Warmth filled Rafe’s chest despite the tense circumstances as his wolf basked in the satisfaction of his mate’s protectiveness.
The guard at the entrance drew her weapon on them the second Rafe and Adri stepped past the edge of Rocco’s glamour to approach the abandoned office building. Every instinct screamed at him to place himself between his mate and the danger, but he had to trust in his packmates hidden behind them to keep them safe. Rocco wouldn’t let a bullet reach them out here, but once they were inside, it would be a different matter.
Adri was carrying the bag of medical equipment that was their cover, his nonchalant swagger portraying false indifference to the threat. Raising his hands to show he wasn’t armed, Rafe kept his slow pace walking forward, letting the dominance of his wolf loose to roll over the shifter taking aim at them.
“Put that away unless you want to make an enemy of Alpha Lunetti. We’re here to help, not harm. This time,” Rafe called.
“Stop where you are!” the woman called back. She smelled of wolf and fear.
Rafe let his hands drop to his side and kept walking. “You’re a wolf in vampire territory without the protection of a pack. Are you really going to make it worse by attacking me? I’m here to help. I’m a doctor.”
“He’snot,” the woman said, jerking her chin at Adri.
Something wasn’t right here. He knew the Lunetti Pack was intimidating, but no one put a terrified guard on the entrance to their building if they could help it.
“He’s my mate,” Rafe said, sparking a grumble of annoyance from Adri.
“Are we just announcing that to everyone now?” he hissed.
Rafe’s lips twitched as he suppressed a grin, but he didn’t take his eyes off the woman. “Two of your fighters have been brutally, publicly murdered in the last week.”
The woman shrugged, the gun still trained on him. “I don’t know anything about that.”
“Our Alpha needs the incidents to stop. I’m not here to cause trouble or shut you down. I’m just here to examine you all and make sure no one else dies.”
“Wait here,” the woman said, her hands shaking as she finally holstered her weapon and stepped through the glass door of the old office block to call someone on a radio.
She must’ve really been stressed, because she didn’t even seem to realise she was talking loud enough that he could still hear. He could only make out her side of the conversation, but he could tell whoever she was speaking with was pissed off. Her eyes searched the road behind them as she talked, Rocco’s magic doing its job to keep their backup hidden as she reassured whoever she’d called that they’d come alone.
“Okay, you can come in,” she said at last. “But you can’t roam the facility. I’ll bring the fighters down here to meet you.”
That was fine. He’d figure out how to scope the location once he’d started his examinations.
“I’ll start with you,” Rafe said, rescuing his bag from Adri and setting it down on the dusty reception desk nearby.
“I don’t fight in the ring,” the woman said, pretending nonchalance as she messaged someone, presumably the fighters.
Rafe didn’t miss the way her eyes had widened in surprise at his offer, though. Or the way she stared at him like he might hold the answer to a question she was too terrified to ask. As he tried to puzzle out what was going on with her, Adri stepped closer to murmur in his ear.
“There are at least two video cameras monitoring us. Someone’s listening.”
That explained the mismatch he was seeing between her words and her body language.
“What’s your name?” Rafe asked, his voice softening despite himself. He’d always had a weak spot for those in trouble.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Come stand in front of me,” Rafe said, reaching into his bag to take out an old-school stethoscope.
The tool was just a prop, an excuse to stand close to her and touch her without clueing in the people watching through the cameras that he was using his magic to scan her body. The true extent of his healing ability was something he and Marco were careful to keep under wraps.
“Can’t you hear my heartbeat without that thing?” the woman asked, stepping in front of him just like he’d asked.
“Yes, but with extra amplification, I can pinpoint any issues exactly. May I?”
The woman nodded.
She was wearing a dark purple top with a scoop neck that gave him the access he needed. Pressing the diaphragm of the scope over her heart, he let his magic wash through that point as subtly as he could. Hopefully, she’d attribute any weird sensation to the cold temperature of the metal against her hot skin.
