Page 27 of Diners, Damsels & Wolves

Twenty Seven

Thomas

S tanding in the hallway, he stared through the glass. With a numbed disinterest, he watched the doctors check Clarissa’s vitals and update her charts.

She was dehydrated, covered in lacerations, and her arm needed surgery to put the bone back in place. Bandages covered her incisions, and her arm was secured in a brace propped up on a mountain of pillows.

She was covered in stitches and butterfly bandages. The nurse draped an ice pack over her black eye. She no longer smelled of dirt and blood; now the stench of morphine and antiseptic lingered over her.

“The deputies found intravenous drugs in the SUV at the scene.” Sara came to stand next to him. “That, coupled with a whole lot of other unsavory evidence. Sheriff Greg is putting this one in the books as an attempted human trafficking by a group of depraved druggies. He’s offering the wild animal a medal of honor for taking them out for him.”

Tom didn’t respond. He couldn’t even look at her.

“She’s gonna be alright.” Sara handed him a bottle of orange juice.

“No, she won’t,” Tom said. “Two bear attacks and a kidnapping. No one survives something like that without it leaving a mark.”

“She’s resilient, stronger than she looks,” Sara said. “Exactly the type of mate suited for an Alpha.”

Bowing his head, he pinched his brow. The staples in his back, holding together his gashes, pulled. He refused to wince. After everything he’d put Clarissa through, this pain was nothing. He deserved it and far more. “I’m not good enough for her. I’m tainted and bloody. She’s in there because of me.”

“You’re wrong. If it weren’t for you, that bear would have raped and murdered her in The Barrel’s parking lot weeks ago. If it weren’t for you being in her life, no one would have known her aunt wasn’t sick.” Sara stared him down, her green eyes piercing. “Do me a favor, just don’t be a dumbass about this.”

“What?”

“You heard me. Don’t be a dumbass. Don’t decide it’s already over without ever letting her have a say. She hasn’t had much of a choice in what’s happened to her lately. Don’t you take her choices away too.”

He pursed his lips. He hadn’t thought about it like that. But he couldn’t help but remember the way she’d looked at him outside Donna’s Diner. She’d been terrified of him. Then again, when she saw his wolf, the look on her face haunted him. He had a feeling her choice had already been made.

“Besides,” Sara said, “Maria went to see Clarissa at the diner, the day she saw you phase. You thought Maria was hunkered down on house arrest, but Sam and Emmanuel snuck her out while you were sleeping. I was in the diner when she talked to Clarissa. There’s more going on here than you think there is. Don’t give up on her yet.”

Sara left him. He continued to stand there, holding his untouched bottle of juice. The sun was starting to rise, pink light pouring through her window. It painted her sleeping face in an immaculate haze. She looked like an angel, a glowing beacon of beauty and tenderness. Instead of protecting it, he’d broken her.

“Thomas!” Maria ran up to him, throwing her arms around him. He let her hug him but didn’t move to return it.

“Sam’s here too.” She brushed a tear from her eye. “I’m so happy everyone is alright. No one in the pack got hurt, at least nothing that won’t heal by next week. And you, you came back.”

“What are you still doing here, Maria? Shouldn’t you be resting?” His voice sounded dead, even to him.

“I’ve been here all night with Thressa. She’s been working on Rachel this whole time.”

“How’d it go?” he asked, but couldn’t find it in him to truly care. He was too spent.

“The spell is difficult, especially since it wasn’t cast correctly. She made a lot of headway, but it’s not fully lifted yet. Thressa is absolutely drained. She said it will take at least three more sessions to fully break it. Sam’s escorting her to the car now. She can’t even walk.”

“Take her to the mansion. There’s bound to be a spare room somewhere for her there.”

“You mean that, don’t you?” Maria asked. He was too tired to be offended.

“I made an agreement with her. She held up her end, she’s part of our pack now, and any member is welcome in our home,” he said.

“You’re a good man, Tom. And a good Alpha.”

He continued to stare through the window.

“I don’t think it’s as bad as you think,” Maria said.

“I know you snuck out to see her when we were on lockdown. Sara told me.”

“I did. And I think you should wait and give her the chance to talk to you about it.”

“Go home, Maria.”

She squeezed his arm before leaving.

He continued to stand there. He didn’t know how much time had passed. The nurses came and went several times.

“Sir?”

He jumped. A woman in blue scrubs stood at his elbow.

“You can go in and sit with her if you want,” she said.

He pinched his brows together. He wanted nothing more than to be at her side, but he needed to consider what she would want. If she wasn’t afraid of him being a wolf before, seeing him covered in gore in the woods certainly would have horrified her.

“Are you Thomas?” the nurse asked. He nodded. “She’s been asking for you, in her sleep.”

Shock rocked his core, chased by waves of warm relief. She was asking for him. After everything that happened, she wanted him next to her?

“You know, a lot of people don’t think they can hear you when they’re asleep, but they can. The patients who have relatives talk to them, sit with them, they recover faster. She’ll know you were there for her.”

The nurse left.

In a daze, he went into her room, taking the chair from the corner. Setting it to face her at her unbroken arm, he sat down.

His lips quivered. Clutching her cold hand in both of his, he brought it to his lips. The emotions that’d been building inside him finally cracked, he couldn’t hold the dam back any longer. Gripping her was like a lifeline as he wept.