“You heard?” His face was grim as he stood under the spray and she toweled off quickly.

“Yes. Lex, what does this mean?”

“I don’t know but I’m afraid it doesn’t bode well for us. Stoner is involved now and we’ll have to talk to him about the situation. He’s going to meet me at the hospital in an hour.”

“Okay, I’ll get dressed and meet you downstairs.”

“Nina, it’s too close to the full moon. Stay here.” He stepped out of the shower and clenched his teeth when he saw that she’d already left the room.

She was downstairs waiting near the doors to the garage when he came down some short minutes later.

“Nina, it’s too close…”

“Don’t waste your breath, Scooby. I’m coming. I already spoke to Cade, he said I won’t be in danger of changing until at least eight tonight. As it’s just now nine in the morning, I’m just fine.”

Lex spun and saw his brother leaning against the doorway to the living room.

“What? She asked! I didn’t know she was trying to make some end run around you until she said, ‘HA!’ and stomped in here to wait for you.”

“Don’t look so pleased, Cade. You are so going to get yours when your mate comes around.”

“Shut up and be thankful. Now go on and give me a full report when you get it.”

Lex inclined his head for a moment and looked to Nina. “You see, I told him he needs to stay here and he does. He’s an alpha. You don’t have that excuse and you don’t listen worth a damn.”

Nina rolled her eyes. “Are you done Professor Mc Lecture? Because time’s a wastin’ while you’re going all stern on me.” She turned and walked out. Lex sent a one fingered salute to his brother over his shoulder as he followed in her wake.

He gave the signal to two of his men to keep an eye on the house, and Megan hopped into the backseat to ride to the hospital with them.

* * * * *

Once they parked, Lex did a quick visual sweep and opened the door, holding down the locks on Nina’s side until he’d taken a quick but deep scent of the air around the car. No other wolves had been there and other than the cops, there was no scent of gun oil, metal from weapons or gunpowder. He nodded at Megan and released the locks and Nina got out.

She walked to his side and he was relieved to see how aware she was of her surroundings and how close she stayed to him. Far enough from his right arm for him to be able to draw quickly but close enough to him to push her wherever he needed to if he had to keep her safe.

“I’ll do the talking.”

“Okay. I’ll just stand in the background and look pretty, shall I?” She arched a brow at him.

“Must you always be so argumentative?”

“Must you be a furry fascist? Jeez! Look, furbutt, I am not a moron. I’ve been tap dancing around cops for a very long time, thank you very much. Now shut up and pull that stick out of your ass, why don’t you?”

Megan studiously looked at the entrance doors.

“You know, you seriously try my patience. When you talk to me like that in front of my men, it’s bad for morale.”

“Lex, she’s your sister. She knows you’re a control freak. I bet you were a control freak at six years old, too. But she’d take a bullet for you in a heartbeat. That’s morale. Now, shall we continue to argue or go in and talk to Stoner?” She did make a mental note to cut back on being sassy to him in front of the non-family members of the Pack, though. He was right that it would be bad for morale if she did it.

He heaved a sigh and growled his assent. She grinned in triumph and he shook his head as they walked inside together.

The special unit for humans infected by the lycanthropy virus was on the top floor of the hospital and had special secured entrances. Lex was familiar with the unit as he was the Pack’s liaison to the human authorities if and when a human was infected, whether intentionally or not.

He turned to explain it to Nina and saw the tightness of her lips. “Do you want to wait outside? Nothing is going to hurt you in here, the security is really first-rate and I’m with you.”

“I know what it’s like in here.”

It struck him then that she’d been there when Gabriel had been infected some years before by a member of Cascadia Pack. He wondered for a brief moment why he hadn’t seen her, but if she’d been wearing that schoolmarm disguise and he’d been there on Pack business, he probably looked right past her.

He squeezed her hand and kissed her fingertips and she gave him a small smile.

They saw Detective Stoner standing in the hallway near the nurses’ station. He looked tired.

“Mr. Warden. Ms. Reyes.” He nodded at them and then at Megan. He held out a hand to point them down the hall. “He’s in a room down here. One of your doctors is with him now with a human doctor.”

Lex gave a short nod and they walked down the quiet hallway to the last room on the right and entered.

The memories of Gabriel’s near-death experience there flooded Nina and her heart squeezed in her chest as she saw the man in the bed. But this man had no visible bandages. His face was slightly bruised but it was fading.

Dr. Molinari looked up and inclined her head to them both in much the same way Lex had done to Cade earlier.

She shook her head and they all walked into the room next door and closed it behind them.

“The man has no external scratches or bites. He has two needle marks on his inner arm. He tests positive for the lycanthropy virus.” The other doctor, Nina assumed the human doctor, told them.