her with a rebuttal. If Nina wasn’t snarking, surely that meant her anger had reached a level none of them would wish to experience. “I’m going to let the doc tell you what Daniel Green told me because right now I want to bleed her dry. That poor man’s head was in such a jumbled mess of panic, I could barely understand most of it, but I did get some info we didn’t have before. Now take your woman away from me before I choke her medical degree the fuck out of her,” Nina snarled with a flick of her wrist, stalking off to weave between cars.
Katie gave Shaw a sheepish glance, jamming her hands into her pockets. “She’s very angry with me right now. Tonight when I say my prayers, I’m going to thank whoever’s in charge for giving Nina the gift of restraint. I blew it and almost got us all caught.”
Shaw pulled her into his arms, warm, safe, strong and gave her a shake. “Troublemaker,” he muttered against her hair.
She breathed him in, the warm, clean scent of him comforting her. “But not a dead or jailed one. There’s that to be grateful for.”
Shaw set her from him in a loose grip and gave her a look of question. His eyes sparked embers of fiery anger. “Why the hell would you do something like this on your own, Katie?You’re pregnant. Do you have any idea the million and two things that could have happened to you?”
“I wasn’t on my own,” she said defensively. “I had Nina and Darnell . . .”
“I wouldn’t leave Nina to look after my pet rock, Katie, let alone the woman who’s carrying my child,” he chided, a hint of anger in his tone, so rare coming from the quick-to-make-a-joke Shaw. It sounded off all sorts of alarms in her head.
She scuffed her feet in guilt. “Oh, I dunno. I would. Have you seen her with the mob and Teeny? She might lead you to believe she’s a bloodthirsty thug, but in all actuality, she’s a gooey marshmallow of four-legged, denture-soaking senior love.”
Clearly, from the simmering blue gaze he gave her, he wasn’t amused. “You could have been killed, Katie. What if Nina had fallen?”
His protectiveness, the possessiveness in his voice left her all warm inside, but she couldn’t let him see that. It would leave her open to her weakness for him. “Siberia would have called and asked me to keep the screaming down?”
He let go of her and ran an aggravated hand through his dark hair, his lips curling inward. “Not funny.”
“Do you mean it’s inappropriate to crack wise when a serious event has just occurred?” She rolled her eyes at him and made a face.
“Fine. I concede I’m the first to make a joke.You win, but, Jesus Christ, Katie. When I made Wanda, who’s the worst liar in the world, by the way, tell me where you were and drive me here—”
“Wanda’s here?”
Shaw pointed to the third row facing them in the parking lot. From Teeny’s truck, Nina flipped her the bird and Wanda waved ch
eerfully at her before grabbing Nina’s finger and bending it backward. “Anyway, when I found out where you were, I wanted to strangle you. Not only did you risk your safety but the baby’s. What if someone had caught you? You’d be in jail and so would Nina. Is this what I have to look forward to in our future as a couple?You doing foolish things that put your life at risk?”
A couple. Those words left her excited and afraid. “Hey! I was just trying to help you. If you’d seen what I saw out in those woods late this afternoon, you’d want answers, too.”
“Well, that’s not entirely the truth now, is it, Katie?” was his smug question, followed by a dimpled grin. “You might want answers, but you also want to help me because you like me. I’d venture to say you’re very close to falling in love with me. Don’t lie. You know it’s true, but all these questions surrounding me and my memory loss, plus the question of my age and potential inappropriate behavior on your part, had you just itching to go and do something damned well stupid in order to reassure yourself you weren’t crossing this ridiculous line you have when it comes to age.”
She totally refused to rise to his bait. Instead, she offered logic. “You couldn’t have helped with Dr. Green. If he’d said something medical or research related, you wouldn’t have been of any help. I’m the doctor here, remember? That’s why Nina and Wanda went for this idea. Besides, helping you helps me.”
He wasn’t going to make her admit something she hadn’t even come to complete terms with yet. Her emotions were too wiggy to be trusted. For all she knew, this insatiable lust for him would pass once her hormones stopped behaving as though they belonged to ten pregnant women, and they’d have nothing to say to each other. So, yeah.
“Liar.”
“Look, you didn’t see what I saw today. You don’t even remember it, do you?”
His nod was short in the negative.
“See? God, Shaw, it looked like you were in utter agony.” Katie fought ridiculous tears she wouldn’t be crying if she weren’t such an emotionally knocked-up train wreck. “It was horrible to watch you suffer. As a physician, I felt helpless. As a human being, I was immobilized by it. There was nothing I could do to ease what looked like incredible pain.”
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