For what seemed like forever the wolf simply stared at her, his breathing deep and uneven. A rustle sounded from her left, on the animal’s blind side. “Don’t move,” she said at the same time the creature jerked his head. The instinctive reaction to an unseen threat shoved one of his canines through her skin and ripped the thin glove. Jackie winced. While it wasn’t the worst pain she’d ever felt, it still hurt like the dickens.
Suddenly a powerful surge of energy filled the room, causing the hair on her body to stand on end. Two seconds later a man lay on the bed where the wolf had been.
And what a man he was.
The buzzed dark brown hair topped a rugged, raw-boned face. His olive complexion, though pale from pain and blood-loss did nothing to detract from his strong features. His body was a perfect V-shape, broad shoulders tapering down to narrow hips with ropes of muscle upon muscle everywhere the eye wandered.
The light furring of hair on his chest arrowed down to a set of delicious six-pack abs and then flared once again at his groin. While a naked man wasn’t a new vision for Jackie, the fact, and size, of this man’s erection made her gasp.
Her eyes flew back up and in doing so she caught sight of a black and blue tattoo on his right arm. It depicted a timber wolf’s face in front of a six-sided shield. An emblem. One that she recognized and made all the female appreciation of a magnificent male specimen die a quick death. She didn’t even notice when the man removed her hand from his mouth and gripped it tenderly in his large one.
“Oh my God.” The husky whisper brought her around and she shifted her focus from the tattoo to Kaylie’s face. Not understanding what might have caused the exclamation, she followed the vet’s wide-eyed stare back to the man on her bed. Only this time they remained on his face.
His hand flexed once, then he threaded his fingers through hers, as if they were long-time friends, or lovers—or as if needing or giving comfort. But the whole time, his eyes were on Dean. Eyes the same distinguishing shade of emerald green as her Alpha’s.
Jackie breathed in deep, taking in the man’s scent, and nearly fell over. That’s what Ben had tried to tell her, and why she’d initially thought the man a wolf rather than a shifter. The wounded man smelled like Dean. Not exactly the same, but similar enough to be a relative. A very close relative.
Her gaze flew to where her Alpha stood. The shock and recognition in his eyes had her gut clenching in fierce waves. Before either man spoke, she knew.
“Deanato?” The unknown shifter whispered out, the single word full of hope and fear.
“Alexander?” Dean seemed to sag before her eyes and Kaylie rushed to his side to wrap her arms around his waist.
It was so quiet in the room, only the sound of breathing was audible as Jackie looked from Dean to the man on the bed to Kaylie and then to Ben. She completed the circuit two more times before Ben finally broke the silence. “Well damn, Dean. Aren’t you going to introduce us all to your brother?”
Chapter Three
Ben was fake sleeping on her couch, Kaylie was passed out on her bed, and Dean and Alexander were still catching up in her exam room behind closed doors two hours later. Her pizza, along with three others Ben had gone out for were long gone and Jackie was about ready to drop. But her patient came first.
From the time she first left the room until know, Jackie had done some thinking, worrying, and re-evaluating. The thinking was more of a replaying of what had happened when Zan had her hand in his mouth, and then held it, absently stroking her palm with his thumb. The worrying was not due to her fear at the time, but because of an underlying jolt of electricity that had raced up her arm at the point of contact. A shock to her system that had everything to do with her wolf’s response to that touch. Her beast, though locked inside her human form and yet no less of a creature for it, had stood up and taken sharp notice. The re-evaluating was how she was going to deal with the situation if it turned out this stranger, this man who was her Alpha’s brother, turned out to be her mate.
Blowing out a breath that lifted her bangs to new heights, Jackie filled a glass with what was left of her orange juice. Then she paused to square her shoulders and calm herself.
He’s only a patient. He’s only a patient.
She kept the mental chant up as she plodded to the second bedroom. After a brief knock she entered, trying not to stare at the naked man in the bed. Well, not totally naked. The bloody blanket had been removed and a clean white sheet covered the lower half of his body. But what remained visible was enough to make any woman’s mouth water. Even with the white gauze wrapped around his torso.