I didn’t have the heart to wake him. Even in sleep, he looked worn out and tired. I’d probably given him the biggest scare of his life. A sick daughter who’d never been sick a day in her life.
I rubbed a hand over my belly. It rumbled under my palm, reminding me that I hadn’t had anything in it in a long while. I went into the kitchen. Tea would be good. As I filled the tea pot and turned on the stove, I stared out the window toward the garden.
The moonflowers were starting to unfurl their petals. Soon the night would be full dark. A time for those who moved in the shadows to come out and play.
My gaze stayed on the ground where I had filled in the pond. It was still filled. The dirt hadn’t been disturbed. But as I looked, I fully expected something to burst through the soil. A hand maybe. A scaly pale hand with long blackened claws.
They were coming for me. I could feel it in my bones. Not long before I faced my destiny. My destiny with those creatures from Nightfall.
***
Chapter 10
Although I wasn’t feeling one hundred percent, I returned to work the next day. Diana met me at the beginning of my shift at the triage desk and insisted I get a check-up. I agreed, not realizing that she would pull me into an unoccupied examining room that very second.
“Sit.” She patted the examination table.
“I’m fine, Diana. I really don’t need to be checked out. It was just the flu.”
She pinned me with her steely no-nonsense gaze. “I’ve known you for years and you have never been sick. Not once. Not even the sniffles. You’ve probably never even had a yeast infection.” She unhooked the stethoscope from around her neck. “So, when I hear you’re so sick you can’t even talk on the phone, I get a little concerned.”
I jumped up onto the table, realized I’d never once sat on one. Never had to, as I’d never been to see a doctor for any illness. In fact, I’d never been for yearly exams either. My mother, of course, knew there had been no point. I wasn’t even born in a hospital. My mother had a mid-wife at the house.
“Open your mouth,” Diana directed.
I did and she checked the usual things—glands, tonsils, tongue color, saliva consistency. She then ran her fingers over my neck just below my ears, feeling for the same things. She checked my ears and my eyes, then put on the cuff to read my blood pressure.
Naturally, everything came out perfect. Diana would be hard pressed to find anything wrong with me.
“All right. I’m going to listen to your heart.”
She had me turn a bit so she could lift up my shirt enough to get her hand and stethoscope under. She pressed it to my back and listened. After a few minutes, she moved the plate around.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I spotted the instant concern on her face.
“What the…?”
I slid off the table in a flash, tugging down my tunic.
Brows wrinkled, she frowned. “Nina, I think you should let me look at your back. I felt…”
“I’m fine, doc, like I said. Nothing to be concerned about.”
She hooked the stethoscope back around her neck.
But I knew it wasn’t the end of her examination. She could be dogged. I’d seen her in action time and time again. Some of the nurses thought she was a grade-A bitch, but I knew she was just gruff and did what was needed to get the job done.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“About what?”
“One in five women will suffer some sort of domestic abuse. It’s nothing to be ashamed about.”
I laughed, full guffaws erupting from my mouth. Relieved in an odd way, that she thought I was being abused and not sprouting into some monstrous aberration.
She flinched, obviously offended by my laughter.
I put my hand on her arm to reassure her. “I’m not being abused, Diana. I’m not even in a relationship.”
“Your father…?”
I put my hand up to stop her next words. “Don’t even go there.”
“But your back. It didn’t feel normal, Nina.”
“I know. I’ve always had an abnormally bony back. I’m actually quite shy about it. I haven’t worn a bathing suit in a lot of years.”
She looked at me for a long time, scrutinizing me.
I’ve seen grown men with doctorates shrink under that steely gaze. But I was not a man, a doctor, or even human. Her analysis was lost on me.
“All right,” she finally said, “Let’s go save some lives, then.” And like that she opened the examination room door and left me to it.
With a sigh of relief, I walked out of the room and returned to the triage desk. Just as I grabbed my first patient chart, my cell phone trilled from my pocket. I slid it out and checked the number. Not one I recognized. But I answered it, in case the call was about my father. “Hello?”
“I was worried about you.”
Was it wrong that Severin’s sultry voice made my knees weak? “I just had the flu. Nothing serious.”
“Hmm, you don’t seem like a woman who gets the flu.”
Before I could even consider that statement and its meaning, he was talking again.
“What time does your shift end?”
“Six.”
“I will be there to pick you up at six oh one.”
“That’s very presumptuous. And what if I would like to shower and change my clothing first?”
“You can shower at my place. I have a very nice shower with side jets. At least three people can fit inside.”
I really hoped that wasn’t a glimpse of the future, or an innuendo. “I drove my bike to work. I won’t leave it here.”
“Don’t worry about that. I got that covered.”
“Maybe I don’t want to go to your place.”
One of the other nurses gave me a funny look as she walked past. I was sure that my cheeks were on fire. Severin had that effect on my body. Just hearing his sex-dipped voice ignited everything inside me. I licked my lips, remembering the kiss we shared the other night.
“Sure you do. You’re interested in the pack, aren’t you? There’s a gathering at my place and I’d love for you to be there.”
Surprise ran through me. “Why? Why me, I mean?”
“You’re more than the sum of your parts, Nina. You’re more than you can even know.” He paused for a beat, then continued, “Besides that, I want you and I mean to have you.”
Those words had my belly clenching hard. “That simple, hey?” I rubbed a hand over the ache in my chest.
He chuckled. “I’m of the firm mind that nothing will be simple with you. I’ll see you at six.”
Then he was gone, and I held a dead phone, awestruck and dumbstruck. Not until that same nurse banged her clip board against the desk did I finally move. I closed the phone and slid it back into my pocket. Turning, I gave her a little smile then continued on my way—to the waiting room to call the next patient.
By the time six rolled around, I had a raging headache and was running a fever. Strangely enough though, I didn’t feel sick. Not like I had before. Despite that, I didn’t think I’d be much of a date. Something was definitely off with me.
When I walked out the main hospital doors, Severin was there, waiting for me. My heart leapt a little when I noticed him leaning against a really nice motorcycle. As I approached, I laughed. “You sure know how to impress a woman.”
“Yeah, but you’re not just any woman.” He pushed off the bike and swept his arm toward it. “Do you like?”
I ran a finger over the shiny black tank. “Hell yeah, I like. It’s an Interceptor, what’s not to like?” I’d been drooling over one ever since the model was released. I just didn’t have the cash to purchase one. Obviously, Severin did. Who knew an associate professor made so much money?
Giving me one of his sexy grins, he dangled the keys in front of my face. “Want to drive it?”
I made a face, excitement thrumming through me. “Hell yeah, I do. But what about my ride?”
“You drive mine and I’ll drive yours.”
The way he said those simple words made the suggestion sound extremely dirty and naughty. And tempting. This I liked.
I tossed him my keys and motioned down the street. “It’s parked about half a block from here.”
“I’m sure I can find it.” Clutching my keys in his hand, he jogged down the sidewalk to search for my bike.
In the meantime, I marveled at his bike then slid my helmet over my head. Feeling freer than I had in weeks, I swung my leg over the seat. Once I was happily settled in, I stuck the key in the ignition and turned it on. The bike roared to life and I grinned. The engine was rumbling pleasantly between my legs as Severin rolled up next to me. My red bike looked good under him.
He flipped up the dark visor on his helmet and smiled. “Ready?”
“Lead the way. I’m right behind you.”
For the next half hour, we sped through the city streets. Sometimes one after the other, other times side by side. Most of the time, I let him lead because basically I didn’t know where we were going, but the urge to shoot out in front constantly weighed on me.
By the time we slowed, we were out of the city proper and into a picturesque suburb with lots of greenspace and trees. Not surprisingly, Severin pulled the bike into a long driveway that wound its way up to a large two-story with woods at its back. I supposed a werewolf needed his running room.
He came to a stop at the front door and parked. I did the same next to him. He slipped off his helmet, hung it on the handlebar, and gestured to the house. “Welcome to chez Saint Morgan.”
“Impressive.” I took in the two-story colonial, knowing in his market it had to be worth at least a million large. “I didn’t realize lowly university professors could afford such extravagance.”
He held out his hand. I took it and he pulled me towards the front door. “It belongs to the pack in a way.”
“And because you’re the alpha, it belongs to you?”