Chapter Fourteen
Jenny was completely mortified, attempting to get out of the bath and into the fluffy towel Ross held out for her. What on earth had just happened?
She’d been getting more and more heated, her desire fizzing through her veins, only for him to freeze up and find something strange on her back. Now, instead of finally being with him, she was wrapped in a towel, with her wet hair dripping down her back.
“I’ll go get dressed,” he muttered, picking up his clothes. “Can I come through in five minutes or so?”
“Sure.”
He looked at her, obviously a little embarrassed himself as he wrapped a towel around his waist. “I’m going to have to ask Connor for help. And we’ll have to get a first aid kit from somewhere.”
"OK." Jenny didn't say another word, walking through to her bedroom and quickly dressing. Her face flamed as she tugged on a vest top over her bra, suddenly feeling the need to cover up even though Ross had seen—and touched—almost every part of her.
Quickly drying her soaking hair, Jenny tied it up into a knot on the top of her head, before trying to have a look at whatever it was on her back. Unfortunately, she just couldn’t get a good look in the mirror, and her fingers just couldn’t quite reach it. Thinking hard, Jenny tried to remember when she’d first had the scratch between her shoulder blades, but she couldn’t remember.
A knock at the door signaled Ross and Connor's arrival. Her stomach churning from a mixture of nerves and embarrassment, she walked toward the closed door.
“No, I’m not going to ask how you found it, Ross,” she heard Connor say. “That’s not my business.”
There was a short silence, and Jenny’s hand lingered on the door handle, wondering if Ross was going to respond. She shouldn’t be using her enhanced senses to listen to their conversation, but she wanted to know how Ross felt.
She heard Ross let out a long huff of breath. “Connor, Jenny is important to me, OK? It’s not like we just decided to let this happen for the sake of it. You know I’m not the kind of guy to have a quick fling.”
"Yes, I know that," Connor replied. "Just be careful, Ross. We've got to get Davidson out of the picture before she can even come back to Rockshore."
Ross grunted, and one of them knocked again, starting Jenny. Her face filled with heat, and she opened the door, hoping they wouldn’t know she’d been listening.
“Hi, Jenny,” Connor said, walking past her. “I’m just going to go boil some water.” He disappeared into the room, picking up the small kettle and walking to the bathroom to fill it.
Jenny nodded, glancing back at Ross who was still standing in the doorway.
“Are you OK?” His dark eyes met hers, searching her face.
She swallowed, giving him a bit of a shaky smile. “No, not really. That was humiliating.”
He shook his head, stepped forward and touched her hand. "I'm sorry, Jenny. I know that was pretty abrupt, but there's no way I could have continued without knowing what that was." His smile was rueful. "It's not that I don't want you, because I think that's pretty obvious."
A little bit of relief drove away some of Jenny’s anxiety. “I—I want you too, Ross.”
"And I want you to know that I do care about you, Jenny. I know my wolf made that obvious before when we were out in the woods, but I think it's important that you hear me say it too. I'm not just going to sleep with you and then leave you with the East River pack and never see you again. There's a depth of emotion in me that wouldn't let that happen, even if I'm still trying to work out exactly what I feel."
A huge sigh left her lips. “Me too,” she said softly. “The feelings thing, I mean.” She felt slightly better and definitely less uncomfortable now.
“Good,” he replied, moving a little closer and glancing toward Connor who had his back to him. “I really care about you, Jenny.” His mouth landed on hers, giving her a gentle kiss that broke down the rest of her embarrassment. Lifting his head, he smiled down at her. “Now, how about we go see what this thing is?”
A heavy weight settled back into the pit of her stomach. “What do you think it is?” she asked, walking toward Connor. “And how are you planning to get it out?”
Connor turned to her with a grim expression. “I’m not going to lie, Jenny. This is going to hurt.” He stepped to one side, and Jenny could see a small scalpel sitting on the table.
Taking a sharp intake of breath, she stared at Ross. “Seriously?”
He nodded, looking slightly apologetic. "It has to come out, Jenny. Connor's pretty good at this kind of thing though. He's looked after a few of us in the past when we've come home with injuries."
“And you always carry a scalpel with you?” Jenny asked, trying to keep her voice light and not betray her thumping heart.
Connor shrugged. “I always have a first aid kit and a few other…things in the truck.”
“Right.” There didn’t seem to be anything else to say.
“OK, so if you can just sit down facing the back of the chair and lean forward,” Ross said, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. “It won’t take long.”
Sitting down in the chair, Jenny could feel waves of tension rippling through her body. This was going to be pretty painful. “What—what do you think it is?” Jenny asked as Connor gently cleaned the spot between her shoulder blades. “I don’t understand what it could be.”
A sudden growl rasped from Ross’s throat, making her jump.
“What?”
He came around to face her. “Didn’t you say that Davidson knocked you out?”
“Yes,” Jenny replied, her stomach clenching. “Why?”
“I think he’s put a tracker on you,” Ross replied, as Connor ran his fingers over the spot. “Well, in you.”
Fear crawled through her body, as she stared at Ross in horror. “What?”
“I’ve seen it before,” Ross replied, his dark eyes flashing with anger. “If I’m right, then we might have to make a swift exit.”
“Get it out,” Jenny exclaimed, her skin suddenly crawling. “Get it out now.”
Pain blossomed through her as Connor applied the scalpel to her skin, making a small cut.
“Sorry,” he muttered. “Almost done.”
Closing her eyes tightly, Jenny grit her teeth as Connor eased something out of her skin, her back beginning to throb.
“It’s out,” Connor said calmly. “Ross, you take this. I’ll get Jenny fixed up.”
“Can I see it?” Jenny turned, only for Connor to grunt and ask her to sit still.
“Let Connor finish up first,” Ross replied, walking to the bathroom to clean the object. Filled with a desperate need to see whatever the object was, Jenny ignored the pain now screaming through her body as Connor pinched the skin back together and placed a couple of fabric stitches on top before covering the entire thing with a dressing.
“All finished,” he said, letting Jenny up from the chair.
“Thank you,” Jenny replied just as Ross walked back in. He had a dark look on his face, holding the object out in his palm for the two of the to see.
“Is it what we thought?” Connor asked, putting a few things in the bin.
Ross nodded. “Yes. It’s a tracker.” His eyes met Jenny’s who was staring at him with a horrified expression. “They know we’re here.”
Jenny couldn’t find any words, staring at the object in Ross’s hand. Davidson must have put it in her back when he’d first knocked her out. She’d been so terrified and afraid that she’d never noticed the pain.
“Does it still work?” Connor asked, picking it up and studying it closely. “Are we sure they’re able to follow us?”
Ross took a long breath, letting it out slowly. “I don’t think we can afford to take any chances,” he replied firmly. “Yes, we all need to get some sleep but at the same time, Davidson and his team could easily be only an hour or so away from us.” He shook his head. “I’m not willing to take that chance.”
Jenny’s stomach churned, sick with fear. “What are we going to do?”
Taking charge, Ross took back the tracker, running over it with his finger and thumb. “Can you pack what you have?” he asked calmly. “I’m going down to the front desk. I won’t be long, but you’ll need to be ready to move.”
Jenny nodded, throwing Connor a worried look before going to collect her things.
“Connor,” Ross muttered, walking toward him. “When I came in, I heard someone else check in who said they were going to have a very early checkout. A Miss Thompson, I think. Something about business in the city.”
Connor nodded, taking the tracking device back. “That’s no problem,” he replied, knowing exactly what Ross wanted him to do. “I won’t be long.”
Nodding, Ross walked toward the door, his body tensing as he pulled the door open. Sniffing once, he didn’t detect anything out of the ordinary. He pushed the door wide and walked down the hall.
Jenny paced the room, wondering what it was that Ross had come up with. She still couldn't get past the realization that Davidson had been tracking her. He'd obviously done it in case she ever managed to escape so that he could find her again. The tracker had been in a place she couldn't see very well and certainly couldn't feel. He was better planned than she'd given him credit for.
“I have to trust Ross,” she said to herself, glancing at her bag already packed on the bed. “He knows what to do.” She was still getting used to being part of a pack and to trusting someone implicitly, but Ross hadn’t let her down so far. Knowing that Davidson could be nearby made her skin prickle with fear, her wolf growling in warning. This had suddenly become very real.