The hum of machinery was all around me when I woke up, and it smelled like someone had used too much bathroom cleaner. I wished they’d flush the toilet so the disinfectant smell would go away.
So tired. I couldn’t even find the energy to roll over.
The prickle of something on my arm sure was annoying. I managed to shake my arm, but the prickle didn’t go away.
I opened my eyes. Gray walls, a curtain halfway around my bed, metal bars on the side of the bed. Tubes ran from my arm to a clear bag of liquid suspended from a rack.
“Laleesha.” Dominic stood up from a chair just on the other side of the metal bars. A bedrail, not bars.
I felt a rush of gladness, but my face was too tired to smile.
He took my hand but let go immediately when I moved my fingers. “I’m sorry.”
“Please,” I croaked.
He reached for the pitcher on the little table. “Water?”
I nodded. What I had wanted was for him to hold my hand, but the instant he mentioned water I was aware of the scratchiness in my throat.
He pushed a button to make my bed lift up, and then he held the plastic cup to my mouth while I drank. I sank back into my pillow.
I remembered now. Biter coming for me, the bear in the road, the accident. The pain.
“My baby.” Tears slipped from my eyes. She had to be gone. I’d felt the tearing and the gush of warmth between my legs.
“She’s okay.”
“Don’t lie to me,” I said fiercely.
“Never.” He sat back down and leaned forward over the bedrail. “You lost some blood and will have to stay here until they’re sure everything’s okay.”
His face looked troubled but open. I tried to relax—my baby was fine—but there was something he wasn’t sharing.
The squish of soft-soled shoes came close. A woman wearing what looked like pajamas patterned with pink and yellow duckies pushed past the curtain.
“Oh, you’re finally awake,” she said. “Your husband was so worried about you.”
“My—”
“Of course I was worried.” Dominic smiled meaningfully at me.
Huh. I didn’t have the strength to be figure out what she was talking about, or to care. Fading back into the mattress, I let the nurse handle me like I was a puppet, and dozed off while she was talking.
The next time I woke Mama was there. She sat in the chair where Dominic had been.
I looked around in panic. “Dominic?”
At once he appeared, stepping past Mama to take my hand. “Here I am.”
I clung to him, not caring what Mama thought, or at least not much.
Mama hitched her chair to the side so she’d have a better view of my face. “So this is the reason you took off. Never thought a white boy would want you.”
I couldn’t stop the sob from erupting.
Dominic squeezed my hand before he released it. He turned to her, and in a voice that sent shivers down my spine he said, “Ma’am, you’ll have to leave if you can’t be polite.”
She settled herself more comfortably in the chair. “Nobody’s going to mess with someone just lost her man.” Her eyes found me. “Thanks to your stupid ass.”
Without saying a single word, Dominic picked up the chair Mama sat in. Her mouth fell open. Snapping it closed, she snarled, “Put me down.”
He carried her, chair and all, out of sight beyond the curtain. I covered my ears to block out Mama’s cursing.
After several minutes I lowered my hands. No Mama, and no Dominic. I waited, my heart beating fast and my hands twisting together nervously. He couldn’t keep Mama out, and he wasn’t going to want to be around her. And I—I couldn’t deal with Mama, not yet.
An aide whisked the curtains open. “Dinner time!”
For the first time I saw the empty bed next to mine. Beyond it the door to the hallway was propped open. The aide got a tray from a cart in the hallway and arranged it on my bed table.
I wasn’t hungry, not at all, but it was easier to just let her raise me to a sitting position than to argue.
With a cheery “Enjoy!” she left.
For a moment I stared hopelessly at the plate. Closing my eyes, I sank into my pillow.
“Laleesha.”
Dominic’s voice. Tears of relief came to my eyes. I was afraid he’d never come back.
“I spoke to the head nurse.” His voice was hesitant. “They’ve made a note that your mother can’t visit unless I’m here. Is that okay with you?” He touched my hand.
Blinking hard to keep from crying, I nodded.
He grabbed the chair next to the other bed and brought it over to the bed table. “You need to eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“That’s not what baby says.” He raised a forkful of lasagna to my mouth. “Come on,” he wheedled.
His silly voice made me smile. Obediently I opened my mouth. It tasted better than I expected. Maybe I was hungry after all.
He cut another piece for me. “I told them we’re married when I first brought you in. I—” He shrugged. “I wanted to make sure you got the best possible care.”
It was hard to swallow past the lump in my throat. “You didn’t have to do that,” I mumbled.
He grinned. “I didn’t, as it turned out. Bear had already arranged medical coverage for you. But I didn’t know that at the time. And I liked the perks of being your husband.”
“Huh?” I stared.
“You know, being able to see you whenever I wanted, being able to make sure no one bothers you…” He lifted the fork again.
I refused it. I couldn’t eat. I just couldn’t. Not when he was saying things like that.
“What Mama said about Biter…”
“He’s dead,” he said flatly. “He won’t be threatening anyone else ever again.”
“Dead.” I really was free of him. Giddiness bubbled through my veins. I didn’t have to be afraid for me or my baby. Except my relief was bittersweet.
“So you don’t need to watch over me anymore.”
He very carefully laid down the fork. When he looked at me, his face had no expression at all. “What do you want?”
Him to hold me forever, and my baby to be healthy and happy.
“I’m going to have a baby. That’s—that’s the big thing on my mind.”
“You don’t have to do it alone.”
“I’m not. There’s Sophie and Cara and the others.”
“Marry me.”
“I can’t.” The stupid tears made me blubber. “You don’t like wolves and she’s a wolf and I’m never going to do like my mama did. Anyway, you can’t really want me. You just feel sorry for me.”
“Oh Laleesha.” Instantly the table was shoved away, the bedrail was lowered, and Dominic was kneeling beside the bed. He trapped my hands in his. “I don’t feel sorry for you. I feel— What I feel when you’re around is happy, complete. You’re my mate. I want you beside me forever.”
“There’s still my baby,” I said hopelessly.
“You’re right, I don’t like wolves. At least I never liked them before. Val might be decent. When I saw all that blood…”
I was afraid I knew what he was thinking, that it would be best if I lost my baby.
“Your cub isn’t just a wolf. She’s part of you.” He squeezed my hands. “When I saw all that blood I was scared I’d lose both of you. I feel”—he lowered his voice—“like she’s my cub too.”
“You do?” I asked uncertainly.
He looked back at me without speaking, his eyes shiny with tears.
A big block of ice in my chest snapped into chunks and dissolved. “You do,” I breathed.
“I love you,” he said. “Both of you. There’s nothing I want more than for you and me to raise a houseful of cubs.”
“Cubs.”
“If you want.”
“I want,” I whispered.
He searched my face. “You mean—”
It was hard to say out loud. “I love you.”
He slid his arms around my shoulders so gently the mattress didn’t even flex. His face was just inches away. My heart beat faster. Staring into my eyes, he lowered his mouth to mine.
We kissed. My lips parted in invitation. His tongue slipped inside, smooth and gentle. Loving.
He loves me.
“So Mrs. Olsen—” The voice stopped abruptly. “Sorry, I just came to get your tray.”
Dominic pulled away from me, his arm still resting on my shoulder. “No problem. I would have shut the door if we needed privacy.”
The aide took the tray and left with a wave.
“Shut the door now?” I suggested.
“I don’t dare.” Dominic waggled his brows. “No sex for at least four weeks, the doctor said. I need that door open.”