Snow Wolf (4 page)

Amy thrashed around in her sleep
waking him. She was on fire. He grabbed a flashlight and shined it on her. She
was feverish and her wrist was swollen to twice the normal size. It was bulging
against the bandage he’d wrapped it with earlier and her fingers were
discolored. Not good. Liam unwrapped and rewrapped her wrist. He leaned her up
into his lap and forced her to drink water. She cried out when he put her back
down. Her arm had bumped his knee. He was a terrible mate. He cursed himself.
Liam fished in the pack for his sat phone and called his pilot.

“Ready the chopper. I need to get
her off this mountain. Get clearance ahead of time to land at the nearest
hospital. She has a fractured wrist and is running a fever, I have the wrist
wrapped but the swelling has doubled. That, coupled with a fever, I don’t like
it. I’ll meet you in the clearing we designated if I can find it in the dark. I
doubt she will wake up, so I will hurry.”

“Copy boss. See you in thirty?”
Came the static interrupted reply.

“Yeah.” Liam said and disconnected
the line. Now, how was he to get Amy down the mountain without causing her
anymore pain? Liam dressed her quickly but left her in the bag. He stuffed his
pack with everything except the sleeping bag that he zipped up around her so
only her face was visible. He’d put her goggles and hat on her before zipping
the bag. He wanted to protect her from the elements as much as he could. Liam
pulled the bag out of the tent and dragged it by the straps that he normally
used to secure it to his pack.

She groaned when they hit a bump
and he slowed his pace. The sat phone chirped in his pocket. The pilot was
waiting at the clearing. Liam continued down and arrived in a few more minutes.

“I secured a gurney for her in the
back sir. She will be safe once we strap her in.” Liam nodded and helped the
pilot lift Amy inside. She groaned again and his heart broke. “You’ll have to
sit up front with me sir.” Liam nodded again. Once Amy was strapped down and
the doors closed, Liam climbed into the seat beside the pilot. He adjusted his
five-point harness and secured it. The pilot spoke on the radio to someone but
Liam tuned him out. He twisted around to see Amy’s face. The helicopter lifted
off the ground and flew in the direction of civilization for nearly thirty
minutes but Liam saw none of it. He watched his mate.

When they landed, Liam recognized
the hospital. Good. She would get the best of care here. Orderlies rushed out
to meet them and hurried her inside out of the wind. “Frostbite?” One of them
asked.

“No, a broken arm. It happened up
on the mountain. She had aspirin a few hours ago but she’s running a fever and
the arm swelled.”

“We’ve got her sir. She’s in good
hands.” They rolled the gurney across the roof to the double doors that opened
when they neared. Liam followed them into the brightly lit hallway. It was as
he remembered it. It had gray linoleum and white cinderblock walls. When it was
built these walls were gray and white so that it was checkered. He’d liked that
better. The floor was worn and needed replaced in this hall. He’d have his
accountant send a check from the foundation.

“You’re an Anderson aren’t you?”
The red headed one asked. Liam inhaled. Not wolf. Good. “You look exactly like
one of the benefactors in the lobby pictures. There was no use denying that. He
was the guy in the picture. This kid couldn’t know that though. The picture was
taken more than fifty years ago and he looked the same.

“Yeah, that’s my gramps back in the
day.” The kid nodded.

“Is he still around?” Liam shook
his head. “Too bad. This place saved my ma a few years ago. I would’ve sent a
thank you to him for building the cancer wing.” Liam nodded following them.

“Well, on his behalf I’ll accept
and wish her only the best.” The kid smiled and hit a button on the wall. The
doors sprang open.

“Sorry, you can’t go past here.
Take a seat and I’ll have the doc come out and talk to you when he’s seen her.”
Liam nodded and backed away from the door. A nurse brought paperwork out to him
later and he gave her his credit card.

“Charge all of her expenses to
this, and give her a private room, I’ll cover it.”

“Yes sir.” He handed the clipboard
back to her and stretched his legs out. His pilot came inside and asked if he
should continue to wait. Liam sent him home for the night and told him to stand
by in the morning. As soon as he could move her to a hospital closer to home he
would. It occurred to him then that he hadn’t noticed the nurse at all really.
Right now he couldn’t say what she’d looked like, whether she was attractive,
young or old, blonde or brunette. It only made him more than sure that Amy was
his mate.

An hour later a doctor shook his
shoulder. He’d fallen asleep. “Mr. Anderson. Ms. Garrett is resting
comfortably. She has three fractures in the small bones of her wrist. Her ulna
also has a hairline fracture and we’ve put a cast on her arm from the elbow to
the wrist. We are also giving her I.V. fluids. She was dehydrated due to the
fever, and we’ve given her pain meds. She will sleep until tomorrow. You should
go home and get some rest.” He was an older man; he probably started as a young
doctor soon after Liam financed the cancer wing. Now he was probably seventy,
with dark circles under his eyes. His skin was sallow and wrinkled. He should
retire and enjoy what time he had left.

“Can I see her?” The doctor nodded
and led him to Amy. He followed the slow path down the hall walking behind the
doctor to his right. Liam could see past him to the busy nurses hurrying about
in a rainbow of different colored scrubs. He liked that they didn’t all look
the same.

Liam sat in a mint green stuffed
vinyl chair beside her bed. He stared at the monitor on the pole next to her
bed on the other side. Various wires of different colors attached to her. One
was attached to her finger via a white clamp with a red light glowing beneath
the plastic. He knew that measured oxygen, her level fluctuated between
ninety-nine and one hundred.  He knew the white paper cuff around her upper arm
was taking her blood pressure at intervals and right now it rested. The thin
black wires that went under her gown were attached to the device that monitored
her heart and the clear tubes delivered medicine to the puncture in her arm.

He watched for hours studying the
numbers on the machine by the bed that measured her heartbeats, her breaths,
her blood pressure and her oxygen level. It must all be good he figured since
nothing was alarming. It beeped quietly as the orange and blue lines jumped and
dipped but Liam watched it. His eyes drifted to her face every so often when
she sighed or moved in her sleep.

Liam held her hand and rested his
head against the bed. Her pulse jumped softly against his fingers. He knew that
she would be fine but it did nothing for the guilt. He’d taken her to the
mountain after he’d manipulated her into the trip, her and Jim. He’d sent her
up the hill and he hadn’t called for help immediately as he should have. This
was his fault and she had every right to hate him forever. It didn’t matter
that she’d said she was fine. He knew she was hurt and did nothing. He took no
action because he selfishly wanted more time with her. Liam had waited for
nearly a century to find his mate and he’d nearly killed her in the first week
they spent together. He didn’t deserve her. He watched her face and saw the
pain there. She needed more meds. He buzzed the nurse.

“Sir?” Someone in purple scrubs
popped her head in the door.

“Is it time for pain meds? She
looks like she’s in pain to me.” Liam asked quietly trying not to disturb her.
The nurse came in and read the chart. She scribbled something with a pen that
hung on a cord around her neck.

“I’ll be right back with more.” Liam
went back to staring at Amy. His thumb circled a path on the back of her hand.
She had such soft skin he noticed. Her dark lashes fanned out over her high
cheeks.  He knew if she opened her eyes that green with copper flecks would
appraise him and narrow with scrutiny. He smiled looking forward to it. He
loved to watch the wheels turn when she puzzled something out but never got to
watch it for long because his mate’s mind was lightning quick. He loved that
about her. Some women could ponder trivial things for hours it seemed but not
his Amy, with Amy it was nanoseconds.

“She should be more comfortable
now.” He hadn’t noticed the nurse that came in with a filled syringe that she
shot into Amy’s I.V. line.

“Thank you.” Liam said without
turning as she left. Dawn was lighting the window now and he could see the top
of the mountain off in the distance. His tent was still up there. It would
probably blow away eventually. It was staked but empty and with no weight the
wind would have its way with it. It didn’t matter. It had sentimental value
since it was where he’d first taken her but the time it would’ve taken to
collapse it and store it was too precious for her. Amy was more important than
a tent. If he’d known that it was her first time he would’ve waited for a bed.
He still couldn’t believe she was untouched.
Mine.
The wolf roared
inside his head and he shivered with the control it took to contain it.

Liam slept with her hand in his,
his head resting on the side of her bed and when he woke she was watching him.
She pulled her hand free and he immediately missed her warmth. “I told you that
I was fine.” She said quietly. He smiled softly at her. Amy was awake and
fighting, just how he liked her.

“So you said. You’re wrist swelled
and you ran a fever which is probably why you don’t remember the trip down the
mountain or the helicopter ride, do you?” Her lips pursed and she shook her
head. “You are fine. The doctor says that he fixed you up as good as new then gave
you some nice drugs.”

“We didn’t finish.” She watched him
and he ran a hand through his hair imagining it sticking up wildly.

“We have enough. The cores are in
storage. They’ll be waiting for you back at the institute. It’ll be your next
project, I already spoke to Jim.”

“Okay.” Her eyes slid closed. “I’m
so sleepy.”

“It’s probably the pain meds. I’ll
let you rest. I’m going to go shower and take a nap. I’ll come back and see you
later.” He patted the back of her hand gently and she nodded.

***

Amy slept most of the day and
didn’t see Liam again. The following morning the doctor released her. She took
a taxi to the airport and bought herself a ticket home. She wondered why he
never came back but dismissed it as a stick with boobs issue.

Hours later she arrived home.
Krista was waiting with dinner. “I hoped you would get here while it was still
hot.” Krista put the enchilada casserole on the table and tossed her oven mitts
down. She looked like she was having another good day and Amy grinned at her. It
was good to see her sister feeling well and in good spirits. She could relapse
at anytime even though Amy hoped it never happened. “So tell me, did he do you
in the snow? Cause I can see that my sis is all grown up now.”

“How do you know?” Amy asked around
a mouthful of beef and cheese. “How can you tell?”

“Hmm. How do I put this delicately?
You look less constipated.” Krista’s laughter bounced through the room. “You
aren’t so pissed looking around the eyes.”

“You’re so full of it.” Amy said
shoveling more in her mouth. It tasted so good after ration bars that she would
argue that it was the best thing she’d ever eaten.

“Hungry much sis?” Krista teased.

“Starved. All we had were those
awful lemon ration bars and snow to drink. This is the first solid meal I’ve had
since I left except the candy bar that he gave me.

“What do you mean ration bars? I
packed ready to eat meals, the ones with the little heaters. I also packed
water with flavor packets, why didn’t you eat that?” Krista looked
disappointed. “I spent a lot of time and thought on that pack Amy.” She whined.

“I fell down a hole. The pack saved
me really, it got caught on the side but he had to cut me out of it to get me
out of the hole. We had to live on what he brought which was crap.” Krista
giggled.

“Crap and romance on the glacier.”Amy
rolled her eyes at her sister’s sigh.

“Exactly.” Amy stuffed one more
bite of the enchilada in her mouth and leaned back in her chair.

“Stomach shrank huh.” Amy nodded.
“That’s okay, I’ll wrap it up and you can eat it for lunch tomorrow. Oh by the
way, a professor somebody called and said he knew that you were at the end of
your contract. He wanted to put a bid in before you re-sign with the
institute.”

“Who?” Amy’s brows knitted. She
hadn’t put out any feelers yet. Maybe someone liked her work.

“I don’t remember. It’s on the
counter by the phone. I told him you’d be back this weekend. He said that his
facility is located in Seattle but he wants to take a team back to the pole. He
said that you were the best in the field and not afraid of a little cold. Can
we go?” Krista looked so much younger suddenly. She’d always loved the upper
northwest. It was the trees and the coffee, the music, the street food, all of
it seduced her.

They’d been once a few years ago
and Krista had talked about going back ever since. How could she say no? Krista
would be happy, she would get to go back to the pole and she would be far from
him
.
She just didn’t have it in her to watch him with other women after what had
happened between them. It would devastate her. “Sure, I’ll call him after we
clean up. I told Jim before I left that I was going to look. I have ten days
left on my contract. So what’s that? Next Tuesday?” Krista nodded and smiled
showing all of her teeth and both dimples. “I have sick days left and my arm
hurts so, I just need to clean out my desk on Tuesday morning, then we can go.
Do you think you can help me pack this place up that fast?” Amy winked at her
sister and held up her cast. Krista cringed then brightened, she was ever the optimist.
When Amy had called from the airport to let her know that she was on her way
and where she’d been, Krista was upset. If something happened to Amy she would
be all alone and even though Krista didn’t mind being alone for Amy’s
expeditions, the thought of being alone forever was more than her sister could
handle. When their parents passed away within six months of each other, Krista
was devastated and stayed depressed for nearly two years after.