Page 46 of Midnight Mate
I did, hoping Travis wouldn’t come looking for us here. A confrontation wouldn’t be good for either of us right now. Not with Cat still upset and with me still needing to maim or murder something.
“Tell me what happened.” Rudy led Cat to the couch and eased her down against the cushions, crouching in front of her.
I stood off to the side, watching and assessing.
“Travis found me in the alley near the clinic.”
Rudy’s eyes narrowed. “What did I tell you about cutting through there?”
She sighed. “I know. I just wanted to get home.”
“Why were you coming home?” Rudy asked, brows crinkling in confusion as he looked from her to me.
She glanced at me. “East was late. I thought he’d stood me up.”
Rudy pinned me with a glare that would have made a lesser man wither. “What the hell, pretty boy? I trusted you.”
I cleared my throat. “I got held up.” My voice was hoarse, thanks to the images of my mother now playing through my mind. I’d gone to meet Cat as soon as I could get away.
Rudy shot me a strange look. “Uh-huh.” He glanced at Cat, who was still looking at me. “I’m going to pour us all a drink. In my bedroom. For about twenty minutes.” Then, he disappeared, and I heard his door shut.
The silence between us stretched.
I tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t make it worse. “I don’t want to make this about me. Leaving you there alone . . . there’s no excuse.”
“What happened?”
I blew out a breath and ran a hand through my already-disheveled hair. Cat tracked the movement with her eyes. Not glassy with shock, either. Good. I didn’t want to pile on.
“I stopped by my mom’s house to ask for some advice before heading up here.”
“Advice about what?”
I hesitated, but after the day I’d just had, I couldn’t be anything but honest. “Whether she’d recommend that I continue in the family footsteps—a werewolf mating with a human.”
Her mouth fell open in shock.
Any other time, it would have been funny watching her flounder for composure. Not tonight.
“I see. What did she say?”
“Nothing. She was unconscious.”
“Holy…” Cat shoved to her feet. “What happened?”
“Broken nose. Busted lip. A couple of cracked ribs. They’re saying she might have brain damage after being unconscious so long.”
“Shit, what are we doing still here?” She moved for her coat, which Rudy had tossed aside for her earlier. “We should go to the hospital and be with her.”
“I was already there,” I said, grabbing her wrist to stop her before she could brush past me. “It’s why I was late. I had to make sure she’d pull through.”
Cat laid a hand on my chest. “Of course you did. I’m so sorry.”
I swallowed hard. “She’s resting now. It’s fine. She’ll be okay.”
The last words left a lump in my throat. The doc had assured me she’d make a full recovery, that she looked worse than she felt. That was good because she looked like hell.
“Do you know who did it?” Cat demanded. “They deserve to pay for this.”
