Chapter Three
He laid her down onto the bed and sent off a telepathic blast to Jo. The pack's resident healer and former doctor would be in her room about now. Five seconds passed, and his bedroom door swung open. A woman with short dark hair walked in, rubbing her forehead.
“What the hell, Henri? I was about to go to bed.” She glanced down at Tessa, and her blue eyes widened. “What’s going on?”
Henri sat next to the unconscious body of Tessa and sat her up in his arms. With the utmost care, he removed her top to make it easier to check out the cuts and scratches. “She was attacked by a shifter. We need to stop the bleeding.” A noise of pain escaped his girl as the top came free from the drying blood. Jo ran out of the room as Tessa’s eyes flicked open. “It’s okay, you’re going to be okay.” He smiled down at her. Something tugged at the center of his chest. The feeling didn’t have words, at least none he understood.
“Where am I?”
“At my home. I’ve got someone here who can help.”
She frowned and looked around panicked. “I’m in your bed? Why didn’t you take me to a hospital?”
“This was closer,” he lied. If she was infected with the shifter virus, a human hospital wouldn’t help her. Shifter blood was highly infectious, and when they realized she was healing at a faster rate than normal, they would call people in to collect her. She would vanish. He reached out and cupped her cheek. She shivered against him. “She’s a nurse, Tessa, and I trust her to help you.”
“You took my top off?” Her words were breathy, and her desire, barely muted by the pain she must be in, hit him like a ton of bricks.
“It’ll make it easier to wrap your arms,” he replied huskily, gazing down into her curious stare.
The door opened again, and Jo coughed. “You need to let her go, Boss, I can’t work around you.”
Tessa hadn’t looked away from him, and he fought against the urge to pull her closer to his chest. The wolf inside him howled its approval, and he reluctantly let her go. Every part of him demanded he kept her close, but he knew he would be doing more harm than good. He needed to let Jo do her job. Tessa shivered again as she tugged the blanket up and covered her chest. He’d caught the barest glimpse of a lacy pink bra and pale skin. Her arms had scratches on them, and thin streaks of blood stained his bed sheets. As he watched Jo work, he couldn’t take his eyes off Tessa. The man had said he was there to rob the club but hadn’t known about her. Henri didn’t know if he believed him or not. The whole area was under his protection. Why would a shifter make such a stupid decision?
His phone burst into life, and he picked it up, nodding at the women before he left to answer it. “What do you have to tell me, David?”
“Checked his ID. Paul Bolton. Originally from North Dakota.”
“He was a long way from home. So, he might be a rogue?” That made things easier. If he was a rogue, then there was no other motive besides the fact he’d been a thief. If he was someone sent by an Alpha to scope out the area, that could lead to trouble. Henri had every right to kill him. An unannounced shifter could mean war. There was no doubt in his mind he could fight, kill for what was his, but there would be losses. In wars, there always were. “I want all the information we can get about him. I couldn’t get a bead on his animal, but it wasn’t a wolf. He had to have left someone behind, and we can’t bury this under the rug. There will be consequences if he’s part of a pack.”
“What do you want us to do with the body?”
“Bring him to the compound and we’ll store him in the chiller. I don’t want us to find he’s left people behind and not have a body to hand over.”
“And if we can’t find anyone?”
“We’ll let the council know. It’ll be up to them if we discard the body the usual way.” The wolf pack didn’t generally have to worry about hiding bodies. They didn’t hunt humans, but there had been a few, shifters like the man he’d just killed or rogues who’d gone mad from the taste of human blood. There was an oven bought at a second-hand store a few years back, with a card that couldn’t be tied to the pack. It was big enough to squeeze a body in. Well, if you snapped it in the right places.
“Okay, boss. We’ll be back in a few hours.”
Henri snapped the phone closed. He would do it all again. For the last two years, she’d been a voice on the radio, shy at first, but her confidence had grown. He’d never entertained any idea he might meet her face to face, even with only a couple of hundred yards between them. There wasn’t any point in forming attachments with humans, but as soon as he thought she was in trouble, that she might be hurt, all those good intentions flew out of the window. The strong protected the weak. Shifters never got involved with humans. They were the rules put in place by his parents and ones he firmly believed in. Tessa made him want to break the second rule, and being close to her conjured up feelings he’d never felt before. It was intoxicating.
Could it be the lingering effects of the fight? He’d been ready to beat the crap out of the stranger, and if he hadn’t died so easily, he would have done. Blood pumped through Henri’s body, raising his blood pressure and letting his beast climb to the surface. Every instinct and urge were heightening. That had to be the reason her scent was so mesmerizing. The way her neck curved and her chest rose and fell as she lay against his chest held him enthralled.
Suddenly he was rock hard. His intense reaction to her took him by surprise. Sure, she was attractive, but she was human. A bad match for a wolf.
But she might not be human any more. The thought crept into his mind unwelcomed. What kind of man hoped a woman’s life was changed so he could fuck her? He glared down at the hard ridge visible through the thick denim. After a few deep breaths, he knocked on the door.
“I’ve got a few things I need to do. I’ll be back in an hour.”
There was a pause before Jo spoke up, probably reading his reluctance. “I’ll send out a call if we need you sooner.”
“Tessa?”
The woman who had such a hold on him didn’t answer him. Henri’s hand itched with the urge to open the door, but he rested his hand against the smooth wood instead, stopping himself.
“I’m okay. Thanks for coming to check on me.”
“Always.”
She chuckled. “Well, let’s hope it was the last time. I don’t think my heart could take being attacked on a weekly basis.”
“You won’t have to worry about that anymore.”
There was a pause. “I don’t know how to thank you.”
Henri closed his ears and rested his head against the door. “You don’t have to thank me.” I’d do it again in a heartbeat.
****
Tessa couldn’t stop her teeth from chattering. The last time she’d been as cold as she was, she’d been on the verge of being hit with the cold from hell. It had to be stress. It had been one hell of a night. Who would have thought it ended in Henri’s bed? She certainly wouldn’t have guessed it. When the nurse was finished, she handed her a black t-shirt that had to belong to Henri and helped her to get it on.
Tessa couldn’t take her eyes off the closed door. When she’d woken up and found herself lying in Henri’s arms, she thought she’d been dreaming. How many times had a dream started with his hands on her body as he climbed into bed with her? And now she was here, in his bed judging by the lingering scent of cologne on the sheets, a smell so masculine it weaved itself into her senses, marking her as his.
The short haired woman was sorting some of the unused bandages back into her kit. She wore a pair of dark grey jogging pants and a vest top with no bra underneath. Was she Henri’s girlfriend? Tessa didn’t know much about the mysterious man she’d been talking to on the radio, but if he’d taken her to his home and Jo lived there as well? Guilt hit her at the thoughts which ran through her mind. Here she was fantasizing about a man when his girlfriend was fixing her up. And why wouldn’t Henri want to be with Jo? She was beautiful. Tessa didn’t compare to her. Did it mean she’d just imagined the tension between her and Henri as she lay against his chest?
She took a deep breath and carefully let it out again. “How long have you and Henri been together?”
The other woman glanced over her shoulder. “I’m not dating Henri.” She looked surprised. “What would make you say that?”
“You live together?”
Jo burst out laughing. “Twenty people are in the compound. We prefer to live off the grid, closer to nature.” She stopped laughing, but there was still a twinkle to her eye. “Henri’s single. You’re the first girl he’s brought home.”
This time Tessa couldn’t help the smile that curved her lips before she glanced down at her arms and the bandages which covered them. “This has been a very weird night.”
Jo sat down opposite her. The mattress barely dipped under her weight. “Did you know who attacked you?”
Tessa shook her head. “But I did get a good look at him. I’ll have to go to the police tomorrow and make a statement and talk to my boss.” Some of the tables and chairs had been destroyed. They needed to be cleaned up before the night shift started. She wanted a few days to process what had happened to her, but she didn’t think she would have the luxury. It was a sad day when she couldn’t afford to take time off after surviving being attacked.
By a shifter.
Did she imagine all of it? She had a vivid imagination, but picturing Henri as a half wolf? That wasn’t how she would have pictured him given half a chance.
“I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Henri is very good at his job, so he’ll probably make a statement and hand over any surveillance tapes. You don’t have to worry about your attacker either. This place is in the middle of nowhere and secure. Nobody knows you’re here except us. All you have to do is get some rest.”
“That’s sweet of you, but I can’t afford to take time off work.”
Jo reached across and touched her hand, her delicate hand hot against Tessa’s chilled skin. “Seriously, Tessa, don’t worry about it. Henri will sort it out. Now, get some sleep.”
Sleep was the furthest thing from her mind, but as soon as Jo mentioned it Tessa yawned. “Does Henri do that a lot?”
Jo paused at the door and frowned. “Do what?”
“Sort things out?”
“It’s pretty much his job, and someone has to keep this motley crew in check.” The smile she gave Tessa was filled with a message she couldn’t read. “But you’re the only hu … person he’s brought back to the compound. He must like you.”
She caught her slip. Jo was going to say something else, but it looked like she changed her mind. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
With that she left the room, and Tessa shuffled deeper into the bed with the scent of a man who left her stomach in knots.