by Jessie Lane
She slowly opened her eyes to see a gray-haired doctor standing at the end of her bed, looking over the chart in his hands. “How are you feeling, Ms. O’Conner?”
Really? Why did doctors and nurses always have to ask you stupid questions like that?
Not bothering to hide the sarcasm in her voice, Jenna replied, “Like I’ve been shot. How are you feeling, Doc?”
He ignored her droll attitude and kept flipping pages in her chart as he read. Finally, he looked up and straight at her. “I’ll keep this as brief as possible; you are a very lucky young lady. The bullet went through the unprotected part of your shoulder and lodged near the bone. The surgery to remove the bullet went smoothly, and while we were in the operating room, we went ahead and made sure that there was no damage done to your subclavian artery, which feeds the brachial artery. That’s the main artery of the arm. We saw no damage there, but I am worried about your brachial plexus, which is the large nerve bundle that controls arm function. You should heal up nicely, but you may need physical therapy for your arm if the brachial plexus was damaged. Besides that, you’re good to go home tonight. Do you have any questions before I sign your release papers?”
She opened her mouth to ask the doctor if she could have the bullet they had taken out of her, but Adam’s voice stopped her.
“No, Doctor, we have no questions. Is there anything we need to know, such as care instructions, before I take her home?”
The doctor looked from Jenna to Adam and smiled. “The nurse will go over those before she releases Ms. O’Conner. And if that’s all, I wish you both a good day.”
As the doctor left the room, Jenna didn’t bother to watch him go. No, she was too busy staring at her mate. When he had spoken, there had been something other than relief in his voice. In fact, if she didn’t know any better, Jenna might have thought that Adam was angry. Now that she was looking at him, she could see the tenseness of his shoulders and the rigidity of his body, as if he was forcing himself to stay still … or calm.
As the seconds passed in silence with Jenna watching Adam, and Adam staring at their linked hands on top of the hospital bed, the area around Adam started to vibrate with his emotions. Jenna’s senses were not quite as sharp as your average shifters, so she couldn’t smell the subtle scents bodies put off with emotional changes, but she was good at reading people. It was part of her job, and she was damn good at it. Which was why Jenna could tell that the longer the silence passed between them, the angrier her mate was getting.
What in the hell was Adam mad about? She had been the one who was shot!
Was there something else going on here that she wasn’t aware of?
Jenna started to ask her mate what was wrong, when the nurse walked into the room with her insurance paperwork. It took ten long minutes for the nurse to go over the numerous pages, pointing out here and there where Jenna needed to sign her name, before she finally left Jenna alone to change and go home.
Those ten minutes had cost her something, and she didn’t need anyone to tell her that. She had seen Adam getting angrier by the second during that short ten-minute instruction time. He took in every word the nurse said, though. Jenna knew without a doubt that her mate would know exactly how the wound was to be cleaned and her limitations for the period of rest she was supposed to have probably better than Jenna herself.
She only wished she knew what was eating the man alive with fury.
Adam held up her change of clothes. “I called my sister and had her bring you these. There’s a button-up shirt so we don’t have to aggravate your shoulder and a pair of sweats. Do you need any help putting them on?”
Shaking her head, she responded, “No, I can do that much myself if you have something you need to do.”
He watched her for a few seconds, as if contemplating on whether or not he felt she actually needed his help, before he finally placed the clothes on the bed beside her. “Good. Here. I have to go make a phone call. I’ll be back in a few minutes, so if you need help after all, wait for me.”
Without another word, her mate walked out of the hospital room, leaving her there with her thoughts and a change of clothes.
Why was Adam mad? And why did she have this horrible, sinking feeling that he was mad at her? It couldn’t be because of her job. He knew who and what Jenna was down to her core when they had met, and he had told her he accepted her for who she was. That meant being a cop.
The need to protect and serve went all the way down to her marrow. Just as Adam was passionate about protecting his pack. Both jobs could be dangerous, yet she and Adam accepted those possibilities.
As she looked at the door to her room where he had disappeared, Jenna tried to mull over the problem. If he wasn’t mad at her for getting hurt on the job, what else could he be mad about? Was it because she had forgotten to wake him up and tell him goodbye and that she loved him before she left for work last night?
Shaking her head, Jenna knew that wasn’t it. That might piss him off a bit, but she knew her mate enough to know that it wouldn’t make him so mad that he would walk out of her hospital room without saying a word to her.
No, there had to be something else going on here.
Lying on the hospital bed with her shoulder throbbing, she tried to put herself in Adam’s place. Thinking of how scared he must have been when someone called to tell him she had been hurt. The fear of not knowing what exactly had happened. Especially because Jenna was considered weaker than your average shifter due to her hybrid genetics. She didn’t have the same advanced healing shifters did, which put her at a higher risk. Something that Adam would be able to heal from in no time could potentially take Jenna weeks or months, depending on the injury.
Perhaps even the feeling of helplessness because Adam wouldn’t have been able to see her at all until after the surgery to remove the bullet. Alphas didn’t like or accept any situation where they didn’t feel as if they were in control. Yesterday, control had been ripped from Adam’s hands and held over his head by the hospital as they had treated her. Even as she pondered how he would have reacted in that scenario, Jenna still didn’t think that would be enough to make Adam mad.
So, what was she missing here?
It wasn’t her job.
It more than likely wasn’t because she forgot to wake Adam up to tell him goodbye and that she loved him.
It might be because he was worried about her getting hurt with her less than spectacular healing abilities, but she didn’t think that was why he was mad, either.
Hell, it couldn’t even be because the hospital gave him a hard time. Jenna had listed Adam as her emergency contact, meaning that, even though they weren’t married in the eyes of the human laws, Adam was still the person they contacted and kept updated about her status. He would have all rights to her treatment plans and decisions.
Shaking her head in frustration, a lance of pain stabbed her in the shoulder, and Jenna winced at the sensation. The throbbing agony that was now pulsing where she had been shot made it impossible for her to think straight, but she didn’t dare mutter a word. She didn’t want to chance Adam hearing her from outside the room. She didn’t want him to know how much she hurt. Not when she had this mystery of trying to figure out what was going on in his head.
Sitting up, she shrugged the hospital gown off her arms and grabbed the button-up shirt to put on. Once she had herself covered and the shirt buttoned, Jenna gently slid off the bed and let the gown fall to the floor so she could pull her sweatpants on. She had to be careful when pulling them on because it jostled her shoulder. Still, she managed to get dressed without crying out in pain.
Just then, Adam walked back into the room with a woman in scrubs who held a stack of papers in her hands.
“Hi, Ms. O’Conner! My name is Marie, and I’m here to give you your discharge papers.”
Jenna listened for fifteen minutes as the nice young woman explained how to clean and redress her bandages. All the while,
Adam watched silently from the side of her bed. She knew that her mate was taking in every single word and would obey the instructions to the letter when it came to caring for her at home.
He still had the look on his face that let her know he was paying attention, but also slightly preoccupied with whatever was going through his head. She needed to find out what that was as soon as possible so she could fix things between them.
Everyone else in this world might say “happy wife, happy life,” but Jenna was a firm believer in “happy husband, lots of lovin’.” It might not rhyme as nicely, but it was the damned truth. Jenna liked to get lovin’ morning, noon, and night from her mate. She might jokingly complain that he was going to wear her out one day, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
With the way her mate looked right now, she didn’t think she would be getting lovin’ anytime soon, even after her injury healed. That just wouldn’t do, so she had to fix whatever was wrong before any more hurt had time to fester in whatever wounds she had unintentionally caused.
Jenna signed the papers that would allow her to be discharged with the doctor’s approval to go home. When she handed those papers back to the nurse, the woman looked at her with a warm smile and asked, “Do you have any questions for me?”
Boy, did she ever have a bunch of fucking questions right now. Nevertheless, there wasn’t a damn one the nice nurse could answer for her.
Jenna would just have to figure it out all on her own.
Chapter
6
Jenna
The ride home was quiet. Something that would normally be soothing. Now the silence had her on edge. She needed to say something, but she was unsure of what it should be. Therefore, she tried for something that seemed like a safe topic to talk about: pack business.
“I’m guessing you already made the calls to have my bloodwork wiped from the system at the hospital?”
She watched as he tightened his hand on the steering wheel before he answered. “Taken care of. No need to worry about anyone finding out what you are.”
Then nothing. No explanation of how he pulled off the feat of getting her demon/shifter hybrid blood wiped from the hospital’s system. No details on who had performed the task. No more words were spoken by Adam at all.
The man was driving her absolutely crazy with worry. At this point, she would rather hear the words “fuck you” than the silence.
After a few more minutes of tense censorship, Jenna cracked. “Why are you mad?”
“Not here.”
The words were terse, and the command in them couldn’t be mistaken. He wasn’t going to talk to her while they were sitting in the car.
She studied his profile. Took in his blank mask, lips pulled into a firm line, and tense features. Adam wasn’t giving away a damn thing as to what was wrong.
She turned her head the other way to look out the passenger window and studied the trees as they came up to the gate of the McPhee pack’s property. At least they would be home soon. Just a few more minutes, and then perhaps she could find out what had her mate so sullen.
Those few minutes passed slowly. Each second ticked away in Jenna’s head, making the wait for the upcoming confrontation unbearable. It took everything she had not to go crazy, and when they pulled up to their home, she almost sighed in relief.
Adam helped her out of the truck and into their house, holding the door open for her so she could enter before him. Once they walked through their small entryway and into their living room, Jenna headed straight for the couch to sit on, hoping that Adam would do the same.
He didn’t.
Instead, her mate sat in the chair on the other side of the coffee table, facing her, yet keeping his distance.
Jenna despised that distance. She wanted Adam to wrap her in his arms and tell her everything was okay. Except, she had this horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach that everything was far from okay.
After months of blissful mating, she couldn’t help feeling that she and Adam had hit more than a bump in the road. From the stony look on his face, they might be standing at a crossroads. And if she didn’t figure out what she had done to upset her mate so much, part of her was terrified that he would take the path less traveled and be the first shifter who left his mate for good.
Adam
Sitting across from Jenna, he stared into the ice blue eyes he loved so much and silently seethed.
Fuck! He could have lost her for good. It was a realization he had yet to get over. He could tell that she had picked up on his mood, but he could also tell that she hadn’t figured out exactly why he was mad.
That was disappointing.
Not to mention, it hurt both him and his wolf down to their soul.
Adam wanted it to be obvious why he was so upset. This was the second time he had almost lost his mate, and he knew with her job there was the very real chance it wouldn’t be the last time something like this happened to her.
Granted, the first time she had almost died, it hadn’t been because of her job, but because of a rogue wolf pack in Germany that they had gone to investigate. But Adam wasn’t blind. She was a police officer on the fucking SWAT team. This wouldn’t be the last time a bullet was shot in her direction.
What sort of alpha mate did that make him? Letting his mate go running off into danger every time she went to work.
As he sat there and watched Jenna, he knew deep down there wasn’t a thing he would change about her. He loved her for who she was, no matter how much it might scare the shit out of him sometimes.
Honestly, they only had one little problem between them—a missing mate mark.
Adam didn’t want to live in a world where Jenna wasn’t with him, but should something happen to her, and he survived the loss, he would at least like something left behind to remember what he once had. Something she had promised him months before.
It would be so easy to tell her what was wrong with him. All he had to do was open his mouth and say the words.
Yet, he couldn’t.
The protective instincts in him didn’t want to get his mate any more upset than she already might be. She had been shot only yesterday, and with her compromised, less than spectacular hybrid healing abilities, she would take weeks to heal properly. Time that she didn’t need to be worrying about a mate mark that she didn’t have the strength to give him right now, even if he told Jenna that was what was wrong.
He wanted more from her than that. He wanted Jenna to figure out what the problem was on her own. Wanted his mate to prove she was in this relationship as much as he was, completely devoted to what they could be as a mated pair.
Decision made, he was left with only one option if he was going to wait to see if his mate could figure out what his problem was: take care of her in the meantime.
Never taking his amber wolf eyes off Jenna’s husky blues, Adam did something he had never done before as a man, wolf, or alpha … He backed away from a problem.
“You’ve had a long day and need to rest. Now isn’t the time to have this conversation.”
Her jaw dropped in shock, but she quickly recovered. “If now isn’t the time, then when is? You’re upset, and I want to know why! Is it my job?”
He shook his head. “It’s not your job, and we can have this discussion once you’ve healed.”
He knew his mate. She was going to be like a dog with a bone about this.
Part of Adam wanted to leave, run off into the woods, and put some space between them. Not to lick his fucking wounds, but because he was angry and didn’t like being that way with her now while she was hurt. There wasn’t a chance in hell that he would actually do that, though. Not when his mate was injured. Neither he nor his wolf would leave their injured mate. It didn’t matter that he could call his sister and beta to watch over her; he needed to do it himself. Which was going to make this time with her beyond frustrating. She wanted answers, and he wasn’t ready to give them to her yet.
Jenna’s temper flared, and he could feel the angry waves rolling off her, along with the salty scent of tears that he knew she would fight shedding in front of him.
“So, what am I supposed to do, sit around and watch you stay angry until you think I’m strong enough to take it? I’m not a delicate freakin’ flower, you know! Whatever you’re mad about, I would rather you just tell me and get it over with so we can fix it.”
If he weren’t so hurt and angry, Adam would have laughed at her delicate flower comment. Of course she wasn’t a delicate flower. His mate was tough, smart, and extremely capable of taking care of herself and others. That didn’t change the fact that he would rather Jenna figure out the problem on her own than him spelling it out for her.
Not wanting to fight with her anymore, Adam stood up from the chair. “I’m going to make dinner, my little sweet tart. I suggest you lie on the couch and relax until it’s done.”
Adam started to walk toward the kitchen when he heard a feminine growl sound from behind him. “I thought I told you not to call me that ridiculous nickname.”
Looking at her from over his shoulder, he shot back the truth at her. “Too bad. Perhaps it’ll help you learn what I have: you don’t always get what you want.”
Chapter
7
Jenna
One Week Later…
The brooding alpha was about to drive her insane.
For an entire week, he had been stomping around their house, angry and hurt. Jenna was somewhere between frustration and despair. It had taken her a while to figure it out, but she now knew that whatever was wrong with her mate, he wanted her to figure out for herself. She had been racking her brain every day since coming home, trying to figure out what had his big boy panties in such a twist, and had yet to figure it out.
Now, in the middle of the night, she lay there, wide awake and staring at Adam’s bare back. Instead of being wrapped all around her as he usually slept, he had been sleeping with his back to her for the past week. As if she needed another hint that she had done something wrong.
