They let Ryenne stay in her mom’s hospital room. She texted the guys to let them know her mom was sometimes awake, and they could come straight to her room when they were done with their own personal errands and freshening up.

So, when a knock came on the door about an hour later, Ryenne expected to see Gavin. Instead, it was Scotty, closely followed by Nick. Each held a bouquet of flowers large enough to hide their faces.

Pushing down the immediate attraction and her wolf’s inner whines to lick one of them, she said, “Seriously, guys?”

“We couldn’t come see Willow empty-handed,” Scotty said with a grin.

They put the flowers on the window sill and sat in the two chairs, scraping them across the linoleum to get closer to the bed.

“How are you doing?” Nick asked.

“I feel like I’m singlehandedly keeping the bandage people in business,” her mom joked.

“You must be doing okay, Mrs. C., if you can make jokes,” Nick said.

“Well, other than feeling like I got hit by a car, I feel all right. And please, call me Willow. Mrs. C. makes me feel old.”

Ryenne wondered where all this humor was coming from. Was it aftereffects of the anesthesia? Was it the pain meds? It didn’t matter. She’d take it. Her mom’s color had improved and, from her mom’s speech, Ryenne didn’t think they still had to worry about any brain damage.

Scotty gestured with his head toward the bouquet of flowers on the bedside table. “Looks like we weren’t the only ones with that idea.”

Ryenne retrieved the card from the wastebasket and handed it to Scotty without a word. She watched the frown slowly form on his face as he read it.

“Mike?” he asked. “As in your dad?”

She nodded.

“Holy sh—” he started to say and looked at her mom and apologized.

Her mom shook her head. “It’s okay. I’ve heard worse. I am a grown woman, you know.”

“So, here’s your confirmation he’s alive,” Scotty said.

“Yup,” Ryenne said. “But what I really want to know is how these flowers got here. I asked some of the staff, and no one remembers anyone with flowers coming through. No one remembers anyone coming to see Mom except me, Gavin, and Lucien.”

Nick pulled out his trusty pad and jotted down some notes. “We’ll look into it.”

“Great. And while you’re at it,” Ryenne said, “is there anything you can do to help us with security? I’m really concerned that someone got into her hospital room and no one noticed. Someone tried to kill her and they could come back to finish the job.”

Ryenne half expected her mom to shush her or argue that it was just an accident. But she didn’t. Either she was too tired to argue or enough things had happened that she now believed the Fangs wanted her dead.

“I thought the Fangs wanted Willow alive,” Nick said.

“Yeah, we all did,” Ryenne said. “They changed the playbook, and we don’t know why.”

Nick kept jotting notes. “We have some questions for you, Willow. Do you mind?”

She shook her head. “Go ahead.”

“You were outside your office building when it happened?” Nick asked.

Mom nodded.

“Can you describe what happened?”

Mom took a deep breath, and Ryenne considered asking them to do this another time when Mom had had more time to get over the emotional trauma. But they needed as much information as they could gather to prevent another attempt.

“I was standing in front of the building, waiting for Ryenne,” Mom said. “I was surprised she wasn’t there because we’d just texted.”

The guys looked at Ryenne and she explained about chasing Tess.

“Do you think Tess purposely led you away?” Nick asked.

“Yeah, I do.” Another reason Ryenne wanted to throttle Tess.

“Anyway, Ryenne had just come back,” Mom said. “She was across the street, waiting for the light to change, and my attention was on her when the car rammed into me. It took me completely by surprise. One second, I was smiling at my daughter and the next, I was on the ground, and the car backed away and sped off.”

“Anything you remember about the car?”

“I think it was gray.”

Ryenne nodded.

“A small car, like a Toyota or Honda,” Mom said.

“Was it a Toyota or Honda?”

Mom shook her head. “I don’t know. I didn’t have time to notice the insignia.”

“Two or four doors?”

“Four, I think.”

Ryenne nodded again.

“Any distinguishing characteristics?” Nick asked. “Anything that stood out to you? Sounds, smells, sights?”

Mom shook her head. “It happened too fast.”

“The car was just a car,” Ryenne said. “Not flashy, probably a couple of years old, no dents.”

“What about the driver?” Scotty asked.

“Like I said,” Mom began, “I was looking at Ryenne when I got hit and then I was down on the ground. The driver was on the opposite side when he backed up, so I didn’t see him.”

“But you think he was male?”

Mom thought for a moment. “I couldn’t swear to it but I think so.”

They turned to Ryenne.

Her face turned red. As a hunter, she should have noticed more, but she’d been focused on Mom. And feeling guilty she hadn’t been there when Mom came outside. “Looked like a man, short hair, light skin, that’s all I know. I just wanted to get to Mom as quickly as I could.”

Nick folded the cover over his notepad and stood. “Okay, that’s enough for now. We’ll let you rest.”

“We’ll keep you posted,” Scotty added.

“Another thing. Can you check out her doctor? Nakamura. First name starts with a T. He’s a shifter.”

“How do you know?” Scotty asked.

She leveled a stare at him.

“Oh right. I had forgotten.”

She play-lunged at him. “Yeah, better be careful around me. I might eat you.” She startled Scotty who flinched back in his chair but Nick just laughed. He gazed back at her with heat burning in his eyes. Bet he’d like her to eat him.

Ryenne shook herself. No. No more thoughts along those lines. Not in front of her mom, and because she wanted to do right by Lucien. She turned away and smiled at her mom. “Can I get you anything?”

“No thanks, sweetie. But I’m getting tired. I’d like to nap.”

Everyone said goodbye and went out to the corridor.

“One of us will try to be here as often as we can, between running down leads and doing other work,” Scotty said.

“Can you assign a uniformed officer?” she asked.

Scotty and Nick exchanged a glance. “Since we suspect shifters are behind this, we’ve taken over your mom’s case, so we’ll see what we can do,” Nick said.

She smiled her appreciation. “I just don’t trust anyone or anything right now. Except you, of course.”

The guys took off and Ryenne returned to her mother’s side to watch over her. She took out her phone and checked her messages. It wasn’t long before another visitor showed up. This time it was Lucien.

“Where’s Gavin?” she whispered.

“I don’t know. He said he’d be here in about an hour.”

Ryenne could tell he wasn’t telling the truth, but she let it go for now.

“Want to take a break?” he asked. “I’ll stay here with Willow.”

“I don’t want to leave her.” She told him about the flowers from her father.

“Ryenne, I promise you, no one will get past me. I will not let anything happen to your mom on my watch.”

“Okay,” she finally relented. “But I won’t be gone long. I’ll just get some fresh air and stretch my legs.”

She went out past the waiting room where they’d spent too many hours in uncertainty, down in the elevator, and outside. The fresh air felt good. It was mid-afternoon and hot. Inside the hospital was air-conditioned. She pushed up the sleeves of her shirt which covered her back sheath. It wouldn’t do for anyone to know she’d brought a weapon into a hospital.

She caught sight of a café across the street and realized it must be the one Dr. Nakamura had mentioned early that morning. Not having eaten anything in several hours, she headed there for a snack.

Inside, she walked to the counter to check out the options and let her eyes roam over the place. In a far corner, she saw Gavin. She redirected her steps and was about to call out his name when she recognized his companion.

Average height, solid build, dark hair, rigid posture.

Dr. Nakamura. The unknown shifter.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” she muttered under her breath.

“What can I get you, miss?” the barista asked.

Indecision gripped her. An unfamiliar feeling. She was pissed. She didn’t want Gavin getting close to a shifter right now when they didn’t know his allegiance. On the other hand, Dr. Nakamura had done a lot for her mom. But she’d at least like to reserve judgment until Scotty and Nick had checked him out.

Choosing to leave them alone, she picked a turkey and bacon sandwich and went to the other side of the café to sit and wait for it, at a table next to a bald, dark-skinned man who seemed vaguely familiar. He was large enough to hide her from view. She didn’t want Gavin or Nakamura to see her.

She’d deal with Gavin later.

***

Mom was still sleeping when Ryenne returned to her hospital room. Lucien was reading a book. The cover showed two bare-chested men in a sweet embrace with a dragon behind them.

“What are you reading?” she whispered.

He looked up in surprise. “Oh, I borrowed this from Gavin’s bookshelf. I was curious about American culture and wanted something to pass the time.”

“You do realize it’s an M/M romance,” she said. “And not an accurate depiction of American culture, what with the dragons.”

“M/M? Is that what you call it? Hmm, I don’t care. Love is love. And if we exist, maybe dragon shifters do, too.”

He made a fair point. “I don’t think Gavin reads most of those books. He skips to the juicy stuff.” She waggled her eyebrows.

“I can see why,” Lucien said. “The love scenes are well-written.”

She gestured toward her mother. “Any change?”

“No. She’s been sleeping peacefully since you left.”

Gavin came in then with a goofy smile on his face. Ryenne’s heart plummeted into her stomach. He was falling for this guy, and she hadn’t yet heard back from Nick or Scotty about the doctor. Knowing she had to show interest, she asked, “What has you so happy?”

“I just had coffee with Doctor Hottie, I mean, Taylor, and it was uh-mazing. Oh gosh, I like him so much.”

Lucien matched Gavin’s grin with one of his own. “Oh yeah, it went well?”

“Better than well. I can’t wait to see him again. I hope the next time won’t be in public,” Gavin gushed. “He’s smart and handsome and sexy. He’s the whole package.”

“Be careful, Gav,” Ryenne said. “I don’t want you getting hurt again.”

“Me neither,” Gavin said. “I’m going to try to take it slow. Anyway, what would he want with me?”

“What do you mean?” Lucien asked.

“Well, he’s so accomplished and I’m... just Gavin.” He shrugged his shoulders almost as high as his ears which had turned pink.

“Hey, you’re amazing,” Ryenne said, indignant. “You’re the whole package, too. He’d be lucky to spend time with you.” Shoot. She didn’t want to encourage him to pursue Nakamura, but she couldn’t let him be so down on himself.

“Thanks, Ry,” Gavin said. “I’ll take care of myself. Anyway, guys like Taylor aren’t usually into me for long. So, I’ll just use him for sex.”

Ryenne rolled her eyes. No matter how hard Gavin tried to just use guys for sex, his heart always followed his dick. Hopefully, Scotty and Nick would find something she could use to convince Gavin to back off Taylor and she wouldn’t have to watch him fall for another unattainable guy.