Wolf Fever (16 page)

“I'm fine. And no way am I making Charlotte and Matthew work my hours.” She'd fought hard to get a job at the hospital. She wasn't going to shirk her responsibilities now. “Why is Puss here?”

Lelandi hesitated to say.

“Lelandi?”

“Unofficially, and just between you and me, I believe Darien felt badly that he told Ryan he couldn't stay with you and then you were kidnapped. But officially, he thinks that if you mostly have your life back the way it was before you were changed, you may accept our ways and shape-shift.”

To have her life back, she'd be living in her own apartment again. Instead, Darien had insisted she put her things in storage and close up her apartment. Her life as she had known it was over. Yet, she'd become accustomed to being with others—with Lelandi, with Darien, with his brothers. The thought of returning alone
to her apartment and only having Puss to talk to didn't appeal, either.

Carol shook her head and grabbed a pair of kitty-cat scrubs from another drawer. “If I shift, I won't be able to shift back. Simple as that.” She entered the bathroom and shut the door.

“Did you see this in a vision?” Lelandi asked from the recliner.

“No, but that doesn't mean it won't happen.”

“You say Darien shifts and can't change back. Is he the only one?”

“Doc also. Jake is in the same predicament as well. You're really upset and want me to do something about it. But I can't. I have no idea what's happening. If everyone chooses to ignore me, I can't help anyone.”

“We love to shift, Carol. It's part of who we are.” But this time Lelandi didn't sound quite so sure of herself.

Carol dressed, brushed her hair, and applied a little makeup.

When she opened the bathroom door, Lelandi smiled at her. “Ready for some breakfast? With Sam and Ryan chowing down with Darien and his brothers, there may not be anything left. Mervin's down there also, but he eats like a bird.”

“I can grab a bagel and green tea at the hospital.”

“Nonsense. If you want just tea and a bagel, the guys probably haven't touched those. But the bacon and sausages? I'm sure Tom will have to make another trip to the store.” Lelandi opened the door to the guestroom and walked into the hallway. “So, you've seen Darien, Doc, and Jake unable to shift and me agitated. Do you see me change and unable to shift back?”

“Not yet. But maybe you're beginning to believe me.” Carol studied Lelandi's petite frame as she walked down the stairs, wondering how long it would be before she began to show. Soon, she imagined, with triplets on the way.

“Did you tell Darien about the babies?” Then it dawned on Carol: maybe that's why Lelandi was cautious about Carol's warning visions. Lelandi had more than herself to think of now.

“He guessed before we had the games. He wasn't happy that I had tried to keep it secret from him. He'd worried that if someone had tackled me, I might have been hurt. Or the babies would have been. So he told all the guys in a special meeting that if they as much as made a hint of a move in my direction, he'd oust them from the pack. That's why he didn't have the tug-of-war game. Afraid I'd want to participate and might injure myself.”

Carol had suspected as much.

Lelandi glanced back at her. “During the game, I figured everyone would be afraid of touching me because I'm Darien's mate. I didn't know that he'd warned them away.” Then she gave Carol another award-winning smile. “Alphas are like that.” She turned around and headed across the great room as Carol hurried to catch up. “I imagine Ryan will be the same.”

“He doesn't believe in my second sight.” Carol shrugged. “Things wouldn't work out between us.” Then she frowned. “Who else knows that Ryan slept with me last night?”

“I imagine at least half of the pack. Maybe more. Tom was pretty incensed about it. When he talked to
Jake, he didn't get the support he wanted, so he spoke to Darien and Sam. Sam told Silva, and you know how that goes. She means well, though. She wanted to warn the wolves of our pack that if they desired having you for a mate, they'd better do something about it. If Ryan wants you, same thing. He'd better stop resting on his laurels.”

Incredulously, Carol shook her head.

“I'm serious.” Lelandi pointed to the sunroom. “You have a dozen glass or ceramic vases, brass pots, and baskets filled with flowers. Rosie, at the flower shop? She called and gave me a list of names. Silva wanted to know who hadn't sent you flowers and wangled it out of her.”

Carol sighed. “Isn't anything sacred?”

“Rarely, in a pack. You know who didn't send you flowers?”

“Tom, Jake, and Ryan.”

“Two of the three did. I have to tell you, I was pretty darned amused.”

Carol pulled Lelandi to a stop outside the kitchen where the men's conversation had died. She'd made out Darien and his brothers, Ryan, Sam, and even that lame Mervin talking in the room before they heard Lelandi and Carol's conversation.

Lelandi's expression brightened. “Everyone but Ryan sent you flowers. Sure sign he's in love. Darien did the same with me when I was injured.”

Ryan and everyone else in the kitchen had to have heard what was said. Every inch of Carol's skin heated with mortification. But then she concentrated not on who
hadn't
given her flowers—she figured Ryan wasn't a romantic—but who had… Tom and Jake.

Lelandi leaned over and whispered to Carol, “Jake didn't give me flowers, either, when everyone else did. I figured he was too cheap.” She straightened. “So there might be something to it, you think?”

Lelandi gave her a conspiratorial wink, and Carol realized Lelandi was doing her matchmaking business with her, just as she was always doing with Silva and Sam.

But what if Ryan and she were already a match? Or maybe this was just a test on his part. See if the female wolf is right for the alpha male leader. She was reminded once again that she really didn't understand this werewolf business as much as she needed to, if she was going to make the right decisions from now on. With her head held high and her stomach flittering with unwanted jitters, she walked into the kitchen.

Ryan instantly caught her eye, and as hot as her face was, she had to have flushed crimson.

W
ELL, THAT WAS ONE MESSED-UP OPERATION
, N
ORTH
thought to himself as he and two of his men stood in the forest miles from Silver Town, trying to come up with an alternative plan.

“Hell, North. You said that it would be a piece of cake. That no one would even miss the red. Shows what you know.” Galahad, so named because he thought of himself as a knight who had been concerned about their pack's direction while Bruin had run it, motioned to the ground and a rough-hewn map he was drawing in the soil. “Here's the new plan. We grab her at the hospital. When she's in the break room. Or when she's coming or going. Maybe when she's in with a patient.”

North shook his head. “Miller won't like it.”

“Hell, I don't trust him. He's renovated the basement of that old place, turned it into his own private quarters, lab and all, and I swear it's like a bunker. No telling what all he's doing down in his lab with all that bioengineering crap. He's quiet and thoughtful,
too
thoughtful. Something's going on in that mind of his. He might be a genius, but I swear he's a borderline nutcase, too.” Galahad gave North a hard look, emphasizing his dislike of Miller.

“One of us can be a patient,” Hank said. He was Galahad's brother, a nice enough red but a little too preoccupied with computer role-playing games for North's
liking. Hank seemed to have missed the whole point of Galahad's tirade. Or maybe it was that they'd heard it before, and Hank didn't believe anything was wrong with Miller then, or now.

“If we wear the hunter's scent, no one would be the wiser. As long as Lelandi doesn't show up at the hospital and spot any of us. She's the only one who knows us from the pack,” Hank added.

Galahad pointed a stick at North. “
He
was in the house when the fight was going on. Darien and others in his pack may very well recognize him. But the rest of us…” He shrugged. “We weren't there, and as long as they can't make us out to be reds, we could pull it off.”

North didn't like it. The whole thing had been his plan—and it would have worked if that damned gray pack leader from Green Valley, McKinley, hadn't spied Hank snooping around the forest surrounding Darien's home. Now North was left out of the whole deal. “I don't want Carol Wood hurt.”

Hank grinned at Galahad. “I told you he wants her for his own.” Then he scowled. “You shouldn't have dropped her and left her for the grays.”

North gave him a look like he'd better watch his words. No one was exactly the pack leader yet. North wanted to be, but he was still butting heads with his cousin Connor. Because of that, no one in their newly formed pack took North as seriously as he thought they should. Then again, he suspected, the bioengineer in their renegade group of werewolves had some loftier plans of his own in mind.

Miller Redford liked to work behind the scenes. North felt as though the rest of the bachelor males would
take all the risk, and then Miller would step out of his lab bunker and end up with the prize and maybe even the pack. He was sneaky and smart. He didn't outwardly act as though he were the take-charge type, sticking more to his lab and his scientific studies. But Miller had a way of smiling and shifting his eyes when North questioned his intentions that made North leery.

“She's a red, turned by my cousin, and since Connor is sick and out of the picture for now, it's up to me to bring her home,” North said to Hank and his brother. “She belongs to us. As far as what happened? Hell, they were catching up to me. And would have if I hadn't left her behind. I doubt they would have gone easy on me after we took Carol the way we did.”

Galahad poked his stick at the square drawn into the dirt that represented the hospital. “Hank's right. Admit it, North. You want her. But she has to be agreeable. Any of us,” he said, motioning with a sweep of his stick, “might turn her head. So it's up to the little lady.”

“She won't agree to it.” Hank sat down on his haunches. “The grays already have brainwashed her about staying with them. Look at Lelandi. That Darien Silver did the same thing to her.”

North glanced in the direction of Silver Town. “Bruin and his two brothers were the reason for Lelandi leaving our pack. We should have killed the three of them when we had the chance.”

“That was the thing. We never had the chance. Hell, even your cousin who died was in thick with them.” Galahad slapped North on the shoulder. “What's done is done. If we could have, we would have eliminated our leaders and then brought her home. But now?” He
shrugged his broad shoulders. “The nine of us have a pact. Start anew. The three of us need mates. Carol Wood's a red. And unmated.”

“What about the two women we paid off to attend their gathering?” Hank asked.

“They're grays, and except for an interest in our money, that was it. We need Carol Wood. She belongs to us.” North looked back in the direction of Silver Town. “My cousin and the rest of us need her, and hopefully, soon she'll have a solution to our problem. We just can't let Miller know what we have in mind when we get hold of her.”

Carol and Lelandi joined Darien and his brothers, Sam, Ryan, and Mervin for a bite of breakfast. The men appeared to have finished theirs already, with dirty plates remaining, but they were all sipping fresh cups of coffee. The worst thing was that Carol and Ryan's gaze instantly caught—and held—and she knew everyone was watching their actions. Which made it even worse when her skin flushed with heat as if she'd just stepped into a sauna.

Ryan looked like he felt her pain, yet he wouldn't release her gaze, as if he wanted her to know he felt no remorse for what had occurred between them. She didn't either, except that she had had an audience as witnesses, and she was certain she had given Ryan and her activities away.

She hurried over to the teakettle and heated water for a cup of tea.

“You've had a traumatic experience and need to stay here with… that cat of yours,” Darien said grudgingly, as she toasted a half a bagel.

At least he wasn't talking about Ryan and her. She raised a brow.

“Puss. Thanks so much for allowing him to stay with me. He'll contentedly sleep until he wants to roam in the room, and then he'll go back to sleep. He'll be fine.” But that clinched the deal that Darien wasn't fond of cats. Probably a canine thing.

“I won't make Matthew and Charlotte put in longer shifts because I've failed to report to work. Besides, Doc Weber said another four patients have shown up with cases of the flu. Not the swine flu, thankfully, so no one needed overnight admittance, but the staff is getting swamped.”

“I'll go with you,” Lelandi said. “Just to hang around for a while until you're through.”

Carol buttered her bagel. “Absolutely not. I don't want you coming down with anything.” She turned off the teakettle, figuring it was going to take too long to make a cup of tea if Darien was making an issue about her staying home. Headed for the doorway with bagel in hand, she brushed past Jake, who shook his head.

“What?” she asked him.

“When the boss—that's Darien—” Jake said in a sarcastic way, jerking his thumb in Darien's direction, “wants something, he gets it. If he says you're to stay home, it's not open for debate.” Jake picked up his plate and took it to the dishwasher.

Darien gave a hint of a smile.

Carol smiled broadly and grabbed Ryan's hand, while he stood in anticipation of her departure for the hospital.

“I have my bodyguard. Unless you or Tom want the job.”

Ryan's hand tightened on hers as if he wasn't giving her up to anyone else's protection. She glanced up to see his expression. He gave her lifted brows and a small smile in response. But the smile indicated something way more than anything to do with guarding her, as if he was thinking about what
she
was thinking about—and if she didn't quit thinking about him and his slick moves in that way, he was going to do something about it.

“I want the job,” Mervin said, sounding peeved and pulling her attention away from Ryan.

“I'm paying for Ryan to serve in that capacity.” Darien cast a hard look at Mervin.

Mervin appeared to still be in the doghouse over his accosting her the night before at the gathering.

“So see? This way, Ryan will earn his pay. If he got to loaf around your house, it would be like paying him for vacation time,” Carol said, squeezing Ryan's hand. She wasn't letting him go. And his smile hinted at a darker secret and desire.

“You stay with her even when she's seeing a patient,” Darien warned Ryan.

He gave Darien a mock salute. “Hadn't planned on doing anything differently.”

Carol frowned, not believing Darien would suggest that. “Patient privacy issues come into play here. Policy dictates that Ryan can't be in an exam room when I'm seeing a patient.”

“Make up your mind, Carol,” Darien said, not willing to be challenged in the matter. “Either he stays with you at all times, or you remain home. Your choice.”

She let out her breath hard.

“Doc can put you on werewolf cases only. There won't be any privacy issues then,” Lelandi said, trying to smooth things over. “Darien's right. You can't be alone at any time.”

Carol didn't intend to be. She planned to make up a syringe full of the same cocktail she figured the red had given her. And she'd give it right back if any of them tried to grab her again.

“That should work,” she said cheerfully, although if the workload was mostly human, she'd help out and Ryan could wait beyond the exam-room door, despite what everyone else said.

“Ready?” she asked Ryan, tugging on his hand.

He yanked out his keys. “Let's take care of your patients.”

Jake pulled out his keys to his truck. “I'll follow, just in case.”

“I'll go with you.” Tom tucked his phone into its pocket at his belt.

Mervin hurried to join them.

At least she felt safe with her entourage of bodyguards, although she really didn't think the reds would be bold enough to try and take her at the hospital anyway. She hurried to eat her bagel as Ryan walked her to his truck. She'd have a cup of green tea at work later because she was afraid Darien would change his mind and want her to stay if she remained at the house much longer.

Movement in her bedroom window caught her eye, and she looked up to see Puss watching her through the glass, his tail twitching and his ears perked. She had a twinge of regret that she couldn't have cuddled with him longer.

“You were having nightmares last night. What about?” Ryan asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

She had thought he might talk about their nighttime moves. She sighed and climbed into Ryan's truck and tilted her chin up slightly. “I have one better than that. A vision. At least I think it was. I was kind of doped up at the time. But I saw Jake become a wolf, and then he was unable to shift back.”

Ryan didn't say anything as he climbed into his truck and then pulled onto the road toward town. “Did you have a vision of your kidnapping?”

He still didn't believe that the men in the pack had turned into wolves and couldn't return to their human forms. “No. I told you the visions can be irritatingly unpredictable. It would have been nice to see it happen beforehand…to at least prepare myself, but it doesn't work that way.” She stared out the window, watching the firs whiz by. But then an uneasy feeling crept through her when she recalled something else. “Oh, no…”

“Oh, no… what?”

She rubbed her temple, trying to recall the exact details. “I…I had a vision before we went into the tavern yesterday.”

Ryan stared at her. “About?”

“A man with long, red hair. It dangled in my face when he bent over me. He wore a padded vest. And I felt so tired, so incredibly tired.”

“A vision?”

“How else do you explain it?” she asked quietly, studying his taut profile as he continued to watch the road as he drove toward town. “You pulled me out of it
when you said something to me in the truck after we arrived at the tavern. I had no idea what the vision meant.”

His jaw clenched, and his eyes narrowed.

She looked back out the window.

“Why didn't you tell me then?”

“We didn't have a pact back then that I would tell you if I had any visions—and you wouldn't have believed me anyway. Besides, it didn't seem important. And I didn't think about it when we were in the tavern.”

Ryan grunted. “You said you didn't have them unless they were important to you. So it seems this would have been important. And you said that they were premonitions of something that would occur pretty soon. You should have said something to me. Did you recognize him? See a face?”

“My… my eyes burned. I remember how blurry my sight was when I tried to see him. I thought it was the vision, but I think now it was because my eyes were filled with soap.”