Christian
Christian woke to sounds in the room with him, but his eyes wouldn’t open, like sleep had soldered them shut. He didn’t remember much. The brown-haired girl had asked him to change back. He did.
Had.
But he was human again. He could feel it. The difference between the wolf’s limbs and the human’s limbs. The way they felt heavier. The instincts were different.
He hadn’t gotten used to it yet, even though Daniel Quade had told him he would. Thinking of Daniel brought up an image of… Molly…
Christian wiped at his eyes, his hand dragging from under a warm sheet. The steel wasn’t as cool under his back as it had been when she first put him up there, but the sheet was warm. He noticed temperatures more in wolf form because he always seemed to be hot.
As a wolf and as a person.
Shit. This life. It was too weird.
His vision blurred a little in the dim light that filled the big room. It was the same place he’d fallen asleep in, although the brown-haired girl was sitting on the blue couch along the wall. She had a shepherd at her feet, and she was feeding him something. Like a piece of jerky or something. It smelled good—hickory and beef. The dog pulled it out of her hand and laid it across his paws to gnaw on it.
She touched the shepherd’s head and walked over to the door. She had this perfect, apple-bottomed ass that was so heart-shaped, it drew his eyes and held them like a lover’s gaze.
“Dodger,” she whispered, touching one of her pockets like she was quietly calling the dog to her. But the dog didn’t come along.
When Christian looked over at the animal, he saw two brown eyes staring at him in perfect stillness.
“He won’t hurt you,” she whispered.
He didn’t take his eyes off the dog, like some instinct compelled him to keep it up with the stare-down. After a second, Dodger cocked his head to one side and laid his muzzle down on the floor between his paws, gnawing on the jerky again.
“I know he won’t,” Christian said in a quiet voice. He reached his hand down, letting it hang off the edge of the table, and Dodger padded over to sniff. Then the mottled head rubbed under his hand, like the dog was saying it was okay to touch. “He’s a good dog.”
“He never does that,” said Dodger’s owner with an edge of amazement in her voice.
Christian moved his head to get a better look at her, and a surprising warmth stole over him. She had a long, elegant nose and pink, wetted lips that worried together, like they could feel his attention. But it was the deep, haunting blue of her eyes that caught him by the throat, like she could see every part of him.
She had seen every part of him.
“Dogs like me now,” he said, stroking Dodger’s head.
“Now?” She tilted her head to one side in a question, and Christian cleared his throat.
“You knew I was a human, a person, when I was a wolf.” He pulled his hand off the dog and touched the hip that still throbbed. “How did you know that?”
“You’re Moonbound,” she said, like it was common knowledge. “Your wolf is easily twice the size of a wild wolf—not that we really have those around here, anyway. They’re all coyotes.”
“How do you know about… what did you call it… Moonbound?”
Her elegant brown eyebrows pulled together. “Isn’t that what you call it?”
“I don’t call it anything.”
“Well, that’s what the pack around here calls it. I assumed that was what every pack called it.”
“The Trewitts?” he asked, letting the name fall off his tongue like it was also a curse. Damned Ryan Travis, of the Trewitt pack. The current fuck-you of his life.
“You’re not a Trewitt, though, are you? I don’t recognize you.” She tapped the side of her leg and the dog sauntered over to her, repositioning himself so that he faced Christian. “I mean, I don’t know everyone in the northern families, but—”
“I’m a… shit… I don’t know how you say it. I guess… Do you know who the Quades are?”
“Kinda,” she said. “Are you from the Quade pack?”
He opened his mouth to answer but couldn’t. He didn’t belong to that pack. He hadn’t even done the pledge thing yet. Christian wouldn’t say the spell until they let Molly go. They wouldn’t let Molly go until he mated Kate. Everything hinged on Kate. Had hinged on Kate. He’d screwed up. Ryan had Kate. Now, he’d have to beg the Quades for another chance or take them on himself and hope he could get his sister free.
And he couldn’t tell this stranger any of that.
Right?
“What’s your name, Doc?” he asked, meeting her eyes, and feeling an unfamiliar warmth flood his body like a tidal wave.
Her nostrils flared, like she was feeling the same thing, and she looked down at the dog, petting his head on a distracted impulse. “Ellie Culver.”
“Thanks for fixing my hip, Ellie Culver.” Christian pushed himself up into a sitting position. “I’m Christian Kyle.” He reached out his hand, and she stepped forward, slipping her warm, delicate fingers into his.
An immediate spark happened at her touch, and he had to drop his mouth open to take a surprised breath. She yanked her hand away, staring at it, blinking, then looking back up at him.
“I’m sorry,” she said, suddenly flustered. “There must be some static charge in here.”
But there was a lie under those words, as she spoke them. She knew what had happened and either couldn’t or wouldn’t explain it to him. It had been magick, no doubt. He’d seen enough magick in the last few weeks to know what it felt like.
“Can you tell me if I’m ready to use this leg, Doc?” he asked, touching his left hip through the sheet again. It was still throbbing, but with each minute that passed, it seemed to throb a little less.
“Well, let me look at it.” She went over to the sink and washed her hands. When she had her back to him, Christian admired the perfection of that ass again.
Shit. What is wrong with me?
But it really was perfect. Sure, she might have been Florence Nightingale, but she was also nice to look at. Nice to fantasize about. He hadn’t had enough of that lately. Any. There hadn’t been any of that.
Ellie put on some gloves and walked toward him, eyes on her upheld hands. Like a surgeon. “I’m going to raise the side of the sheet and tuck it just above the injury so there’s no… so I don’t expose you. Okay?”
“Whatever you have to do to clear me.” He nodded, shifting his right leg. It already didn’t hurt to do that. Not the way it had before. This was progress.
“What caused this injury, Christian?”
God, the way she said his name. It set off all kinds of nerve endings and he could feel the blood rushing toward his groin.
Oh, lord. Just what he needed. A boner in the middle of a surgical exam. He gritted his teeth and tried to picture Miranda Quade naked. No boner food there.
Stop looking at the hot doctor and think about evil old Miranda Quade.
Ellie pulled at the sheet, and Christian sucked a breath through his teeth. He could feel the warmth of her fingers on the flesh around his hip, even though she tucked the sheet up on the top of his leg, well shy of the dick area.
But the stirring in his groin was like a fire even naked old lady couldn’t put out. Ellie would have him at half-mast in half a second if he wasn’t careful. And yet something inside told him not to be careful. Told him to let her see what she did to him. How the touch of her skin made him feel.
Weird thing inside me, shut the hell up.
“Christian?” she asked, in that silky voice again.
Dammit. One more like that, and I’m going to be a full rager down there. He tried to arrange the sheet with his right hand so it would hide the rising stiffness of his dick, but there was just no way to hide a hard dick under a cotton sheet.
She was going to see it soon. If she hadn’t already. Maybe if they both ignored it, it would go away.
“You want to know what happened to my hip?”
“Yes.” Ellie touched a few places around the wound, and none of them seemed to set off the pain alarms the way they had the previous morning… night… morning? He looked at the wall clock and it read six o’clock.
Shit.
“Is it really six o’clock?” he asked, grabbing her wrist. The pain returned as he tried to sit up, and she touched his shoulder.
“Take it easy, okay? You’ve had quite an ordeal the last twenty-four hours.”
“Twenty-four hours?” He dropped her hand. “Shit. Is that how long it’s been?”
“I found you about this time yesterday. Maybe a little sooner. But then I had to leave and take care of a client’s dog who’d gotten into a nasty fight. When I came back, you were on the floor, trying to get out, and then this morning, I did surgery on your hip for a few hours, and then we slept.” Red dusted the crest of her cheeks and she quickly pointed at the couch. “I mean, I slept over there. And you slept here.”
Christian’s insides tightened, thinking about how much time had passed.
“Shit,” he bit out, letting his head shift so he was looking away from her. She was a distraction, even if a welcome one. And yet everything inside was pulling him toward her. Into Ellie. Like he should touch her.
Get your shit together, Kyle.
“Did you have somewhere to be?” A sliver of hesitation sliced through her words. “Is that who Kate is? Are you supposed to pick her up?”
“How do you know about Kate?”
“You said this morning you needed to find Kate.”
He let out a long breath. “She’s gotta be gone by now. It doesn’t matter…” Christian snapped his head back over. “Doc. Do you think I can walk on my leg now?”
“I think you should use crutches for a while. Even as a Moonbound wolf, I don’t know for sure how fast you’ll heal from surgery.”
“Do you have any crutches?”
“This is a vet’s office, so…” She shrugged those pretty, petite shoulders. “I’m sorry. I don’t.”
“Then, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask for one more favor from you, Doc.” Christian fisted his hands and pushed himself up into a sitting position. “I need you to help me find Ryan Travis.”
“Ryan?” Ellie backed up, like he’d said exactly the wrong thing. “Why do you want to find Ryan?”
So, she was a friend of his? That must have been it. Probably how she knew so much about wolves, too. She wasn’t one herself, that much he could tell. But she sounded defensive. He was going to have to play this cool.
“I think Ryan can help me find Kate,” he said, giving her the sad eyes. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but… do you have any clothes I could borrow?” It was probably a lost cause, but Kate and Ryan hadn’t bonded yet, maybe he could still get Kate back to the Quades and salvage this whole mess. Everybody already hated him. What was one more attempted kidnapping.
He had to save Molly.
Her brows twisted together, and her chest rose sharply. The question bothered her. Breakup?
“If you could take me into Durant, to my truck, I have some spare clothes there.” Christian looked down at the sheet. “I suppose I could toga this thing until we get there.”
“No,” she said, her voice tinged with a note of sadness he didn’t like. “I have clothes you can borrow.”
And shit. Of course she did. Boyfriend, husband, lover, mate. Something had her concerned when he’d asked for clothes. That explained it. Either a bad relationship, or a breakup, or the guy wouldn’t like that she was sitting with a naked man in her office. Christian didn’t blame the guy. If Ellie belonged to him, he wouldn’t want her sitting with a naked guy, either.
If she belonged to you? Shit. This is going nowhere fast.
“Whatever you’ve got, I’ll take,” he said, trying to cover the rise of protectiveness that had just soared through him at the thought of some other naked guy in her office.
“And I’ll give you a ride to town.” She pulled off the gloves and disposed of them. Her dog’s attention followed her, and Christian watched, too. Watching the way she moved and how gracefully she danced around the room. It mesmerized him.
Stop it, letch. Slow your roll.
“Thanks, Doc.”
“Just let me run next door and pick up some clothes, and I’ll be right back.” She was out the back door of the office before he could answer.
Christian tried to muster the relief he knew he should feel, getting help from a doctor. At being able to get on the road to finding Kate.
But Ellie had men’s clothes in her house, and she might be spoken for, and his testosterone chose this unfortunate moment to kick in and start wanting her. Wanting to see more of her. Wanting to touch more of her. It was ridiculous.
A small voice inside told him Ellie was the antidote to this black hole that had been gaping in him since his parents left Molly with him and abandoned them both to the evils of the world.
But that voice was an idiot.