Undercover Wolf's Great Loss (Shifter Doctor Daddies Instalove Romance 3)
CHAPTER ONE
APRIL
Darkness descended upon me like a fog, its arms wrapping around my vulnerable body. The hospital room was cold, passive, hardly comforting in my condition.
But what could I do?
That nurse had given me Wolfsbane to keep me from shifting. I knew why she had done it. I just hadn’t wanted to be without my power.
How could I defend myself without my power?
Consciousness slipped from me regularly. Every time I woke up, I noticed the fading rays of the sun drifting back to the window. A lonely door sat to the left of the window. Nothing else existed in here—not even me.
I blinked.
Darkness didn’t take me this time. I roused from my slumber, aching as I struggled to sit up in the hospital bed. Everything hurt, even my heart.
After a few shaky breaths, I opened my eyes, focusing on the figure standing at the end of the hospital bed. The clipboard in his hands and the white coat alerted me that he was a doctor—but what kind of doctor? Had I been returned to the pack while I was knocked out?
Heart hammering, I slung my legs over the edge of the bed, failing to stand and tipping over like a poorly built doll. The man caught me easily, his scent overwhelming my nostrils as I clung to his shoulders. Sage—he smelled just like the sage I used to pluck from the fields.
I pressed my nose to his coat and inhaled deeper. “Sa...safe…”
“Yes, you’re safe now.”
Herculean arms hoisted me from the ground and set me gently into the bed. He untangled the IV chord from my arm and checked it to make sure it hadn’t been ripped out. Lucky for me, I wasn’t afraid of a little damage. After all, I was built to take damage.
But he didn’t know that.
I blinked again and then rubbed the sand from my eyes. “Who are you?”
Tall, dark, and handsome—that’s who he was. But I couldn’t focus on that right now. I needed to know where I was and how I could get out.
“I’m Dr. Claude Fleming,” he replied, his chiseled features drawing me to him. His honey-brown eyes met my gaze. “But you can call me Claude.”
“I need to leave.”
He shook his head as he held up a vial filled with teal liquid. “You need to heal.”
“I can do that later.”
“No, you’re under my care. I’m going to make sure you get the treatment you need.”
If any other man had said this to me, I would have decked him in the face. But something about the way Claude looked at me—the way he talked to me—made me want to trust him. The crimson cord connecting me to my inner wolf sang.
The song was low, barely a hum, but a song nonetheless and it sparked in me a curiosity I hadn’t felt since I was a teenager. I accepted the vial, popped open the lid, and drank the tonic.
It tingled on my tongue, inspiring me to lick the remaining fluid from my lips. His eyes watched the movement with heated interest. A human rose in his throat and then fell as he accepted the vial from me. “Good.”
“Good...what?”
“That should clear the Wolfsbane from your system and encourage your wolf to heal you. Lucky you didn’t get hurt in your wolf form.”
I studied him carefully. “And how do you know I’m a wolf?”
His eyes flashed yellow briefly, an iridescent color that perplexed me as much as it intrigued me. “Because I’m a wolf as well.”
That’s right—the sage. It wouldn’t be so strong on a human. And most human doctors wouldn’t risk wearing cologne at work. It must be his natural scent.
It was so...alluring. “I see.”
“Do you?”
“I do.”
He smirked, the expression enhancing his dashing good looks. That smile could get a girl in trouble.
A girl just like me.
“I have to go.”
He held up a hand, pressing it gently to my chest to keep me from moving. My heart should have responded with a strong beat, but instead, my heart steadied, calmed. I breathed deep life-giving air and relaxed into the bed.
“That’s it,” he said in a husky voice. “You’re safe here.”
“Not for long. Where am I?”
He glanced toward the window as he withdrew his hand. “A community hospital just off the highway near Route 6.”
“Not far from the crash.”
“So, you remember it? What happened?”
I shook my head. “I have to get away.”
Though urgency rose in me, I didn’t move. I didn’t try to sprint for the door. I called my wolf to the surface but she remained passive, almost comforted by Claude’s presence. That didn’t make any sense. I would never be safe around men—never again.
Didn’t she know that?