Doc cleared his throat. “Just apply some of that salve and bandage it, and he should be back to doing his job.”
“Yes, Dr. Weber.” Carol tried to hide the hitch in her voice. She hated when she got emotional on the job.
“Carol,” Doc said, his voice soft and consoling.
Unable to look him directly in the eye, she fought to hold back the burning tears. “Yes, Doctor?”
He looked sympathetically at her and then patted her shoulder. “Got another case of the flu to look after.” He walked out of the room, his movement slower and stiffer than usual.
She wanted to tell him he needed to take care of himself. That he should get more rest, but she knew it would be futile. She wondered, though, what he’d intended to say. That the other doctor and nurse dying hadn’t been her fault?
No, it wasn’t her mistake, she tried to convince herself. The miner who killed them was the one responsible. But if she’d only raised the alarm somehow before he shot them…
Still, maybe that’s why the memory haunted her again. That it had been her fault, just like Tom’s having been attacked was, too. And if the reds hadn’t been trying to take her hostage, Ryan wouldn’t have been harmed, either.
“Carol?” Ryan said, drawing her from her mental self-bashing. He left the exam table and touched her arm. “Are you all right?”
“They died because of me.” She pulled away from him and stood in front of a supply drawer, staring at it but not seeing it.
“The former doctor and that nurse?” His voice was gentle, and no matter how badly she felt, his tone was like a mental salve. He ran his hand over her back in a gentle caress.
Carol let out her breath. “Yes.”
“I’ve been there, done that, Carol.”
She turned around and stared at him in disbelief.
“Yeah. Only it was my job to protect those who ended up dying. In this case, you were an innocent bystander.”
“Not an innocent bystander at all. I knew they’d come to harm. I didn’t…” She shook her head. “I didn’t save them. Even after they had been shot. I didn’t remove the bullets fast enough.”
He pulled her into his arms and held her tight. The patient comforting the nurse. It was wrong. Everything about this was wrong. But she couldn’t push him away. She needed this. She needed him. The warmth. The security. No pressure. Just concerned friendship. For the moment.
His hand swept down her back, massaging the tension from her stiff spine. “You didn’t know what they were, what we were. You didn’t know that the silver could kill or that if you’d removed the bullets quickly enough, they might have survived. You reacted the way your nurse’s training had prepared you. You couldn’t have known that Doc and the nurse were different from you, or how to take care of an injured lupus garou. You did the best you could under the circumstances.”
She looked up at him through tears and saw his face frowning with concern. “I wish my visions had told me that part of the equation. But they’re irritatingly scant and…” She shook her head. “It’s a curse I have to bear.” Just like having to shape-shift against her will was now. And damn, if she could keep it at bay, she would. She turned, opened the drawer, and retrieved antibiotics and a bandage.
She motioned to the exam table. “Do you want to sit up there?”
“I normally hate anything to do with hospitals,” Ryan said, his tone lighthearted, as if he was trying to change the somber mood. He sat on the table and smiled. “I’ve changed my mind.”
She shook her head, trying for professionalism again. “Here I thought you were going to be a difficult patient.”
“With you tending to me?”
With as light a touch as she could manage, she dressed his wound with the antibiotic and then wrapped the bandage around his arm. He stiffened, but when she looked up to see if he was hurting, he cast her an elusive smile. “On the scale of one to ten, the pain is nonexistent. Your hands are cold.”
She frowned at him and secured the bandage. “I didn’t touch you with my cold hands. You don’t have to be macho for me. I know it has to hurt.” She handed him his shirt.
He pulled it on while she watched, ready to help him if he needed further assistance.
“Do you know why Darien and the others shift in the visions but can’t shift back?” he asked, surprising her.
She thought he already believed her. She folded her arms, unable to avoid feeling defensive. “I don’t know. That’s why it’s so frustrating. I thought you believed me now.”
“Let’s just say I normally don’t put much stock in psychic abilities. Not in supernatural entities, ghosts, or any of that stuff.”
Just as she suspected. “Then if I told you I’ve had a ghostly experience, you wouldn’t believe me?”
His mouth curved up a hint, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “My Aunt Tilda sees them all the time.”
“Ahh, and you don’t put much stock in your Aunt Tilda.”
“Quite the contrary. I find her about the most well-grounded of my family.”
“Except for the ghostly visits.”
He shrugged and winced, and then began buttoning his shirt. “She needs lots of attention. I imagine she conjures them up when she’s lonely.”
Carol leaned in between his legs to fasten a couple of buttons on his shirt. “And me?”
He touched her hair in a loving way. “You’ve just had the one experience?”
“Three, but who’s counting?”
“I do have faith in your abilities, by the way.”
She closed her gaping mouth. She had hoped, but… she hadn’t realized he thought she’d told the truth. Tears filled her eyes again. “You really do?”
He pulled her close, rubbing her shoulders in a gentle manner. “Yeah, Carol. I really do.”
“Thanks.” She sighed deeply. “You don’t know how much that means to me.”
“I imagine I do.” He leaned down to kiss her lips, but she pulled away before they got too involved again. “I’ve got another patient to see, last one of the day. Another case of the sniffles. Everyone thinks they have the deadly flu when most of the cases are colds or allergies. I’ll see to him while you finish dressing.”
His expression hardening, Ryan went back to buttoning his shirt and followed her into the hall. “How am I going to guard you if I’m not with you?”
She harrumphed. “And just how did you get that?” She pointed at his bloody sleeve.
“I was trying to protect you away from your workplace.”
“Admit it. You’d rather chase down the bad guys than play the wait-and-see game.”
He smiled darkly.
When she called out the name from the chart and Ryan saw who her next patient was, his dark expression lightened up a lot.
The gray-haired old man shuffled toward Carol and gave her a small smile. “You brighten an old man’s day, young’en.”
“Hmm, Luciso, you always make my day.”
Luciso glanced at Ryan, took in his bloody shirtsleeve, and shook his head. “Is he the one everyone’s saying is hitting on you?”
“My bodyguard,” she corrected.
Luciso snorted. “Looks like this business with the reds is going to get real nasty. You tell Darien if he needs an old guy to help out, I’m ready and willing.”
“Thanks, Luciso. I’m sure he’ll appreciate the offer.” She heard the doc coughing and glanced down the hall. “Are you all right, Dr. Weber?”
“Going home to get some rest, Carol. Pulled an all-nighter.”
“Sleep well,” she said, but then a sickening feeling washed over her as she envisioned the doctor shape-shifting into the wolf to knock out his illness. She hurried after him, leaving her patient behind in her haste, figuring Ryan would catch up to her. But she had to warn Doc not to shift. He’d think she was crazy, but she just had to warn him.
“Wait, Dr. Weber! I need a word with you!” she said as the door slammed shut.
Chapter 19
“HELL, NORTH, ALL YOU DID WAS GET US INTO DEEPER guano by stirring them up at the hospital,” Galahad said, pacing across the meadow, at least thirty miles from Silver Town.
“At least I got a shot off at that outsider gray. Once that happened, the majority of them turned around and hightailed it out of there,” Hank said grinning. “We might not be as good in a fight with them wolf to wolf, but they can’t argue with bullets.”
North shook his head. “If it hadn’t been for Darien’s brother watching over Carol, I would have had her. The others guarding her were clueless.”
“Well,” Hank said, “I didn’t want to injure the gray that badly. I just want to get Carol. Hell, they’ve got the damned hospital watched, every entryway inside and outside. No grabbing her there from now on, it looks like.”
“Yeah, unless some of them start having the same trouble we’re having,” Galahad said. “Both Marilee and Becky went in today since they’re feeling so poorly. At least they shared the flu at the gathering last night, although they should have arrived earlier to expose more folks. If nothing else, when Darien’s people get sick, they’ll have to try and find a cure. Damn that Miller anyway. He promised the vaccine he gave us beforehand would keep us from getting sick and be a cure for those who already have the virus.”
“I blame Connor for paying the guy to create the virus in the first place. I wonder if Miller lied to us about staying isolated from the rest of us while he tries to find a vaccine that works this time. Hell, what if he already has one and inoculated only himself against the virus?” North asked. He’d kill the guy.
“What good would it do him if all of us came down with it but him?” Galahad asked.
“Yeah,” North reluctantly admitted, shoving his hands in his pockets. “You’re right. Unless he figures he’ll rescue those of us he wants to when the time is right and leave the rest of us to deal with the condition. As wolves, except for trying to kill him, we wouldn’t have any way to resolve this issue. What if Carol ends up having the same problem?” He scowled in the direction of Silver Town.