CHAPTER 3
Justice
BETWEEN FITS OF CONSCIOUSNESS, I saw and heard things. There was a doctor … well, there were many doctors, but there was one that made me feel safe. He smiled at me when I could actually see his face. He gave me the meds that made me sleep and feel better. The stuff that the nurses gave me didn’t compare. The beeping agitated me during the day but at night, after the doctor came in, nothing bothered me.
He brought in a nurse and told me that she would take diligent care of me. This happened after I mumbled on about being in pain during the day. Her name was Alice, and I swear she never went home.
When the doctor asked me questions, I didn’t always remember the answers that I’d provided. I hoped that I was telling him what I needed to, or at least that I was being truthful. The medication was so strong sometimes that I couldn’t tell if I was coming or going. His expression only conveyed that I’d said something wrong once. The shadow of something that I couldn’t place washed over his features for only a second before his face found his dashing smile again.
As the days carried on, I began to feel better. I still hadn’t left the bed, but I felt stronger. My skin no longer felt like it was on fire, and I didn’t feel alone. My head was still heavy as lead, but it didn’t hurt as badly to breathe. My eyes didn’t hurt when I opened them longer than a few blinks. And nurse Alice brought ice chips in for me. It was becoming my favorite part of the day. I did miss the doctor, though. As I got stronger, I saw less and less of him. Maybe that was why I was dreaming of him now.
The doctor talked to me. I learned that his name was Seuss. He promised that everything would be just fine, and I trusted him. He’d helped me to feel better, and that had to count for something. That didn’t change the fact that I still slept all the time in the deepest slumber.
“If you can hear me, please stay asleep, or at least keep your eyes closed.” The voice belonged to Alice, and she sounded panicked.
I didn’t move. I heard the door open to the room, and several pairs of footsteps entered. I slowed my breathing to appear as much asleep as possible. I fought the pull of the medication to focus on whatever was happening. What was going on?
“When she’s awake can you give us a call?” a man asked.
“I sure will.” That was definitely Alice. “How serious is this?”
“Ms. Everette was driving on the wrong side of the highway. She caused several accidents, and even some fatalities.”
“I thought that the deaths resulted from the semi-truck losing control.” I could hear Alice’s concern.
“Had she not been driving on the wrong side of the—”
“She was trying to get away from someone who was trying to cause her harm.” Alice’s protectiveness kicked in. I was grateful for it since I couldn’t speak for myself.
“He was nowhere to be found after the accident. Ms. Everett is facing several charges unless we find some eye witnesses, or Mr. Sims.”
Adrenaline made me want to shoot out of bed and convince him that he had everything all wrong. What about the drug the guy had slipped into my drink? Why weren’t they putting any charges on him? I was gripping my hands into fists so tightly that I knew my fingernails were drawing blood. I was the victim! Me!
“Ms. Everett is in a coma. She’s trying to heal. When she awakens, I’ll make sure to let one of your men know. They stand outside that door like she’s going to walk out of here at any moment!” The agitation was apparent in her voice.
There were cops outside my hospital room? I didn’t want to go to jail, and it didn’t really sound like this detective or cop wanted to hear my side of the story. The fact that I was already facing charges when I hadn’t opened my mouth infuriated me.
“We will do what is necessary. Justice has to be served one way or another.” His clipped tone was like nails on a chalk board, and I wanted to claw his throat out for the way that he spoke to Alice. The way he dismissed my case as if I was already guilty was the final straw. My anger festered into something beyond my control, and pain filled my entire body.
“Thank you, Lieutenant Davis.” Alice was speaking quickly with concern laced words. Silence stretched on and then I heard the door close.
The anger was so out of control that the pain only grew worse as my body seemed to be caving in on itself.
“Shit!” I felt a pin prick at my shoulder, but it seemed to only dull the pain.
“You need to get here now, Alec, and fast! I don’t care what they told you. Seuss said that you were on standby if I needed you, and I do!”
I felt another pin prick, and the racing thoughts seemed to slow.
“What did you think was so important …” The new voice echoed through the room. I remembered hearing it at the accident, but now he was speaking so slowly that he was beginning to sound demonic.
“We need to get her back to the house before it’s too late,” Alice said. Well, I think it was Alice. Her voice was distorted as well.
I had the sudden desire for a turkey sandwich before everything turned black, and I began to float through space. What was in those meds?
***
“Wake up, little vixen.” The voice nagged at me until I fought my way through the deep sleep into the brightly lit room.
The room was unfamiliar, yet it smelled like home. Amber cognac and an earthy fragrance assaulted my senses in the best of ways. I stretched out and buried my face into the pillow. Mine. I wanted him … whatever he was. That scent was the same one I’d been chasing for years, and now that it was here, I wasn’t going to let it go. I rolled over, but it was a struggle. The medicine made my muscles feel heavy.
I rolled to the edge of the bed to stand. Red blurred past me as I moved to catch my balance, but I lost that battle. I hit the floor hard and growled at the blanket that was wrapped around my body. I had to find that scent. I reached for the sheet and …
I pulled my arms back to look at the red hair covering them. Big paws moved in the air as I tried to shake off the arm warmers that they’d put on me. I couldn’t get to the seam or tell where the suit ended or began. Was it Halloween already? I clawed at the sheet that kept me attached to the bed that I couldn’t seem to free myself from.
Sharp, the claws shredded the blanket easily. I moved over the floor trying to get the suit off until I rolled in front of the mirror across the room. What I saw only made me jump backwards, sending me headfirst into the bed.
A loud roar erupted from my mouth while I rubbed at the pain in my head. The door to the room swung open and Alice walked in.
“Oh dear, she’s awake!” she shouted.
Footsteps pounded up the steps, and I squinted at the huge man staring at me. Where am I?
“Justice, I’m Maddox. I just need you to shift back into your human form so that we can discuss things.”
I moved toward him and fell to the floor. This coordination …
“Oh, the gods… I don’t think she’s ever shifted before,” Alice said.
“She’s an adult female. How is it that she’s never shifted?” Maddox mumbled.
I growled at him, and he took a step back. “Okay … maybe she hasn’t.”
I sniffed the air and moved around in circles trying to find that scent. It seemed to be all around me, but the source was undefined. Where was it coming from? It was driving me crazy, and the lack of answers pissed me off. I charged for Maddox, and he and Alice backed out of the room. I stumbled over my legs until I crashed into the closed door. I hissed and then growled some more.
“Shift, Justice,” Maddox said firmly.
I chuffed. I wasn’t taking orders from him. Where was the god that smelled like a walking orgasm?
“Maybe we should let her into Seuss’ room,” Alice said.
I whined. I wanted to find that smell.
“Alec, can you bring Augusto up here?” Maddox asked.
Was he the one that smelled of deliciousness? I sat down and tried to take off the stupid suit. The more I tried, the more I realized that it wasn’t a suit. I was a wolf! I strutted in front of the mirror before climbing back onto the bed. The smell of him was strongest here, and I curled into a ball to help calm my nerves.
Wolf? No. This was a dream, and as soon as I went back to sleep it would all be over. It had to be. I wasn’t a wolf for real. I snuggled into the bed burying my head into a pillow that smelled of him. I heard mumbling outside the door before I succumbed to sleep all over again.
***
When I woke up, darkness surrounded me. I checked my body to find myself covered in a sheet but naked underneath. Skin not hair. I exhaled relaxing back into the bed. It had been a dream.
There was a knock on the door before Alice walked in and flipped on the light. She carried a tray of meats and bread. They smelled amazing, and my stomach grumbled.
Alice giggled. “Good thing there’s plenty more.”
“Thank you so much,” I said as she set the tray down next to me.
“Very welcome. Make sure that you eat very slowly. I don’t want your stomach to become upset.”
I nodded and took the bread slathering butter onto it. Salty cream exploded along my taste buds when I bit into the bread. It was so good. I moaned, loving every bit of it.
“Am I good to come in?” a voice asked from the stairwell.
“One sec!” Alice yelled.
Alice ran over to the chest of drawers and pulled out clothing. She came over to the bed and helped me put on the sweatshirt. I sniffed it and sighed in content.
Alice laughed. “Smells that good, huh?”
I nodded and buried my head into the crook of my arm.
“I’ll take you to meet him tomorrow. I have to get you fed and make sure that you’re well tonight, though.”
I sunk into the bed and began eating again.
“I need to get these pants on you, too.”
“No, thank you,” I said. The sweatshirt was warm, and I didn’t want to get hotter. My skin was sensitive for some reason, and I didn’t want to agitate it.
Alice picked up a shredded sheet from the floor and threw it into a corner before grabbing a blanket from a closet. She put it across the bed and covered my lower half.
“We don’t want you indecent in front of Maddox,” She said.
I went back to eating the bread and butter.
“All good now!” she shouted.
Maddox entered the room, and that’s when I froze. I looked around at my surroundings, Maddox wearing that same green shirt from my dream, and I looked over at the destroyed sheet in the corner. What in the world?
“It wasn’t a dream?” I blurted.
“What are you referring to exactly?” Maddox asked. I hate how he was assessing me.
“I’m not crazy!” I shouted.
“No, I’m just trying to figure out what dream you think you had?”
“That I was a red wolf. I growled at you.”
“You did.”
“You commanded me to shift.”
“I did.”
“What is going on here? Somebody needs to explain what in the hell is going on,” I demanded.
“Is that the first time that you’ve shifted?” Alice inquired.
“Shifted?”
“Into a wolf,” Maddox clarified.
He was really starting to annoy me. “And if it was?”
Maddox moved closer and I snarled. “Stand down.”
The command and his movement toward me only riled me further. “Don’t come any closer,” I warned.
I stared at him, and he returned the stare. He was challenging something inside, and it wanted to win badly. It threatened to push forward, but I held it at bay letting the power tingle along my skin.
“There she is,” Maddox said. Slowly he bared his neck and triumph soared through me.
I hadn’t realized that my chest was pumping wildly. I was excited and ready to hunt something, anything. Wolf. I felt it more than anything else. It wasn’t a dream. I had so many questions. I opened my mouth to speak, but then closed it. Wolf.
“I have answers to the questions that you seek. If you’ll eat for me, I’ll explain,” Alice said.
I nodded but then looked over at Maddox. He backed away and took a seat in the chair across the room. The aggression that he wore like a second skin seemed to dissolve at the same moment that he submitted to me. He smiled and just watched me. The bastard was testing me.
“Why?” I asked.
“I’m a dominant male. There’s no way that I’d submit to just anyone as my king and queen.”
“Queen?” I looked over at Alice.
“Seuss is the king of this region. Alpha of our pack. He’s your mate.”
“Mate?” The one-word questions were starting to drive even me crazy.
“Yes,” Alice said. “You’re destined to be together and rule these lands. He’s sick, and the only one that can heal him is you.”
“How am I supposed to heal him?”
“He suffers from a mating curse that gives him pneumonia like symptoms. I can keep him from dying with my healing powers just as I’ve done with you. The curse that he’s under can only be cured by his mate.”
“Who put him under a curse and why?”
“He did it to save you. He had to sacrifice his life to heal yours. That pill that the guy slipped you was to turn off your mating call to Seuss. He would have killed you if you hadn’t gotten away. The antidote requires Seuss to bond to you to heal the effects of the spell draining him of his life force and feeding yours.”
“How do we replenish his?”
“You’ll feed it to him slowly so that you can recuperate what you lose through healing sleep. If you do it too quickly, you’ll heal him but kill yourself.”
“What if I can’t heal him?” I asked.
“Then he dies, and you’ll be challenged for the throne.” Maddox spoke up for the first time since the conversation began. “We can’t let that happen. I’d die first before I let someone take the throne from Seuss.”
Everything about his tone and the words let me know that he could be trusted. Having someone so loyal to him that they’d give their life firmed my decision.
“Just show me what to do.” I said. If Seuss really was my mate I wanted to save him and his position on the throne. It all felt and seemed so surreal, but waking up as a wolf put things into perspective quickly.
“Eat up. You’ll need all of your strength for tomorrow,” Alice encouraged.
I picked up the first piece of meat from the plate symbolizing the initial steps to solving this messed up dilemma.