He. Needed. Her.
“Vivian…she gave me your blood when we got here.” Garrison swallowed and offered a weak smile. “Good thing we keep some of that powerful alpha blood on ice, isn’t it?”
Aidan just stared at him. It was standard procedure to keep his blood stored on the premises so that any injured wolves would have access to it. An alpha werewolf’s blood had amazing healing properties.
If I hadn’t been an alpha, I’d be dead now.
Garrison’s weak smile faded. “You saved my life again.”
“Forget it.” Aidan brushed past him and started grabbing clothes from his closet. Jane should be here. The fear he felt, the terrible tightness in his chest, wouldn’t ease until he had her close again.
“I remember…when you saved me before.”
Aidan glanced over at the guy. Garrison was staring at the floor.
“My parents were bleeding in front of me. No, they were already dead, and their blood soaked our wooden floor. I thought I would die then, too.” His shoulders hunched forward.
“You didn’t die,” Aidan said.
Garrison gave a rough nod. “Because of you. Then…and now.” His hands fisted at his sides. “I owe you more than I can ever repay, alpha.”
“I don’t want payback.” He grabbed for his clothes.
“One day, you might.” Garrison’s voice was soft. “And when you do, I’ll be there.”
Aidan started jerking on his shirt. He didn’t handle emotional shit well—not with anyone but Jane. Garrison, hell, he’d always felt protective of the guy, even though the younger wolf was a pain in the ass most days.
Isn’t that why I burned for him?
Garrison’s steps were shuffling toward the bedroom door. “I’m so sorry,” Garrison whispered. “About Paris. He was…one of the good ones.”
Aidan stilled.
The bedroom door began to crack open.
In a flash, Aidan was at that door, slamming it shut again. He’d moved even faster than he normally did and his fangs—they’re out again.
Garrison blinked at him in confusion.
“You talk about Paris in the past tense.”
Garrison’s Adam’s apple bobbed.
“Why?” Aidan growled. Vivian was lying to me. I could sense it…
“Y-you should speak to V-Vivian…” Garrison had paled.
“I’m speaking to you. Why are you sorry about Paris?”
Garrison licked his lips.
Aidan grabbed the guy’s shoulders and jerked him up so that they were nose to nose. “Why are you sorry?”
“B-because I saw him being zipped into the body bag! He didn’t make it…he…he died before his ambulance ever had a chance to leave the scene.”
Chapter Six
Paris lunged up, his fangs snapping toward Jane’s throat.
Behind her, Dr. Bob let out a very high pitched scream. She heard his footsteps scurrying away.
Way to help out, Dr. Bob.
Right before Paris could plunge his new teeth into her, Jane drove her fist right into his face—the face that had not repaired itself since the fire. Paris’s head slammed back onto the exam table with a clang, but he was only down a second before he came lunging up again.
This time, Jane threw him against the nearest wall. He growled at the impact, shook his head, and stared at her with the feral intensity of a beast.
Or of a starving vampire.
“See,” Dr. Bob hissed from his hiding spot a few feet away—a spot that put him under his desk. “Vampires wake up wrong. Filled with bloodlust. All they want to do is attack and feed. They don’t care who they have to kill in order to get their fill of blood!”
Jane made sure to keep her body between Paris and the hiding ME. “Knowing that he was going to wake up as a vamp would really have helped us out here,” she threw at him. “Aren’t you supposed to be the one who checks the dead bodies for things like this?”
“I didn’t know! I didn’t realize you’d bitten him!”
“I didn’t!”
“Well, somebody did,” Dr. Bob yelled right back.
Paris lunged toward her, teeth snapping.
Those snapping teeth caught her shoulder. “Ow!” Jane screamed. She elbowed him, and then, for good measure, she head-butted him. “Paris, I’m not on your menu!”
“He has to be put down!” Dr. Bob called. “Stop playing with him. Just end this!”
Playing? Playing! “It’s Paris,” she snarled. “I’m not ending anything.” But she could sure use some help. “Get me something to knock him out with! Don’t you have some kind of drugs here?” Sure, the main ME building had burned the night she’d woken up as a vampire and they were in “temporary” quarters—another building that was a block away from the original medical examiner’s office. But the place looked pretty well stocked to her.
So give me something to knock out Paris!
Paris charged at her again. She dodged his attack, barely. “I don’t want to hurt you,” Jane said. She felt guilty enough for breaking the guy’s neck. After all, that broken neck must have come courtesy of her second-story toss. “You’re Aidan’s best friend—”