Guarding Mari (3 page)

“That’s not possible. Werewolves don’t exist.” Instinct had her reaching for the panic button. Her finger hovering over the smooth white button.

“We do exist, and I can prove it.” His absolute certainty did little in encouraging her to believe him. Such a shame. Good-looking but a few sandwiches short of a picnic basket.

“How?” Mari watched as he picked up the chart at the end of her bed. “By showing me my chart?”

The man handed it to her. “When I got you upstairs, you were nearly gone. You’d lost a lot of blood. I watched from the window in the ER as you flatlined three times. Now you’re awake and you look pretty good for a woman who danced with death last night.”

She flipped through the chart. It was all there. Cardiac arrest, three times. “What are you trying to say?”

He walked around her bed, toward the side where she’d been hurt. “What I’m trying to say is, when he hit you, he must have done it in a half-shift. It isn’t easy to do but he managed it.”

“God, will you just get to the point?” She nearly screamed the words, her hands in fists, her nails biting into the fleshy palm. With a tenuous hold on her control, it took a lot not to lose it completely.

He took a deep breath, holding her gaze. Mari had never seen such intense green eyes before. “By the next full moon, you’re going to turn into a wolf. He infected you with the virus. I’m sorry.”

She fought against the urge to throw the chart at his head. “How does this resemble anything like proof? I’m supposed to take your word that I’m a werewolf?” Instead of throwing it, she held it tightly against her chest, like a child with a teddy bear. “I don’t even know your name.”

A smile crossed his lips, and Mari stopped short of sighing happily. 
Get a grip, he isn’t that good-looking. Liar
. “My name is Daniel Greyborn. You’ve seen the chart. By all rights, you shouldn’t even be able to move.”

Daniel, the name suited him. The almost tangible arrogance did not. She wouldn’t admit it out loud, but he did have a point.

“I’ve been drugged up to the eyeballs,” she snapped. “I probably can’t feel much of anything. Ouch.” She nearly missed his hand as it darted out and pinched her foot through the covers. “Why did you do that for?”

“Just proving that you can feel pain.” He looked rather smug and Mari went back to resisting the urge to throw the clipboard at his head. “I need you to move the bandage on your back. If I’m right, the wound will be mostly gone by now, healed by the virus that means you’ll be able to shift into wolf.”

“You’re nuts.”

He shrugged. A five o’clock shadow on him looked good and miles away from the men Mari usually attracted, doctors and lawyers.
I wonder how that’ll feel against naked skin
. “Then prove it. Prove to me that I’m nuts, beautiful, and look.”

Her finger trembled from holding it over the panic button. She’d been awake for about half an hour, somebody should have checked in on her. Cold air brushed against the exposed skin at the back of the hospital gown. Her fingers brushed against the thick bandage. It was at an awkward angle. “Can you pick up the little mirror near the sink?”

“Why?” He looked curious.

“Because I don’t have eyes in the back of my head, and I’m not double jointed. I need your help to see whatever it is you want me to see.”

He hesitated…worried about getting too close to her? She probably looked a mess, anyway, but it shouldn’t have mattered. In the end, he retrieved the mirror, then circled to the opposite side of the bed.

“I need you to get behind me.” She shuffled forward and the bed dipped behind her as he sat on the pillow. His scent reminded her of earth and musk. His fingers pushed the back of the gown to either side. Awareness danced along the bare skin of her spine and she held the hospital gown to her chest. Damn, it had been a long time since she’d been half- naked with anyone. What would the nurses and other doctors say if they caught them like this? Hell, what would she say?

The barest caress of his fingertips down the curve of her back, sent fireworks shooting down her spine. One simple touch and she nearly forgot how to breathe.

“It’s been attached with tape. I need to pull it free. It might hurt a little.” Odd, he seemed to be attempting to be nice about it, but Mari preferred it when he acted like an ass. At least, then, she knew how to react. This closeness confused the hell out of her, making her feel things she’d never felt before.

Not with anyone.

“Thanks for the warning.” The words had barely left her lips before a searing flash of pain ripped through her. She bit her bottom lip to keep from crying out.

The gentle pressure of his hand on her shoulder chased the pain away, bringing back an awareness she couldn’t do anything about. “Are you okay?”

Mari blinked away tears she was thankful that he couldn’t see. “I’m fine.” She turned slightly to see that he held the mirror up, but the weight of his gaze dragged her attention up, meeting his almost black eyes.
I wonder what his lips taste like
. Energy electrified the moment, and goose bumps erupted all over her arms.

He raised the mirror slightly. “Can you see it?”

What? Oh…the injury
. She dragged her attention away from his lips and looked at her reflection. It should have been a mess, skin decorated with barely there stitches and seeping blood from her inability to stay still but it wasn’t. The skin was still red and sore, but it should have been much worse.

“What’s happening to me?”

Neither of them moved. “You were infected with the werewolf curse.”

“But that’s….”

“Impossible.” The way his gaze seemed to drift to her lips, she suspected he wasn’t talking about her healed wound anyone.

It felt so strange, to be sitting on her hospital bed with a stranger. A werewolf, a man who had saved her life and by all rights was completely insane, and all she could think about was how much she wanted to kiss him.

She really wanted to kiss him.

The door opened. “What are you doing? Mari, are you okay?”

Daniel jumped off the bed and she covered herself up again, like two teenagers caught doing something wrong. She recognized the young man in the doorway, Doctor Meyers—and the need to get out of there. “I’m fine, Paul. Can you get someone to give me my discharge papers? It’s time I went home.”

The speed with which she’d been discharged had been staggeringly quick. It was impossible to miss the respect in the other doctor’s eyes or the way she took control of the situation. She simply hadn’t taken no for an answer. How did he manage to get himself into this situation? Oh, yeah, he hadn’t killed the rogue when he’d been supposed to, and the beautiful doctor had paid the price. No way could he leave her now.

Mari needed to be with other wolves, those trained to help her through her first shift. His intense reaction to her had surprised the hell out of him and being this close to her overruled his common sense completely. She wasn’t his usual type, not by a long shot but that didn’t stop his mind from continuing the near kiss on the bed. Keeping himself from pushing the hospital gown off her shoulders and cupping those breasts, took self-restraint he didn’t even know he had.

The sooner he started hunting Ryback again, the better. He hadn’t told Mari she’d be leaving with him. That wouldn’t be an easy conversation, and they’d been sitting in silence. She hadn’t said anything when he’d gotten into her car, just looked at him pointedly. He wasn’t alone in his lust. The desire and need that flared up in him was mirrored in her. He didn’t have to have the heightened senses to know she wanted him as badly as he wanted her. The whole situation had become a lot more complicated.

He peeked at her from the corner of his eye. The short haircut highlighted her vivid grey eyes. With a curvy but beautifully formed body, she was everything a woman should be and more. Her wolf would be the same shade as her dark hair. The eyes of the wolf closely resembled the human side. Daniel grew hard at the thought. He strove to be a professional, but he didn’t feel very professional when it came to her.

It was downright dangerous.

“Can I drop you off somewhere?” Her soothing tones nearly made him jump. She probably talked to her patients the same way.

“No, I’m fine.”

“Excuse me?”

“You can’t ignore this. In a week, you’re turning into a wolf whether you want to or not. I’m hunting a rogue, and every second that I waste, the farther away he gets. At least, he’ll be healing for a while.”

“What do you want from me?” Resignation darkened her voice. He hated that it needed to be that way, but he didn’t have a choice. If she was being honest with herself, she knew she didn’t have one either.

“I need you to accept that you’re different now. I need you to go to your apartment, pack a bag, and come with me.” They halted at a red light. Daniel watched as she rested her head on the steering wheel and took a few deep breaths. He wanted to touch her again, to run his hand along the curve of her back, but he didn’t. His body wanted rights he didn’t have. Yet. “I’m sorry, Mari. I really am. I know this sucks. That you didn’t want this. But, unfortunately, this is your life now. There’s no way to undo what’s been done to you.”

She glanced at him, and he found himself staring into eyes he could easily drown in. Why did she have this power over him? How did she make him feel utterly lost in her?

“Are you sure?” Her tone begged him to make a lie truth.

“I’m positive, Mari. I would tell you if there were.”

She straightened as the light turned green, her attention back on the road but he caught the way she peeked at him from the corner of her eyes. Like she couldn’t
not
look at him. Daniel knew the feeling. The seconds drew out into minutes until, finally, she broke the silence. “Would you take a cure, if one existed?”

He shook his head. “I’m a born shifter. It’s all I’ve ever known, and I wouldn’t want to be different. Having the ability to shift into a different creature…it’s an incredible feeling.”

“What’s it like?”

“Shifting?”

She nodded.

“It changes your perspective of the world. It becomes much more open, simpler. Smells become richer. I’ve had the ability to shift into a wolf since I was four, and I spent a lot of time exploring the woods, playing with the other cubs.”

“What about your family?”

That was a sore subject. “The pack is my family, but my parents? They aren’t around anymore.” He could tell she wanted to ask more questions, but, thankfully, she didn’t. Daniel hunted rogues, a job assigned to him by the pack, but it hadn’t started that way. Fifteen-years old, with blood on his hands, tears streaking down his face. With a dead body on the floor. The rogue who’d killed his parents. He closed his eyes, trying to forget the memories that never truly went away, and rested his head against the headrest.

There was a gentle tapping of her fingertips on the leather steering wheel. The noise soothing. “You really want me to go with you?”

“It’s for the best. We need to take you somewhere safe. There is no way I can take you with me to track Ryback. This close to a shift, you’re too much of a liability.” As soon as the words left his lips, he wished he could take them back. She shut down, her expression closing off, and it became impossible to read her.

With more force than was needed, she put the car into gear. “Then, I guess I don’t have much choice.”

***

Mari considered herself to be quite levelheaded. It was definitely part of the job description as a doctor. So why did it feel like she’d stepped into the
Twilight Zone
. Everything looked the same, but it wasn’t. In her world, werewolves didn’t exist, and life had turned into a slippery slope. If werewolves existed, what else did? Had she died on the operating table? Was it all some weird afterlife, or was she unconscious and pumped full of drugs, fighting for her life?

Or maybe it’s all true
, a tiny voice whispered inside her head.

She ended up leaving Daniel in her living room so she could pack a bag in peace. How long would she be away? She’d never been more thankful she didn’t have anything to worry about but herself. She’d call her landlord from the car and pay him to put her stuff in storage. At least, the rent was paid up till the end of next month, and the bills were tied up in the rent.

There’s a werewolf in my living room
.

The thought made her stop, and she collapsed onto her bed and curled up. Tears didn’t come. Instead, numbness filled her. Since waking, she’d only felt alive when Daniel touched her. Her body sang under his hands, and the knowledge scared her. How was it even possible she felt something for a virtual stranger?
Is it the same for every wolf? Is that how their bodies react to each other?

At a knock on the door, she jumped off the bed for a split second, having forgotten Daniel waited for her. She didn’t want him to see her breaking down. She also didn’t want him to find her on her bed. Her body’s intense reaction to the memory of how he’d touched her, his hands lingering on her back and the dark, intense look on his face as she’d turned, nearly stole her breath.

“Hello?”

“Do you need a hand?”

The offer made her smile. “Getting bored in the living room?”

A soft chuckle made her insides feel like they’d turned to goo. “A little. I’m used to wide open spaces. I feel a little constricted in here, confined.”

She took pity on him. “You can come in, but it isn’t better in here, and I’m nearly done anyway.”

The door swung open, revealing Daniel standing with his hands in his pockets. Every time she laid eyes on him, she wanted to get naked. He was good-looking, with hair a dark blond, and certainly rough around the edges. He wasn’t her usual type. She was attracted to gorgeous guys but the ones who looked like him weren’t generally interested in girls like her—girls who put their jobs first and didn’t have a clue about dating.

“How are you doing?”