He cleared his throat. “The others? Oh, y’know... they’re, um, okay. They’re at the pack house. It’s... a bit complicated?”
I stared at him. “It’s complicated that they’re at our house? Where theylive?”
Tony looked like he wanted to sink straight through the floor. “Yeah. Some stuff went down, but we should, uh, maybe not talk about it here? You’re supposed to be resting, after all.”
I wasn’t proud of the fact that my spiking blood pressure triggered a medical alarm and brought two nurses running into the room at that point. Worse, it gave Tony the cover he needed to dart out the door and disappear again.
It was only when I got my phone back later in the day and bribed one of the nurses into buying me a charger from the gift shop, that I finally got some answers. As soon as I had enough battery to power up the cell, I tried texting Heath.
No answer.
So, I tried texting Gage instead, and thank all that was holy, he answered almost immediately.
Knox? God, it’s good to hear from you, man. How are you?
I instantly hit the call button.
“Howam I?” I echoed as soon as he picked up. “What the fuck, Gage?Start talking. Now.”
I could feel the heavy awkwardness behind the silence that followed.
“Yeah. So,” Gage said slowly. “Before I say anything, are you at all still likely to have a heart attack?”
I breathed deeply in and out through my nose, shooting the bank of medical readouts an evil side-eye.
“If I was, you would not be helping with that right now,” I said with deadly calm. “Don’t make me say this a third time. Start. Fucking.Talking.”
I heard him blow out a breath over the connection.
“Okay. How much do you remember about what happened at the Aurora Hotel on the night you were attacked?”
That was a sore point, despite the doctors’ reassurances that some memory loss was normal. I swallowed and licked my lips.
“There was a woman,” I said reluctantly. “I think I wanted to take her up to the penthouse with me. Which I know is out of character.”
“Yeah, it is,” Gage mumbled.
“Then I woke up yesterday in a hospital bed,” I finished, ignoring the interruption. “That’s it. Nothing in between.”
It was the same thing I’d told the cops when they’d showed up earlier in the morning, except with a vague description of platinum-blond hair and the smell of sweet coffee.
“Fun fact,” Gage said, his tone grim. “You probably wanted to get closer to this woman because she’s our pack’s scent match.”
“What?” I asked faintly, even as the rightness of it settled into my truncated memory.
“Less fun fact,” Gage went on. “She’s also the one who tried to kill you.”
The heart monitor next to the bed beeped ominously. I fumbled around and disconnected the lead before it could start screaming an alarm. Of course, disconnecting it would bring a nurse in as well, but it might give me a bit of extra time.
“Where is this woman now?” I demanded. “Did the police get her?”
The pause on the other end felt like it lasted about a million years.
“Gage!” I half-shouted.
“I don’t think I should say anything else over the phone, Knox. Everyone’s safe; just focus on that for now, okay?”
Did he think our phones were compromised? What thehell?
