“Heather,” he said in a low voice. “I need you to come back to my house with me when your shift is over. You aren’t safe in your own home right now. We’ve got it cleaned up and I have one of my men watching it, but it’s still not safe for you. There are bad people looking for Margaret, and there’s also a lot that I need to explain to you about werewolves.”
She nodded. “All right.”
“All right?” he said with surprise. Obviously he’d expected more of a fight.
She gave him a resigned look. “Yes, you heard me. All right. I will. There are a couple of scary-looking guys in the parking lot who watched me walk into the hospital at the beginning of my shift, and I’m lucky there were a bunch of other people there at the time, or I feel like they might have tried something. One of them came in afterwards and was sitting in the emergency room pretending to wait for a patient, until security went and demanded the name of the patient and he couldn’t answer, so they escorted him out.”
Knox nodded. “They’re from Eugene’s pack. Eugene is the father of the man who is supposed to marry Margaret. They’re crawling all over this town looking for her, and there’s not much I can do about it, unfortunately. Eugene ranks above my pay grade.”
She shook her head. “Great.”
“So you swear to me that you will come home with me at the end of your shift?”
“I, Heather Appleby, do solemnly swear I will go back to your pack property. Obviously those people know where I live and where I work, and I realize they’re more than I can handle. I’m not one of those TSTL chicks from a serial-killer movie.”
“TSTL?” He looked puzzled.
“Too Stupid To Live. You know, the one who’s like, ‘Oh, there’s a serial killer after me, and I hear a noise out in the shed, let me go investigate all by myself.’”
“You did come down into the kitchen by yourself,” he pointed out.
“Yeah, but I had a gun. And now that I know what I’m up against, I am willing to accept your help.” She looked up at him, and loved the way he was looking at her. There was a hungry gleam in his eyes, and his sensual lips were quirked in a smile. “And I do want to get to know you and your world better.”
“I want that too.” His voice went low and rough, and he brushed a tendril of hair from her face, letting his hand linger in a slow caress. She felt her skin flushing with arousal. “And lots of other things, believe me.”
“You’re making me blush,” she murmured.
“I know.” His grin spread wider. “I like it. It’s a good look on you.” Then he dropped his hand and tried to look serious. “We do need to discuss what happened back at your house. You handcuffed me.”
She sighed. “If you’re waiting for an apology, I’m sorry, but it’s going to be a long wait. I did what was best for Margaret.”
“You left and picked her up from wherever you’d sent her to hide, and then you dropped her off somewhere. Where is she?”
She shook her head. “Not yet, Knox. If I go to your place, and meet your family, and get a better idea of how things work with you people, I might trust you enough to tell you. But not before then.”
He frowned. “That’ll have to do for now. All right, I can’t hang out at the hospital all night long without attracting attention, but I’m going to be patrolling nearby, and I told Rocky to keep an eye out for you.”
Rocky was a big, burly nurse practitioner who worked in the E.R. “He’s a member of my pack,” he said. “He won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Good God. How many shifters work here?” she asked.
“A couple dozen. A doctor, some nurses, nurse’s aides, a few people in human resources. In any town that has shifters, we make sure some of our people are working in strategic positions, so that we can ensure our safety. Hospitals, police department, fire department, city hall.”
“Fascinating,” she marveled as she followed him back out.
“Hey,” Clarence said to her in a low voice, as she and Knox joined him by the exit door. “That nurse, Kerry. What’s her story?”
“Uh, single, if that’s what you mean,” Heather said. “Husband ran out on her a few years ago. Hard worker, ferocious advocate for her staff. Why do you ask?”
“Not you too,” Knox muttered at Clarence. “We’ve got to get going.”
“Just asking,” Clarence said in a wounded voice. “Doesn’t hurt to ask, does it?”
“No, it hurts to want what you can’t have. Just think before you leap,” Knox said. Then he smiled and winked at Heather. “Of course, sometimes you get really, really lucky and all the pain is worth it.”