Page 15 of Moonlighting with the Werewolf

Pretty sure he wanted to reply with another threatening growl, but the knock at the door drew both of our attention.

Conall barked an order to come on in, and two people burst into my house. An early twenties white male with shaggy brown hair who could pass for a member of a boy band, and a woman with deep bronze skin and ebony dreads adorned withgolden cuffs. In spite of the tense situation, she was so strikingly beautiful that all I could do for a couple of seconds was gape.

“What did you do to him?” she barked, and that woke me from my stupor and dampened my hopes for assistance.

“I didn’tdoanything to him. Besides dig the silver bullets out of him and save his life. But he took off last night before I could finish up, and he’s suffering from a punctured lung.”

Doubt crept into her expression. “He would’ve healed from it by now.”

“Not if shards of his rib cage keep poking holes in his lungs. He’s out of alignment, and my theory is that any time the bones try to mend together, they jab another hole. He’s leaking air, and it’s getting worse every minute we sit here doing nothing, so it’d be great if one of you can talk some sense into him.”

“Is that why he keeps holding his side?” the guy asked, concern swimming through his eyes as Conall writhed and wheezed. “I knew something was off, but he got mad when I asked if he was okay.”

The woman sighed. “Sounds like him.” She crossed the room, placing her hand on Conall’s shoulder as she squatted next to him. “Conall, come—” A gasp escaped, and then she frowned at me as if I’d caused the destruction. She appeared to be having an internal debate, her disappointment palpable as she said, “We’d better let the doctor fix you up.”

Conall gargled a ragged, oddly wet response I couldn’t make it out, and considering his associates looked to me to translate, they hadn’t understood it, either.

I latched on to one of his arms and heaved—dang guy didn’t budge. “We need to get him to the clinic ASAP.”

“No,” Conall said, so at least he had that word down pat. But then his eyes rolled into his head again, and with all his effort going into that last word, he lost his struggle to remain conscious.

Relief and worry clashed inside of me, contrary emotions I’d have to sort out later.

Without his interference, the two people I suspected were also werewolves loaded Conall into the bed of a shiny black pickup truck that followed me and my Mini Cooper to the clinic.

And when the woman brought in the chains she kept in her truck “just in case” and suggested we use them so Conall wouldn’t come to and do more damage fighting us off—or you know, kill me before I could fix his lungs—I didn’t object.

CHAPTER TEN

I came to with a gasp,but when I tried to sit up, I met the resistance of heavy chains. A loop around my shirtless torso secured me to the cold exam table, and both my wrists had been cuffed.

Chains? She chained me down like some kind of rabid animal!The good doctor had asked if I had rabies, too.

At the sound of metal clanking against metal, the woman who’d somehow bested me turned, looking every bit the sexy mad scientist in her lab coat and goggles. “Oh good. You’re awake.”

“What’s this?” I asked, yanking against my shackles. Blood pumped through my veins in feverish bursts, but a distant part of me recognized I could take a full breath again. After going twenty-four hours without enough oxygen, I inhaled enough to leave me dizzy, basking in the way it coated my throat and inflated my lungs.

“Drastic measures and all.” Kerrigan removed her goggles, set them aside, and then came a step closer. “I dug out the bone shards that kept puncturing your chest wall and right lung and reset your ribs. You should’ve seen the scar tissue—so thickI’m not sure your bones could’ve broken through many more times. Don’t you feel better now that everything’s in the proper alignment? With that done, you’ll be able to fully heal.”

I didn’t say anything, just glared.

“Glad you asked,” Kerrigan deadpanned. “I reestablished negative pressure by sucking out the air with a needle and syringe. It’d take a dog about a month to recuperate, but I’m guessing it’ll be much faster for you.” She lowered the stethoscope to my chest, and I debated snagging her arm and tugging her close enough to put the fear of God in her. “Your heart rate is steady, if a bit high.”

“That’s because I’m chained to a fucking table.”

“Well, if you hadn’t been so unreasonable, I wouldn’t have had to resort to such aggressive measures.”

“If you don’t undo these restraints—and I’m talkingright fucking now—you’re going to see just how unreasonable I can be.”

“The incision site is already mending itself nicely,” she prattled on as if I hadn’t spoken. “That whole skin meld thing isn’t quite as neat as my stitches, but I wish all my patients had that ability. It’d save oodles of treating and healing time.”

I lifted my head, straining to scan the room. “Where are Nissa and Elias?” I’d texted them as a failsafe once I’d arrived at the doctor’s cabin. It was also supposed to serve as motivation to follow through, my reasoning that I wouldn’t be able to face either of them if I failed to take care of Kerrigan. Plus, I’d considered that I might need help disposing of the body since mine had been on the fritz.

“They got called away for an emergency.”

“I can’t believe they left me in the hands of a witch.”

Kerrigan peeled off her gloves and tossed them in the nearby trash can. “I’m really trying not to let that hurt my feelings, but I gotta tell you, I’m not a fan of you calling me that. And whatthe hell’s wrong with you that you take advantage of the lonely new woman in town, pretending like you want to have dinner together only to accuse me of being a witch and attack me?”

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