I floated in and out of conscious thought as I soaked in the solid strength of the man holding me. When he laid me down on cool cotton, I tried to object but no words came out. Then the familiar voice that murmured wasn’t Sylas.
“So, it’s not that you don’t want to help him, you’re afraid he wouldn’t consent to you touching him?” I imagined that Sylas had agreed, because Director Keir sighed and asked if Sylas would at least stay until I was stable.
Why would Sylas think I didn’t want him to touch me? He was the one who pulled away from me, wasn’t he? I felt my anxiety rising again but my hand was quickly enveloped in Sylas’s, his touch helping to soothe me. Feeling calm wash over me, I sighed. As soon as I woke up, I’d make sure that Sylas knew that I’d never stopped wanting him. Satisfied with that plan, I let the darkness pull me back under but when I woke, Sylas was gone.
~*~
“What are you doing here?” I croaked when my blurry eyes finally brought a familiar wolf into focus.
“Nice to see you, too,” Bane snickered, folding down the corner of the hard-back book he was reading and setting it aside. “But to answer your question, I’m on security detail.”
“For me?”
“Yup,” Bane agreed easily as he rose lightly for such a large man. “I’ll be right back. I promised the medic that I’d let him know when you woke up.”
Him? When I’d left a few weeks ago, the office was staffed by a female.
Shaking off the question that didn’t really seem to matter in my current situation, I stretched a little and yawned. I definitely felt more rested than I had, but there was also a strange metallic taste in my mouth.
“Bane? Can I have some water?” I called out as I struggled to sit up.
“Sure, you can,” this voice was as strange as the buff older man who walked through the open door. “I’m Neal,” he continued, handing me a chilled water bottle neatly wrapped in a dry washcloth. “Do you mind if I call you Paul?”
“Um, no. That’s fine,” I agreed, trying to look past him into the hall. “What happened to Nurse What’s Her Name?”
Neal shook his head. “Sorry, I don’t know. I work through a medical temporary service, so all I know is I was hired on for a short-term position as in-house medic.” He held is hand out, palm up. “Do you mind if I take your pulse?”
“Oh, no. Of course not.” I held my wrist out and gulped from the cool water. “God, that’s good. I have a weird taste in my mouth.”
“Kind of like a lemon-flavored penny?”
“Yeah.” I took another drink of water.
“That’s a normal side effect of the pheromone supplement we started you on,” Neal explained, seeming unconcerned. “It should go away after a couple of days.”
“Supplement?” I parroted.
“Yeah.” Neal didn’t expound on that, instead gently resting my hand on the bed and placing the back of his hand on my forehead. “Pulse is normal and no fever,” he declared with a satisfied smile. “Hungry?”
My stomach growled. “Starving,” I admitted as I tried to look around him again. “Is Sylas here?”
Neal didn’t answer but the pitying look in his eyes gave me my answer even as Bane spoke up from the doorway. “I think he left a message for you with Keir. He knows your awake. He’ll be in to see you soon.”
“Or now,” Director Keir said with a small laugh as he knocked lightly on the open door. “Glad to see you back with us, Paul.”
I rolled my eyes. “I was just sleeping. Why is everyone acting like I’ve been at death’s door?”
The sudden silence was alarming. Director Keir cleared his throat. “Could you two give us a few minutes alone?”
“Of course,” Neal agreed as Bane announced he’d be right outside.
Director Keir waited until the door closed behind them to take a seat in the chair by the bed. He hesitated for a minute and then sighed. “You’ve always been pretty up front,” he said finally, “so I’m going to be blunt. You’ve been unconscious for the better part of four days. The moments where you were awake, you weren’t quite lucid.”
“I..what? Why? What was wrong with me? Is the baby okay?”
“The baby seems to be fine,” Director Keir shook his head, “but the doctors weren’t sure why you were out. Your blood chemistry was off but they weren’t sure why.”
“And they just left me here?” I asked in disbelief.
