When Trina woke up to the smell of antiseptic, bleach, and metal, and to an annoying chill racing up and down her arm, she lifted her heavy eyelids and took in her surroundings.

She groaned when she realized that she was in a hospital bed. When she looked to the right of her at the large window, the curtains had been pulled open but all she saw was swirls of clouds against a dusky backdrop.

She sat up in bed and recalled what had happened to her. Relieved to find that she wasn't hooked up to any offending IVs or needles, she pushed the blankets off of her and began to inspect her body for any traces of wounds. The only part of her body that burned with the remnants of the attack was the skin at her throat.

She was still wearing her watch and she gawked when she realized that it was three in the morning.

"Oh, my God."

The moment she swung her legs over the bed was the moment a nurse pushed through the doors holding a clipboard and a bag of medication.

"Oh, hello. Glad to see that you're finally awake. How are you feeling?"

"I'm…Where am I?"

"Aspen Valley Medical Center."

Trina scanned the nurse's name badge. "Cecilia, I'm not sure why I'm here, but I really can't afford this."

"Don't worry. It's all been taken care of. And you're doing just fine. You just seem to be under a lot of stress. We saw no harm in running some tests just to make sure everything was okay."

"How did I get here?"

"By ambulance. Don't you remember?"

Trina shook her head. "No, I don't. When can I be released? The last thing I need is another large medical bill right now."

"Like I said, Ms. Daniels, you're all clear. Your last test results should be ready in another hour, so you should be good to go by six a.m. I'll just need you to call someone to drive you home."

Trina sighed. "You don't understand. My dad…he's…home alone."

Nurse Cecilia frowned and narrowed her gaze at her, giving Trina the impression that maybe the nurse thought she was crazy. That wasn't good. She didn't want to give them any cause to perform any more tests.

"Okay, yes…I can call a neighbor to come pick me up."

Nurse Cecilia smiled and wrote something on a clipboard. "Very well then. Once you have it confirmed, please give me their names so I can relay this information to the front desk."

"I will." Trina racked her brains trying to figure out who she could call that wouldn't inquire about why she was at LIVE nightclub anyway.

"Also the cops might be in touch to ask you questions about the gunman later today. He's already in custody and has been charged…Thank God. They were in here earlier trying to ask questions, but I told them they had to go. I take care of my patients first and they can ask questions when you're all better."

"Thank you," Trina said.

"No problem, that's my job." She smiled. "Oh, I almost forgot, your boyfriend left this gift card here for when you woke up. It's good for anything you'd like from the restaurant on the first floor." She lowered her voice and said, "It's much better than our cafeteria, but you didn't hear that from me." She placed the gift card on the end table. "Either way, I need to see you eat something. Your iron levels are a bit low. Please include meat or fish. They have vegetarian options too if you'd prefer it."

"I'm sorry. You said my boyfriend?"

"Yeah…he had to go. We had a handful of folks come over from the nightclub…out-of-towners and such, but Dr. Nally stuck to his guns. He doesn't allow anyone in here who isn't a relative or next of kin of any of his patients or without prior written consent." Nurse Cecelia handed Trina a thermometer to place under her tongue. "Either way, your boyfriend wasn't listed on any of the forms in the medical database, and we checked both here and Cross City. You might want to get those updated if you need to add others. Plus, we figured he wasn't your next of kin either…he's a shifter. He seemed very out of place and paranoid. I could tell he was worried about you, but he didn't like this hospital for some reason. They have their own doctors and nurses, you know."

Something clicked in Trina's mind, freezing her brain from all else except a clear picture of the sexy, dark stranger who'd saved her from the drunken creep who'd held her hostage.

Nurse Cecelia took the thermometer and stuffed it back into the machine and then wrapped a blood pressure cuff around Trina's right upper arm. "But if you ask me, shifter or not, he was a complete gentleman about the situation the whole time he was here. Any man that leaves money to make sure his girl can eat when she wakes up and reroutes all of her medical charges to his credit card is a good man indeed."

"Did you get his name?"

Nurse Cecelia laughed dismissively. "You don't know your boyfriend's name? Honey, are you sure you're okay? Might need to check that medication dose again." She lifted up a sheet of paper on the clipboard and bit at her bottom lip as she stared at it.

"I mean, sure I know his name. I just…" Trina swallowed. "I don't understand why he would…"

A buzz sounded from the pager on Nurse Cecelia's hip. She answered the page, which turned out to be another nurse informing her that she was needed in another room.

"Alright. I'll be back in a few minutes." She thrust a menu at Trina. "Here's that menu from the restaurant. I want you to have your order ready when I get back. While you're waiting on your food, please think about who you can call to check you out of here."

With that, Nurse Cecelia was gone, leaving her in more shock than she'd been when she'd woken up.

The stranger had come with her to the hospital and paid her bills…?

Trina didn't even know his name. She didn't know him at all. How was she going to thank him?