Page 67 of Accidentally Wedded To A Werewolf

“She could get past the parking lot,” Oliver said thoughtfully. “I think she could make it halfway home before I passed out.”

Luna laughed. Mostly to get the weird icky feeling in her stomach to go away. It had formed as soon as Uncle Roy rushed in announcing that they needed to go to the hospital rightnowand had remained as they drove with an unconscious Grandmother Musgrove in the backseat and Oliver white-knuckling the steering wheel so hard it almost cracked.

Uncle Roy spoke up. “Someone’s coming.”

Everybody looked to the door just in time for a nurse to come in. It was the same nurse as last time, a middle-aged succubus with a tail that towered over her stout head. Luna had to squint at her name tag again to remember her name: Maeve.

“Hullo, Musgroves and co.,” Maeve said in a dubiously Irish accent. “I’m just gonna do a wee checkup. Your doctor will be in shortly.”

Uncle Roy snorted derisively. “Has he treated a lot ofwerewolves?”

Maeve shot him a bright smile as she budged around the bed to check the machines hooked up to Grandmother Musgrove. “Dr. Gert actually ran a clinic for monster youths back in San Fran. You’re in good hands.”

“Oh,” said Uncle Roy, some of the aggression dropping out of his tight shoulders. “Uh, alright.”

An orc walked in wearing an impeccably fitted white coat, her hair tied in an elegant knot between her horns. She saluted them all with her clipboard. “Hi, everyone. I’m Dr. Gert. Mrs. Musgrove, how are you feeling?”

Grandmother Musgrove folded her hands neatly in her blanket-clad lap. “That depends on what you tell me next.”

Dr. Gert laughed. “Well, you definitely don’t need surgery at this stage, but I’m afraid we are going to keep you for a few days. Just to check your heart is still doing okay after that scare back there. How does that sound?”

“Sounds like I ought to get comfortable.”

Leo immediately scrambled up the bed and started patting her pillows. Luna couldn’t hold back a grin.

“Looks like you have help with that,” Dr. Gert said. “Well, I’ll let you get back to it. Let me know if you have any questions.”

She headed into the hall, Maeve the nurse on her heels.

Grandmother Musgrove laid back against the pillow Leo had fluffed up or otherwise punched into submission. “Someof you have to go home.”

Another chorus of denials rose. Even Uncle Roy joined in on this one, though he limited his to muttering.

“Luna was right about one thing,” Grandmother Musgrove said over them. She twisted to look at Luna, giving her a warm smile. “Wearea little crowded.”

Luna smiled back. She didn’t quite forgive her for burning the flower, but it was hard to be mad at a sweet old woman lying in a hospital bed. Once Luna got past the shock of it all, it was actually kind of touching. She couldn’t imagineherfamily trapping her with someone on the off chance that they forced her to improve as a person.

Grandmother looked over at Oliver next. He frowned before she could even say anything.

“Go home,” she said before he could protest. “Jackson can show you a thing or two about roof repair. But don’t touch anything unless he tells you to.”

Oliver took a deep breath, obviously about to argue.

She gave him a hard look.

The breath left Oliver in a rush. “I’ll come back tonight.”

He hesitated. Then he bent down and pressed their foreheads together, rubbing his skin against hers.

She held the back of his head. “Looks like you might have to be alpha sooner than we thought.”

“You’re gonna be alpha until I go gray,” he replied softly.

Luna averted her eyes. They were burning, she realized with no shortage of embarrassment. She sniffed hard. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d cried in front of anything except a movie screen, and she wasn’t aboutto start now.

Oliver straightened, looking expectantly at Luna.

“Coming,” she squeaked. Then she winced, hoping she didn’t just give away how close she was to bursting into tears in the hospital room full of someone else’s family. She rushed out the door, only pausing to squeeze Grandmother Musgrove’s foot through the sheets like Leo had been doing earlier.

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