Dalton was going to murder Kenton. The fucking bastard. He’d done that on purpose. As he carried the beautiful woman to the gurney, he thought of all the ways he was going to get back at his brother. First, he was going to have him ticketed every single time he came into town. Then she looked up at him.
“I’ve fallen.” He told her she’d fainted. “No, I don’t faint. I’m made of stronger stuff than a woman that swoons.”
Dalton couldn’t help it, he laughed. And, of course, that pissed her off more. Helping her to sit up afforded him the opportunity to touch her, and he did. When she started to stand as well, he halted her with his hand at her chest.
“You should rest a bit first. That was a big...tumble you took just now.” The glare was wonderful, but Dalton was careful not to show her his reaction. “Kenton is in surgery with Gerald. He said all he was going to do was remove the knife, then stitch him up enough that he could regain his strength to shift.”
“He said he was a dragon. Did that guy...Peterson, did he pay Kenton to tell me that? Because I have to tell you, I don’t think it’s the least bit funny.” Dalton asked her what she meant. “A dragon. Kenton, he said that he was a dragon. I don’t think that’s funny.”
“Kenton is a dragon. So am I.” The glare again. “Perhaps it would help me if you just, for a moment, believed me and told me about this Peterson person.”
“I was in my office. I’m not entirely sure how he got it, but he gave me this present. Well, he didn’t, it was from this other guy, Waterson. I was there when his grandson was declared deceased.” Dalton nodded and helped her to the chair. Not that she needed it, but it was just too much fun not to help her enough to piss her off. “Will you please let me go?”
“No, I don’t think so. Waterson…you were telling me about his grandson and a present.” He could tell she was really upset, and as much as he wanted to tell her it wasn’t important, he thought that if she didn’t tell him now, he’d never find out the story. “Did you open the present?”
“No, I didn’t...this little boy had been killed. There was nothing I could have done for him by the time he was brought in. His father—he’s in jail now—had shot him in the head. But Mr. Waterson had somehow.... Peterson said that Waterson had spoken to a dragon. A dragon that the dead child in my emergency room had warned me about a few days before. I’m not making any sense. Let me start again.” And this time, the story that she told him was more coherent, less jumbled around.
“I’m sorry.” She nodded and he lifted her chin up to look into her eyes. “This gift, why haven’t you opened it? I mean, it was for you. The man wanted you to have it.”
“I don’t want it. Every time I even looked at the box, it would remind me of that child.” Dalton could understand that. When she glanced at him, he could see her resignation, her fear too. “Are you really a dragon? I mean, it’s okay if you are, but it would really go a long way to my sanity if you’re not.”
“I’m sorry. But yes, I’m a dragon.” He got down on his knees before her. “Tell me what’s happened since you were told about us. Why did you come here? Did a voice tell you anything that you would like to share with me?”
“He never shuts up.” Dalton laughed and said he knew that as well. “He never mentioned a name. He just said that I was to bring you this gift, whatever it was, and that it would bring me all that I’d ever want. I want a lot of things, Dalton…nothing extraordinary, just things to make my life less hectic.”
“I’m almost afraid to tell you this, but I think your life just got more hectic, and the dragon won’t shut up at all from now on either.” Dalton straightened up and put out his hand. “I’d very much like for you to trust me right now. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I’d like to have you listen to me with an open mind, all right?”
She nodded, but spoke before he could continue. “This is real, isn’t it? I’m sitting here with a dragon about to take my hand, and I’m going to be so fucked, aren’t I?”
He wanted to tell her she was going to be fucked. Dalton wasn’t crude…he cursed less than his brothers did even though he was around men who did it like it was their job. But in this, he would gladly have strung a few of them together to show her just how frustrated he was about all this too. Instead, he just told her to trust him.
They made their way to the waiting room. Kenton assured Dalton that he was nearly done and asked that Gabe wait. He told her what his brother said and then spoke to her about things around the town. Mostly they chatted about the diner and Milly.
“Kenton said she was having some financial troubles. I was…I don’t know Milly at all, but I was wondering if you thought she’d take an investor.” Dalton asked her what she meant. “Well, I think if she just updated a few things, maybe hired more help, she’d be able to make a difference.”
“But she’d have to pay an investor, right?” Gabe told him that it didn’t always work that way. “Explain it to me, like you would Milly. You met her, right? She’s a nice lady, and a great deal smarter than she lets out, but she loves that diner like it’s her child.”
“All right. I could.... No, that won’t work. Let me think.” Dalton loved the way her mind was working out the best way to approach this. He’d gone to Milly before, a while back, and had asked her to be a partner with him. But she’d turned him down flat. “She’s not the type of person that having something written out on a graph and charts would help. She’s more of a hands on, show me what you mean sort of person. I think that I’d just have to start small with her. Perhaps lend her the money to get one new seat.”
“The one with the nasty spring.” Gabe nodded and laughed. “Yeah, that one has gotten me a couple of times. Kenton had to stitch me up once when I got it in my thigh.”
“Yes, well, you learn very quickly to move only when necessary when sitting there. But the chair and that table need to be replaced. I think it would only cost about five hundred to get both of them replaced. Unless you know someone that could repair it. That way it stays in the community.” He liked that idea and told her so. “I’ve noticed that this town is making some headway into growing. There is no reason to buy out when it can be done here.”
“The pack might have someone. In fact, I bet my mom would know. Just a few months ago she had her dining room chairs redone. I’ll ask her. Then what would you do?”
They talked about changes, small ones that would help Milly. In all, it wasn’t that much, but it would make great strides in getting her more business. Gabe pointed out that with the nicer seating and a new countertop on the dining end of the business, Milly could have at least twenty more seats opened up, thus making more room for someone to come in.
Kenton joined them with Gerald about thirty minutes later.
“Are you all right?” Instead of answering her, Gerald hugged her. Sobbing, he told Gabe how he’d thought he was a goner, and that he’d never see his son grow up. “You just have to be more careful next time. I might not be there having breakfast when you hurt yourself again.”
“You’ll come in every day. I’ll serve you up the best for no charge.” She told him that wasn’t necessary. “It is to me. I owe you my life, and a wolf never forgets. Pack, they will see it the same way as I do, too.”
When she started to protest again, Dalton reached for her hand and squeezed it. She looked at him but didn’t object again. He had a feeling that she understood what he was trying to convey, and she hugged Gerald once more before he left. Kenton wanted them to come to his office to talk.
“I’ve just gotten off the phone with Mercy Hospital. They’re saying that you have a contract with them until the end of the year.” He watched Gabe reach into her purse and pull out a thick envelope. After handing it to Kenton, she sat back and waited. After his brother read it, he handed it to Dalton and leaned back. “You’re a smart woman. Having this, you know that this means you can come straight to work here and have hospital privileges.”
“Yes.” Without reading the contents of the envelope, Dalton asked what it was she had done. “I came here about six months ago and registered as a physician. I filed what I needed in my state and with my job, and asked to be able to apply for a license to practice here. The hospital emailed me that form and I had my attorney go over it. He then came up with something that stated that they’re willing to forgo the rest of my contract in the event that I take this test at my own expense and didn’t miss any work in doing so. That allowed me to take my boards here without a conflict of interest on my part.”
“You covered your butt pretty good on this.” She nodded and looked at Kenton, then back at him. “What is it?”
“I had no idea when I got all this taken care of that dragons would be involved. Not that I have anything against them. I don’t care what you are so long as you don’t hurt me. But this thing, this dragon, Caelin, he told me that there would be people chasing me for it. Trying to kill me for whatever is in that box. It’s one of the other reasons that I’ve never opened it. He said that if I did, then there would be more.”
“More?” She nodded at him. “You’ve encountered someone already? You’ve been chased? Hurt?”
Standing up, she lifted her blouse. The bruise was fresh, some of it still red in places and darkening in others. As he ran his fingers over it, not even sure why, she moaned and he looked into her eyes. Christ, his body was on fire. For her. Kenton cleared his throat.
“I’d like to have a look at that.” The low sound that came from Dalton’s lips startled him. Kenton too, if his face was any indication. “You can be in the room as well. I just want to make sure that there are no broken ribs and that we document this. There is no telling what someone might say later.”
“I’m all right. Really. I don’t even know that any of them, whoever they were, had anything to do with it. I haven’t been harmed since this guy tried to take me out with his car. For all we know, it just might have been an accident.” Kenton said he’d still like to make sure. “All right. But I want answers. I don’t have a lot of questions that I can sort out at the moment, but I have some. If you would...I need a place to stay. A car. Things like that. The rest...well, I’ll have to work on those, like I said.”
“I think we can take care of most of that immediately. However, I think that you and Dalton need to talk.” She looked at him and Dalton stood up. “It’s about lunch time, so why don’t you go home, talk, and I’ll call you in the morning.”
Kenton just left them there, closing the door softly behind him. Dalton wasn’t sure what to do now, but he figured that talking was in order. But before he could do much more than suggest they go to his house, Gabe’s phone rang.
~~~
“I don’t know what to tell you.” Her head was hurting. She was so stressed from the few moments that she’d been on the phone that she wanted to just sit down and bawl. Or throw the phone across the room and be done with it. “I told you already that I’ve given my notice. I took myself out of the rotation, off the schedule, and transferred any patients that I had over to the on-call service. I no longer work for you, and I have no obligations to you either.”
“But we aren’t making as much money as we were when you were here. Wilson wants overtime for his work. The college won’t send us any more students because they claim that we’re working them too much.” Gabe said that they were. “They were free labor. What would you have done? Oh I know, you would have coddled them and given them whatever they wanted. Well, that’s not the way to run a business.”
“Perhaps not, but it’s also considered bad form to kill your workforce simply because you’re too cheap to give them a break.” Gabe looked at the piece of paper Dalton handed her. In a way to talk to the man on the other end of the phone and answer Dalton, she said her former boss’s name. “Look, Doctor Howe, I’m not an employee of your hospital any longer. I haven’t been for nearly two months now. I would suggest that you open that tight money bag you have a hold on and hire some good staff. A doctor that is willing to help you out, as well as more nurses. They’re going to walk if you don’t start easing up on them. As for me coming back there, that’s not going to happen. Not ever, so you should really get that out of your little head right now.”
“Are you threatening me, Gabriela?” She told him she didn’t care enough about him to do so. “But you said the staff was going to walk. Are you telling me that they are planning it? If so, you can tell them for me that I will fire the lot of them if they try. I have a business to run, and I will not have my balls in a vise simply because you think you can just walk away from here and tell the staff to do the same.”
“You see? That’s your problem right there. You think just because you’re in charge of the hospital that it’s your own personal battleground. And that’s what it is, Dr. Howe, a battleground. You have less than half the nurses you need to run the place. You’ve alienated the two local colleges so much that they have petitioned to not just have you removed as hospital administrator, but to have your charter to be a teaching hospital revoked. In about six months, less I’m betting, your hospital is going to close down because you’re going to lose the college money.”
“Who told you these things? Where are you getting your information? It’s wrong, just so you know. We’re doing just fine.” He cleared his throat, and she could see him stretching his neck and letting out a long breath to cool off. “Now. We’re going to be civilized about this, Gabriela. I would like to know why you’ve left us in a pickle, and what you’re going to do to fix it. It’s only fair that you come back here. We’re the ones that gave you your first job.”
“You did. But we both know that I could and should have done better. I’m not getting you out of your pickle, nor am I coming back there. I’ve got a good job. Take me off your calling list and do not contact me again, Dennis. I’m finished.”
After disconnecting, she had to stand there for several minutes. When her fingers were peeled from the phone and it was taken from her, she sat down in the chair. Gabe felt tears fill her eyes as she thought of how good of an impression she must be making right now.
“I heard him.” She nodded to Dalton. “He’s a little prick, isn’t he? And stupid if he thinks he’s going to be able to get you to go back with that sort of incentive.”
“I was working about ninety hours a week there. When they offered me a salary position about four years ago, I was supposed to get a cost of living raise with it every year. I did, but not without a fight. My brother-in-law, Jamie, he had to take them to court last year just to get half of what I should have gotten from them.” He asked her about her sister. “Rachel. She passed away several years ago. Cancer. Jamie and I have been...I guess you could say we’re closer than in-laws. Not sexually, but like brother and sister.”
“It’s always nice to have someone in your corner.” She sat there, trying to get her temper under control when Dalton spoke again. “What do you know of mates?”
“Mates are what shifters call their other half. It’s a good relationship for the most part. No harm rule, or something in their DNA. It doesn’t always work that way, but most of the time. Mates don’t stray, nor do they lie to each other. The children of mated couples grow up to be well adjusted, happy, and usually they’re not troublemakers. But like most species, humans included, there is always that one bad apple that makes the rest of them look bad.” She looked at him. “You have a reason for asking me?”
“Yes, you’re my mate.” She’d known he was going to say that, as surely as she was sitting there, and that next he was going to tell her that she was his to do with as he pleased. She really didn’t think he’d use her, not this guy, but it was just one more thing she’d have to deal with. “I’d like to know what you’re thinking right now.”
“No, you wouldn’t.” Dalton smiled and said that he really would. “I don’t need any more crap in my life, Dalton. I’m dealing with enough, don’t you think? I’m out of work...well, I was out of work. I have no home, no car, and a dragon that speaks to me all hours of the day and night. Men are chasing me for a box that I don’t know what’s in it. And now you tell me that you’re my mate, like it’s going to be a good thing. No, I don’t need any more stress added at the moment.”
“All right. A little unfair, but I can deal with that right now. Like you said, you’re not out of a job. So you know, Kenton is the best there is when it comes to working with a person. He’s a good man, and you’d not do any better than having him as a partner. House. I have one. And you can move into it and I’ll go stay with my mom if you’re uncomfortable sharing a home with me right now. She won’t mind, and until we can figure this thing out between us, it might be best.” Gabe asked him why. “Because as of the moment that I touched you and you moaned, all I can think about is stripping you down to your bare skin and tasting every morsel of you. The dragon has his own rules—he speaks to me as well—but I doubt that he would continue if you were to ask him to only do so to you when necessary, and during hours that—”
“Wait. Just wait a minute.” Dalton grinned at her and she had the sudden urge to hit him. Hard and many times. “What do you mean, you want to...? You only just met me, and you want to have sex with me? That’s not.... What if you...? I’m not even sure how to continue with you saying something like that. You cannot be serious.”
He stood up and pulled her up as well. Before she could guess his intentions, he kissed her. It was hot, all consuming, and wonderfully fulfilling at the same time. Gabe grabbed him. Her purpose was to push him away, but he cupped her ass and pulled her to his cock. Then it was everything she could do not to have him lift her up and take her. Christ, the man was good at seduction was all her mind could think of.
His mouth was hot, wet, and his tongue was dancing with hers like he owned her. Right now she would have gladly relinquished anything she had to him if he would continue touching her the way he was. His hands were everywhere, his mouth doing things to her that had her wet, and her nipples hard. And when he lifted his head, she licked her lips to take more of his taste into her.
“Does this make you realize just how serious I am?” She nodded. “I would love to have all of you. Lay you out over Kenton’s desk and feast on your pussy. Lap at you until you came down my throat. Would you enjoy that, Gabriela?”
“Yes.” Even to her own ears she sounded breathless. And when Dalton let her go and stepped back from her, she wanted to cry. Or beg him. Then someone knocked on the door, and she had a feeling that Dalton knew who it was. When the door opened, she backed from it as the man there came into the room like he owned it.
“Vance, you’re scaring her.” The man stopped moving, but she had a feeling that in a second he’d be moving again. A man on a mission. Someone who got the job done.
He reminded her of steam engines and the power behind them. Of men that would come into her hospital and demand that she do things, make things happen to their client, her patient, that was both against the law and unethical. But when he looked at her, she saw something she was sure he hadn’t meant for anyone to see.
The man was haunted.
“I was hoping Kenton was in here.” Dalton said he’d just left. “Okay. I’ll come back later.”
“No, let me see.” She had no idea how she knew that he was hurt, and that it was far worse than he would have ever admitted to anyone but Kenton. And only then because he needed help. “Show me where you’ve been hurt and let me take care of it.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She told him to sit, and when he staggered to the table, she, with the help of Dalton, moved him. “I’m all right.”
“Sure you are. And I’m positive that you think whatever happened was only a scratch. Stop being a pigheaded jackass and let me see.” As soon as he was laying back on the table, she saw the blood. “What am I working with?”
“Gunshot wounds. A few of them. Loss of blood. Dizzy and sick.” Nodding, she turned to Dalton and told him to get her a cart from the ER. “I don’t need people knowing that I’m here and why. Lately I’ve been able to take care of it on my own, but I think I’ve not healed yet because there are just too many of them in me.”
“Well, I guess it sucks to be you then. And when this is done, I want to know why you think.... You know what? I don’t care.” Gabe turned to Dalton. “Tell them that Kenton wants the cart to help interview me for the job. That it’s a test or something. Just let them know that it’s to be a full cart, no shorts. They’ll know what that means.”
As soon as he was gone, assuring her that he’d be right back, she looked at her patient. He had his eyes closed, but she’d bet her last dollar that he could tell her if there was a fly buzzing around the room and where it was. She told him to lie still.
“You’re a bossy little thing, anyone ever tell you that before?” She told him plenty have. “Well, I don’t care for it. Just so you know.”
“Tough shit.” She cut away his shirt when he handed her his knife. “Three GSW, one through and through. Second one more than likely broke a rib or two. The last needs to be removed.”
He grabbed her arm when she touched him. It was painful, but she was pretty sure that he had no idea how hard he was holding her.
“No one, you understand. No one can know.”
She nodded once, and grabbed him as he started to slide off the table. He had passed out. Whether from loss of blood or pain she had no idea, but she got to work as soon as Dalton returned.