CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

 

Adam came out of his anesthesia haze, looking around the hospital ward. He prodded weakly at the thick bandaging on his belly, satisfied everything was up to his standard.

It took him a moment to realize Leigh was there, sitting beside his bed. She smiled when she noticed he was awake.

“Hey, you big lump.”

“Lofty.”

She stood and kissed his forehead. “I thought we might lose you.”

Suddenly, his memory cleared. Watching his mate being taken into surgery, and being unable to control any part of it, had been an absolute torture. His rage had threatened to overtake him again, and if not for his own urgent need for medical attention, he might have shifted. Just to process the fierceness of his anger.

“Simone!”

“Shh. It’s all good. She’s a strong one, our girl.”

His heart soared at the confirmation she was still alive. “When can I see her?”

“Soon. She’s asleep.”

“I didn’t ask when she could see me.”

“Hey, wolf-man. Don’t bite my head off. I have orders to keep you here in your bed.”

Adam closed his eyes and let a wry smile run over his lips for a second. “Who can order the wolf-man around, huh?”

“Uh, we have doctors here, too, you know. Not the high-falutin’ fancy-pants kind, but they know their stuff.”

Adam struggled to slide his damaged body off the bed, but Leigh pushed him back down. With far more ease than he’d have liked.

“You’re killing me, here, Lofty.”

“Look, you’re much better to stay here. My parents are in the waiting room, but the bad news is, so are yours.”

“I can handle them.”

“Adam, there’s more. Those guys?”

“The bears?”

“Uh-huh. We ran ’em down real quick, thanks to the Wolfes. Turns out those big fuckers were just mercenary bullies, not hit men. Took Aric all of ten seconds to get them talking once they shifted back.” She chuckled without any humor. “One of them was real sorry. He had a stick in his ear when he shifted. Poor bastard will never hear on that side again.”

Adam squeezed the blankets in his fists. “Nothing they said is of any interest to me. They hurt my mate. Opportunistic pricks.”

“See, that’s the thing.” Leigh walked over to the door of the ward, as if getting out of his reach. And maybe blocking his exit. “It wasn’t random. They were hired.”

 

* * * *

 

The Poulsens and the Gunnarssons all looked up in shock as Adam limped into the waiting room, fresh blood seeping from the puncture wounds of the IV line he’d torn out.

“You two.” He lined his parents up in his sights. “You tell me now. The truth.”

Oran stood and folded his arms. “The truth about what, son?”

“You’re behind this? You tried to have my mate killed?”

Magda Gunnarsson scoffed and turned back to the magazine on her lap. “Please, son. You’re being so dramatic.” She flipped a couple of pages.

Oran stepped in again. “We told them simply to scare her off.”

“So the rape and murder we only just managed to prevent? What, that was their bonus?”

Magda sighed. “That’s what happens when you send a bear to do a wolf’s job…” She stood, finally, and walked toward Adam, arms outspread. “We only want what’s best. Now, let’s just put this all behind us, son.”

In his peripheral vision, Adam saw Leigh walk over to the waiting room entrance to intercept the two men who were about to enter.

“Oh, I agree on one count, mother. This is all behind us now. You have your world, and I have mine. Let’s make sure the two never mix again. I know how you feel about keeping things pure, after all.”

“Son, you don’t mean that. Come meet with Anthea. Properly this time.”

“My final reminder, Mrs Gunnarsson. You do not get to call me son. Not now. Not ever. Now rather than having me meet Anthea, I think you should turn around and meet with these two gentlemen.”

She spun instantly, almost running into the uniformed police officers who’d crept up behind her as only shifters can.

Magda turned back to face Adam. For a moment, she stood before him, unmoving. The whole waiting room fell silent. Then, for the first time Adam could recall, he saw tears in his mother’s eyes.

“I always wanted a daughter, anyway.”

“You could have had one. But you sent fucking bears to kill her.”

Magda spun away as if in shame. For her own actions, or for the actions of her flesh and blood, it wasn’t clear. And to Adam, it mattered less than a dead mosquito.

With his parents gone, Adam’s anger fell away, too. All he felt was weak. He turned as freely as he could and reached out for Leigh. Derrick Poulsen stepped in on the other side and together they supported him.

“Take me to her, please?”

Derrick shook his head. “Son, you need medical attention.”

“Just for a minute. I know she’s alive. Even if Leigh hadn’t told me, I’d know. I can feel it. But I need to see her for myself.”