Wolf Fever (20 page)

Uniqueness. Even now, her mother couldn't bring herself to say Carol had psychic abilities. “He lives in Green Valley.”

“I know, I know. He told me. Just bring him by sometime. Soon.”

“All right. Bye, Mom.”

“Ask him if he wants kids. It's important to discuss such things with a guy you're interested in.”

“All right, if I get interested.”

“He's interested, Carol, or he wouldn't have called me.”

Her mom might not have psychic connections, but she was fairly intuitive when it came to understanding people. Still, Carol figured Ryan had only had one thing on his mind when he called her mother.

“You don't think he was just going to ask if I truly had a vision about the doctor's wife?”

“Of course he was. That's what made me mad. He shouldn't have to ask. But he wouldn't have bothered calling me if he wasn't intrigued with you. And I loved his sexy voice.”

Even though her mother didn't like that Darien had moved Carol into his home, or that he or his brothers or Lelandi were always watching her, her mother loved Darien and his brothers' sexy voices also. There was something about alpha males' voices that made everyone take notice.

Call waiting warned Carol that she had someone else on the line. “I have another incoming call, Mom. We'll have to talk later.”

“All right, dear. Good-bye.”

“Bye, Mom. Thanks for giving me a ring.”

Carol hung up and then stared at the Caller ID.
Rosalind McKinley? Was she Ryan's sister? It seemed to Carol as though she truly was dating Ryan, the way everyone was calling her about him. At least, that's what she suspected his sister wanted to talk to her about since Carol had never met Rosalind… or spoken with her before. The day just got weirder and weirder.

“Hello, this is Carol Wood. How may I help you?”

“Hi, Carol, this is Rosalind McKinley, Ryan's sister. I wonder if Ryan has told you how much he wants you.”

Carol glanced at Tom, who was trying to listen to her conversation. He set the ice pack down on the counter and folded his arms, his look annoyed. He didn't budge from the room.

“What makes you think that?” Carol asked Rosalind. She already liked the woman for having the gumption to call her. But she wondered if Ryan's sister really knew what she was talking about or just
thought
she knew her brother that well.

“Oh, Carol. I can call you Carol, can't I?”

“Sure.”

“Well, Ryan hasn't been able to think of anything since he met you five months ago. It was Carol this and Carol that, and dark brooding looks, chopping wood, pacing back and forth, wearing out our carpeting, impossibly distracted whenever I tried to talk with him.”

“He said nice things about me then?” Carol felt a warm glow.

“Oh, no… not at all.”

That hit Carol like she'd just been sprayed with a cold shower, dousing the warm, fuzzy feeling at once. “No? What then?”

“My brother was obsessed with you. Still is. Mate the poor fool and put him out of his misery. I can't wait to meet you. No other woman has had this kind of effect on him. It's wonderful.”

“But what did he say exactly to you about me?”

“He had taken tons of pictures of you. He keeps them in the top of the folder, and despite the case being closed, he keeps the file out for handy reference. Not to study the case but to get another look at you. You know what that means, don't you?”

“Not exactly.” Carol noted that Rosalind did not exactly say what Ryan had told her about Carol, either.

“He's in love. I've never seen him fall so hard for a woman. But I was worried he might not get the message across to you, so I thought I'd better call and let you know how he feels. Just in case.”

“Um, thanks.”
I think.
Carol could just imagine telling Ryan that she understood he loved her and was thrilled he felt that way. He'd look at her like she'd lost her mind.

“Don't thank me! I'm getting a sister!”

Her comment made Carol smile.

A commotion ensued in the lobby, garnering Carol's attention, and Tom moved into the hall to check it out. “We'll have to have this conversation later, Rosalind. Thanks so much for calling me.”

“Can we have lunch soon?”

Carol already really liked Rosalind, her friendliness, enthusiasm, camaraderie. She seemed like someone who'd be in Carol's court if she needed her. “Lunch sounds great.”

“Hell, I'm fine, damn it,” Ryan growled in the waiting area down the hall.

Carol furrowed her brows and glanced back at the hall, but she was unable to see Ryan. The thrill of seeing him back without a scratch was tempered by worry that he'd be angry with Tom… or her… for letting North into the exam room with her.

Jake said in a scolding tone, “Don't tell me you're one of those people who is a horrible patient. If you won't go peaceably, I'll have to send you to Matthew to check you out instead of Carol. And you definitely won't make brownie points there. Guaranteed. Your choice.”

Her heart tripping, Carol looked at Tom.

He gave her a wry smile. “Guess that makes four times. Unless he was wounded in some other fashion.”

“Is that my brother growling about something?” Rosalind asked.

“It's him. But I'm not sure what about. I've got to go. Trouble at the hospital.”
Concerning your brother
, but Carol wasn't about to tell his sister that, in the event it wasn't anything. “I'll call you later.”

“Look forward to it.” They disconnected.

Her blood running cold, Carol shoved the next patient record into the holder. If Ryan had been shot because he was trying to protect her, she didn't want to even think about it.

She hurried in the direction of the waiting room.

W
HEN
C
AROL SAW
R
YAN'S SHIRTSLEEVE BLOODIED
, she frowned and quickened her pace toward the hospital waiting area. “Let's get you into an exam room.”

“I'm fine. It's just a graze, for Chr—”

She gave him a look to curb his tongue. He noted the two small girls in the waiting area and snorted. Then he wordlessly went with her down the hall as she held his arm, his whole body tensing. Touching him made her feel so much more secure. Although she was afraid that once he saw Tom and the goose egg he was sporting, Ryan would be more than furious with the both of them.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I was chasing one of the reds as a wolf, and when I located him, he shifted and held a gun on me.”

They approached the exam room as Jake followed behind. “And then he fired a shot at you?”

“A couple, but he missed all three times, dove into his pickup, and vamoosed.”

“Missed all three times?” She touched the sleeve of his shirt, blood spotting the blue and white print.

“He got lucky. One ricocheted off a tree, or he would never have hit me.”

She frowned at him. “You went after him even when you learned he had a gun, didn't you?” Not surprising, but she didn't like that he took such risks, either. “You shouldn't have.”

He gave her a hard scowl back, his hands clenched into fists. She felt his muscle tighten beneath her fingertips. “By lunging at him, I threw him off guard. If I hadn't, he could have fired several steady shots at my retreating backside.”

“I hope you didn't continue to chase him,” she scolded.

“While he was driving a pickup? Not likely.”

“I would have thought you might continue to look for clues of the other guys. At least you came straight away here to be treated.”

He didn't say anything.

She looked back at Jake. “You did come straight here, right?”

Jake shook his head.

Ryan said, “If Jake hadn't insisted, I wouldn't be here to be examined by you or Doc. I have a job to do, and being a patient is not on the schedule.”

“Were you this bad the other times?”

His expression puzzled, he frowned at her. “What do you mean?”

“When you were shot the three other times. Did you behave as unruly as a patient before?”

“I was unconscious for two of them.”

Shocked, she parted her lips.

That's when Ryan noticed Tom in the exam room, and his swollen, red cheek. “Hell, what happened?”

“North tried to take her. My fault.” Tom looked guiltily at Jake.

Jake cursed under his breath and motioned to the break room. “Tell me what happened.”

Silence stretched between Ryan and Carol. She figured he was mad at her already, not even knowing what
had happened. She led him into the exam room and shut the door. He still didn't say anything, which made her more self-conscious than before. “It was all my fault,” she finally admitted. “Not Tom's. He insisted Matthew see to the patient. But the man was truly sick.”

“He was a red,” Ryan growled.

“Yes, but we couldn't smell him. For that reason, Tom wasn't going to let him see me, thinking he was human.” She guided Ryan across the room and held onto his good arm to help him up on the exam table. Once he was settled, she released him, but she remained standing next to him.

“Hell, Carol. If you couldn't smell he was a red or a gray, Matthew
should
have seen him.”

“I know. I know. It was my fault,” she reiterated. “I… I just wanted to prove that I could continue to see patients, human or
lupus garou,
without getting anyone in any trouble.”

Ryan didn't say anything for a moment, as if he was really considering why this was so important to her.

“He got away.” Ryan sounded resigned and a little weary as he tucked a curl of hair behind her ear. “A guy could get used to a woman fawning over him.”

The way he'd been acting so reluctant to be examined, she expected him to keep up the resistance. This business with North and the way he'd dropped the subject… well, the change in his attitude totally threw her. Maybe in front of Tom and Jake or anyone like Christian who was within earshot, Ryan felt he had to put on a show. Mostly, she was glad he wasn't angry with her about her seeing North and putting both Tom and herself at risk.

“I'll be more careful next time,” she said softly,
hating to acquiesce but not willing to get anyone hurt on account of her being so stubborn.

She pressed against his knees to unbutton his shirt, but he spread his thighs, pulled her between his legs, and lifted a brow. “Easier to get to the buttons.” He looked like he was attempting to contain a smile. Devilish, desirous, rakish.

She tried to be professional about this while his legs caged her in, his inner thighs touching her flesh, heating her skin through her scrubs, making her nipples tingle. She should have pushed away, moved to the side of him, but she didn't imagine standing next to his thigh on the outside would feel any less… erotic.

All at once, she was reminded of the way he'd touched her earlier that morning in the canopied bed, the way his hands and mouth and body had teased her into submission. Left her body flaming with desire. Even now with their close proximity, the way his hard inner thighs touched her, his face leaning closer to hers, she was growing wet with need.

Her mind warred with her heart. She wanted to lift her chin and kiss his lips, to wrap her arms around his waist, to hold him close and know he was safe. But Doc would be coming soon.

She meant to reach up and unbutton Ryan's shirt and take care of him like a nurse was supposed to, but his hand cupped her chin and his mouth lowered to hers. A quick kiss, she thought. A really… quick… kiss.

But as soon as she tilted her lips up to meet his, as soon as she closed her eyes to savor the really quick kiss, she was lost. Lost in the way his hands held her hips, keeping her from bolting, lost in the way his alluring
mouth firmly pressed against hers, increasing the pressure and gliding over hers, his mouth coaxing hers open. Creating an intimate path between them.

She moaned and swore he echoed her sentiment, his hands drawing lower and over her buttocks, pulling her against his groin. Despite being wounded, he was hard and wanting all over again. Somehow in her lust-filled thoughts, she heard someone coming as Ryan's tongue tangled with hers. She paused, momentarily still, rashly wanting to carry on with reckless abandon but knowing she couldn't.

Ryan released her with a curse under his breath, maybe at himself for losing control, maybe at whoever was headed their way. Maybe at her for getting him all stirred up again.

As quickly as she could manage, she unfastened his buttons, feeling aroused and needy and desperate to finish what they'd started. Then she gently tugged the shirt off his shoulders, her hands brushing against his heated skin. She glanced up at him, hoping he was ignoring her. But he wasn't. His gaze still smoldered with lusty fascination. She cleared her throat and slid the shirt down his arms, trying not to hurt his injured arm.

He sucked in his breath. “Somehow, I don't see the nurse removing the patient's clothes on a regular basis unless the guy's half dead.”

Her face flushed when it shouldn't have, but she wasn't going to let him stop her from doing her job. “You're wounded, Ryan McKinley. It would be too difficult for you to unbutton your shirt with one hand. What am I supposed to do? Watch you struggle in pain? Besides I'm
not
taking off your trousers.”

He chuckled wolfishly. Hell, the way they'd been going, she might have done just that!

“What is transpiring between us is strictly business.” At least that had been the plan before he pulled her between his legs and began kissing her.

Whoever was walking toward the room had already passed by, and Carol took a relieved breath. Attempting to ignore the way Ryan heated her to the core and to do her duty as a trained nurse, she wiped away the blood on his arm, glad to see that the bullet had only grazed him like he'd said. Given werewolves' advanced healing capabilities, the wound should heal sufficiently by morning.

Ryan took hold of her free hand and looked into her eyes as if he was ready to analyze her every reaction.

“Did you see any visions of this or of anything else?” he asked.

Unsure whether he still didn't believe her, she sighed. “No. If I had, I would have warned you.” She pulled away from him and cleansed the wound. She thought of Rosalind's call to her, but before that, her mother's and planned to ask him about both.

“By the way, why did you call my mother?”

Ryan didn't look in the least bit sheepish, which surprised her. “I called to see if she believed you had psychic abilities after she had sent you to that damned psychiatrist.”

“And if she didn't believe in my talents?”

“I'd tell her what a marvel you are.”

She stared at him, her lips parted. “Seriously?”

“Seriously. Only she hung up on me, which didn't bode well.”

“What difference does it make if she believes me or not?”

He rested his hands on her hips and pulled her close to his body. “Because we're dating. Remember?”

She gave him a ladylike snort. “Right.” Yet it gave her hope he truly did believe her, and her whole spirit lifted.

Before she could ruin the feeling and ask him what he'd said to his sister about her that was not complimentary, Doc Weber opened the door. The doctor raised his brows to see Ryan on the exam table and Carol standing between his legs, ministering to him. She was grateful Doc hadn't seen them kissing earlier.

She noticed how tired Doc looked, with dark circles under his eyes and his shoulders stooped. He was a red from Lelandi's former pack, here to doctor the patients until they could find a gray. But he planned to stay until Lelandi had her babies. He'd taken Carol under his wing because she was a nurse, newly turned, and a red like him.

Because she'd been turned by one of his former pack, Doc considered Carol like one of his family. Since he'd never had a mate and no offspring, she and Lelandi were like the daughters he'd never had. That meant he kept giving them fatherly lectures. Since Lelandi was mated, though, she didn't receive as many as Carol did.

Carol moved a respectable distance from Ryan while Doc examined his wound. “I thought you were posted here as her bodyguard. What happened?” His tone was accusatory. What good would Ryan be if he didn't stay and watch over her?

“Tom was keeping an eye on her while I took after the men. By the looks of it, I should have stayed. They're intent on shooting anyone who tries to stop their mission, but they don't have the nerve to fight wolf to wolf.
You probably know them. Three reds from Lelandi's and your former pack?”

The doc peered closely at the wound and shook his head. “The men who were left behind were decent sorts. None of them would do a thing like this.”

Except North? And the others with him had to be from the same pack.

Ryan pursed his lips tight and didn't say anything to Doc, but Carol thought he wanted to. How could the men be “decent sorts” when they had taken Carol from the house like they did? And they had to be from Lelandi's pack. No other red pack lived in the area. And what about this latest clash with North and Tom?

“Not a silver bullet, anyway. So it appears they don't mean to kill anyone,” Doc said.

“That's good to know.” Carol's tone was filled with relief but concern, too, that this wasn't ending anytime soon.

A flash of memory of the shooting she'd witnessed at the hospital the previous fall suddenly swamped her with regret. The doctor had lain dead on the exam-room floor, his nurse just as unresponsive. She wasn't sure what had brought the memory back. The attack on Tom maybe. Or the one on Ryan since he'd been shot, or both. Or the idea that it would happen again and be fatal this time?

Carol turned away quickly as tears filled her eyes, not wanting Doc and Ryan to see her like this—unable to control her emotions. Everyone expected her to be strong, both in the workplace and around family. She was the one who held up through any crisis. When her sister died, she had helped her parents get through it. She had to be resilient when others needed her.

Doc cleared his throat. “Just apply some of that salve and bandage it, and he should be back to doing his job.”

“Yes, Dr. Weber.” Carol tried to hide the hitch in her voice. She hated when she got emotional on the job.

“Carol,” Doc said, his voice soft and consoling.

Unable to look him directly in the eye, she fought to hold back the burning tears. “Yes, Doctor?”

He looked sympathetically at her and then patted her shoulder. “Got another case of the flu to look after.” He walked out of the room, his movement slower and stiffer than usual.

She wanted to tell him
he
needed to take care of himself. That he should get more rest, but she knew it would be futile. She wondered, though, what he'd intended to say. That the other doctor and nurse dying hadn't been her fault?

No, it wasn't her mistake, she tried to convince herself. The miner who killed them was the one responsible. But if she'd only raised the alarm somehow before he shot them…

Still, maybe that's why the memory haunted her again. That it had been her fault, just like Tom's having been attacked was, too. And if the reds hadn't been trying to take her hostage, Ryan wouldn't have been harmed, either.

“Carol?” Ryan said, drawing her from her mental self-bashing. He left the exam table and touched her arm. “Are you all right?”

“They died because of me.” She pulled away from him and stood in front of a supply drawer, staring at it but not seeing it.

“The former doctor and that nurse?” His voice was gentle, and no matter how badly she felt, his tone was like a mental salve. He ran his hand over her back in a gentle caress.