Jacques came to on a cold metal table with a cloth bandage wrapped around his forehead. The first person he scented and then saw when he opened his eyes was the Aspen Valley Pack doctor Jacob Hayes.

“Ugh…” Jacques groaned as both pain and awareness set in.

He tried to rise from the table, but Dr. Hayes protested.

“It’s best you stay down for another ten minutes or so. How are you feeling?”

Jacques pressed his palm to his forehead. “Like I lost a fight.”

Dr. Hayes chuckled and slipped on his glasses. “That should be the least of your worries.”

He began checking Jacques’s vitals and pulled out a needle with clear liquid inside.

“What’s that?”

“A Painkiller. The fast-acting kind. Your wolf won’t be able to reject this and it’ll help you heal faster without expending too much energy.”

From the sound and looks of things, Jacques was still inside the building where the fights were being held and the tournaments were still going on. There was another injured fighter lying on a table to the right of Jacques.

His memories started flooding back to him and the most significant one of them all was seeing the horrified look on Natasha’s face as he hit the floor from the knockout. He cringed and his temples pulsed. Another headache gripped him.

“I’m fine, really. I’ve gotta go,” Jacques said, knowing full well that Dr. Hayes could detect a lie just like any other shifter.

But when Jacques folded to a sitting position this time, Jacob didn’t try to stop him.

“You’re built for this, yes, and you’ll be fine. But it’s my recommendation that you cease fighting for a week or two to make sure “the Ram” didn’t knock anything loose,” Dr. Hayes said. “Bottom line, you need to take it easy.”

“Gotcha.” Jacques moved to stand.

“Whoa there…where do you think you’re going? The manager says you can’t leave unless someone takes you home. All the rings are starting to get stricter now when it comes to injuries sustained in a tournament. They don’t want to take the rap if a fighter shows up dead in the streets if you know what I’m saying.”

“Dr. Hayes, you’ve been seeing me since I was a child. You know me better than anyone else. I can drive myself home.”

Dr. Hayes shook his head and peered over the top of his glasses. “On a motorcycle? Like that? Uh-Ugh. If you can hold your wolves for just another hour I can give you lift, but I’ve got another patient lying there to your right to tend to before I can leave. Let’s hope there aren’t any more KOs tonight.”

Jacques exhaled, understanding that the doctor’s orders were final. “I appreciate it, Doctor.”

“No problem, son. We’ll get you outta here soon.”

Dr. Hayes picked up a black leather briefcase. As he turned to assist the other fighter, some commotion broke out behind the entry door. It sounded as if one of the security guards was trying to apprehend an unauthorized fan from entering—which wouldn’t have been a surprise to Jacques. Some of the fighters paraded around their home cities and towns like celebrities, but Jacques was not one of those people. He didn’t fight for fame.

Jacques lifted himself up once more and swung his legs over the table. His ears perked up and he lifted his nose to the air, trying to catch the scent. Dr. Hayes did the same.

“You can’t go in there, ma’am…you can’t just barge—”

Natasha, with her beautiful, long hair fully exposed burst through the door. Her blonde-headed shifter friend was right behind her.

“Ladies, this is a private area—”

“Jacques!” Natasha raced to his side. “Are you okay?”

Relief washed over him the moment he heard her voice. He couldn’t explain it. The feeling was equivalent to seeing the one and only person who could make everything right again.

“Yes, I’m fine.” He took her by the forearm. “But you didn’t have to come here.”

“I did. I had to see you.” Her gaze ran over him. Her fingers ran over almost every bruise on his chest, neck, and face.

The security guard waited beside Jacques’s table with an annoyed look on his face.

“She’s fine. She can be in here with me,” Jacques said.

“Alright, but she and her friend here had no business slipping past my men after claiming to need to use the bathroom,” he said, before yelling orders into his walkie-talkie and exiting the room just as swiftly as he came.

“I thought you were…hurt really badly,” Natasha said. She looked worried. Her hair was jostled and her eye makeup was smudged as if she’d been crying.

She was still breathtakingly beautiful. And still his. She’d come to him, yet he still left her unclaimed.

“This is why I wasn’t ready to show you,” Jacques said. “This is what normally happens even to me if I don’t lose a fight. I’m used to it.”

“You lost because I broke your attention. I’m so sorry,” she said.

“It’s not your fault. That wasn’t my first time losing a fight and it probably won’t be my last.”

She swallowed. “I wanted to tell you that…”

“Tell me what?”

“Well, I don’t know how to say it.”

Jacques looked behind her at her friend, who now looked oddly familiar, and then his gaze shifted to Dr. Hayes, as he stared suspiciously in their direction.

“We can always talk in a quieter pl—”

Natasha kissed him. A full sensuous kiss that seemed to represent her claiming him. He slipped his hand against her hip and the pads of his fingers dug into her waist as he brought her closer to him. He used the other hand to run his fingers through her tangled hair as he kissed her back, sliding his tongue between the seams of her lips and then meeting her tongue with full force. They were too blinded by need and lost in the moment that they forgot where they were…or maybe it was just him.

Natasha’s friend cleared her throat behind them. “Um…you two are putting on a completely different type of show.”

Natasha parted from the kiss but didn’t turn him loose. “Now, I’ve really forgotten what I came to tell you,” she said, breathlessly.

They chuckled.

“Listen,” he said, “You should get out of here. I can’t leave here unless someone takes me home. I’ll be home a little later after the doc finishes up. I promise to call you. You have my word.”

“I can take you home,” Natasha offered.

Jacques contemplated her offer in no time. He wanted nothing more than to stay with Natasha. He’d never really wanted to leave her in the first place. He’d do anything that was in her best interests. But was avoiding her really in her best interests?

“You drove out here alone?”

“No, Melody and I came together. I followed her here,” she said.

“Hi Jacques,” Melody chimed in.

“Hello Melody,” he greeted her with a smile. “Is it Melody Arnold, by any chance?”

“Yes, I didn’t think you would recognize me,” Melody said.

“You’ve got your dad’s eyes. How’s the courier business coming along?”

“Just fine. We’re getting plenty of business now, so I’m happy.”

“Perfect,” Jacques said.

“So since it doesn’t look like you’re in no position to ride a motorcycle, are you going to let me take you home?” Natasha asked.

“I’d like that,” he said, and then looked to Dr. Hayes.

Dr. Hayes put a stethoscope inside his leather briefcase and gave his full attention to Jacques. “This woman really cares about you. To tell you the truth, love and affection are the best medicine.” His gaze shifted to Natasha and he slid off his glasses. “You’ll have to keep him off his feet for the most part. I’ve already given him a dose of painkillers that will help him rest, so resistance shouldn’t be an issue. He’ll need at least twenty-four hours of rest and absolutely no training. Moderate stretching is fine. And someone should make sure that he doesn’t fight for the next three weeks or so.”

“I can do those things,” Natasha said.

“Well then, you’ll save me a trip across town. I’ll follow up tomorrow, Jacques.”

Not a second later, two men pushed through the door carrying another injured fighter. They sat him on a bench and propped up his leg while shouting to Dr. Hayes that he’d broken his ankle in the ring.

“Looks like my night here might never end anyway,” Dr. Hayes noted. “Fellas, do me a favor and direct these ladies to the back of the building and help them get Jacques in their car, will ya?”

Natasha pressed a single kiss on the exposed portion of Jacques’s forehead right next to his brow-bone. “I guess they’ll bring you out. See ya in a few.”

He squeezed her hand and said, “I’m glad you came.”

She flashed him a smile before following Melody and the other two men out the door.

“You’ve got it bad, Jacques Shalane Kent,” Dr. Hayes commented. “And do you know what we say when your birthmark becomes inflamed in the presence of a woman…?

Jacques turned his head swiftly to peer at the hexagon-shaped birthmark on his left shoulder. Sure enough, the mark had swollen and was more prominently visible on his skin than he’d ever seen before.

“Are you sure she’s not your mate, fighter?” Dr. Hayes asked as he worked on the shifter with the broken ankle.

“I was unsure before, but now I’m almost certain she is,” Jacques replied.

“Well, what are you doing here in the rings? If I were you, I’d be fighting to claim that woman, not a tournament title.”

“You’re absolutely right, Dr. Hayes.”