Wolf Fever

Chapter 28

THE FRONT DOOR TO DOC’S HOUSE OPENED, AND CAROL wondered if Ryan had found anything this time. She immediately straightened her back as she stood at the counter. She was boiling water in an electric teakettle in the process of making anise tea, one more possible herbal remedy for fighting a viral infection.

Again, she considered the wolf’s bane solution she’d cooked and hidden in the crisper of the fridge. She wouldn’t risk giving that remedy to anyone else. She did consider drinking a bit of it herself, now that she was sick with the flu, to see if it might be a cure.

She tilted her head in the direction of the footfalls. They were a woman’s, much lighter and delicate than Ryan’s heavier step. She thrust the container of wolf’s bane back in its hiding spot and closed the door.

Then someone else’s footfalls sounded. Two women? At first, she thought it might be Bertha, bringing her and Ryan a snack as she’d been doing for the past several days, trying to help out in any way that she could, but they’d eaten breakfast an hour earlier.

Carol turned stiffly to see who was coming. Her skin felt warmer than normal, and she suspected—although she couldn’t find a thermometer in Doc’s house to confirm it—that she had another low-grade fever. She felt tired and out of sorts, her head throbbing, and she was deathly afraid that anytime now she’d shift.

The only reason she hadn’t yet, she figured, was because she’d shifted to help Ryan fight Miller. Before that, she’d shifted so she could play fishnet tag with North and his men. That might have knocked out the urge for the time being.

With any luck, maybe she’d find a cure before she felt the compulsion again.

The footsteps grew closer. Couldn’t be Silva. She was sick and terrified of shifting. She didn’t want to get near Carol and risk contaminating her. Or Nurse Charlotte. She was too busy dealing with patients to come to the house.

Which left Lelandi and some other women in the pack that Carol didn’t know well. Lelandi had better not be coming here to see her!

“Who’s there?” Carol called out, not wanting Lelandi to come any closer, if that’s who it was.

The footfalls continued through the living room in the direction of the kitchen.

“’Tis I, Rosalind,” Ryan’s sister said, her voice bright and cheerful.

Carol’s mouth dropped. Oh, hell. She didn’t want anyone to lose faith in her ability to find a cure now that she was sick and could be on the verge of shifting at any time, but she didn’t want Rosalind exposed to what she had, either.

“You can’t come in,” Carol said, her voice firm.

“Lelandi said it was all right.”

“Lelandi’s wrong.” Carol frowned. “Who’s with you?”

“Lelandi,” Darien’s mate said, sounding amused.

“Lelandi, you shouldn’t be here. Neither of you should. I… I’m sick.”

They were nearly to the kitchen. Carol turned off the teakettle, but she didn’t know what else to do. It hurt to stand or sit or even lie down. Her joints all ached. Her throat was sore. She felt miserable.

“Don’t come in,” she warned.

Lelandi and Rosalind ignored her and entered the kitchen, each carrying a brass container of red roses. Rosalind was wearing a pale pink sweater and matching jeans. Her curly, long brown hair bounced on her shoulders, and her amber eyes sparkled with excitement. Her smile was sweeter than Ryan’s and not as devious as his often was.

Her red hair tied back in a bun, Lelandi wore a loosely fitted emerald sweatshirt and sweatpants. Carol wondered if Lelandi’s jeans were getting a little too snug around her waist with triplets on the way. Lelandi gave her a knowing smile.

“Ryan has good news. But you’ve beat him at the game again.”

Carol slumped on the chair, feeling lightheaded. Tears blurred her eyes. Even if Ryan had found the vaccine, it would only protect werewolves from getting the virus, not cure those who had it already.

“What are you doing here, Rosalind? You shouldn’t be here,” Carol said, defeated though hopeful that Ryan did find the vaccine and that it would help those who weren’t sick.

“I couldn’t stand being in Green Valley and not knowing how this was all going down. Lelandi told me you were looking into herbal remedies. I have a greenhouse and wanted to bring all kinds of fresh herbs for you to use in your search for the cure.”

Carol sighed. “You shouldn’t have come. What if you get sick, too?” Then she frowned and looked at Lelandi. “If Ryan found the vaccine, how would I have beaten him at the game?”

Lelandi beamed, then crossed the floor, pulled Carol from the chair into her embrace, and hugged her soundly. Carol wanted to break loose and dash away from her. But Carol didn’t have the strength. Was Lelandi mad?

Rosalind waited, but the way she was standing so rigidly and grinning from ear to ear, Carol wondered if it was because she knew for sure Ryan and she were mated. But that would all be for nothing if she didn’t find a cure!

“Darien shifted a few minutes ago,” Lelandi said, tears misting her eyes. “God, Carol, you did it. That first remedy you tried—the one he balked at and I had to force him to drink? The spicy ginger tea? Combined with the raw onion chunks left soaking in honey overnight that he growled at me over, and the Echinacea… all of the different remedies together worked. It just took a while, but… he’s back to his usual self. Well, a little gruffer than usual. He would have come down here personally and thanked you…”

Tears streamed down Carol’s cheeks like a river run amok. She couldn’t grasp the ramifications of what she’d done, and she wasn’t sure she could accept it. What if they turned back? What if this didn’t last?

Rosalind joined them. “Ryan found a jewel when he fell in love with you,” she said, and tugged Carol into a hug. “I’ve always wanted a sister who could beat him in something.”

But it wasn’t a game. She embraced Rosalind back, pleased to have another sister to add to her family in any event. She reached over and drew Lelandi into an all-girls’ hug.

“Are you sure, Lelandi?”

Tears streaked down Lelandi’s cheeks now, too, and she nodded vigorously.

“Oh, hell yeah. He’s giving orders, yelling at Tom for allowing you to let North into the exam room and nearly taking off with you; giving Jake grief for shape-shifting and getting stuck, even though he knew it couldn’t be helped; and scolding me for allowing you to mate with Ryan without letting him know first.”

She smiled. “We’ll miss you, Carol. Will you be all right when Ryan takes you home to his pack?”

Rosalind took Carol’s hand and squeezed. “Silver Town’s not that far from Green Valley. She’ll visit. We both will, if it’s all right.”

“For the all-girl-night parties,” Carol said, trying to smile.

Rosalind gave Carol another hug. “Sounds like those could get out of hand, and I’m in. After you and Ryan are all right and no one from our pack will get sick with this…” She grinned even more broadly. “…You can come home. Don’t tell Ryan, but I’m moving to a condo in town, closer to my garden shop. The house will be yours and Ryan’s. He’ll say no, because he wants to keep an eye on me, but I need a little freedom, and… well, this is going to be perfect.”

“I… I—”

“Darien is so proud of you,” Lelandi said. “So very proud of you. He’ll tell you himself after he finishes ordering everyone around. At least those who haven’t shifted yet.” She motioned to the doorway. “Ryan ran the vaccine to the hospital, and Charlotte and Matthew will be giving vaccinations to anyone who isn’t sick. Rosalind and I were already vaccinated.

“Doc also shifted back—we suspect maybe even earlier than Darien. We didn’t know it until just a few minutes ago because he was so tired that he slept through the whole thing. He’ll help with the vaccinations and wants to tell Ryan to join our pack and forget taking you away.

“Of course, Darien would say no to that. It’s one thing for Ryan to come here to help us out with an important matter. But it’s another for Darien to have to butt heads with him all the time.”

“Carol?” Ryan called as he entered the house. “Have I got good news! We found the vaccine.”

Smiling, Lelandi and Carol wiped away residual tears as the women all waited for Ryan to enter the kitchen.

Ryan’s smile faltered when he saw Rosalind and Lelandi with their arms around Carol’s waist. “I got waylaid at the hospital and thought the two of you had gone home,” he said to Lelandi.

“We were on our way there when Darien called Lelandi with the news. Carol found the cure,” Rosalind said, proudly. “So we had to tell her right away. Once you and she are cured and ready to come home… well, everything will be right with the world.”

He looked from Rosalind to Lelandi. She shrugged. “Darien’s raising Cain with everyone—North and his pack members; the two gray females, Becky and Marilee, for their shenanigans; and Tom for allowing North to nearly take off with Carol at the hospital.”

“He shifted back.” Ryan smiled with a bit of the devil in his expression. “He’s mad at me for taking Carol as my mate without his permission, I can just bet.”

“Um, yeah, but he’ll speak with you after he makes sure Carol’s cure has lasting power.”

Ryan chuckled darkly. “And now?”

“Doc Mitchell hasn’t changed back yet, and he’s having fits over it. Doc Weber said the two of you can stay in his home as long as you like. He’ll stay with Doc Mitchell in his big, old house in the country until the vet shifts back.”

Carol felt relief and exhaustion, knowing that she no longer had to push herself to find a cure and that Ryan wouldn’t have to keep looking for a vaccine. She slumped down on the kitchen chair and wanted to sleep for the next year without waking to do anything.

Ryan saw the telltale signs that Carol was truly sick. He assumed she’d been trying to hide it from him earlier. Now he saw how her eyelids drooped, her eyes glassy and her face pale. She looked worn out and sick. Like he felt.

“What’s the cure?” he asked, ready to give it to Carol first.

She motioned to the fridge, teakettle, and herbs and spices sitting in containers on the counter. “A half-dozen remedies together. But I’ve detailed everything in my notes on the computer.”

He glanced at the packages of licorice sitting on the countertop. “Not the licorice.” He frowned at her. “Or the onion soaked all night in honey, surely.”

She smiled a little and reached for his hand. “At least we don’t have to try wolf’s bane.”

“Wolf’s bane?” Rosalind and Lelandi said at the same time.

Carol shrugged. “It could have killed us. I need to throw that remedy out before anyone drinks it by accident.”

Everyone looked at her as if she’d lost her mind.

“Or it could have been a cure, according to werewolf lore. It was used for medicinal purposes eons ago. And as a poison.”

Lelandi asked, “Where is it?”

“The bottom-right crisper in the fridge, blue container.”

Rosalind went to dispose of it.

“Until we can move to Green Valley, Carol and I will stay here,” Ryan said, damned thankful they hadn’t had to try wolf’s bane. He hated the taste of licorice, and the idea of onions soaked in honey was sure to turn him off eating either for months.

“What about Puss?” Carol asked, and sneezed.

“Maybe Puss should stay with us a while longer while you get your rest,” Lelandi suggested.

Carol nodded. The fight was out of her. She needed to rest.

Ryan gathered her up into his arms, feeling how warm her body was and knowing she was running a fever.

“No one is to disturb us… for anything.”

Rosalind grinned. “I never thought I’d see the day that my brother would be mated.”

Lelandi patted Ryan’s back as he headed for the guest bedroom. “Take good care of her.”

“She’ll be good as new before you know it.”

But Carol wasn’t good as new in short order. She was run down, stressed to the max, and totally worn out. She lost her voice, coughed constantly, ran fevers, and ached all over. Ryan, who wasn’t nearly as sick, was still feeling poorly. He had to watch the way he coughed and grimaced every time he swallowed. Yet he took care of Carol as if he were her personal nurse, bossy sometimes and coaxing at other times.

He brought her fresh boxes of tissues and glasses of water and orange juice and sore throat lozenges and expectorant medicines. He forced down pots of ginger tea, onions minus honey, honey on toast—hopefully with the same benefit, small doses of licorice, and garlic. He tried all the remedies she’d used with Darien and the others who had contracted the virus, except for the exercise routine.

Three times the previous night, she’d had the damnable urge to shift, and the heat had again struck her. Three times, Ryan had made love to her, and to her amazement and joy, he’d coaxed the urge to shift right out of her. If she’d known that hot sex would keep the shift from occurring, she would have dragged him from the woods the first night she’d seen him and sneaked him into the guest bedroom to ply his erotic moves on her.

Now it was daylight, and the heat once again infiltrated her muscles and joints—and even her bones. She hadn’t had a fever in two days, so she knew the heat wasn’t due to that. This went deeper. When she tugged at the covers in a frantic way and then tried to pull off her long T-shirt, Ryan noticed her distress. He left the chair he’d been sitting in while he watched over her and sat on the edge of the bed, his hand caressing her shoulder.

“Did I tell you about the time my partner drove after an armed robber on foot, and the robber dove over a fence into someone’s backyard?”

She shook her head. She loved how he could lessen her compulsion to shift by telling her tales of his exploits as a police officer first and then as a P.I. But she was afraid the effect wouldn’t last forever, and she feared that the antidote wouldn’t kick in soon enough.

“My partner didn’t apply the brakes in time. The fence was hiding not only the robber but also an attractive nuisance.”

“A swimming pool,” she guessed, smiling.

“Yep. I was in foot pursuit. Instead of trying to catch the robber, I ended up having to rescue my partner from the swimming pool as his car plummeted into the heated water.”

Carol smiled. Ryan gave her an elusive smile back and kissed her forehead.

“Did the robber get away?”

“He was so stunned that he was still gawking at the rescue as I pulled my partner free. By the time the robber thought to make a hasty retreat, I’d tackled him. He ended up in handcuffs—and soaking wet, too.”

She chuckled, loving to hear about her mate’s past and growing closer to him every day. She hoped and prayed and wished she’d be back to normal soon. Then he’d take her home—to his home, his pack, and his family. She hated leaving her job behind. Yet until she could get her shifting under control, she doubted she could handle work.

The urge to shift gone, she tugged down her T-shirt, and Ryan covered her back up with the blanket.

“Sleep, my Florence Nightingale.” He ran the back of his hand across her cheek in a gentle caress. “Sleep, and we’ll talk later.”

When she woke again, she felt much better, not having coughed all night long. Her throat was no longer scratchy, and her energy was back, but Ryan wasn’t in the bedroom. Was he bringing her lunch or dinner or breakfast, depending on the hour?

For once, she felt famished. What was the hour? She glanced at the clock. One in the afternoon. She closed her eyes, uncertain what day it was. Had the phase of the new moon begun? Would the lupus garous be back to normal?

Carol crawled out of bed, stared at her translucent nightgown, and wondered when she’d put that on. She pulled it off, dumped it on the bed, and took a long, hot shower, while speculating how everyone else was faring. Had the vaccine worked and kept the last of their kind from falling prey to the bioengineered virus? Had the cure taken effect for everyone? Were Doc Mitchell and Jake back to their normal selves? Time to rejoin the world and find out what was going on.

She towel dried herself, wrapped the towel around her hair, walked out of the bathroom—and froze.

Ryan stood in the room with a bouquet of cheery pink roses in one hand and her cat cradled in his other arm. Almost smiling, Puss looked like he had a new pal.

Her heart did a little flip. Ryan had brought her flowers. She didn’t realize how much that would mean to her. But it meant the world.

And Puss. She wanted to take him in her arms and squeeze him tightly.

Ryan smiled brightly at Carol. “I like what you’ve done with your hair, and”—he waved the flowers at her nude body—“the rest of you.”

She’d forgotten all about that. Knowing just what he had in mind, she chuckled. “If you think I’m returning to bed after I’ve been in it for days now, you’ve got another think coming.”

Part of her wanted him to change her mind, but the more sensible side of her said it was time to get to work doing something other than going back to bed. She stalked toward the dresser, hoping she had some clothes in it, but Ryan caught her with his free arm and pulled her tight against his body. The tea-scented, velvet rose petals tickled as they brushed her shoulder, and Puss licked her arm in greeting with his sandpaper tongue.

“While you were in the shower, I changed the sheets. Just in case.”

He was a dream come true. And how could she deny she wanted to make love with him again? The day could wait. She snuggled against Ryan, and reached up and stroked Puss’s head. His motor instantly began to rumble.

“Is everyone all right?”

“Yep. Because of all the strain you’ve been under, you’ve taken the longest to recover.”

“How long?” she asked, frowning.

“Nearly two weeks. North and his renegade pack members have joined Lelandi’s red pack. If they cause any trouble there, they’ll live to regret it. Becky and Marilee took off once they were well. No one knows where they went and no one cares. A few… well, let’s say more than a few of the bachelor males are pissed I mated you.”

Carol smiled. “Guess it’s good I’m leaving then.”

“I have a proposition.”

“Hmm?” Sex came to mind, as it often did. But what he said next surprised her.

“I’ve contracted with a lupus garou doctor to open a clinic in Green Valley. He said he’d try it out and make sure it was the kind of place he’d want to raise a family. He wanted to talk to you about being his nurse. Doc Weber had already told him what an asset you were.

“Until you’ve been a werewolf for a year or two and can really get your shape-shifting under control, a clinic run solely by werewolf types would be the best solution. Patients would be strictly werewolves, and our pack will welcome having their own clinic for lupus garou-related problems. One of the clerks at the hospital is in my pack, and she’d be thrilled to work for you as your receptionist and billing clerk.”

“But…”

He frowned a little. “We really need a medical team that can take care of werewolf patients. You could even further your training to become a physician’s assistant, if you wanted. Or a doctor even.”

She thought it was a wonderful idea, but she still thought he wanted something more… intimate. “Here I thought you were going to proposition me for something else.”

He grinned and leaned down and kissed her forehead.

“Hmm, what had you in mind?”

“Where’s your plaid?”

“Next time, I promise.” He slipped the bouquet of flowers into a vase of fresh water and then set Puss down on a soft cushion on top of a chair. Her cat immediately jumped down, wound his way around Carol’s legs and then Ryan’s, and then ran across the floor and curled up in a window seat.

Ryan snorted. “He has a mind of his own.”

“I’m afraid you won’t be able to show him who’s boss.” She began unbuttoning Ryan’s shirt, slowly, provocatively.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that in the family—that means between you and Rosalind, and now the cat and me—I’ll have a difficult time being in charge.”

She laughed and pulled his shirt free from his pants. “That’s as it should be, my Highland hero.”

“Hmm, you saved me from a mad scientist, remember?”

“Well, we’re even then,” she said, unbuckling his belt as he caressed her naked breasts in a loving way. “You saved me from a fishnet.”

He chuckled. “I’m going to have to teach you to swim. Have I told you I love you today?” He kissed her nose, pulled off her towel turban and dropped it over the back of a chair.

“Before you made love to me, while you were making love to me, and after you made love to me sometime in the middle of the night. Yes, you did.”

“Good. I can’t say it enough.” His thumbs chafed her nipples, as she took hold of his arm and pulled him toward the bed.

She caressed his chest. “Ah, Ryan, I don’t know anything about being a pack leader’s mate.”

“You couldn’t be more perfect.”

She snorted in a feminine way. “Right. I don’t know how to howl, I can’t swim, and—”

He kissed her thoroughly, his tongue stroking hers— hot, hard, and urgent, his hands making her breasts swollen and tingly, that she forgot what she was about to say. All she knew was they were perfect for each other. She would learn how to control her shape-shifting somehow, how to raise a couple of were-kids, and how to lead a pack with Ryan at her side. One thing she didn’t have to learn was how to love Ryan with all her heart.

Ryan could lose himself in Carol’s sweet body, her willing mouth softening under his kisses, her nipples rosy and peaked and tantalizing, and the way she moved her body against his, arching and touching and pushing for action. He’d thought she might be sore from all their love-making the night before, but she’d been so eager, and he couldn’t get enough of her once she’d felt better again.

He’d really thought to give her a break. Flowers, bringing Puss to her, giving her news about a job. He hadn’t expected to find her fresh from the shower with her skin flushed and her hair done up in a turban. She was gorgeous. And she craved having him. Despite the pretense that she didn’t want to return to bed. By the way she sounded so hopeful that he’d want her back in bed—and when would he not desire that?—he knew she was ready for more loving.

He loved her insecurities and strengths, the way she accepted him for all his foibles, and the way she loved him back. He now knew why he’d been obsessing about her for the past six months. He’d found the woman he couldn’t live without, and he’d been fortunate that she’d wanted him with the same obsessive compulsion, no matter what reservations she might have had.

Carol caressed his back, her silky touch stealing his thoughts, her eyes blue pools of desire that called him like a siren’s seductive song. Nothing else mattered but pleasuring his mate before he took her home to his pack, his people, his life.

His Little Miss Nightingale was the stuff of legends, the soothing balm that stirred his soul. Together, forever, they would solve life’s little mysteries and make their dreams come true.