Wolf Fever (23 page)

Carol smiled. “He loves people, so I'm sure he'll enjoy visiting with her and her customers.”

“She'll drop him by after the shop closes in a couple of hours.”

Jake's cell phone rang. “Yeah, Darien?” Jake was on edge, which showed in both his voice and the way his body tensed. He frowned and looked at Carol.

“Okay. Everything's fine here. See you in a little while.” He hung up his phone. “The sheriff and Deputy Trevor were knocked out. Nurse Matthew is looking after them. Tom fought off North and a couple of men until they retreated. Matthew is looking after our injured men. Doc's still at the house.”

“In his wolf form,” Carol whispered, hating that what she thought would come to pass had. She was certain he would still be in his wolf form.

“Yeah, but not to worry,” Jake said.

Carol frowned. “As a wolf, he couldn't tell anyone what had happened.”

“Darien said he smelled that North and the others had been there.”

“Why didn't Doc change back, Jake? Why wouldn't he talk to Darien?”

“He'll change when he feels the urge.” But this time Jake didn't look so sure of that, and Lelandi's face paled.

“Why didn't they take Doc with him? Was it because he couldn't help them? That he couldn't change into his human form? Call Darien back. Tell him to order Doc to change back. He has to comply with Darien's wishes, right?” Carol said.

Jake let out his breath in a huff. “All right, all right.” He punched a number and said, “Hey, Darien, Carol wants you to order Doc to shift back to his human form.” His brows pinched into a dark frown. “And?” He looked at Carol and shook his head slowly.

“Have him brought here so we can watch him. And Puss's favorite bed is still at Doc Mitchell's vet clinic. Can he have someone run by there and get it for him?” Carol asked.

Jake passed on the information. “Anything else, Carol?”

“Don't you or Darien shape-shift again until we can figure out what happened to Doc.”

“Darien, Tom, and I aren't royals. We have to change sometime during the phases of the moon, except for the new moon. We don't have a choice.”

“Try not to,” she reiterated. “Please.”

Jake passed the information along to Darien and then signed off and stared at the uneaten portion of his meal. “What happens that makes you think I can't change back?”

“In the vision, you're agitated, and Lelandi says Darien can't change back. It's not a nightmare. It's a vision.”

“Hell, Carol, you didn't say that Lelandi said so. That
makes a world of difference,” Jake scolded her. “I mean, with the other version, I just figured you couldn't see that I'd changed back.”

“Yeah, well, I told Lelandi.”

“Sorry, Carol. I just couldn't believe it myself.” Lelandi rubbed her arms covered with goose bumps.

“What's causing the trouble?” Ryan asked.

“Well, if Doc doesn't change back, maybe it has to do with the cold he got. Or flu virus.” Carol chewed on her lip. “Since he's a wolf now, he'll have all wolf genetics. Have Darien call Doc Mitchell and run some tests on Doc Weber's blood. See if he can discover if he's still sick. If he isn't, the change probably knocked out the illness like you said it might.”

“You're sure about this?” Jake asked. “I doubt Doc Weber will appreciate it if the vet starts testing his blood without his permission.”

“It's the only correlation I can see for now. Besides, if there isn't a problem, Doc Weber can shift and tell the vet where to go. If there is a problem, I'm sure he'll be grateful we're trying to learn the cause and do something about it.”

“All right.” Jake flipped his phone back open and called Darien. “Carol needs one more thing done.”

H
ELL, EVERYTHING IS GOING FURTHER DOWNHILL
, Ryan thought when Darien called an hour after dinner with news from the vet clinic. Doc Mitchell was missing.

“I have to return to the hospital and take blood samples from Doc Weber,” Carol said, sitting at the dining table and looking ready to leap from her seat and do something, anything.

“Not without Darien's approval.” Jake stared out the window. “And besides, Matthew said he'd do it. We've got men looking for the vet. Some others are watching Doc Weber in case anyone tries to take him, and some who are watching Nurse Matthew and Nurse Charlotte. Seven men are here guarding the house from the outside, and others searching for North and his men. For now, Darien doesn't want anyone to move from his assigned job. Not until he knows what we're up against.”

Lelandi, who had been on the go every minute the last time Ryan was here, looked tired again, slumped in her chair and quiet, with her eyes half closed. And as restless as Carol had been throughout the night, she looked exhausted. If she had to go back to the hospital in an hour or so, she needed some rest.

“The ladies look like they need to lie down for a while,” Ryan said to Jake.

He frowned at Ryan, looked at Lelandi, and then switched his attention to Carol. “All right. Come on.
I'll watch Lelandi and you guard Carol while they get some sleep.”

Ryan and Carol walked up the stairs, following Jake and Lelandi. This time, Ryan intended to sit in the recliner and watch over Carol like a dutiful bodyguard.

Both women were moving so slowly that he wanted to carry Carol and tell Jake to do the same with Lelandi. But he assumed Jake didn't want to push his luck by overstepping his boundaries with Darien's mate unless it was absolutely necessary.

Ryan wrapped his arm around Carol's waist and helped her up the stairs. She slumped against him, cuddling with him. Instantly the notion of sitting in the recliner seemed not as likely.

As Jake passed Carol's bedroom door, he gave Ryan a stern look that warned him to behave himself with Carol. Ryan told himself that he would behave himself as long as that's what Carol wanted. He wasn't so sure she wanted him to control his sexual urges with regard to her, not after the way she'd kissed him back at the clinic. Maybe it was damned wishful thinking on his part.

He followed her into the bedroom and closed the door as she sat on the bed and then pulled off her tennis shoes. He walked over to the recliner and sat, hoping for an invitation to lie down with her. Dog tired, he hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night, either. But she needed to sleep more than he did if her medical services might be required later that night. Unless she needed his comfort if she experienced any more night terrors, she was probably just as well off sleeping alone. Maybe even better off. Although he hated to admit it.

For a moment, Carol sat on the bed, staring at the floor and not saying a word.

“What is it? Another vision?” Ryan was ready to leave the chair and sit next to her, to coax the truth from her, if need be.

She shook her head and took a deep breath. “It's like when you deal with one of your cases, I'm sure. Just trying to sort out what's going on.” She pulled her scrub's shirt over her head, exposing a silky sheer bra. Her darkened dusty-pink nipples pressed against the fabric like two perfect jewels. Did she even realize how sexy she looked?

“Your sister said you talked about me to her.” Carol stood, grabbed her waistband, and pulled her scrub pants down her hips. She let the pants slide to her feet and then stepped out of them.

His gaze latched onto the thatch of golden curls showing through the silk bikini panties.

“Ryan?”

His gaze lifted to see her brows raised. She pulled the eyelet cover aside, climbed under it, and then situated the top of it under her chin.

“What did you say to your sister about me?”

“What did I say to her?” His mind was in a fog. His thoughts were still centered on the way Carol looked in her sheer underwear—sexy, tantalizing, and inviting more than just his gaze.

“Yes. She said you kept talking about me.”

He frowned. “She called you?” The notion finally sank into his lust-filled brain. He didn't recall the conversations he'd had with Rosalind about Carol during the investigation. He supposed he'd said he thought Carol's psychic abilities weren't for real.

“Not sure. Most likely about what you'd envisioned.”

“That I'd lied then?” She didn't sound angry, just sleepy and inquisitive.

“Not lied. Just overheard conversations and incorporated them into dreams and thought you'd had a vision.”

“That's all?”

He couldn't believe Rosalind would bring it up. If she wanted Carol to like him, why cause a rift between them? “I honestly don't recall anything else I discussed with her. Except maybe about another case.”

“I'll have to ask her then.”

He ground his teeth, not liking that Rosalind intended to stir things up. Even though he'd planned on remaining on the chair and only joining Carol if night terrors revisited her, he changed his mind and began unbuttoning his shirt.

“Whatever was said before was the past. It's not important. The future is what concerns me.”

She watched him unbutton his shirt, and he swore she was undressing him with her eyes before he could even get to his pants. Which made him work faster on his belt. He divested himself of the rest of his clothes, except for his boxers, and climbed into the canopy bed. He motioned to the eyelet canopy overhead. “I feel I've entered the bedchambers of a cloistered princess.”

“Hmm, as a Highland warrior of an opposing clan? This is not exactly a Highland bed or setting.” She moved closer to him and snuggled against his body, the warmth of her silky soft curves heating his blood.

He kissed the top of her head, wanting from the bottom of his heart to make her fantasies come to life. He told himself that was because of all the years of wanting
and never fulfilling his own destiny. Carol, Little Miss Nightingale, and one sexy witch rolled up in one was the only woman who'd ever be right for him. Not that they didn't have a lot of things to work out—shape-shifting and coming to grips with her werewolf half were at the top of the list.

“Do you want me to get my plaid out of the truck and toss it over us?”

“You mean you'd run outside like you're dressed now? Wearing only your boxers? What would the men guarding the house think?”

“If this were my castle, they'd cheer me on. At Darien's, they wouldn't like it much.”

She chuckled, the sensuous sound teasing his senses. “It doesn't matter as long as the Highlander is part of the setting.” She smiled up at him, and for a moment, he thought she didn't look all that sleepy—instead, sultry and decadently wicked in her seductive lingerie.

But being honorable—or as honorable as he could be when he wanted something less than honorable—he said, “Get some sleep in case Darien calls and wants you to return to the hospital.”

With her gaze focused on Ryan's chest, she stroked his belly with the tips of her fingers, softly tantalizing and as erotically as anything he'd ever experienced. Already his blood was running south, preparing him for a much more vigorous workout. He wanted to move her onto her back, take her as her mate would, and claim her for his own, but he assumed she wasn't ready for that.

He cleared his throat and ran his hand through her hair, luxuriating in the silky golden strands. He hated to ask, hated to ruin the moment, but he had to know how
far she was willing to take this before he did something she wasn't prepared for.

Before he could question how far she wanted to go, she murmured, “Hmm,” and slid her fingers lower, past his navel, lower still until she slipped them underneath his waistband and gingerly caressed the skin beneath the elastic.

He sucked in a breath, waiting for her to move her fingers even lower, where his erection had curled upward begging for her touch.

Then a horrible thought occurred to him. They didn't have much time. What if Darien called and wanted Carol to go to the hospital pronto? Yet Ryan couldn't move, the anticipation of her touch suspending him in time.

Her fingers surged deeper into his briefs, sweeping across the tip of his penis, which jumped at her touch.

He still wanted to know how far she was willing to go. Oh, hell. Forget words. He couldn't come up with the right ones. And he assumed she wanted what he did at this point anyway. He rolled her over on her back and straddled her leg so he could slide his fingers under
her
waistband. He didn't take as long to find her sweets, slipping his fingers through her curly hairs and then lower until he found her warm wetness and began to stroke the jewel that made her arch slightly against his fingers.

He knew then that she had to be his. Or he would never have taken it this far with one of his own kind. But he also knew he had to take this slowly until she was ready to accept him all the way. After all, she was newly turned and probably still didn't completely understand what taking a mate meant.

She barely breathed, her fingers touching his chest but not moving, just frozen in place as she concentrated on how he stroked her hard little nub, her body undulating with fever. He leaned down to kiss her gently, to savor the wine on her lips. To his surprise and delight, she devoured him as if she'd been starved for affection forever, her lips caressing his, her tongue darting around his mouth, tasting, memorizing, and tangling with his.

She drugged him with her sensuous urgency. She might not have been born a
lupus garou
, but she knew how to stir up the wolf in him. He plunged his tongue into her open mouth, and she sucked on it, her fingers groping for his erection. He almost forgot what he was doing, considering the way she fueled a fire deep inside him, until she gave a soft moan and writhed under his fingertips. He stroked her willing, hot little nub, as her fingers dug into his arms, her eyes closed, her lips parted. A soft moan escaped, and her body trembled with orgasm. He smiled, loving how willingly she'd responded to his touch.

But no sooner had he had those thoughts than she worked his erection, coaxing and stroking up and down with the right firmness. He couldn't last. Before he could begin to draw the sensation out, he felt as though he were freefalling from an airplane without a parachute— free, on top of the world. Her hand on him kept up the pressure until he came. He groaned her name, wishing that he could have been inside of her as she milked him, with her eyes half lidded and her tongue sweeping over her well-kissed lips.

He pressed his mouth against hers again, savoring the softness, the sweetness, moving down to her
throat and then to her silky sheer bra. Pushing her bra down with frantic urgency until he exposed a breast, he sucked on one of her firm, eager nipples that was greedy for his touch.

“Did you envision this?” he asked, his voice still husky with need, his hands cupping her other breast, fondling, and drawing his thumb over the nipple still confined in silk and loving the different textures.

She gave him a tender smile and swept her hands over his bare shoulders. “Envision, yes, when I saw you shift and standing as such a healthy specimen of a man in the woods nearby. And again, when I imagined you wearing your plaid. But a premonition of the actual act? No. If I had, Ryan McKinley, I probably wouldn't have told you. Some things are just not meant to be said.”

“Yet we agreed you would tell me everything you perceived. Everything.” He smiled at her, and removed her bra and panties and his boxers. Then he drew her out of the bed, swept her up in his arms, and carried her to the bathroom.

“Lelandi will hear the shower running and suspect something isn't quite right,” she whispered.

“She already knows I've claimed you for my mate.”

She raised a brow as Ryan set her on the bathroom floor. “I didn't think werewolves were considered mated unless they truly consummated the relationship.”

“That doesn't mean you're not mine,” he said, not caring how possessive he sounded as he turned on the shower. “It just means we only have one more hurdle to cross.”

“Hurdle.”

He lifted her and set her in the tub under the pulsating showerhead. “Yeah, hurdle. You're no longer available, even if we haven't consummated the relationship. Once that's done, we've overcome the last barrier.” He smiled down at her as she rolled her eyes.

“Darien or the others won't go along with that.”

“He and the others will know better than to challenge me in this. I know this isn't the time, but on a lighter subject, we have another difficulty.”

“And that is?”

“Jake's ready to have a showdown with me.”

She frowned. “What are the two of you in disagreement over now?”

“You.”

“You guys are funny… you know that? He's never shown any real interest in me. You're the one who came sneaking around Darien's house in the middle of the night, hoping to catch a glimpse of me. Only my hair wasn't long enough to let down out of the window to give you a way up to rescue me.”

“Rescue you?”

“From Darien's ruling that I have to have a mate—soon.”

“If I'd known how you felt, I would have brought a ladder.”

“Hmm…” she said, reaching out to grab his hand and pulling him into the shower with her, her heated gaze raking over him in a seductive pass, “… you would have been naked.”

His hands molded to her shoulders, and he caressed them with his thumb, remembering how she'd taunted him with her scandalous nightgown. He reached down
and softly pulled on one of her erect nipples. “Why did you go to the window in such a see-through gown? Hell, what if I'd been bad news?”

“Ryan McKinley, you
are
bad news.”