Page 4 of Moonlighting with the Werewolf

Offense pinched her features. “You say it like I’m some sexual deviant who roofied your drink. A feral wolf showed up at the back door of my clinic, and I figured it’d be easier to save him if he couldn’t bite off my arm, so yeah, I drugged him. Er, you. I’m not insane.” Her nose crinkled, drawing my attention to eyes the color of the lake after a storm. Tumultuous and gray with a hint of blue. “Anyway, I’m fairly sure. Now, I’m gonna walk you back to the table.”

I opened my mouth to tell her there was no need, but she nudged me, and despite not having much weight behind it, my body obeyed.

Well, most of my body. There was a certain part that twitched, headed in the opposite direction as the rest of me, and that wouldn’t do. I fixed my gaze on her face. Narrow nose, slightly hooked at the end, and with the added gleam of the overhead lights, I caught a tinge of red in her soft-brown locks.

My thighs hit the cool metal table. The veterinarian lifted onto the tips of her toes, bringing her body close enough to mine that the fabric of her bloodstained lab coat brushed my bare skin. She placed her hands on my shoulders and pressed downward, guiding me to a seated position.

Strange how comforting it felt, having someone take care of me instead of awaiting orders to immediately obey. Not something I could indulge in often, and I’d have to cut it off soon. The doctor opened a nearby drawer, pulled out a stethoscope, and stuck it in her ears. The cool, circular end hitthe center of my chest, and I got lost in the column of the woman’s neck and the way her pulse fluttered at the base of it, keeping time with the beating of my heart.

She removed the stethoscope from her ears and draped it around her neck, the movements practiced and precise. “How do you feel?”

Surprisingly turned on for someone who was shot several times in the fucking back.“I’m fine. That’s the thing about werewolves.” I extended my arms, as if that were the best way to determine one’s health. Moving hurt like a bitch, every inch of my torso radiating wave after wave of pain, but between the doc’s pale pallor and her undercurrent of shock, I figured she could use some reassurance I was alive and well instead of an apparition on his way to the afterlife. “We heal fast.”

“But you weren’t healing before. Not until...” She glanced at the metal tray beside the table, and I followed suit. “Until I removed the bullets.”

I picked up one of the shells so I could study it under the light. It sizzled against my skin, causing me to hiss and drop it right back in the tray. I popped the end of my finger in my mouth and sucked to soothe the burn. “Silver. That explains why my body couldn’t reject the bullets, no matter how hard I tried to push them out.”

Straight white teeth worried her plump lower lip. “I’m no bullet expert, but I’ve removed a couple in my day, and those struck me as strange. Although considering the wolf I was performing surgery on turned into...well,you, strange is taking on a whole new meaning.” She lifted one shoulder higher than the other. “I guess I should just be glad you came to me instead of going to the vet everyone else in this town prefers.”

“I didn’t think I’d make it that far, honestly,” I said without thinking, and she jerked my arm out straight and prodded at my fractured ribs. Under normal circumstances, my skin healedwithin a handful of minutes, internal organs around an hour or two, but broken bones— especially ones shattered by silver bullets—took a day or two. Judging from how quickly she’d gone from tender to sadistic, I’d offended her. “What I meant to say is that I heard you were the best in town and thought what better time to find out how true that is than when I’m circling the drain?”

Obviously, she wasn’t buying it, but the torturous pressure stopped. Since the concern in her expression remained, I snagged her hand and folded it mine. The widening of her eyes suggested she’d felt the same current that’d coursed up my arm. “Let’s try this again. Hello. I’m Conall Shaw. Pleased to meet you.”

She slipped her thumb over mine in more of a classic-greeting grip and shook my hand. “Dr. Ryan. But not the Dr. Ryan dude who goes around doing all that CIA spy shit, lest you were confused.”

Sunshine spread through my chest, softening the pain. Dr. Ryan was witty. She also seemed determined to keep me at a distance now that I’d turned from wolf to human, even though I could tell by her pointed efforts to avoid ogling me she was attracted. “Thank you, Dr. Ryan. If it makes you feel any better, you’re definitely easier on the eyes than Doc Morris.”

“Yes, that’s my main goal in life.” She hitched her chin higher. “I went to medical school in hopes that one day some cocky creature who shouldn’t exist would tell me I’m pretty.”

“I didn’t say pretty.”

Her gaze jerked to mine, embers igniting within those blue-gray irises. She yanked her hand out of my grasp, hell-bent on showing me how very little she cared about my opinion. Which, of course, only proved the opposite. It’d been a long time since I felt such a strong flare of awareness, that crackling connection that demanded I let my primitive side off the leash.

Carpe diem, carpe the dame. One in the same, really.When it came to humans, it was never a good idea to get too close, but it’d been a while since I’d been bad.

“I’m starting to see why someone would want to shoot you,” Dr. Ryan said, and I clamped my lips so I wouldn’t laugh and piss her off further. Then again, I wouldn’t mind seeing more of her unexpected fiery side—more of her in general, honestly. “Any idea who pulled the trigger and why?”

Right. The reason I couldn’t give in to my whims. I cracked my knuckles. “Figuring that out is next on my to-do list. Given the silver bullets, it’s safe to say they meant to kill me. Hopefully, they think they did so they won’t be prepared for what’s about to happen next.”

“What happens next is I call the cops to report this so thattheycan investigate, and justice will be served.”

At that, I couldn’t help snicker. “Don’t bother. The sheriff and I have an understanding. He leaves my pack alone, and we keep the town safe. Justice means something else ’round these parts.” Someone attempted to take me out, and that someone was going to pay in pints of blood. Anger infused my voice, leaving it rough and low. “Here in Guadalupe Falls, we go more of the animalistic vengeance route.”

My priorities sharpened along with my thoughts—finally, the last of the medication was leaving my system.Time to go.I scooted off the table and stood.

“Wait.” Dr. Ryan placed her hand on the center of my chest, and I peered down at her. She was so tiny, with full hips and an even fuller ass, and the parting of her lips made me want to plunder the pillowy pink softness. If I had more time and less responsibility, I’d sweep the sexy doctor who wouldn’t even give me her first name off her feet and carry her into the woods with me.

But I had a pack to warn and protect, and that’d always be priority numero uno. “Afraid I can’t. Don’t get me wrong, Doc, I’d love to stay so we could get to know one another better. Unfortunately, my hectic schedule just got even busier.” I patted my thighs and then my ass, where I’d keep my money if I had on jeans. “I guess I’ll have to settle the bill later. I left my money in my other prison wallet.”

She scrunched up her forehead. “Prison wallet? What’s that?”

“It’s where people in prison store and smuggle stuff they don’t want the guards to find.” Her confusion remained, so I guess I was spelling this out for her. “In their assholes.”

Her jaw dropped as her eyebrows shot up. “Oh. I...” Pink crept across her cheeks, and her eyes moved around the room, willing to land anywhere but on me. “Wish I’d never asked.”

Man, it’d be fun to stay and mess with her, but duty called, so I strode on past.

One last glance at her, standing in the center of the empty operating room covered in my blood, and then I shifted and darted out the door, sprinting as fast as I could toward the compound.

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