Accidentally Catty (32 page)

“And how is seeing a man in a coma going to help Shaw?”Wanda pondered out loud.

“Nina,” Katie replied.

Wanda scoffed. “Oh, every man in a coma needs a Nina. Has the cougar thing addled your brain, Katie? Nina’s the last thing a man who’s in a coma needs. Did you see her bedside manner with Shaw when he was in that cage and wouldn’t wake up?”

“Shut the fuck up, Wanda. I didn’t hurt him—just shook him up.”

“If you shake up Daniel Green, he’ll break, Annihilator.”

Katie found herself in the role of peacemaker. “No, no. That’s not what I’m saying at all. Look, Nina can read minds, right? Didn’t Darnell say that he was mumbling all sorts of things? Maybe if Nina can get in his head and read his thoughts, we can find out what he
isn’t
mumbling.”

Nina thumped her on the back. “You know, that would make sense if it wasn’t for the fact that we can’t go anywhere near Daniel Green because, oh, wait, we’re wanted for
attempted murder
, brain surgeon.”

Shit, shit, shit.

“We are most certainly not wanted for attempted murder. We’re suspicious persons of origin,” Wanda corrected with a peevish tone. “Big difference, miss.”

“You say tomato, I say, fuck you. We still can’t be anywhere near the wrinkly dude.”

“But wait,” Katie interjected, a plan forming. “Didn’t you say you can fly, Nina?”

Her nod was smug. “Yeah. How do you think I haven’t killed the lot of you? Because I’ve been holed up with you bunch of morons, well, except, Teeny, instead of home with my man? I have needs. So I hit the friendly skies every night for a couple of hours.” Her grin was naughty.

“Hospital rooms have windows, right? Why can’t Darnell hover, or whatever it is he does, open the window, and let you in? With me, that is. Your superior strength could hold me, right?This way, if he says something medical, say names a procedure, thinks about a chemical, a drug or whatever, I stand a better chance of knowing what it is, right?” Her adrenaline soared. This could work.

Wanda’s face lightened a shade. “It could work.”

Nina looked doubtful. “Are you a screamer?”

Katie’s brow wrinkled. “What?”

“Like afraid of fucking heights, a crier, that sort of shit? Marty’s a crier. The last time I let her put her fat ass on me piggyback style and took her up, she sobbed and screeched the entire time. I have sensitive ears.”

“Oh, Nina, that’s horse puckey, and you know it. You took off like Iron Man and you did it on purpose because you live to razz Marty.”

“Like she doesn’t deserve if for all the girly shit she drags me through? I’m sure you remember Nieman Marcus and the dressing room incident, don’t you, Wanda? Fucking bullshit. The hell I’ll let Marty do some fashion intervention on me with some fruity guy named Johan who wears pink ties and white shoes. I owed her.”

But Katie wasn’t listening to the women bicker. She was formulating a plan. “I promise not to scream, Nina. Okay, so let’s call Darnell. Or summon him, er, think about him. Whatever, let’s just do it. Wanda, you’ll stay with Shaw? Check on him?” She was halfway out the door with Nina behind her.

“No worries,” Wanda called. “I’ll take care of the patient. Be very careful. Both of you. And, Nina? If you drop her, I’ll suck you dry!”

Drop. Her?

Oh, dear God.

 

 

SHAW
woke to the sound of rain against the windows. Soft, soothing. A dim nightlight shone from the corner of his purpleand-pink room.

His attempt to lift himself out of bed brought a wince of pain that shot through his ribs and wrapped around the muscles of his neck. Jesus Christ, he felt like hell.

Katie and the baby were his first thoughts after that. He needed to see to them—her. Something had happened to leave him so beaten down. He found himself praying she hadn’t seen whatever that something was.

Again, he made the effort to lift his pain-riddled body, making it almost to his elbows before he gritted his teeth and fell back to the soft pillow.

“Whoa there, big guy. Stay put,” Wanda ordered from the doorway, her arms crossed, her smile sympathetic and Wanda warm.

Shaw scrubbed a hand over his face. “What the hell happened?”

Wanda’s sigh was jokingly tortured. “Oh, there was mud, wind, rain, just about every element known to man. It was me, you, and Nina locked in a death grip in a fight to the finish for supremacy. Kind of like cage fighting. Werevamp and vamp versus cougar.” She huffed a breath on her nails and smiled at him. “We won, of course. There was no question, but it was a little dicey there for a minute or two.”

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.

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.