Draven nodded. He understood Mason was telling him he shouldn’t be afraid about putting a wolf into Kelly when he claimed her. “Later, we need to talk. Changes have to be made for the pack to survive.” He didn’t like the idea of losing more of the pack, but he had to remove the diseased parts or the pack would continue its downward spiral and take Kelly with it. He pushed the thoughts aside. First, he need to fix the issues between him and Kelly.
The door closed with a soft click. He stared at her. Just hours ago, she stood up to him and told him off. Yet, because of his past, all he saw was a human who wouldn’t be able to handle the monster he would put into her when he claimed her. Truly looking at her, he realized she exuded an inner strength and a fierce loyalty none of the she-wolves had. Kelly wasn’t after the power that came from being his mate. She already had the power needed to be his mate and the female alpha.
Kelly turned her head toward him. She blinked a couple of times. “What are you doing here?”
“I came as soon as I found out about the wreck.” He almost laughed. She wasn’t going to make it easy for him.
“I’m fine. You can go.” She closed her eyes and turned her head away from him in a classic dismissal.
“I’m not leaving.”
“Suit yourself.” She yawned.
Draven stared at the large, white bandage covering most of her forehead. He didn’t like seeing her hurt or in pain. He pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down.
“You’re still here?” Kelly looked at him again. “Marla’s not going to like you being here. She will be jealous and probably pout until you buy her something expensive. Besides, I’m not in the mood to deal with her crap. I’ve got enough stuff on my plate.”
“I don’t care what she thinks.”
“Not the way to treat your mate. Happy mate. Happy life. Or something like that. Go. And on your way home, stop and buy her a huge box of chocolate and a huge diamond ring or something just as expensive. She will love it.”
Draven leaned over and touched her cheek. He bit back a growl when she tried moving away from his touch. “I’m exactly where I should be. I’m with my mate. My one and only mate.”
“Yeah. The mate you refuse to claim because I’m human. You know what? I don’t want you either. The last thing I need is a stubborn, dumbass alpha wolf who is too stupid to see what he’s losing by not claiming his mate.”
“You’re right. I’m a stubborn, stupid dumbass, but I realize I need you and only you.” He reached over and caressed her cheek. He noticed she didn’t move away this time. “You are my mate, and I plan on tying you to me every way that’s possible. I’ll buy you the expensive diamond ring.”
“I don’t want a diamond ring. Unlike most females, I don’t like diamonds.” She looked at him. Her eyes had a drug induced glassy look to them. “Leopards don’t change their spots, and alphas are to stupidly stubborn. So why the change of heart?”
“Sleep. We will talk after you’re released from the hospital.”
“I’m holding you to that.” Kelly nodded and closed her eyes. After several minutes her breathing evened out.
Draven turned the chair so he could keep touching her while he leaned back.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Kelly stared at Draven as her brain pushed its way through the drug induced haze. She really hated meds that made her sleepy. Some of the side effects were worse than others, and this one had her hallucinating.
She giggled.
Hell, she might as well indulge herself before she woke and discovered she was alone in the hospital room.
She slid her hand under his. Warmth spread through her body. His fingers wrapped around her hand causing her to gasp.
This didn’t feel like a dream.
It felt too real.
Her eyes followed his arm up to his chest and shoulders, and then to his face. His eyes locked with hers. She blinked. “You’re really here?” she asked in a hoarse whisper.
He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “I’m here. By your side, where I belong.”
She licked her lips, or rather tried. Her mouth was dry. “Are you sure?”
“Why wouldn’t I be sure?” He raised an eyebrow. “Do you want some ice chips? The nurse left them here earlier.”
She nodded.
Draven let go of her hand and stood as he picked up the cup of ice chips on the side table. Using the spoon, he scooped up a couple of small ice chips and fed them to her.
Kelly let the ice melt in her mouth. The cold water felt heavenly to her dry mouth.
“More?” asked Draven.
She nodded. After a few more ice chips she looked at him. “Are you absolutely sure about what you said?”
“You don’t think I am?”
She gave him the look she used with her students when they weren’t telling her the truth. “I’m hoping this isn’t some sort of misplaced guilt. Because you said a lot of things, including how you refused to claim me.”
He leaned forward and kissed her lips. “We had a rough start, but I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. I plan on doing a lot more than just claiming you. So you’re going to have to get stronger.”
“I won’t share, and I don’t take orders.”
Draven grinned. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
Kelly yawned.
“Tired?”
She nodded. “The meds are still messing with me. I really hate this sleepy druggy feeling.”
“Sleep. I’ll be here when you wake.” He brushed a strand of hair out of her face.
“You better be.” She wanted to stay awake and talk, but her body had other ideas. She drifted into back into a hazy sleep.
CHAPTER NINE
Kelly glared at the doctor. She wanted to go home, but he refused to release her because she lived alone and he said for the next twenty-four hours, she needed a babysitter. She didn’t need a babysitter, and she told him so, but he said it was just in case her head injury got worse. She seriously figured it was probably his way of getting back at her for her not so nice comment about his bedside manner.
Or rather his complete lack of one.
“There’s nothing I can do. It’s hospital policy,” said the doctor. He was enjoying the control he had over her life just a little too much to suit her.
“Then I’ll just sign myself out against doctor’s orders. I believe I have that right.” Maybe she had watched one too many of the hospital themed tv shows, or maybe she was tired of people thinking she was a pushover. Either way, she was leaving the hospital today, even if she had to sneak out and walk home. Which was actually starting to look really good.
Wait.
Maybe she should rethink that idea because she really was going to have to walk home.
She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from crying. Her beautiful black pony was history. She needed to file a claim with her insurance company. Get a copy of the police report. And go car shopping. Find the douchebags who destroy her car. All of which was a huge headache.
“If you have no one to take you home or stay with you for the next twenty-four hours, then you are not leaving the hospital.” The doctor had the nerve to grin and cross his arms.
“She has someone,” growled Draven from the doorway. He walked into the room and glared at the doctor.
The man’s face turned red and he stumbled in his rush to back away from Draven.
Kelly almost laughed. Draven had that effect on a lot of people.
Draven dropped a backpack onto the bed. “I had your mom pack some of your clothes and other stuff you might need.”
Kelly looked at the doctor. “Any other objections about me going home?”
The doctor looked at Draven. “You’re her fiancé? She is going home with you?”
“I am and she is. How about getting her release papers?”
After a few seconds of the doctor staring at Draven, he finally nodded his head. “I have the nurse bring in her release forms and care instructions.�
�� He left the room.
“About time. Now I can shower and go home.” Kelly opened the backpack and rummaged through the contents. “Mom put enough stuff in here to last several days. I’m just going home.”
“I’m taking you to my place.”
Kelly looked at Draven. “Really.” She raised an eyebrow.
“Really.” He raised an eyebrow at her as he crossed his arms.
She shrugged. “We’ll see about that.” She grabbed the stack of stuff she had put on the bed and headed toward the bathroom.
“Where are you going?” asked Draven.
“Bathroom.” She turned and looked at him. “I don’t have a super sniffer but I can smell myself. I’m taking a badly needed shower, and then I’m putting on some actual clothes instead of this fashionable hospital gown.” She pushed the bathroom door open.
Draven chuckled. “It may not be fashionable, but I really like the view.”
Kelly grabbed the back of the gown as she spun around. Her face was bright red. “You should have been a gentleman and told me it had come untied instead of staring like it was some sort of peepshow.”
“It’s my peepshow to stare at.” He grinned. “I’m no gentleman which you’ll be very happy about very soon.”
Her face turned even redder as the room grow a whole lot warmer. She wasn’t sure what to say, so she retreated into the bathroom. The sound of his laughter followed her. Closing the door, she leaned against it. Even though she was angry with him, thoughts of what Draven meant filled her head. Her body reacted to the thoughts.
“I can smell your desires even with the door closed between us.”
She closed her eyes. “Not something you need to broadcast. Besides nothing’s happening while I’m bruised and hurting from the wreck.” She shook her head and thought, and maybe not even after I heal. She was worried. Sooner or later he would probably get mad at her and change his mind about her…again.
He growled. “They will pay for hurting you.”
“Yeah, they’re going to wish they were never born by the time I get through with them,” she agreed. She groaned as she pushed off the door. Hopefully the hot shower would help her achy muscles. Dumping the pile of clothes onto a chair, she turned on the hot water and waited for it to warm.
Several minutes later, Kelly came out of the bathroom dressed in denim jeggings and an oversized sweatshirt. Her hair was still damp, but there wasn’t anything she could do about that. Hopefully it would dry before she had to go outside. “Has the nurse brought the release papers?”
“Not yet.” Draven shook his head.
She nodded.
It felt good to be clean, but between the energy she spent taking the shower and her argument with the doctor, she was tired. As much as she wanted to go home, at that moment, all she wanted to do was crawl back into the hospital bed. It didn’t even matter that it was uncomfortable.
Draven noticed she was staring at the bed. He moved the backpack to the floor next to the chair. “Lay down. You need the rest.”
She didn’t argue with him, because she knew he was right about her needing rest. Her body was telling her the same thing. Kelly climbed into the bed and rolled onto her right side so she was facing her mate. She wanted to believe he really wanted her for his mate. He was going to have to work and prove to her he was serious about her. She watched him.
Her mate.
She still couldn’t believe she had a mate…a very handsome mate even if he was obnoxiously stubborn. Hopefully, she would be able to keep him.
She yawned before she could stop herself.
“It’ll probably be a good thirty minutes to an hour before the nurse brings the paperwork. You might as well try to take a nap.”
“I know.” She yawned again. “I need to stop by Bennett’s Shop and get my cellphone, purse, and coat out of the car, if they’re still in there. My wallet’s in my purse, and I really don’t want someone stealing my credit card and going on a shopping spree at my expense.” She yawned again. “And these yawns have to stop. Plus, I need my coat.”
Draven shook his head. “Moose dropped off a box at your house. He and his brother got everything out of the car last night.”
“He didn’t leave it on the front porch, did he?” Kelly was having a hard time keeping her eyes open.
“It’s on the kitchen table.” He watched her curl up. After a couple of minutes her breathing evened out. Grabbing the blanket at the foot of the bed, he pulled it over her.
~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Kelly knew she was dreaming but she couldn’t make herself wake up. The truck in front of her slowed. She tried to pass it, but it moved over, blocking her attempts. The lights in her rearview mirror grew brighter. She knew what was going to happen next.
Wake up!
She tried commanding her body, but it refused to listen.
The large truck coming up behind her was going to hit her. She knew that even before it leaped forward with a burst of speed. Her body tightened in anticipation. The impact was going to throw her hard against the seatbelt, but she knew the second hit would be worse. It would send the car rolling down the embankment and there was no way to stop it.
The lights came closer and closer, until…a hand touched her shoulder and shook her.
“Wake up baby. You’re having a nightmare.”
Kelly slowly opened her eyes.
Draven looked down at her. Concern filled his eyes. “Bad dream?”
She blinked. Sleep slowly faded. “More like a bad memory.” She thought about the wreck and how much worse it could have been. A shudder rippled through her body. She was fussing about going home when she could have been in the morgue instead of the hospital.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded. Honestly, she was about as okay as she could be under the circumstances. Being in the hospital didn’t help either. She was starting to feel trapped.
“The nurse brought your paperwork by a few minutes ago. I signed it. As soon as someone brings in a wheelchair, you can leave,” said Draven.
Kelly rubbed the rest of the sleep from her eyes. “I can leave? You’re not teasing me, are you?”
He shook his head.
She looked around the room. “Let’s get out of here now. I don’t need a wheelchair. I can walk. Maybe even run if I have to…just in case they change their mind.”
Draven shook his head again. “It’s hospital policy. Besides, you need to conserve your energy so your body can heal.”
She looked at him and growled.
“You growled at me.” He grinned at her.
“Yeah and I sometimes bite too, especially when I’m cranky.” She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “And I’m hungry. Also, a large coffee with cream and sugar would be good.”
Draven chuckled. “Coffee. Food. Home. Anything else?”
“The heads of the jerks who destroyed my car when they decided to play pinball with me.”
“A little blood thirsty, aren’t you?” He raised an eyebrow.
She snorted. “Just when people hurt what’s mine.” She looked him directly in the eyes.
Someone knocked on the door. Before Draven or Kelly could say anything, the door opened. A young male orderly pushed in a wheelchair. “I believe someone ordered a chariot to take her away from this place.” The man pushed his blond hair out of his eyes. “You’re cute,” he said, staring at Kelly.
A low growl filled the room.
The young man immediately turned his head and bared his neck. “I’m sorry, Alpha. I didn’t know she was yours.”
“Now you do.” Draven couldn’t fault the young wolf from thinking Kelly was cute, because she was. But the pup needed to learn not to voice those thoughts or act upon them.
Kelly rolled her eyes. She had lost count of how many times she heard Pops make a similar growl when other males got too close to her mom or flirted with her. “Whatever. Can I leave now?”
Draven took off his jacket. “You need
to put this on too.”
Kelly nodded. She thought the sweatshirt she had on would be enough to keep her warm, but obviously Draven didn’t. She slipped her arms into the sleeves and watched him zip it closed. Before she could slide off the bed, he picked her up and gently set her down in the wheelchair.
Her mind was a jumble of thoughts as they made their way through the hospital and to the exit. She hoped her other coat was in the box Moose had dropped off at her house, she thought as she and the orderly waited for Draven to get his truck. It was bad enough she was going to have to replace the light weight jacket because the paramedics had cut it off. She just didn’t want to replace both of them.
And then there was the issue of her car. Sure, she had full coverage on it, but she doubted the insurance company would pay the full amount. It would probably be enough to pay for half of a new car, which meant she would have to finance the rest to get what she wanted. She was definitely going to have to find a job.
She sighed.
“Are you hurting?” asked the young orderly. “Do I need to call a nurse?”
“I’m fine. Just thinking about all the things I need to do.” Luckily Draven drove into the circular drive and parked in front of her.
Kelly watched Draven walked around the truck and opened the passenger door. Before she could get out of the wheelchair, he picked her up and gently set her on the seat. He grabbed the seatbelt.
“I can do that,” she said.
“I know.” Draven fastened the seatbelt and checked it, making sure it was secure. “Ready?”
She nodded.
He closed the door and walked back around the truck. He got in and put on his seatbelt. He glanced at Kelly before he put the truck into drive.
As he drove away from the hospital, Kelly glanced into the side mirror. She watched the building disappear. “Are you taking me to my place?”
He looked at her. “For now.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything as she watched the office buildings and then the houses pass by in a blur. Between the passing scenery and the warm air from the heater, she grew sleepy.
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