SEAL Wolf In Too Deep (12 page)

* * *

“Did Debbie see Tara shift?” Paul asked Allan after he had gone home, showered, changed, and washed the blood out of his clothing, then met up with Paul at his lakeside cabin.

Allan was staring out at the lake, some of its surface frozen near the shoreline. “What?”

Paul said, “Allan, listen to me. I've asked you three times. Did Debbie see Tara shift?”

“Debbie was unfocused, in shock. She was looking in Tara's direction, but I don't think she really was seeing anything.”

Paul ran his hands through his hair. “What about the shooter?”

Allan shook his head. “I don't know. I was concentrating on Tara. I didn't even realize Debbie had been hit. What about Tara? Debbie? How are they doing?” Allan couldn't believe Paul had made him come here when he wanted to see the women at the clinic. Yet deep down, Allan knew why. He just didn't want to deal with the truth.

“Both are in stable condition at the clinic. But we have a real problem.”

“I don't think Debbie saw anything. And if she did, she was in shock. I doubt anyone would believe what she had to say if she did see anything.”

“We can't risk it. You know it, Allan.”

Allan swung around and scowled at Paul. “What do you mean? She was out of it. If she saw anything, which I doubt, it was that I was giving CPR to Tara as a wolf. After that, Debbie was in such bad shape, she went into cardiac arrest, and she wasn't able to witness anything at that point.”

“We can't assume that she didn't see Tara shift.”

“You're not serious. Give her a chance to talk about what she witnessed, about the shooter and whatever else she saw. And then we can go from there.”

“You're not thinking rationally about this,” Paul said. “You care way too much for her, for one thing. Pack takes priority. We have to protect our kind, no matter what.”

Allan's heart raced. He thought his best friend meant to eliminate her. It would be easy enough to do. She had gone into cardiac arrest once. She could do it again, and this time she wouldn't make it.

He whipped around and headed for the door.

“Allan, it's for the best.”

He wasn't listening. As pack leaders, Paul and Lori had the final say in matters regarding the pack. When he took over the pack, Paul had said he'd be as democratic as could be. He was normally really reasonable. Allan couldn't understand what had gotten into him to take this stand against Debbie. Even if she had seen Tara shift, no one would believe Debbie.

Maybe something else had gone wrong. But Allan couldn't let them kill her.

When he finally reached the clinic, he found Everett and Rose there, waiting for Tara to get out of surgery. “Where are your babies?” He didn't know why he even asked. He knew someone would be watching them. He just felt thoroughly rattled and angry.

“Emma and some of her quilting friends are enjoying them for a moment,” Rose said, dark circles under her eyes.

He thought when Paul had said Tara was in stable condition that she was already out of surgery.

Allan's mother and Lori intercepted Allan. “Debbie's in the ICU. You can't go in,” Lori said. “She'll be out in a little while.”

Allan was confused. He thought Paul meant they had to eliminate Debbie. Maybe Paul was just trying to prepare him for what might happen. Allan couldn't relax. The adrenaline was still pumping through his blood after saving both the women's lives, and now with the concern that the pack would want to eliminate his partner, he couldn't settle his anxiety.

“Christine took her into surgery first because she's human and was more at risk of dying at this point,” Lori said. She let out her breath. “Allan, Paul called and said you were ready to do something rash. Why don't you come with me and your mom and we can discuss this in the doctor's office?”

“Is Debbie going to be given the chance to share her side of the story?”

Lori took his arm. She led him from the patient waiting area to the doctor's office in the back of the clinic. The well-appointed office was filled with a sitting area of leather chairs and a redwood coffee table, a desk, and an office chair. Once inside, Lori said, “Okay, I know how Paul is sometimes. He's rather to the point and yet he means well for all concerned.”

“For us, but not for Debbie.”

“Can I be perfectly honest with you?”

“You know that's the only way I want both you and Paul to be.” As long as it meant Debbie was safe from harm.

“You were getting yourself way in over your head with Debbie.”

“I'm not dating her or thinking of any such thing. We just enjoy working with each other.” And so much more, but he couldn't mention it to any of them.

Lori took another deep breath. His mother had taken a seat in front of the doctor's desk and was looking concerned, her brows knit together in a tight frown.

“She died,” Lori said.

Allan felt dizzy, like the world had slipped out from under his feet. “You—”

Lori held her hand up to stop him from speaking further. “We didn't have anything to do with it.”

“You said she was in the ICU. In stable condition. What the hell—”

“She died in the ambulance. They brought her back a second time.”

Allan stared at Lori, shocked to the core. Should he have gone to her rescue faster? But if he hadn't removed the rounds from Tara and done CPR,
she
wouldn't have survived.

“Because of what she witnessed—” Lori said.

“She was in shock. She couldn't have seen anything.”

“Allan, she saw Tara shift.”

He sat in the chair, his legs no longer able to hold him up. “She's in the ICU. How—”

“She came to, but they're keeping her in there a little longer. She was terrified, her words slurred because of the heavy-duty pain medication she's on, but she wanted us to know she saw a wolf turn into a woman. And she said her partner knew all about it.”

Allan felt the air leave his lungs. “What now?” His voice sounded oddly hollow to his ears. He realized how much he cared for her. She wasn't just another human or his dive partner, but someone real and caring and devoted to helping others.

“It's done.”

Allan's mouth gaped. “What?” He felt light-headed. He couldn't remember a time he'd felt like his mind was in such a fog except when he'd been shot on a mission and lost too much blood.

Lori bit on her lower lip, then said, “She's…one of us.”

“What?”

Catherine patted his arm. “Now you can date her.”

Allan stared at his mother's concerned expression. He wasn't grasping what had happened. “Someone bit her?” He was ready to tear into whoever would have done so when she was in such grave shape.

“She received some of my blood intravenously,” Lori said. “No one bit her. But she was going to die if she didn't have our healing genetics.”

He gaped at Lori. He still hadn't grasped the situation. “Wait, you didn't do it because she'd seen Tara shift?”

“Partly, yes, but, Allan, she was in critical condition. She still is. But our faster wolf healing abilities will help her to pull through. We could have let her die. She would have without our help. She wouldn't have made it in a human-run hospital.”

He couldn't believe Lori and… “Does Paul know what you've done?”

Lori smiled. “Of course. We were in total agreement as soon as we learned she would have died without our intervention. And that she'd seen Tara shift. Not only that, but you were headed down a path of no return with her.”

“I wasn't dating her.” He couldn't even think in those terms right now. This was going to be a complete nightmare for her.

“Our original pack members—your mother, sister, me, Paul, and my grandma—will take turns watching her.”

Allan noticed she had left him out of the loop on that one. “And me?”

“Only if the two of you are agreeable. She's going to have to be taught our ways. She'll have to be watched because to begin with she'll have trouble having control over her shifting. And of course she needs to realize how important it is to keep our secret. We could send her to another pack, like Hunter's, where they know better how to deal with newly turned wolves, like his mate and her brother are.”

Hunter Greymere was their SEAL wolf team leader, and Allan was certain he'd
love
to have another newly turned wolf under his command.
Not.

“But Paul and I believe that if we all work together, the rest of the pack included, we'll get through this just fine.”

Allan bet Paul hadn't expected anything like this to happen when he and Lori took over the pack. He was always saying how glad he was that he didn't have a newly turned wolf in the pack. Allan guessed it was inevitable that it would happen someday.

“When can I see her?” Allan asked, feeling overwhelmed with negative emotions. No way in hell had he wanted her to have to experience all that she would without being given a choice. And now she would be just as much a werewolf hunter's target as the rest of his pack.

“Maybe not right away,” Lori said pragmatically. “She knew that you saved Tara's life before she turned into her human form. Debbie may be afraid of you. It might help if she sees someone she won't automatically connect with Tara.”

“Everyone's connected. Her brother, her mother, my sister who's married to her brother. Me. Paul, because we were raised together. My mom. You, because you're mated to Paul. I just don't see how any of us are going to be able to see her and not make her think we're all in cahoots.”

“For now, the doctor and the nurses will see her. She will get used to them and not know we're part of this whole situation.”

“She's my partner. I have to see her.”

Lori shook her head.

His mother said, “I think Lori's right.”

“She's going to have to learn about us sooner or later,” Allan said. “Hell, the full moon appears in a few days.”

“Which is why we need to make sure she stays with one of us at all times,” Lori said.

“I'm seeing her,” Allan said, and no one was dissuading him. Both his mother and Lori looked worried, but he asked, “Is that all?”

“We need to know what the shooter looked like,” Lori said.

Allan's jaw dropped a bit. “This isn't all about that, is it? She was turned so she could live and tell us what she saw?”

“Allan,” his mother said.

Lori held up her hand. “No. As important as the information is and as much as we need to know it as soon as we can, that's not why we did it. We knew how much she meant to you.”

Allan swallowed hard, and tears sprang into his eyes.
Hell
. He quickly rose from the chair and headed for the door. “I'll be in the waiting area for when she comes out of the ICU and then I'm seeing her.”

Pack meant everything to them, and he realized then that not only had they given Debbie a chance at life, as different as it would be for her now, but they'd done this for him. And yet it could be a real problem for all of them. For them, if she was totally out of control. For him, if she hated what she was now. For herself, if she was so horrified about what she had become that she didn't want to live.

* * *

Debbie felt like hell. She didn't think she'd ever felt this out of it.

For a while, she just lay there, trying to recall what had happened to her that she needed to be in a hospital bed.

Then she remembered flashes of scenes—the gunman shooting the wolf three times, even after she told him to drop his weapon, then him turning the gun on her and firing. Her firing a shot back and hitting him in the shoulder, she thought.

And the wolf near death. She meant to shoot it and put it out of its misery. But then Allan was there, saving the wild wolf. Was he crazy? An injured dog could be dangerous, but an injured wolf? She wanted to stop him, but she couldn't muster the strength. She remembered him telling her to get a blanket for the wolf, but she didn't have the energy. The next thing she knew, she was sitting on her butt on the snow-covered beach.

She had seen the concerned look on Allan's face when he was trying to save the wolf and again when he glanced at her and saw her sitting there. The pain hadn't hit yet, since the bullet had severed nerve endings, but she could see the blood pooling in the white snow. She had watched it for a moment, thinking it looked like cherry coloring spreading over ice in a snow cone.

She thought Allan would come to her aid, but instead, he was giving the wolf mouth-to-nose resuscitation. She'd never seen anyone do that before. She had been fascinated in an abstract kind of way, as if she wasn't quite there, just watching from far away.

And then the wolf turned into a woman—Tara, if Debbie recalled her name correctly. She was the sister to Everett, the man married to Rose, and really quiet. She was lying in the snow, bandaged after Allan had removed the rounds from her body. She was naked, and Debbie hadn't gotten the blanket for her like Allan had asked her to. She remembered feeling bad she hadn't done so.

She had been so cold herself, she felt as though
she
was naked as Allan rushed to take care of her wound. She must have passed out because the next thing she knew, she was in an ambulance, and that's all she remembered.

“Debbie,” Allan said, and she opened her eyes to see he was holding her hand, a worry frown etched across his brow.

Dozens of roses filled a nearby table, and she wondered who would have sent all the flowers. Everyone in the sheriff's department? Did anyone even know she was here?

She swallowed hard and with a dry throat said, “Allan.”

“God, I'm so glad to hear your voice.” He hurried to get her a cup of water. “How are you feeling?”

“You don't want to know.”