Chapter Seven
Nothing hurt. That was the first thing Stacey noticed as she swam closer to consciousness. Pain coursed through her memories, but now it was gone. She felt better. Stronger. That couldn’t be right.
Slowly, she opened her eyes. Any pain medication should have made her groggy and hazy, but her vision was sharp. She immediately focused on her surroundings. The room was not one from the hospital. While she recognized the machines in the room, she realized she was only hooked up to the monitor. The familiar beeps on the machine comforted her.
Micah sat in the chair by her bed. She stared at him. What in the world was he doing here? He met her gaze, and she saw the flash of fear in his eyes. Frowning, she opened her mouth to say something, but he beat her to it.
“Easy. The doctors thought you’d be out for another day or two. Just relax while I get someone in here.” He reached over the squeeze her hand before bolting out the room.
She prayed it wasn’t Littleton. Christ, if that man had seen her naked, she’d die.
A flashback sliced through her memories. Stabbed. Immediately, she lifted her dressed the sheets and fumbled with her dressing gown. Lifting it, she stared at the stiches that ran across her abdomen. Someone must have found her pretty quickly.
“Ms. Bronson.” She turned her head as a new voice entered the room. A short and jovial man smiled at her as he carried her chart. Micah wasn’t far behind him. “I’m Dr. Gratsky. How are you feeling?”
“Where am I?”
He exchanged an uneasy look with Micah. “It’s a private clinic just outside the Swahalla Forest. I’m work directly with Micah and his pack. I hope you’re okay with that.”
“I’m alive, so I guess I’m okay with that,” Stacey said with a small smile. “How long have I been here?”
“Two days.”
“Two days!” She jolted up in bed. “Why was I unconscious for two days?”
Again, she watched the two men exchange a look. What the hell was going on? “I need to speak to the police and report the attack,” she said suddenly. “And I need to call the hospital and let them know why I haven’t been at work.”
“I’ve already taken care of the hospital,” Micah said smoothly. “They think you’re out of town for an unexpected funeral.”
“And why the hell would they think that?” Stacey demanded.
“Because that’s what I told them.”
She clenched her jaw. Why was Micah even here? “Dr. Gratsky, may I speak to you in private?”
He looked at Micah helplessly, and an uneasy feeling came over her. Micah sat on the edge of the bed. His eyes were pools of desperation. “Stacey,” he said softly. “You almost died.”
Suddenly, she knew what was happening. “No,” she muttered. Fear and denial both gripped her chest. She tried to slide away from Micah, but there was nowhere to go.
“I had to make a choice,” he continued. “You just had seconds left. I came as fast as possible. Maybe if I had been faster…” he shook his head.
She ripped off the sheets and began to examine her body. “Where?”
“Stacey,” he said softly.
“Where did you bite me?” she demanded harshly.
He seemed to shrink in front of her bitter gaze. “The left side of you abdomen,” he said finally.
She ripped up her gown and frowned. Sure enough, there were fading remnants of a bite mark. The whole world stopped as she stared at it. She could hear the pounding of her heart in her ears, but everything else fell away. What would happen to her now? What would she do?
“I would like to speak to the doctor in private,” she said softly.
Micah closed his eyes, but he nodded his head. Whispering something to the doctor’s ears, he walked out and left them alone. “What’s going to happen to me?” she asked.
“Unfortunately, we’re not sure. Your body accepted the shift gene. If it hadn’t, you wouldn’t be alive right now. But the truth is that no one has bitten a human in decades, so our medical studies are not all that up-to-date. There are three different scenarios. The first is that the body rejects the bite. Nothing happens, and if that were the case, you would not be here. The second is that the body only carries the secondary gene. That means that while you do not change, it’s possible that your offspring do. And finally, your body could completely accept the change.”
Stacey absorbed the information. “And you don’t know what differentiates between the three alternatives?”
Dr. Gratsky shook his head sadly. “I’m afraid I don’t. I have a feeling that it helps that Micah carries the alpha gene, but for him to have bitten outside the full moon, it means he would have only partially shifted. It’s possible in the stronger shifters, but it means that the bite might carry less punch. And of course, I have no idea what your body carries. Cross-contamination is widespread today. You could carry any number of different genes whether it be shifter, witch, vampire, or demon.”
She ran her hand over the bite. It was amazing how one mark could have such influence over her future. “You haven’t run the tests yet?”
“Micah didn’t want to intrude any more on your privacy. If you’d like, I can take a blood sample, but research into the differences of our kind is still preliminary. I can find common markers and make a hesitant educated guess, but that’s about it.”
“Don’t,” Stacey said suddenly. “I’m a firm believer that what’s meant to be will be. Am I okay right now?”
The doctor nodded enthusiastically. “More than okay. I prepared you for a blood transfusion, but your body began to heal itself at a remarkable rate. It wasn’t even necessary. The wound itself is taking a bit longer to heal, but other than that, you are the picture of health.”
Stacey snorted. Sure. The picture of health. “I get why Micah lied to my coworkers, but I was attacked. Why didn’t he call the police?”
“The pack takes care of its own. Rest assured, Micah seems to have a vested interest in you, my dear. He’ll take care of the problem himself.”
Of course he would. It seemed that Micah made quite a few decisions on his own. It was bitter thought, but one that Stacey couldn’t shake.
Still, she knew that without him, she would be dead. And when she really searched her soul, she knew that she’d rather be a shifter than be dead. So really, she owed him her life.