River Wolf(74)

“Is your life better?”

“I’m here with you.” She chewed her lower lip. “I think it’s better.”

His arms tightened around her. “Mine is definitely better for you being here.” A heady compliment. “Colby, I need to tell you…” His phone rang and they both twisted to look at it on the tray. With an aggravated exhale, he retrieved it, but didn’t let her go. Gillian’s name appeared on the screen and he answered it. “Yes?”

Stretching away from him to give him a modicum of privacy she retrieved her coffee cup. His arms slid away from her and then he released her entirely and stood. Tension punctuated his motions.

“I’ll be right there.” Ending the call he glanced at her. “It’s an emergency…”

“Say no more. Go.” She stopped him with a raised hand. “I’ll be here.”

He took her at her word, bending forward to give her a hard, sweet kiss on the lips and then he was gone. Alone in his bedroom, she hugged the coffee mug. At some point she needed to find her clothes, but she’d been honest with him. Told him all the little ugly truths about her life, and he’d not been remotely turned off.

Emergency aside, she’d seen it in his eyes—he hadn’t wanted to leave her.

“Oh, boy,” she whispered to the coffee mug. She didn’t want to leave him either. Brett Dalton may very well have stolen her heart.





Chapter Thirteen





Luc’s patience with healing had apparently worn thin. The only thing keeping him in the healer’s house was the five foot nothing healer blockading him, her hands on her hips and her topaz eyes blazing. Owen’s absence was likely the only thing that prevented Luc from suffering a fresh round of broken bones for pissing off Owen’s mate.

“Your legs are not fully healed. The right one is in much better shape than the left, but the bones haven’t fully knit back together which means you could easily rebreak it and in a bad way. It’s why I haven’t let you shift yet.” Submissive or not, Gillian didn’t back down over issues of healing. She hadn’t with Brett, not even when he said he could live with his burns.

Descending the steps, Brett assessed the situation swiftly. “What’s the problem, Luc?” The other wolf wasn’t an idiot. He would only be on his feet if a genuine problem existed.

“Other than being strapped to a bed for weeks on end? I’m done. I’ll be careful little healer. Don’t worry, I won’t mess up any of your work, but I need to get out of here.” He was on his feet, the majority of his weight on his right leg. The left remained encased in a splint. Splitting his attention, he glanced at Gillian. “Today.”

“No.” The tiny dictator folded her arms and glared at him. “You are not ready. I don’t care what rationale you want to use. We just got rid of the infection, Luc.” Despite her stubborn stance, she coaxed with her tone. It was hard to tell a submissive no, hard to disappoint them.

Exasperation radiated off Luc in waves. “Brett?”

“Don’t look at him,” Gillian said, tapping her foot. “You look at me. I’m the healer. I say when you go, not him.” She paused and glanced over at Brett. “No offense.”

Not smiling, because it would totally rob Gillian of her authority, he inclined his head. “None taken.”

“Are you serious?” Luc scowled. “You’re going to let this…moppet order me around?”

“Hey, the moppet is the healer here. No offense, little wolf.” He may have to adopt the term permanently.

“None taken.”

Raising his hand to stifle the next wave of arguments, he said, “If you’ll give us a moment, I’ll talk to Luc.” No matter how much fun it was to pick on his friend, he would rather be with Colby.

“Of course, and before you go, I have some information on the issue you called me about this morning.” The careful wording didn’t slip by Luc.

“What issue?”

Not answering him, Gillian marched to the stairs and only paused long enough to give them a gimlet eye. “Remember, no stairs. No walking for any real length and sit down, dammit.”

Whether he realized it or not, Luc perched at the end of the bed. “Damn, she’s a real ball buster.”

“I heard that.” Her voice drifted down the stairs, and Luc smirked.

“You were supposed to.”

Shaking his head, Brett folded his arms. “What’s the problem?”

“Being stuck in the infirmary is the problem. I came home so I could get out of the hospital.” Scrubbing a hand over his face, he avoided Brett’s gaze.