Chapter 2
LUCY
Ijolt upright with a gasp, clawing at bedsheets, drenched in sweat. “Wolf eyes…” The words rip out of me before I’m awake enough to stop them.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
A machine to my left makes repetitive noises. White walls and ceiling. The window floods with gold light that spreads across the thin blue blanket covering me.
A nurse walks into the room, smiling at me. I’m in a hospital—it finally dawns on me. I must have hit my head and passed out in the woods.
“Good morning,” she says with a neutral face.
“I don’t… There’s no wolf, right?” I give up and sag back into the pillows.
“You just woke up from being passed out.”
My brain is catching up as I glance over to my hand wrapped in a white bandage, and it throbs with my pulse. Except that thump doesn’t stay just in my hand; it rolls up my arm, then down my spine, and rushes low until it’s beating right between my thighs. That’s weird.
I press my thighs together under the blanket and stare at the ceiling tiles.
Do not think about that stranger, his eyes, or his teeth in my hand.
My, what sharp teeth he must have had.
The nurse moves to the side of the bed. Her name tag says, Suzanne. She flashes a little light across my pupils. “Must have been quite the knock to the head, hon, but you appear to be doing better now that you’re awake.”
“How did I get here?” I swallow around the dryness in my mouth.
“A man brought you in.”
I wait as Suzanne straightens my blanket, but she says nothing more.
“Did he leave a name? Anything?”
“Not sure, honey. I’ll let the doctor know you’re awake.” She grins and strolls toward the door.
“Wait, hold on. How long have I been out?”
She glances over her shoulder at me. “Oh, since yesterday.”
“Oh!”
She’s already vanishing down the hall.
So much for reaching the lodge, instead, I’ve been lying here sweating through a hospital gown. I close my eyes and try to replay yesterday’s events to see what I remember, but I recall nothing after hitting my head, or who the stranger with those hazel eyes was.
Opening my eyes, I glare at my bandaged hand, and it throbs back.
Suddenly, a doctor strides in—fiftyish, glasses, moving quickly. He unwinds my bandage while he talks. “Good news first. It’s healing. Was the bite from your Alpha?”
I blink at his words, not wanting to think that the bite is anything but an accident. My gaze falls to the punctures and torn skin in my hand. “It’s a long story, and I was unconscious for the ending.”
The doctor re-dresses my arm, checks my eyes, and asks me the date. “You’re doing well,” he says finally. “There are no signs of concussion, and your hand is healing fast. I see no reason you can’t go home today.”
“Okay, great, because I have somewhere to be. But my grandmother is in the hospital too. She fell, fractured her ankle. Eve Rose?” And then the penny drops, shiny and obvious. “Wait. This is the closest hospital to Rusty’s Bend. Is she here?”
“One of the nurses can find out for you.” He glances at the doorway, where Suzanne has rematerialized. She holds up one finger, vanishes, and comes back three minutes later looking extremely pleased with herself.
“Eve Rose is upstairs in the recovery ward. Such a sweet lady.” She smiles. “But bossy.”
“Sounds just like her.” The tightness in my chest unfurls at being so close to my grandma. “Can I go see her?”
“Yes, and the nurse will take you, but I want you to remain in your bed a bit longer so we can watch over you,” the doctor explains. Then he’s out the door with Suzanne.
I lean back and wait, which turns out to be three hours before the doctor finally agrees I can leave my room.
The nurse returns to take me to my grandma. She unclips me from the wires, and when the beeping finally stops, the silence is heaven. She leaves the room again.
That’s when I spot my backpack against the wall under the window. It’s scuffed and dusty but in good condition. I’m guessing Roman brought me here, so thank God he grabbed my bag. I shuffle over and unzip it to collect the white box inside, which is still intact.
Suzanne reappears, rolling a wheelchair to the bedside, and helps me into it, then tucks a blanket over my lap like I’m ninety. “Come on, I’ll run you up. Doc wants you in a chair, seeing as you knocked your head and just to be careful.”
“A bit dramatic, but I’m not going to say no to a free ride.” I grin, holding Grandma’s gift in my lap.
Suzanne kicks off the brakes and swings me into the hallway as she leans down over my shoulder. “Your savior is extremely handsome, by the way,” she whispers only for me to hear. “I almost fainted at seeing him.”
My hands close on the armrests because she doesn’t mean Roman, right?
The man with the thinning hair at his temples, the toothy, creepy grin, and the dual personality who could never cause an Omega to swoon.
Plus, he tried to drag me down the dark path.
Which left the human hurricane who exploded out of the trees, flattened my guide, and accidentally sank his teeth into my hand.
Did he scoop up not only me but also my bag and carry us out of the forest to an emergency room? That’s a twist I wasn’t expecting.
Suzanne wheels us into the elevator and hits the button for the next floor.
The doors ding open on the recovery ward, and Suzanne pushes me out and down a long corridor until we swing into one of the rooms. Grandma is alone in the room with a huge window spilling with sunlight.
Silver braid over one shoulder, ankle propped in a big black boot. My chest tightens at seeing her, as it’s been two years since I last saw her in person. She glances up, and her whole face lights, and then, in the same breath, sharpens.
I smile and get up, needing to rush over to her.
“Lucy. Oh, dear, you’re at the hospital? Are you okay? What happened?” Her hands catch mine, and she turns my bandaged hand over.
Suzanne parks the wheelchair, then murmurs something about the call button and slips out.
“I’m fine. I promise.” I wrap my arms around her, holding on a little tighter than I mean to.
I’ve missed her terribly. She’s the only family I’ve truly known, the woman who stepped in when my parents walked away before I was old enough to remember them.
Grandma didn’t just raise me—she became my whole world. “How are you doing?”
“The ankle is still fractured and now booted,” Grandma says, as I pull away.
“I still can’t walk on it yet, which is so frustrating.
It annoys me that I just missed one step at the back of the lodge, then tumbled into my potted plants, breaking my ankle.
” She exhales loudly. “I can’t just sit here when there’s so much to do at the lodge.
” Then her gaze drops to the box in my hand, her eyes widening. “Is that for me?”
I laugh and hold the box out to her. “Lemon tarts from Miami.”
She takes it, lifts the lid, and inhales them, then grins widely.
“You wonderful girl. Let’s eat them together.
” She sets the box on her tray table, pats the bed until I’m sitting up there with her, and she takes my good hand.
“Now, you know I love you more than anything in this world, but what happened to your hand? You’ve got me worried. ”
So I tell her the whole ordeal—the bar and the walk, and Roman trying to drag me down the dark trail when I said no. Then the huge stranger, the brawl, the fox, and my fall. And how I ended up here.
She doesn’t interrupt once but holds my hand tightly. “Oh, Lucy, I’m so glad you weren’t hurt worse. And I will have a word with Roman when I see him next.”
“It’s fine. I’m here and safe. That’s the main thing.”
Grandma falls quiet. “Hm.” She stares past me and out the window.
“My mother once said that when a fox crosses your path, you pay attention, girl, because the forest is telling you something. In the old fairy tales, wolves would wear fox skins to trick travelers through the woods, so you never knew who to trust.” Her gaze swings back to mine.
“Being conned by a wolf meant you ended up in the wolf’s belly.
And listening to the fox lead you straight to Grandmother’s house. The problem was knowing who was who.”
A shiver zips down my spine as I can’t say I’ve heard that story, but it sounds ominous. “Well.” I scan the beige room. “I made it to see you and survived. So I must have made the right decision.”
She laughs and pats my good arm. “I’m so glad you did.”
“The doctor also says I’m good enough to head home today. So, I can finally go to the lodge and help out Ethan.”
“Good. But for now, I get you all to myself. I appreciate you coming so quickly to help out.” She squeezes my hand and reaches for her phone on the nightstand with her other hand. “Let me text Ethan. He can come up and fetch you.” Then she puts on her glasses and texts him.
And just like that, the first uncomplicated, good feeling of the last few days spreads through my chest. “I miss his food.”
“You know he runs the lodge kitchen now, and the guests always compliment his biscuits. With me stuck in the hospital, he’s managing the entire place, though thank the gods it’s quiet this week.”
Her phone chimes and she lifts it to read. “There. He says, ‘Coming now, and tell the troublemaker to behave. I’ll bring the good truck since one of the roads opened yesterday.’ ” She peers at me over her glasses. “He means you.”
I laugh. “I’ve missed him too.” Then his words linger with me. “So, if the roads were open yesterday, why didn’t Roman just drive me there?”
She shrugs. “Maybe he didn’t know?”
Her lips pinch tightly, and she’s staring at her phone again. She stabs a button on the screen with a finger, listens to something, then hangs up. “Roman’s not answering. The man’s been loyal and very honest with me, so his behavior sounds slightly odd. I do hope he’s not injured somewhere.”
I shrug, remembering that he gave just as good as he got to the stranger yesterday.