She smiled back. “Of course. Unless we’re swamped with human patients.”

Ryan ran his hands over the steering wheel. “That’s not the deal, and I won’t go along with it. You’re one dangerous lady. So about these nightmares you’re having…”

She sighed loudly. “They’re about the visions, about being bitten and changed, and they haunt me. Probably brought about by the drug the reds used on me.” She wondered if the drug had inhibited the need to shift last night. She took a deep breath, relieved she hadn’t tried to shift while Ryan was sleeping with her. Or doing anything else. A chill cascaded down her spine. Could having sex trigger a shift?

“Do you… believe in dream mating?” he asked out of the blue.

Chapter 15

HER STOMACH CLENCHING WHEN RYAN QUERIED HER about dream mating as he drove her to the hospital, Carol worried that maybe he believed in such a thing and was searching for the woman of his dreams. And she wasn’t it.

Still startled, she stared at him in disbelief. “Do you?”

“Of course not. But I wondered if you did.”

“Oh.” Her stomach unclenched several degrees. She thought about the stories Lelandi had told her and nodded. “Sure. Lelandi and Darien were dream mated. I didn’t know such a thing could exist until I heard of their case. Why bring it up?”

Ryan remained silent, and Carol huffed. “You tantalize me with some tidbit of news and then don’t share it with me? What if I were to do that with you? Say that you wouldn’t believe the vision I had this morning, but then not tell you what it was.”

“Did you?”

She paused and then let out her breath. “I’m not sure if it was the drug or what, but I saw a golden room and brilliant lights spilling into it from another room. I was drawn to the lights, as if I didn’t have any choice. And then shots were fired, and I heard…” She thought for a moment. Ryan glanced at her. She continued, “I heard Sam shouting. Then more shots rang out. So what brought on this dream mating query all of a sudden?”

Frowning, Ryan tapped his thumbs on the steering wheel and didn’t answer her for some time. Then he said, “Was the golden room a premonition of something to come, Carol?”

“It might have been nothing more than the effect of the drug.”

“Think carefully. You heard shots in the vision? Before Sam shouted?”

“The gunfire might have been outside of the vision. I might have heard it as I was envisioning the room.”

“No,” he said, his voice dark. “Shots rang out after Sam hollered. That’s why they fired in his direction. At the sound of his voice. No gunfire sounded before that.”

Carol considered the implications. Not good. She would be in a room headed toward another filled with bright lights where someone was shooting. Why would she do that?

“What are you thinking, Carol?” He reached over to squeeze her ice-cold hand. His hand felt warm and large and secure.

“The room means danger.”

“Then you’re not going there.” He glanced at her and continued to hold her hand.

“Right.”

He didn’t say anything for half a mile and then let out his breath. “Okay, so what happens in the room?”

“I don’t know. That’s what’s so frustrating about my visions. I don’t know what happens. What about your dream mating inquiry?” Carol watched him, chewing her lower lip. Had he dreamed of her? She was fairly sure she hadn’t dreamed of him, and she was certain she would have remembered.

“Tom said he was waiting for the woman who would reach out to him in his dreams.” Ryan glanced at her. “I thought you should know.”

“Ah.” Which meant that if Ryan wasn’t the one for her, she’d have to scratch Tom off her list, too. She sighed with disappointment. “That’s good to know. But a dream woman is no match for the real thing.” She folded her arms around her waist.

“Meaning?”

“Meaning that if the right woman came along, whether she was in his dream or not, I’m sure he’d want her.” She looked out the window. It appeared to be the start of another sunny day, not a cloud in the sky… too bad she had to work. After the terror of last night, it would have been nice to curl up on Darien’s porch with Puss sleeping on her lap, a cup of hot cocoa, and a good time-travel romance set in Scotland to read. Or if the house had been empty, she could have taken a nap with Ryan, although she might not have gotten any sleep.

But then again, she wouldn’t have taken that much enjoyment in either, knowing Matthew and Charlotte had to work longer hours to make up for her not being there.

“Jake doesn’t believe in dream mating,” Ryan said, as if that would make her feel better.

“Yeah. I don’t blame him really. I’m sure I’d never conjure up my soul mate that way, either. But still, it’s an interesting way to satisfy some needs before they can be truly met. Don’t you agree?”

Ryan pulled into the hospital parking lot, and Jake parked right alongside him on the passenger’s side. “I think any substitute for the real thing wouldn’t be half as satisfying.” He gave her a slow predatory grin.

Her body felt like she’d been roasting in the sun all day, but she managed a shake of her head and a small smile. “Lelandi warned me you were a wolf.”

He chuckled, but before he could say anything further, her door opened. She turned to see Jake holding it open for her, waiting for her to exit the truck.

“Thanks, Jake.” She cast Tom a sideways glance. “I hear you’re waiting for a dream mate to appear for you. Hope you don’t have to wait long.” She smiled, even though she was disappointed. She’d have to scratch him off her list of hopeful mates, which looked as though that left her only with Jake. She hurried inside the hospital as Tom turned to his brother and scowled.

“You told her that?” Tom asked his brother.

“Hell, no. I don’t even believe in that nonsense.” Jake looked at Ryan, who raised his brows as if he didn’t know what they were talking about.

Ryan stalked after Little Miss Nightingale. What part of—he was her protector at all times—did she not get?

“Who the hell else knows?” Tom asked Jake, following them into the hospital as Mervin brought up the rear.

“I swear I didn’t tell anyone about our conversation. I don’t know how Carol found out.”

Ryan wasn’t one to eavesdrop, normally, unless it suited his purpose in his P.I. work. But if Tom wasn’t truly interested in Carol, and she had hopes he might be, Ryan hadn’t wanted her to be disappointed. He stalked after her as she headed down the hall of the clinic, while Tom, Jake, and Mervin trailed behind them.

The place smelled of disinfectant and fresh floor wax, rubbing alcohol, and, in the staff lounge, harsh coffee brewing. Ryan couldn’t imagine working in a hospital environment, day after day. He much preferred the fresh out-of-doors, where he met with the residents and businessmen as mayor while coming up with plans for improving the city; the fragrance of new leather in his truck while he was in his P.I. surveillance mode; and the aroma of cocoa java bubbling at his office, compliments of his administrative assistant. Ingrid dutifully kept the business going whenever he was on an assignment elsewhere.

A tall male nurse named Matthew approached them, wearing blue scrubs and carrying a chart. He looked official as he headed toward Ryan and Carol in the wide hall washed in light. With dark hair and eyes, and a build that was a little scrawny and wiry, he looked like most of the other grays in Darien’s pack. The guy cast Carol a harried smile, and that bugged Ryan more than he wanted to admit. Matthew pinned Ryan with a look that meant he didn’t like Ryan following Carol so closely.

“He’s her bodyguard,” Jake said, explaining the relationship.

Matthew’s expression remained hard, and he said to Carol, “I’m sorry I didn’t make it to the gathering. Work, you know. But if you’d like to go out tonight…”

He let his words trail off. If Ryan had been Matthew, he would have scheduled the date, not left it up in the air like that. The other thing that bugged Ryan was that the rest of the pack knew about Carol’s abduction already, so this clown had to. Otherwise, he was certain Matthew would have asked why she needed a bodyguard. So why didn’t Matthew say anything about her being kidnapped and offer her consolation, protection, or anything? The guy was a total loser when it came to winning a woman over—that’s why.

“Where did you want to go?” Ryan asked Matthew. “On a date?”

Matthew’s jaw dropped. Carol looked like she was fighting a smile. Jake grinned. Tom shook his head. Mervin stared at Ryan as if he had lost his mind.

Ryan folded his arms. “I go where Carol does. So…” He shrugged. “Where did you have in mind?”

Matthew stiffened and spoke again to Carol as if Ryan hadn’t just addressed him. “I’ll talk to you later. Have to see a patient. Another case of the flu, I’m afraid. I’ve heard she came to the gathering last night.”

“The gathering?” Carol glanced in the direction of the waiting area and saw Marilee reading a magazine. “The masseuse?”

“Yeah. The other, Becky? The librarian? She was already in here earlier.”

Carol frowned. “Diagnosis?”

“Flu.”

“Great. Then they exposed Lelandi.”

“Yeah, well, I’m sure Darien’s not going to like it, but then again, they probably didn’t know they were coming down with it,” Matthew said.

“Marilee could have known,” Ryan argued. “She began coughing when I danced with her. She said it was allergies. If she’s got the flu, she could very well have suspected that’s what she had. She may have been worried that Darien wouldn’t let her come to the gathering.”

Matthew clenched his medical chart, his neck muscles tightening. “That’s the problem with a Private Dick. Everyone’s guilty until proven innocent.”