Hungry Like the Wolf(56)

She’d been crying so hard she was shaking all over. But that was nothing compared to how fast her heart had been beating. That made him hurt worse than anything. He’d wrapped her in his arms, wanting to protect her from every pain in the world. But of course, he couldn’t do that because she wasn’t crying over her pain—she was crying over his.

As dumb as it sounded, the ride to the hospital together in the ambulance had been one of the most pleasant times he’d spent with a woman. Mackenzie had simply sat beside him and held his hand, leaning down to kiss him whenever the EMT wasn’t fussing over him. That was when he’d finally decided to accept Cooper’s silly-ass theory that she was The One because as far as he could tell, she was.

Apparently, the rest of the Pack had come to the same conclusion. After seeing the way she’d reacted, it was obvious she wasn’t playing him. Even Xander couldn’t dispute that.

Gage turned his head on the pillow, looking for her. She’d been in and out of his room several times over the past two hours, but kept getting chased out by the nurses and their damn tests. He smiled when he saw her. She was sitting in the hallway with Mike and Zak. His senior squad leader had gotten to the hospital minutes after Gage and the rest of the guys had been brought in. The photographer showed up fifteen minutes later, telling Mackenzie he’d heard about the blast on the scanner.

Gage was just about to get out of bed and go join them—screw the nurses—but then he saw Mackenzie, Mike, and Zak stand up quickly. That could only mean the doctor had finally come back. About damn time. They’d been taking X-rays, running a dozen tests, and re-checking his vitals to cover their asses. He couldn’t blame them, he supposed, but he needed to get out of here. He had someplace to be.

The doctor walked in with Mackenzie on his heels. She looked concerned and more than a little scared. Shit. Gage hoped that look meant the good doc hadn’t told her much of anything. Zak and Mike followed, but stayed near the door.

“What’s the word, Doc?” Gage asked.

He smiled at Mackenzie. She smiled back, and some of the aches and pains that still lingered magically felt better.

“You’re damn lucky, that’s the word.” The gray-haired man gave him a surprisingly stern look. “You came through the explosion surprisingly intact, but whatever accident you had recently caused a lot of damage. You have stress fractures to half a dozen bones, including two ribs and both bones of your right forearm. You shouldn’t even be on duty, much less raiding a meth lab.”

Mackenzie’s eyes went wide. “You were in an accident? When? What happened?”

Gage swore under his breath. Between punching his way through the kitchen floor and getting smashed into the basement, he’d done more damage than he thought. Of course his X-rays wouldn’t show much. Just a couple of two-week-old stress fractures—werewolves healed fast. If the doctor took X-rays again in a couple of days, they wouldn’t show anything at all. But Gage would make sure that didn’t happen.

“It was nothing. Just a training accident while rappelling. I didn’t even realize I’d hurt myself,” he told Mackenzie.

The doctor’s eyes narrowed suspiciously behind his glasses. He was probably wondering how a cop with all those stress fractures had walked around for two weeks without major painkillers.

“I’ll get some rest, Doc. Promise,” he added. “What about my team?”

“They’re doing as well as can be expected considering they almost got blown up. I’ll be keeping three of them…” He glanced down at the clipboard in his hand. “Becker, Lowry, and Riggs. They’re fine, but I want to keep them overnight to watch for signs of concussion. They should be able to leave in the morning.”

All three men would hate staying here, but it was actually a good thing. Cooling his heels for the night would give Xander time to calm down, not to mention keep him from doing something stupid, like inviting himself along when Gage confronted Walter Hardy.

After putting on the spare uniform Mike had brought him, Gage stopped in to see Xander, Becker, and Lowry before meeting up with the other guys. Mackenzie hovered beside him the whole time as if she was worried she’d have to catch him any second when he fainted from exhaustion. He had to admit, it was kind of cute.

When they reached the parking lot, he automatically followed Mike and the others, but Mackenzie darted in front of him and put a hand on his chest.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“To the compound for a few hours to catch up on some paperwork,” he told her.