by Amelia Jade
“I’m sorry, Doctor Hightower is busy at the moment, and doesn’t have time for your sorry ass,” she growled, stressing the emphasis of her title.
“Sorry? I’m not sorry,” he said with a frown.
“No, but you will be,” she promised, opening the door fully and letting him in.
“Oooh, you almost sound serious there!” he teased.
She couldn’t help it, she giggled again. Then she allowed herself to be swept up by him, throwing her arms as far around his broad chest as they could reach.
“Miss me?” he asked, all teasing gone from his tone.
She nodded, taking a deep breath and inhaling the slight, natural man scent that all men seemed to have. Her body seemed to melt as she did, and she was positive the only thing keeping her on her feet at that point was the strong arm wrapped tightly around her lower back.
“Ready to get to work?” she asked after a moment, disentangling herself from him.
“Almost,” he said, stopping her as she took a step toward the exercise room next door.
“What is it?” she asked, tilting her head as she looked at him.
“Can we do this elsewhere?”
“What do you mean?”
“I want to be outside. It seems to help me. Up here,” he said, tapping the side of his head to explain.
She frowned in thought. “I suppose we can probably do most of it outside, yes,” she said, nodding her head. “It’ll be trickier, but if you think it’s going to help...” she trailed off.
“I think my bear needs it. I think it’s been more traumatized about this than I’ve been.”
She could sense that he wasn’t telling her everything, but he made no move to explain, so she didn’t press him about it. Not yet at least. Sydney specialized in the body, not the mind. Unless it was causing a problem, she was content to let him work on it himself. She would probably do more damage than good.
“Let me grab my stuff then,” she said, slipping her shoes off and putting on her boots. “I take it you’re good in that?” she asked, gesturing to the very military-looking tactical pants and shirt he wore.
“Very,” he assured her.
“Must be nice,” she said, forcing her foot into the soles of her purple winter boots. She caught him eyeing her footwear. “Got a problem?”
He snickered. “No, not at all. It’s a very, um, unique color.”
She gave him an unimpressed look. “There’s the door, use it.”
A loud bark of laughter came from deep within him, and instead of saying anything more Uriel opened the door, holding it so she could exit through it first.
“How far are we going?” she asked as they wandered through the nearby forest, moving farther and farther away from the building.
“Enough that I can put the office out of sight and out of mind,” he replied.
Sydney frowned at the tension evident when he spoke. That wasn’t like him. “Does it bother you that much, being in there?”
He glanced over at her. “I think so. Not sure why, to be honest. Either way, I felt incredibly relaxed the other day when I was outside at Gabe’s cabin. So I just want to try it here.”
She shrugged. “That’s fine. We’re not working on any complicated exercises just yet anyway.”
Another double handful of minutes later, they came to a small clearing. Beside her Uriel took a deep breath in, and then exhaled slowly.
“Okay, what’s first today Doc?” he asked.
She smiled and began to put him through his paces. They substituted trees and branches for some of the equipment she had back in the office, but it was close enough that it made no difference. They went through a number of exercises and repetitions. There was little progress on some, and she gave him grief for not having practiced any of his balancing drills while he was gone. Overall though, she thought of it as a very effective session.
“Whoa.” Sydney steadied herself on Uriel as a strong gust of wind blew through the clearing an hour or so later. She hadn’t been watching the time.
“We should go,” Uriel said. The sky above them was darkening rapidly, and as if on cue, huge, heavy flakes of snow began to swirl and dance through the air, quickly plastering everything in a solid layer.
“Yep, I agree,” she said and they moved back the way they had come. It was a good twenty-minute walk the first time, though she knew they would cover it faster now, since they were moving with a purpose. Uriel stuck out his hand as they leaned against the wind, unimpeded as it was by the lack of leaves on the trees. Without thinking she took it, and let him guide her along.
Their vision became worse and worse as the storm picked up in fury with stunning rapidity. The snow was so wet it began to slap across their faces as the mounting power of the storm struck them again and again. She had rarely seen something come on so strong and so quickly.
Buffeted by the winds, she tucked herself in close behind Uriel’s hulking form, trying to evade as much of the storm as possible. He forged ahead relentlessly, his massive legs plowing a way for her. They were closing in on the mansion thank goodness. Their progress had gotten slow, and even with Uriel making her path as easy as he could, she was tiring quickly.
Her left foot caught on something hidden in the snow and she went down, landing in the already shin-deep snow. It took Uriel a step and a half to realize that when she let go of his hand, it hadn’t been to use it, but because she fell.
Crrrrack!
The branch above her shuddered under the weight of the wet snow and snapped off, plummeting down toward her.
“Uriel!” she shouted, throwing her hands over her head, waiting for the impact. There was no time to move and the branch was too big.
A loud crash, the snapping of wood, and a very pained grunt all occurred beyond her obscured vision. Something heavy and sharp slapped against her leg and she cried out with pain.
Moving her hands, she saw Uriel crouched above her, his face scrunched up in pain.
“Oh my God!” she gasped as her eyes refocused on the branch protruding from his shoulder. It had impaled him and stopped mere inches away from her face. She scrambled out from under him and made to rise, but her leg shrieked in agony and she collapsed to the ground.
Looking down, she saw a large gash on her leg, with blood pouring from it. Although she wasn’t a trained nurse, her experience helping Courtenay told her that she needed stitches, and soon.
“I’ll be okay,” Uriel grunted. Then he looked over at her and noticed her leg. “Okay, time to go.”
“No you don’t! Don’t move!” she told him. The large part of the trunk was lying lengthwise on top of him, pinned in place by the shard that had penetrated his shoulder.
“Yep, gonna hurt, but I’ll be fine. Close your eyes,” he ordered.
She thought to argue, but instead decided he knew what he was doing and followed his instructions.
He did something, yelled in pain, and she heard the branch hit the ground. Opening her eyes she realized he had twisted to his side, letting the thick branch roll off him and onto the ground, using its momentum to snap it from the piece embedded in him.
“Okay, Doctor. Now,” he ordered, gingerly getting to his feet. It had decided to pierce him on the side where he already lacked an arm, so his good arm was still intact. “Hold on tight around my neck,” he ordered, scooping her up in one powerful arm as if she were nothing. “It’s going to get bumpy.”
Without further warning he took off, practically sprinting through the remaining forest and then across the flat grounds outside the mansion. He leaned back and slammed his foot through the door, tearing it off its hinges in his haste.
“I’m not hurt that badly,” she tried to tell him, but then she looked over his shoulder and saw the trail of blood she was leaking through the snow and now across the floor.
Okay, perhaps this is worse than I thought.
Why didn’t she feel any pain then?
Right. I’m in shock. Well, not that I’ve
realized that, pain will be coming along any—
“Ahhhh!” she yelped aloud as her leg exploded with fire. She thrashed in his arm, trying to keep still, but every step he took sent stabs of utter agony up her leg.
“Almost there,” he whispered in her ear. Then he turned his head back down the hallway. “DOCTOR!” he yelled, his booming voice echoing through the halls as his heavy feet pounded down the hallway.
Courtenay came out of her office so fast she almost slammed into them.
“She needs stitches. Now.” Despite the pain he was feeling, Uriel’s voice came out calm but firm with order and command. She saw Courtenay’s spine straighten and she immediately dodged around Uriel and threw open the door to the operating room that was across from her office.
“In here. Cut her pants off to the thigh and tell me what happened while you do,” she commanded, snatching various tools and implements from the table.
Sydney lay back as they tied a tourniquet to slow the bleeding. She wanted to hit herself for not thinking of that earlier, and the look in Uriel’s eyes said he was thinking the same thing.
“It’s deep, but I don’t think she hit any major arteries thankfully,” Courtenay said after examining the wound. It was only then that she noticed the wooden stake in Uriel’s shoulder. “Holy shit, we have to get that out!” she exclaimed.
“Sydney first,” Uriel said and there was absolutely no give in the steel in his voice. His eyes flared, prepared to challenge anything Courtenay might say, but the doctor decided she wasn’t willing to fight that battle and turned back to her first patient.
“This is going to hurt. Sorry Syd.”
She winced but nodded, and something jabbed into her leg. Suddenly Uriel’s hand was there and she latched onto it with both hands, squeezing tightly as pain flared up her leg.
Then she blacked out.
***
“Huh?” she mumbled, blinking rapidly as the world returned to focus.
“I’m here,” came Uriel’s voice, though it seemed distant.
She blinked and tried to focus on the source of the noise. She saw Uriel, who seemed to be sitting. The rest of the picture swam into her vision and she realized the amorphous blob she had seen next to him was actually Courtenay, who was currently looking at the massive wound in his shoulder.
Uriel’s shirt was missing, she noted. It revealed his sculpted muscles, but also the torn and bleeding flesh where the wood had been. It didn’t look that bad considering the chunk of wood that had speared him.
“How long have I been out?” she asked.
“Half an hour,” Uriel replied.
“What? That’s impossible,” she said, sitting up. “You’re healing so fast!”
He smiled. “That’s the way things go with us,” he said. “It would be even better, but we didn’t realize it had snagged itself on bone. That wasn’t pleasant getting it out,” he said, wincing at the memory. “Another few hours and I’ll be good to go.”
“Unbelievable,” she said quietly, watching. She swore she could actually see his wound stitching itself closed. “And me?” She looked down at her leg. The right ankle was covered in bandages.
“You’ll be okay,” Courtenay said somewhat distractedly from behind Uriel. “It wasn’t nearly as bad as it looked. Don’t exercise for a few days, but other than that, you should be just fine. It’ll take a while to fully heal, but in three, maybe four days you should barely feel it anymore.”
“Really?” she asked, looking at her ankle. “There was a lot of blood.”
“That happens sometimes. Think about head wounds; they bleed like fiends even if they aren’t too serious.” She shrugged. “Got it all stitched up. You’ll be fine.”
“If you say so, Doc,” she said, sharing a laughing glance with Uriel at the term.
The bleeding on his shoulder had stopped by now, and the angry coloring of bruising was beginning to set in.
“Amazing,” she whispered.”
“Take it easy there shifter boy, and you’ll be just fine in no time.”
“Thanks Doctor,” he said politely, pulling the shirt back over his head. Courtenay moved to help him as he hissed with pain as his skin pulled at the wound.
“Remember fifteen seconds ago, when I said to take it easy?” Courtenay asked with exasperation as her charge hopped off the table and came directly to Sydney’s side.
“I heard you,” he said, but his focus was on Sydney. “How are you?” he asked cautiously.
“A little woozy,” she said. “But overall not too bad. Am I on drugs?”
“No, she said it wasn’t necessary. You just passed out, is all.”
“Not as bad as she says, huh?” Sydney swung her leg over the edge of the table. The movement flashed pain through her and she momentarily saw white. Gritting her teeth, she sat up straight and took a deep breath.
“Can you take me home? Are you okay to do that?” she asked.
He nodded.
Courtenay sighed and went over to a storage locker and removed some crutches. “I need these back! Just don’t do anything stupid, okay? Lots of bedrest, stay off that foot until it heals.”
She smiled and nodded at her friend. “My thoughts mirror yours Court, no worries.”
The doctor’s eyes flicked back and forth between the two of them as they stared at each other. “I’m sure they do,” she said, though Sydney didn’t process the sarcasm.
The drive home was slow, since the weather was terrible. They took Uriel’s truck, judging it safer with the current weather conditions. But once her house came into view, she felt her heart begin to speed up. She directed him to pull into the driveway.
“Do you want me to pick you up for work in the morning?” he asked politely after escorting her to the door.
As an answer she walked inside on her crutches, leaving the door open behind her. There was a slight pause when she thought Uriel wouldn’t get—or take—the hint, but then she heard the screen door open and he followed her inside.
She turned as smoothly as she could with the crutches, waiting until he had divested himself of his boots. Then she let the crutches fall away.
“What are you doing?” he asked, unsure of what was going on.
“Doctor said I needed lots of bed rest.”
“She also said not to walk around on that ankle,” Uriel said, pointedly looking at the crutches.
He’s so cute when he’s trying to be polite.
“That’s why you’re going to carry me to the bedroom,” she said huskily, giving her eyes an extra bat in his direction.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, and she half-hopped and was half-scooped up into his arm.
“Straight ahead and to the right,” she told him, remembering that he hadn’t been inside before.
Moving smoothly through the confined spaces of her house, Uriel quickly laid her on the bed.
“Not so fast,” she said with a smile as he moved to stand up straight. She pulled on his shirt until his lips were pressed against hers, then she tugged some more, ensuring he stayed close.
Awkwardly he came and lay next to her. She could sense his sudden tenseness.
“It’s okay,” she told him between kisses. “We’ll figure it out.”
He pulled back. “How did you know?”
“That this was your first time since the injury and you aren’t sure of how to go about it since you can’t support yourself the way you normally do?”
Uriel blinked in surprise at her analysis and then nodded.
She smiled, kissing him fiercely again. “I’m smart. And a doctor, don’t you forget that.”
“Of course Doc, wouldn’t dream of it,” he told her, kissing her hard.
She felt her core heating up as the waves of warmth reached out from Uriel and grabbed her, sinking its claws deep into her exposed skin. Goosebumps broke out down her arms and she shivered in delight.
“You’re so warm,” she whispered.
“Call me cheesy, but I think
you’re hot,” he said with a lopsided grin.
She giggled, putting her hand on his chest and trying to give him a shove. It was like trying to move a steel beam.
“So strong,” she said, her hand sliding across his muscles, exploring them through the shirt he wore. “Sit up,” she commanded.
He followed her instructions, and she gingerly moved herself into a sitting position, careful not to twist her leg too much. Reaching out, she carefully removed his shirt, being extra cautious where he had been hurt.
To her surprise, it was completely closed. There was still a huge welt and bruising all around what had been a gaping hole, but now in the center she could actually make out the fresh pink of newly healed skin.
“That’s amazing,” she said, in awe of his healing.
He winced slightly as her fingers brushed against it, ensuring what she was seeing was real.
“Sorry,” she said, yanking her hand back.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he assured her, taking her hand in his and placing it on the other side of his chest. Then he reached out and began to try and remove her shirt. It was awkward and he couldn’t get it above her breasts.
“Shh,” she said, pressing a hand to his lips as he made a noise of frustration. “We’ll do it together.” Without waiting for any agreement, she grabbed the other side of her shirt, and the two of them had it removed in no time.
His hand slipped around her back, and she wondered if he could get her bra undone with his off hand. The sudden looseness of the material told her that that was one thing she didn’t have to worry about.
Their shirts gone, the pair of them lay back on the bed, facing each other. Her hands held his face tight to hers as she kissed him again, trying not to shiver too badly as his fingers slid up her ribcage and cupped her exposed breast. It was a challenge not to, as his fingers seemed to caress each nerve ending in her exposed flesh. Sydney felt her back arch toward him involuntarily, seeking to press her skin against his.
Embers were flaring to life between her legs well before Uriel sent his hand questing south, but the first brush of his fingers as they followed the curve of her hips between her legs nearly consumed her with the sudden eruption of desire that she hadn’t known was buried in her. His strong fingers stoked her forge, bringing the flames higher as he applied more pressure.
