She pulled on his shirt. “This is a bad idea. I’m fine now.”
“You’re not.” His eyes held in her check from complaining again, not from anger but from the sheer intensity in their depths. Yes, she was seeing Rex’s wolf firsthand and he wasn’t covered in fur. He hadn’t lied; he really did share his body with another entity.
The shifters didn’t simply change form when they felt like it. They were actually two creatures. The magic involved in making the shift happen must be astounding.
“The woman has been knocked on the head. Hard. She was in an accident.” Elizabeth flinched. They should have worked out their story before they came into the hospital. Everyone here was going to think she’d been beaten now. “I slipped. Getting out of the car.” She tried to smile as she put her hand on her still sore head. Her magic might have righted the world for her again, but Rex was right, she did need medical attention. If she could get a doctor to look at her long enough to give her some…
Rex put his hand on her shoulder. “You will show her to a bed. Now.” Both women nodded like they’d followed his instructions their whole lives. “Come with me.” Elizabeth knew she’d never have gotten them to move as quickly on her own. They hadn’t even asked her for health insurance. She whispered to Rex. “How is this happening so quickly? Don’t we usually have to wait in chairs?”
“Humans like to do what I tell them to do.” He shrugged. “I think they instinctually understand I am a predator even if they don’t actually get why they feel the way they do.”
“Should we be speaking about it this loudly?” She kept whispering, and Rex kept answering her in his normal voice.
“No one will comment. It goes in one ear and out another. It’s a magic thing. My father can wage war on us in public and no one notices. Humans just continue to move on with their day.”
“Goddess, this is complicated.”
If she actually intended to be mated to Rex, then she would have to start figuring out how she could fit into all of this. But since she was only information gathering, then she could catalog these things as fact instead of newly discovered aspects of her own life.
There was no reason the things he told her should be making her feel nervous. None at all. So why were her hands shaking?
“Not really.”
“What?”
They rounded a corner and the nurse shuffled them into an enclave that was a sparsely decorated patient room. A TV, currently turned off, hung from the wall. A white sheet covered the hospital bed with a gown folded on top.
“Put the gown on.” The woman who had brought them here scurried from the room after delivering her instructions. Elizabeth didn’t know if it was the ugliness of her face, Rex’s attitude, or a combination of both making the woman so skittish.
She pointed to the gown on the bed. “I really don’t want to wear the outfit they’ve left for me.”
He picked it up and she watched transfixed as his fingers played with the paper gown for a moment. “I cannot blame you for not wanting this on your delicate skin.” He shook his head, a strand of his black hair falling over his eyes. Seemingly without thought, he shoved it away. “But if this is the protocol, you should put it on.”
“But…”
He interrupted her by placing his hand on her cheek. “You’re delicate and I will not have you hurt in any way. If we were home, my sisters-in-law or a female member of the pack could fix you. We are not there. I must rely on this to make you better.”
“I’m not delicate.” Even she could hear there was no force to her statement.
Compared to the wolf-man in front of her, yes, she was weak. But how could she argue when his hand caressed her cheek, and she wanted to melt into a puddle on the floor?
Oh hell, what was wrong with her? She took a step back to avoid his touch and moved toward the bed. “Turn around. I won’t undress with you staring at me.” He nodded and did as she asked. For a second, she didn’t move, her eyes drifting down to admire his tight rear end. It was squeezable. Inwardly gasping, she whirled around, which only made her head spin. Again.
She quickly changed into the horrible paper gown and climbed up onto the bed.
Halfway up, she started to sway and tried to right herself even knowing she wouldn’t be able to. Rex’s arm came around her as she faltered. She felt warm and safe pressed up against his back. In another world, and if he were another man, she could close her eyes and revel in the feel of him. But Elizabeth had never been able to exist in any world except the one she lived in. She was a realist. Rex was a wolf. She was probably concussed. Fantasizing about what-if would not change the situation. Even if he smelled like sandalwood and the forest they’d just been through.