Because she was right, Jewel let the other waitress lead her away, toward the parking lot.
“How badly was Colton hurt?”
Not wanting to seem ungrateful, Jewel tried to focus on Jolene’s face. “He was unconscious, but they didn’t seem overly concerned.”
“Good.”
The drive to the hospital passed in an early morning blur. With sunrise still hours away, their headlights cut a path through curving road and wilderness. Jolene chattered nonstop with Jewel managing to nod at all the appropriate places.
East Texas Medical Center looked all too familiar. Her wolf recoiled and Jewel shuddered.
Jolene noticed. “Honey, I hope you’re not in shock.”
“I’m not.” As soon as they’d parked under a light post, Jewel climbed out of the car. “Come on.”
“Slow down.” Jolene hurried to catch up. “It’s still dark and no one else is around. We need to stay together.”
“You’re right.” Jewel slowed her pace, so the older woman could keep up. “I’m sorry, I’m so worried about Colton.”
When they entering the brightly lit deserted lobby, the temperature dropped twenty degrees.
“Why are hospitals always so cold?” Jolene complained.
“We’re here to check on Colton Reynolds.”
The woman at the front desk smiled at their inquiry. “Let me see.” She punched his name into her computer. “You ladies are in luck. Looks like they just moved him from intensive care to a room on this floor. His room will be that way.” She gave them directions.
Moving silently down deserted well-lit hallways, they turned corner after corner without encountering a single person.
“I feel like a rat in a maze.” Arms wrapped around herself, Jolene looked uncomfortable. “I’ve never liked hospitals.”
“Me either,” Jewel admitted. “Here we are.”
The door was partially open. Jewel pushed inside, glad to see the room was lit.
Colton was sitting up in bed.
“Shouldn’t you be asleep?” she chided. “It’s four-thirty in the morning.”
“Jewel.” His look seared her, even across the room. His face was bruised, but the only thing bandaged was his right arm. “I was worried about you.”
Unable to speak for the tightness in her throat, Jewel nodded.
“She was worried about you, too, mister.” Jolene wrapped her arm around Jewel’s shoulders. “We thought she might go after that Buick’s driver with her bare hands.”
Because the other waitress was uncomfortably close, Jewel moved away from her, toward the bed. Toward Colton.
He held out his good arm.
She moved into him, struck by the oddest urge to weep.
“Shhh,” he murmured, smoothing her hair away from her forehead, as if he knew.
From the doorway, Jolene made a sound of approval.
Jewel didn’t care. “What happened to you? Is your arm broken?”
“No.” He lifted the bandage. “I had some cuts and bruises. That’s all. I was lucky. The table blocked me from serious injury.”
“I thought you were…” She couldn’t finish. Clearing her throat, she tried again, reaching for the utterly banal. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”
Frowning, Jolene shook her head. “Tell him how you really feel.”
Both Colton and Jewel gave her identical looks.
“I am glad he’s all right,” Jewel repeated.
“Okaaaay.” Jolene threw up her hands. “I’ll shut up now.”
Colton ignored her. “I want out of here.”
Jewel pulled back, remembering how he’d helped her leave this same hospital when she’d felt the same. “Are you sure you should?”
“I’m fine. They already told me. I have a mild concussion, nothing more.”
Unable to stop touching him, she glanced over her shoulder at Jolene, still standing in the doorway watching. “I had to get a ride…”
“I can take you home.” Jolene shrugged, grinning. “It does my heart good to see the two of you. It’s been so long since I’ve been around two people in love.” She waved away Jewel’s attempt to protest. “I know when I’m not wanted. I’ll wait out here in the waiting room. You two take your time. I saw a new copy of People magazine I want to read.” She bustled away.
Feeling her cheeks heat, Jewel turned back toward Colton. “This is my fault. Leo hurt you and destroyed the restaurant just to get to me.”
“Maybe.” He planted a fierce kiss on her mouth, stunning her. “Or maybe not. Accidents do happen, you know. It might have simply been some drunken idiot, ramming into the building because he hit the accelerator instead of the brake.”
Desire flared. Completely inappropriate and, even more shocking, without her having gone through a failed change first. This so stunned her, she bit off the comment she’d been about to make.
“Did they ever find the driver?” Colton’s question brought her back to reality.
“No. They never found him,” she said quietly, pulling away. “Why don’t you get dressed, and we’ll let Jolene take us home?” Without waiting to hear his answer, she took off for the waiting area. Instinctively, she reached for her silver wolf necklace, the one she never removed. It was gone.
That necklace had been the one thing Leo couldn’t take from her, and now he had. She must have lost it in the confusion at work.
If there was a way to get it back, she vowed, she would.
An hour after Jolene dropped them off at Colton’s place, the urge to change nearly brought Jewel to her knees. Tired of confinement, her wolf alter ego wanted freedom. Jewel couldn’t say she blamed it.
She had to try to change. With Colton settled in his bed, dozing, and the pending dawn’s rosy glow quickly chasing away the shadows and darkness, she knew she’d not have a better opportunity.
Slipping from the house into the backyard, she stood still, fully human, and sniffed the air like an animal. Her nostrils flared as she took in the myriad scents—lake and fish and damp grass.
No men, no other humans. Thanks to Colton’s tree-shaded lakeside acreage, she was safe, for now. With anticipation coiled low in her belly, she strode to the little copse of trees at the water’s edge and, leaving her sundress on this time, dropped to the ground. On all fours, she crouched, letting the feel of the earth seep into her. Inhaling through her mouth, she tried to slow her racing heartbeat, wanting calm before the utter chaos of change overtook her.
Relaxing in increments, her confidence soared. Unlike the other times when she’d attempted this, something felt…right. Clicked. Now, maybe she could—
“Jewel?”
Colton’s voice. She jerked her head up. Inside, her wolf-self bared her teeth and snarled.
Damn it. A quick glance at the ever-lightening sky showed dawn was imminent.
“Jewel? Where are you?”
“Right here.” Jumping to her feet and hurrying barefoot across the grass toward the house, she quickly brushed leaves and dirt from her dress. “What are you doing out of bed? You should be resting.” Though she tried, she couldn’t manage to keep the edge from her voice.
“I was.” He ran a hand through his hair, his gaze searching her face in the glow from his porch light. “But something woke me, I’m not sure what. Are you all right?”
She had to get him back to bed. Her body still hummed with the need—no, the compulsion—to change. “I’m fine. Just getting a little air.” Reaching for his arm, she drew back, not daring to touch him while she was in this state. “Come on, let’s get you back to bed.”
“What’s wrong?” He didn’t move. “You sound…different.”
Shifting her weight from foot to foot, she inhaled deeply. Any minute now, her fragile control would shatter. “Nothing’s wrong.” Swallowing past the lie, she forced a smile, shaking her head when she saw the disbelief in his shadowed eyes. “I don’t feel well,” she admitted. “I thought a bite of air might help.”
“A what?”
“Bit. A bit of air.”
“Did it?”
She started to reply, then a sharp pain stabbed her abdomen. Gasping, she doubled over.
“Jewel? Are you all right?” He reached for her arm. She dodged him before he could touch her. As she did, the wolf broke free.
“Get back,” she gasped. Dropping, she belly-crawled out of the porch light, hoping to reach the edge of the trees, where darkness was deeper. “Go inside the house.”
“Jewel?” He wasn’t listening. Instead, she heard his footsteps as he moved toward her.
Crap. Her body stretched, convulsing her. Her bones began to lengthen, sending pain shooting through her. Pain wasn’t good, though this felt…better. Closer.
Feeling her wolf’s rage, she writhed on the ground. Letting a human see this was against the most basic of Pack laws.
Convulsing again, she clawed at the ground. Her paws raked at the grass, tearing through to damp earth. This time, the change was coming, she could feel it. No time to worry about him or Pack law, not now. She knew she must only concentrate on changing, if she wanted to stay alive.
Confined far too long, her wolf-self broke free with a vengeance. Rejoicing, she let the beast come, hoping, praying nothing would go wrong.
Then Colton touched her.
“Noooooo!” she screamed, part howl. “Get back.”
But he wouldn’t listen. No doubt he thought she was dying. “Jewel, hang on. Let me carry you into the house and I’ll call 911. I left my cell there.”
He scooped her up close, pinning her arms to her sides.
Still, she fought him. With teeth and claws and everything wild that would not be denied. “Let me go.”
“Shhh,” he attempted to soothe her, trying to hang on to her while she lashed out and struggled to get away.
Could he not see what she was becoming? Did he not feel her silken pelt erupting on smooth skin?
Evidently not. At five feet eight inches and a hundred and twenty pounds, she was no match for his six-feet-plus height and muscle. She could feel her bones sliding back into place, and the edges of her vision blurred as wolf acquiesced to human form.
She was going to pass out. Needing all of her strength to remain conscious, she stopped struggling.
“Let me get you into the house. You’ll be all right, I promise.” Obviously believing this was some sort of seizure, he continued murmuring. When they reached the kitchen door, he turned the knob with one hand, kicked it open and carried her to the sofa.
Gently, he placed her on the worn cushions, sliding his arms out from under her. Desire slammed into her, blazing fire through her veins. As he straightened to move away, she grabbed him.
“Wait. Don’t go.” Out of control, she pulled him down and kissed him. The feel of his mouth opening under hers was like adding gasoline to an inferno.
She felt the catch of his breath as he returned her kiss. Triumph, heady and compelling, fueled her need. Now, she would have him now, wrapped around her, buried deep inside her.
Using her hand, she tore at his clothing.
“No.” He ripped his mouth away. Chest rising and falling rapidly, he straightened, glaring at her with desire still dark in his eyes.
Unable to help herself, she writhed on the sofa, her hand where his body should be.
“Stop it.” His sharp order sounded like rusty nails, and she laughed, taunting him.
“You want me, I know. I can see.” Lifting her dress, she moved her hips, mimicking the motion of sex. “I’m wet, I’m ready.” She reached out, meaning to stroke the huge bulge in the front of his pants.
Instead, he captured her hand. “Jewel, stop.” He sounded as if he was gritting his teeth.
“I can’t,” she cried, giving him honesty, her need pushing away everything else. “Please, Colton. Please.”
Their gazes caught, held. For the space of one heartbeat she thought he might give in to what they both wanted.
Instead, he shook his head. “Not until you tell me what’s going on.”
“I…can’t. That’s the truth.” A single tear rolled down her cheek, startling her.
Colton walked to his truck. He drove off in a screech of tires, leaving her alone with her desire and her pain, a caged wild animal, unable to break free.
Chapter 10
Two nights’ tips weren’t enough to bankroll an ant. If she was going to flee again, she’d need a lot more than that. Big Al had called that morning, explaining he was calling all his employees to warn them it would be weeks, maybe months before he was able to operate. Like all the other former employees of Jack’s Grill on the Water, Jewel once again put on a skirt and a short-sleeved blouse and hit the pavement in search of another job.
She left Colton asleep and headed into town in the relatively cool morning. Still, by the time she’d walked the distance, her light cotton blouse was plastered to her back.
Still, she went from one restaurant to another, filling out applications and participating in cursory interviews.
No one was interested in hiring her. Finally, the manager at the local Burger Barn told her why. “Trouble seems to follow you,” he said. “Your house burned, then Jack’s Grill was wrecked. No one wants to take a chance they’ll be next.”
She might as well have worn a big scarlet letter on her forehead, maybe a T for trouble or a C for cursed.
Outside, the sun beamed brightly, birds sang in the trees, and weekenders, as the locals called the city dwellers who came down to spend the weekend in their lake houses, strolled the streets in brightly colored shorts and sandals. In the few hours she’d spent looking, the heat had climbed, approaching triple digits.
A typical summer day in a lake town. She eyed a laughing family of five eating ice-cream cones and wondered what the hell she was going to do.
For now, she’d better head back to Colton’s before the thermometer showed one hundred.
In preparation, she bought a diet soda with lots of ice. If she kept to the shade, the long walk might not be too bad. She could always jump in the lake to cool off.
“Jewel! Wait up.”
Jewel turned, the sun blinding her. “Reba?”
Shading her eyes with her hand, she watched as the other woman hurried across the parking lot.
“It’s so hot, even breathing is painful. What are you doing outside on a day like this?” Short of breath, Reba fanned herself. She wore an orange pair of cotton capris and a yellow, green and orange patterned tank top.
“Trying to find another job.” Jewel took a long drink and shrugged. “I’m not having much luck. They all seem to think I’m jinxed.”
“Ah, honey let all the fuss die down. After a week or two goes by, they’ll forget all about it.”
“I don’t have a week or two.”
Reba frowned. “I don’t know what you mean, but you may be right. I was looking for you. We’ve got to talk. Remember what I told you last night? About Colton?”
Squinting at the other woman, Jewel nodded. The sun beat down unmercifully. Beads of perspiration ran down Jewel’s back. “Please. Not this again. I have enough problems.”
“I knew you didn’t believe me,” Reba crowed. Then sobering, she waggled her finger at Jewel. “But you will now. There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”
“Is this person willing to hire me?”
“Not hardly.”
“Then why do I want to meet him? I wasn’t kidding when I said this isn’t a good time.” Moving into the limited shade offered by a spindly oak tree, Jewel thought she might throw up. The heat was unbelievable.
“Not him, her. And believe me, you’ll want to meet her.”
“Right now, all I want is a cold shower and some iced tea.”
“Jewel,” Reba’s no-nonsense tone matched the gleam in her eye. “You have to meet her.”
With a sigh, Jewel drained the last of her drink. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why?”
“Remember what I told you about Co
lton?”
“That he’s abusive? Yes, I do. And I’ve seen no evidence that would make me ever believe that of him.”
“You know what?” Reba shook her head, her eyes sad. “I thought the same thing until the man I’ve been seeing introduced me to Bettina. You really need to meet her.”
“You still haven’t told me why.”
Taking a deep breath, Reba drew herself up and exhaled. “Because…” She swallowed. “She’s Colton’s girlfriend.”
“Colton has a girlfriend?” Every nerve in Jewel’s body went quiet. Utterly still, the kind of motionless waiting her wolf adopted right before bringing down a deer.
“Had. He had a girlfriend. I knew you didn’t know.” Reba sighed again. “And I can tell from your expression that the news shocks you.”
“Yes, it does. But I really don’t want to meet Colton’s former girlfriend. What will that prove?”
“You will.” Reba grabbed her arm. “Come on. She’s waiting in my office. I’ll drive.”
“I don’t know.”
“No more beating around the bush.” Sniffing, Reba wiped away a tear. “Bettina’s all beat-up. She’s been abused, Jewel. Horribly. By Colton. She wants to talk to you. Once you see what he did to her, you’ll see why I’m so upset. You won’t want to have anything else to do with Colton Reynolds, ever.”
Jewel’s past rushed up to meet her. Images of Leo, his big, meaty fist pummeling her stomach, made Jewel wince. Her stomach dropped. “Not Colton.”
“Yes, Colton. I’ve been trying to warn you.”
If Reba had wanted to push a hot button, she’d found one. Despite the scorching sun, Jewel couldn’t move. All she could think was not Colton.
Not again. Good Lord, not again.
She’d been in this Bettina’s shoes. No one had believed her either. The one time she’d summoned up enough courage to call the police, the cops had joked around with Leo, saying next time to hit her in places where the bruises didn’t show.
She’d learned her lesson. No matter what he’d done to her after that, Jewel had never called the police again.
She couldn’t even contact the Pack shaman, Luc Harrick, her spiritual leader. She’d been afraid he’d tell Leo. After all, he was one of them, just like the police had been. Despite his supposed vow of silence, when push came to shove, she’d bet he’d cave. They all did.
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