She nodded, and headed back to the room with the teams. “Keep your phone on. I’m sure there will be meetings tomorrow. I may need you to attend.”

Crush followed her into the room, but he stopped in the doorway, taking a quick scan. He walked over to Smith’s side. “Where’s Malone?”

She looked around, then shook her head. “Don’t know. She was just here.”

Cella sat on the bench down the street from the police department’s building and rubbed her knee. It had swollen up to the size of a softball and the pain was something she didn’t even want to think about. She knew she could have stayed inside, but when dealing with this much pain, she let instinct take over. And being wounded around a bunch of predators was just not something she was willing to do.

So, instead, she sat on this bench and waited for the pain to pass. It had to pass, right? It had to.

Cella closed her eyes and again wondered how much longer she could keep this up. She had a game coming and practices before that. She knew that icing her knee would definitely help, but would it swell up like this again?

She could ask Jai for help, but she knew that would go badly since her friend would push for surgery again. Knee replacement, which meant Cella’s career would be over. So going home tonight? No way. Hotel. She needed a hotel.

Taking a deep breath, she tried to stand, but immediately sat back down hard, a small squeal of pain going out over the cold night air.

“Are you all right?” a male voice asked. A kind male voice. But all Cella knew was that a stranger was near her while she was wounded and the beast inside her took over, her roar ripping through the night, her claws unleashing. She was up on her good leg, her arms swinging out to tear the man in front of her apart. To destroy the threat. But an arm wrapped around her, yanking her back.

“Sorry,” she heard another voice say. “Sorry. She went off her meds. I’m getting her back to the hospital.”

“You sure you don’t need some help? Maybe I should call nine-one-one.”

“No, I’ve got her. But thanks.”

Cella felt the threat move away, leaving her alone with the bear. Why she didn’t see him as a threat, too, she didn’t know.

“I’ll take you home.”

“No,” she told Crush, pushing on his arms until he carefully lowered her to the ground. “No. I can’t go home. Not like this.”

“You talking about your knee? Or your face?”

She winced. “That bad?”

“Your face isn’t that bad, but Meghan will notice. And your knee ...”

Cella shook her head. She couldn’t let Jai see her knee and she definitely couldn’t let her kid see her face. It was one thing when Cella got a few bruises during a good ol’ family bare-knucklefight or during a hockey game. But Meg always freaked out when she saw her mother’s face and knew she’d been working.

“Can you take me to your place?” she asked him. “Please.”

“It’s probably not safe there.”

“I dare somebody to come at both of us tonight.”

“Okay.”

Crush went to her and started to put his arms around her.

“I can walk, Crushek.”

“Bullshit. And you’ve got a game coming up. I can’t risk the Marauder’s enforcer, now can I?”

“It’s always about him, isn’t it?”

“Pretty much. Now come on. I’m tired and hungry.”

He slipped his arms behind her back and under her legs, carefully lifting her so he didn’t do much to her left leg.

“Thanks,” Cella said before he could get moving.

“For what? Isn’t this what pretend boyfriends do?”

Laughing, she put her head on his shoulder. “Excellent point.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Crush pulled into his driveway and turned off the engine. He reached for the door, but stopped and warned, “Do not move until I come get you.”

“I wasn’t.”

He smirked at her. “Liar.”

“All right. Fine. I’ll wait.”

God, the woman was impatient, but considering how much pain Crush was guessing she was in, she wasn’t much of a complainer.

Walking around to the passenger side of his truck, Crush pulled open the door and lifted Cella out. She wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled. “Thanks for this. And for earlier.”

“No problem. You hungry?” He kicked the truck door closed and headed to his porch.

“I could eat.”

“Hope spaghetti’s okay. I only really know how to make spaghetti. And whale blubber, but I figured you’d rather the spaghetti instead.”

She chuckled. “Spaghetti’s fine. Although it’s called pasta now.”

“I’m old school. It’s called spaghetti.”

Still holding Cella in his arms, Crush managed to unlock his metal screen door. He held it open with his foot and juggled his keys until he found the one for the front door, unlocking it and stepping inside.

Crush walked through his house until he reached the kitchen. He placed Cella on top of his kitchen table, then flicked the light on. “Let’s get you some ice for that knee.”

“Okay.”

Crush went to his freezer, where he kept his seal and walrus blubber, and grabbed a couple of ice packs. He turned to walk back over, but stopped. And stared.

“Where, exactly, are your pants?” he asked.