River Wolf(23)

“You need to assess him, and she doesn’t know he’s a wolf.”

Damn, she is good. “Yes, please.” The addition of the last word earned him a pause from Gillian.

“I’ll take care of her. Should we head back today?” They’d left only a few hours before and couldn’t have had very long at Niagara.

“I’ll let you know.” He glanced at Colby as he extended the phone to her. “Dr. Chase is our personal physician. Can you fill her in on everything.” It wasn’t a request.

“Of course.” Despite her unease with him, she responded with professionalism. Her fingers brushed his as she took the phone and another static crackle raced over him. His wolf lunged forward and Luc’s low, almost sub vocal growl gained intensity. “Don’t take the casts off.” The order she gave glanced off him and he could hear Gillian’s laughter as Colby carried his phone from the room and the quiet, steady murmur as she recited Luc’s condition.

“Whatever you do,” Luc growled in a low voice. “Don’t let her leave.”

“You need to rest. You’re in way worse condition than you let on.” His nose told him infection existed somewhere in Luc’s blood. The mixture of sweat and musk didn’t hide the sour scent of sickness. “And you need to shift.”

“She can’t see the wolf yet. She’s not ready.” Despite the strain, he reached out to grasp Brett’s arm. “Keep her here.”

Yes. He would kidnap the human. Gripping Luc’s hand he gave it a gentle squeeze. “Lie still.” Reinforcing his will into the sentence, he set Luc’s hand down then went to the first cast on his arm. Splitting it as carefully as he could, he removed it. These weren’t the first casts he’d ever seen. “You know,” he spoke, keeping his voice low. His ears told him Colby had moved to the stairwell. Whatever Gillian did, she kept her busy. “The first time I had to break a cast was your fault, too.”

“I didn’t tell you to jump.” Luc grunted. The arm cast broke into two easy pieces. The skin beneath was moist and shriveled. He hadn’t located the source of infection yet.

“No? Then I think we’re remembering the incident very differently. You dared me to climb the cliff.” Moving efficiently, he kept track of Colby’s whereabouts The first leg cast went from the middle of Luc’s thigh to his ankle. Had he broken a femur?

“Climb. Not jump.” The last syllable rode an angry exhale. “Then I jumped.”

“Yeah, well, what you can do I can do better.” They’d been about fourteen at the time and already competing in everything.

“Ha.” Luc choked on a laugh. “I didn’t break any bones.”

Snorting softly, Brett cracked the cast with precision. “You cracked your skull. Then again, you always have been soft in the head.” A grin tugged at his lips, and Luc chuckled. The cast gave way on his leg and stench of infection filled the air.

“Fuck.” Luc smelled it, too.

“A healer will be here soon.” Setting aside the plaster, he hit the speaker phone button on the landline, then hit the autodial for his mother. She answered on the second ring.

“Hello, my darling son. No, I will not go to the Wilkersons for you. That woman aggravates me.” Her greeting and familiar voice eased the lines of stress on Luc’s face.

“Mom, I need you at the house. Luc is here, and he’s got an infection in his leg. Gillian’s at Niagara Falls. If we can let her and Owen have the rest of their downtime, it would be preferable. Luc hitched a ride with a stranger, too.”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes. How much of a stranger?” Efficiency was his mother’s middle name. Her father had been pack healer for decades. While she always said the healing gift skipped her, she’d probably forgotten more than Brett would ever know.

“Total.”

“Okay.” She hung up and didn’t waste any more time. If his father were home, he’d likely come as well. Charles Dalton was both the son and father of an Alpha, but he made his living as a chef and enjoyed it. Neither of his parents had been happy with the changes over the last year, but then they didn’t have the whole pack’s welfare riding on them either.

Luc shuddered, and his skin rippled. Gripping his shoulder, Brett focused his will on him. “Not yet. No shifting. I need to get the other cast off and I need to see where the infection is. Can you hold out?”

Golden eyes blazing, Luc’s humanity bled away with every harsh breath. His wolf scowled a challenge. “Stop touching me.”