Kellen's Tempting Mate (25 page)

She stopped outside the back door, adjusting her hold to punch in the code to unlock the back door, and, exhaling in relief, she murmured, “Thank you, technology.” Cora’s breathing was ragged by the time she made it inside.

Attached to the clinic was her small apartment, with a steel door separating the two spaces. Again, she punched in the code and then used her shoulder to enter the office area.

“Almost there, big guy. I’ll have you fixed up in no time.” Sweat poured down her chest, soaking her top. Cora ignored it all to focus on getting her patient fixed up. After she’d cleaned his wound, she found he had indeed broken his front leg, which was why he had probably bitten her when she moved him.

Thankful that her training kicked in to tend to the little wolf, when all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and take a long nap, Cora placed the patched up wolf inside the padded kennel with a sense of relief. He whined when she attempted to lock the gate, his pain-filled gaze breaking her heart.

There were no other patients in the hospital area. She made the decision to leave the lock off, hoping she wasn’t making a mistake and headed to take a bath.

Cora wiped her hand across the fogged mirror and stared at her own pain-filled gaze. “How can one little bitty bite hurt so damn much?” She looked at the freshly cleaned wound for what seemed like the thousandth time and stuck a thermometer in her mouth and waited for the beep, promising herself if her temperature was too high, she’d head into town.

Even after taking meds and a cool bath, nothing was bringing her temperature down. Looking at the triple digit reading on the tiny screen she cringed. There was nothing else she could do except head into town to urgent med. Cora really hated to go to the emergency room. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, stopping when the motion made her feel like she was on a tilt-a-whirl.

Wrapping a towel around herself, she decided to check on her patient one more time before she got dressed. The door between her home and the clinic was open, but the lights were out, sending a shiver of fear down her spine. Cora flipped the switch on the wall, illuminating the walkway. Her head felt heavy, the lights overly bright, making her stumble and lose her footing.

“Shit, damn.” Rising to her feet, she reached her palm out to the wall to help steady herself and blinked a few times to bring things back into focus.

Standing in the middle of her clinic, with the injured wolf in his hands, was the most magnificent man she’d ever seen in her entire life. At over six foot tall, with short blonde hair and tattoos—lots of tattoos. The man exuded sex and menace. Yes, he definitely looked like he was angry. Even with her head feeling wonky, the sight of the unknown man made her body come alive. A whole different pulse began beating between her thighs, making Cora want to reach out and touch him, and not because she was in fear for her life.

“Who are you, and why do you have my wolf?” Cora was happy her voice didn’t come out sounding as scared as she felt.

“Your wolf?”

The big man growled, the sound making her feel things she really shouldn’t. Her nipples peaked at his deep rumble. Cora blamed the reaction on the fever.

“Listen, despite the fact you obviously broke into my clinic and I could press charges, I won’t, but only if you put the animal down and leave the same way you came. You have less than five minutes, and then my offer is gone.” Cora arched an eyebrow at him. “Do we have a deal?”

She waited for him to agree and put the sleeping wolf back down. Instead he quirked an eyebrow of his own, widened his stance, and sniffed the air.

In a move too fast for Cora to comprehend, the hunk standing a good ten feet away from her one moment, was all of a sudden crowding her space, sniffing her neck.

“Hey, have you heard of personal space?” When Cora attempted to push him back, her world spun.

* * * *

Z
ayn Malik didn’t know whether to laugh or growl at the human who tried to tell him what to do, all while she stood in nothing but a miniscule towel. Holding his nephew in wolf form, he opted for the latter. Every member of their pack knew the rules, and he couldn’t imagine Nolan, even at the young age of seven, breaking them. He’d wait until whatever drugs the woman gave Nolan wore off, and his nephew could shift back to find out what happened.

The overwhelming scent of antiseptic clouded his senses, making it hard for him to discern the unusual smells assaulting him. When she raised her hand to push him back, he watched her eyes roll back in her head. Zayn shifted Nolan to one arm, being careful of his injured leg, and caught the woman in his other arm.

That was how his alpha found him, holding an injured cub in one arm and a naked female in the other. It wasn’t his fault the towel was dislodged when he pulled her into his arm to stop her from face planting onto the ceramic tile floor.

“You want to tell me why you are holding my cub and an unconscious naked human, Zayn?”

The smile his brother suppressed didn’t make Zayn happy. He wanted to toss the human to Niall. Only fear of hurting his nephew kept him from following through on the thought. “Fuck off, Niall,” he grumbled.

“Give me Nolan. Do we know what happened to him?” Niall reached for his cub, carefully tucking him into his body.

As he handed Nolan over to Niall, Zayn watched his brother grimace at the bandage on his son’s leg, then sniff at the offending thing like he wanted to rip it off. The joking man was gone, replaced by the concerned father. Niall stood at over six foot three with more red in his blonde hair, but with the same blue eyes Zayn had. When Niall spoke as alpha, everyone in the pack listened. Although they had pack mates who were bigger than Niall, none could take him in a fight in human or wolf form.

They’d come to the Mystic River Pack in South Dakota when Niall found his mate by chance during one of their annual bike rides to Sturgis. Within a few months they’d found themselves full-fledged members of the pack, and Niall had learned he was to become a father.

His brother’s nose then turned to the woman Zayn cradled in his arms. Niall’s face got too close for Zayn’s peace of mind to a bandage wrapped around her thin arm, making his inner wolf rumble close to the surface.

“Do you smell that?” Niall sniffed again.

“What?” Zayn pulled the woman closer to his chest, using his large hand to cover as much of her bare ass from his brother as possible.

The right side of Niall's mouth quirked up for a moment before he turned serious. He bent to pick up the towel that had been dropped and draped it over the female.

“She’s been bitten.”

Narrowing his eyes, Zayn ran his gaze over the sleeping woman. “What did you say?”

The woman in his arms stirred, a feverish light in her eyes. That was when he noticed she was extremely hot to the touch. The smell of the clinic and the medicines had masked the unmistakable scent of the marking, which meant his sweet little nephew had bitten the good doctor when she had obviously tried to help him.

“You smell soooo delicious.” Cora licked her lips.

“Um, what’s your name, sweetheart?” Zayn tilted his head back from her questing lips and tongue.
Damn, her tongue is really long.

“Mmm. You taste really good too.” Another wet swipe from her tongue had him panting.

“Oh, goddess. Baby, you need to stop.” Zayn needed to get the woman to stop licking him or he was going to throw her down on the table and fuck her.

How the hell did she go from being cradled in his arms, to wrapped around him with her legs locked around his hips, and her arms around his head? Zayn swallowed. Jesus, he was ready to come in his jeans with his brother and nephew not five feet away.

“That’s enough, Cora.” The low timber of Niall’s voice reverberated around the room. A shiver went through the woman in his arms, and she swung her stare toward his brother.

Niall held an ID card with a picture of the woman in his arms. The name, Dr. Cora Welch, was at the top for Zayn to see. His brother grinned, his blue eyes dancing with mirth.

* * * *

C
ora’s pussy contracted. Holy crap, the man was hot with a capital oh-my-lawd H, and she was humping him like a cat in heat, a naked cat in fricking heat.

She unlocked her ankles from the blonde Adonis’s waist, hoping her legs would hold her up. They wobbled but didn’t buckle—thankfully. “I’m so sorry...I don’t know what came over me.”

“I know what almost came all over me.”

Sucking in a swift breath, Cora crossed one arm over her breasts and snatched the towel from the red haired man. Not that they hadn’t seen everything there was to see, but she was in control of herself now.

“Smooth, Zayn, smooth. I apologize for my brother. He’s not usually so crass, but we were worried when we couldn’t find our little one here.” He indicated the now alert wolf.

Eyes so blue peeked out between the big man’s arms, accompanied by the whine she’d become accustomed to from the cub. She reached an unsteady hand toward his head to give a little scratch between his ears.

“Luckily for him, he’s going to be okay. I found him stuck in a medieval looking animal trap made for a much larger animal. His little leg here,” she indicated his cast, “barely missed being snapped in half by the steel jaws. I set the break and cleaned the wound. He should be right as rain in a few weeks.”

Here she was buck-ass naked, carrying on a conversation with two men and a wolf. She was definitely sick. Cora raised her hand to feel her head. The short speech made her breathless, like she’d just run a marathon.

Behind her, she heard something growl. Turning to see the gorgeous man wearing a scowl, she took an involuntary step away. She looked around, fearing a wild animal had somehow gotten inside her office.

“Thank you, Cora Welch, for saving my cub. I owe you a life debt.”

She swung her gaze back to the man holding the wolf. “Who are you? I’ve seen you in town, but I don’t think we’ve met.”

“I am Niall Malik. The man behind you is my brother, Zayn Malik.”

Cora’s tummy fluttered as she looked behind her at the man named Zayn. Lower down, between her thighs, her sex seemed to swell. A woman could come just from the stare of his blue eyed gaze.

“Well, it was very nice to meet you both, but I’m not feeling the best...so, um...”

Cora stumbled forward. A steely arm wrapped around her from behind. Blonde hair lightly dusted the arm roped with muscles upon muscles. Tattoos covered every available inch of skin she could see.

“Easy,” Zayn murmured.

Cora blinked. Her stomach twisted; her pulse beat so loud she was sure even the man not holding her could hear it. Why did she feel like something monumental was about to happen?

“What the hell is wrong with me?”

Around her she saw white flashes. More men seemed to fill her once empty clinic. She wasn’t a fan of having people witness her in a towel, let alone if she was going to either hump the man holding her or pass out. Either option seemed possible.

She blinked her eyes a few times to clear her vision. The newcomers pushed and jostled or shoved for prime position to see what the action was, making it the last straw for Cora. The equipment, along with all the instruments, was expensive, and not something she wanted to have to replace.

“Everyone stop!” Cora yelled, stepping forward with her hand out, hoping they didn’t see the way it shook.

Zayn pulled her in closer to his body, eliminating the small space she’d attempted to put between them for her own peace of mind. Did the man not understand personal space?

Niall inclined his head. “You heard the lady. Everyone move out. The situation is in hand.”

“Zayn’s got something in hand.”

“Watch your tone, McDowell.” Niall warned.

McDowell was easily fifty pounds heavier than Niall, and it looked to be all muscle, but he seemed to shrink right before Cora’s eyes at Niall’s command. Cora studied all the men in front of her with a slow inspection. Faded denim hugged muscular legs, skin tight T-shirts or sleeveless flannel button down covered equally muscular torsos. Each man looked as if he stepped off the cover of some muscle magazine. She may be new to the Mystic River area, but she was pretty sure it was not normal for so many gorgeous men to be in one place, unless...
Oh please don’t be gay.

The extremely large erection digging into her back gave her hope that the man holding her wasn’t, but in this day and age one just never knew.

“Sorry, Alpha. We see you found your cub.” McDowell nodded towards Niall.

“Yes, let’s head back. I’m sure he’s tired from his long day.”

Cora pulled her attention from checking out the bevy of gorgeous men to see the look of love shining in Niall’s eyes as he looked down into the blue eyes of the wolf in his arms.

“Where did you say the trap was, Cora?” Zayn asked.

After she explained where it was located off the running trail, all the men in the room trained their eyes on her. “What are you looking at me like that for?”

“How did you get him back here?” Niall fired the question at her.

“I wrapped him in my jacket, picked him up, and carried him.” Her arms still felt like Jell-O from carrying him for over two miles.

“You carried an injured, sixty-five pound cub, over two miles?’ Zayn raised his brows.

Cora frowned. “Are you calling me a liar?” She spun out of his arms, nearly falling in her haste. She raised her hand when Zayn reached to touch her. “First of all, he weighs seventy-two pounds.” She pointed to the cub in question. “Second of all, I usually run over five miles every day, not to mention I do yoga and cross-fit. So yeah, carrying him was really hard, and I nearly fell several times. My arms hurt just holding them up right now, but I did it, and I would do it again. I am not a liar. You and whoever else who don’t believe me can go fuck yourself, and get the hell out of my clinic, because I’m tired, cranky, and I really need to lie down.”

“Everybody back the fuck up.” Zayn reached for her.

She took a deep breath. There were half a dozen men in the clinic, and she had no clue how they’d gotten in, or why they were all there. “Who are all of you, and why are you here? How did you get in?” The sound of distress from the cub stirred her overprotective instincts.