Midnight Touch Read online

  “Ms Duncan is upset, she has asked that you talk to me,” he said into the mouthpiece.

  “Cassie is in critical condition. She is in surgery now,” the voice on the line paused, then added softly. “Her sister needs to come to the hospital as quickly as she can. There is a chance that Cassie …”

  “What the fuck …?” Shaun whispered, looking sick.

  “Thank you, we’re on our way,” Cormac cut the call. “Deacon, go with … Gemma, was it?”

  At her name, Gemma pushed herself away from Deacon, who tightened his hold.

  “I don’t need anyone with me,” she denied.

  “If I let you go, you’re going to fall over,” Deacon commented.

  “Deacon will go with you. Give him your keys. You’re clearly shook up and worried about your sister. He will drive, you will direct him.” Cormac held out a hand and Gemma stared at it. “Keys.”

  She felt something touch her hip and slapped her palm down, missing Deacon’s hand as he pulled the keys out of her pocket.

  “Hey! Give them back. It’s not my car, I had to borrow it!”

  With a half-smile, he lifted his arm, dangling the keys just out of reach. “If you can take them from me, you can drive.”

  “Quit fucking around,” Shaun snapped at his brother, retreating inside the house to snatch up his own car keys and lock the door. “Let’s go.”

  The forty-minute drive to Ridge County was tense. Cormac had taken his keys from him and strode around to the driver’s side without a word. Shaun was sprawled in the passenger seat, his fingers tapping a nervous beat on the door panel.

  “The hospital never said how badly she was hurt, only that we should be there just in case,” Cormac said into the silence, and Shaun’s eyes slid across to him. “I’m sure they would have mentioned it if her injuries were severe.”

  “Maybe.”

  “How important is she to you?”

  “She’s it, Mac. She’s the one,” he told his brother, softly.

  Cormac inclined his head. “You’re sure.”

  “I bit her.”

  “She’s human, Shaun.”

  Shaun dragged a hand through his hair. “You think I don’t know that? You think I haven’t thought about how insane it is to want someone this much this fast? She’s just come out of a relationship and doesn’t want to get into another one. But I … fuck!” His fist hit the dashboard.

  Cormac’s silver eyes flicked to him before returning to the road ahead. “We’ll figure it out.”

  Beep … beep … beep …

  The alarm woke her, and Cassie tried to stretch out a hand to switch it off. Her arm didn’t move. Alarmed, she tried to roll onto her side, but couldn’t do that either.

  “Come on … wake up for me.”

  The voice cut through her burgeoning panic and she turned her head, wincing at the pain, and opened her eyes. It took a moment to realise she wasn’t in her bedroom. There was a figure leaning over her, and she blinked trying to make out his features. She couldn’t focus, her vision swimming in and out.

  “Wh-who …” she forced the word out and the figure looming close jerked back slightly.

  “Cassie?”

  The voice was familiar, and she frowned, trying to place it. When the figure moved closer, bending nearer her face, his features became clear.

  “Shaun,” she whispered. “Wh-what happened?”

  His fingers touched her face gently, fingertips tracing over her cheeks. “You were in an accident.”

  “I … I can’t feel m-my hands.”

  “I know,” his voice was low, rough, thick with an emotion she couldn’t name.

  A bang sounded on the door and he stiffened. “This wasn’t how I wanted to do this, but we’re out of time. I can fix it, if you’ll let me.”

  A shout joined the banging, and Cassie frowned, trying to make out the words.

  “Wh- what is happening?”

  “Don’t worry about it,” He cupped her face and turned it toward him. “Just say yes, Cass. Tell me you want me to fix it.” He said urgently.

  “I don’t … fix what?”

  Beep … beep … beep …

  “Wh-what is that?”

  “Focus on me.” His fingers stroked along her jaw. “Say yes, Cassie. Trust me, please.”

  “Y-yes … okay … yes.”

  “Can you look at me, baby? Look at my eyes. Just for a minute.”

  She could feel his fingers on her jaw, tilting her head back and she tried to bring his face into focus.

  There was something different, something strange about him, but she couldn’t hold the thought.

  “That’s it. Good girl.” She felt his mouth cover hers, a sting, followed by the metallic tang of blood.

  He lifted his head and she could see a red smear on his lip. “Almost there,” he whispered, glancing over his shoulder as the bangs and shouts grew louder. “My blood is your blood. My pack is your pack. My life is yours. You are mine and I am yours.” His mouth caught hers again. “Say it for me, Cassie. Say it with me.”

  “I don’t …”

  “Come on, baby. We’re almost done. Say it with me.” He repeated the words again, and she followed along, haltingly.

  He glanced over his shoulder again, expression tense. “Come on,” he muttered and then she felt it.

  A warmth spread across her limbs. The warmth heated, became hotter, began to burn and she panted, moaned. Her back arched and she screamed.

  The last thing she heard was Shaun’s whisper in her ear.

  “I’m sorry, forgive me … it’ll be over soon.”

  Shaun paced up and down the corridor outside the hospital room. Cormac and the pack doctor, Chase, had burst through the door and dragged him away from Cassie seconds after her first scream. But they were too late. He’d taken action, and they couldn’t stop it now.

  “You really like this girl.”

  Deacon’s voice stopped him mid-step and he spun around to face his twin, lifting his shoulder in a slight shrug.

  “No man, I mean like like.”

  “It’s gone way beyond that, Deke.” He turned his head to look at the door, a barrier Cormac had warned him not to breach. “My wolf claimed her the first time we slept together.”

  “Well, that doesn’t mean much. You know how claiming works. It’s been drilled into us since birth.”

  “Yeah, I know how it works,” Shaun replied softly. “But she was fucking dying, DJ … and I couldn’t sit here and watch her slip away.”

  The silence after he spoke hung between them. And then …

  “OH MY FUCKING GOD!” Deacon exploded. “You fucking completed the mating? Jesus fucking Christ. Tell me she didn’t accept. Tell me it didn’t fucking complete?” Shaun didn’t respond. “You’re fucking shitting me!” he roared. “What the ever-loving fuck were you thinking? Oh wait, you weren’t fucking thinking with anything but your dick, were you?”

  Shaun let his brother’s rant wash over him. It wasn’t anything Cormac hadn’t already said, or that he’d thought to himself. Apart from that final accusation. While, yeah, he had been buried deep inside her – and he felt himself twitch at the memory – it hadn’t been his dick in control … or his wolf. He had been completely one hundred percent aware of what he was starting when he sank his teeth into her shoulder and told her she belonged to him.

  And then there was what he’d walked into at the hospital.

  Again, the problem wasn’t his action, but Cassie’s reaction. Not that he had a problem with it. She belonged to him and that was that. He knew when he woke her up from the medically induced coma that she was in agony from her injuries and hazy from the drugs. He knew she was completely unaware of what he’d demanded of her, what his wolf had offered, but she had acknowledged and accepted his claim. She’d repeated his words and, as far as pack magic was concerned, that was enough to seal the deal.

  “For fuck’s sake, Shaun, are you even fucking listening to me?”

&nbs
p; Shaun refocused on Deacon. “When you start saying something I need to listen to, I will.”

  “How many women have there been in your life? Hundreds? Thousands? Fuck me, you’re with a different woman every fucking week. What does this one have that all those others didn’t? A fucking magic pu—”

  “Don’t finish that sentence.” Shaun spun to face Deacon, his lips pulled back into a snarl and eyes glowing yellow. “She was fucking dying!” he snarled back at his brother. “What was I supposed to do? Sit at her bedside and watch her slip away? All because why? A fucking rule that says you can’t mate someone without consent?” He shoved away from the wall, spun around and buried his fist in it. “She was fucking dying, Deacon!” he roared. “And I could fix that, I could reverse it.”

  “You’ve known her for less than a fucking week! And now you’re tied to her? What if she doesn’t fucking want you?”

  “Whether you like it or not, she … is … mine.” A growl overlaid his words.

  “Fucking hell,” Deacon whispered and dropped his eyes. “Fucking stand down, man.” He canted his head, baring his throat to his brother.

  “When you two pups are done with your games,” Cormac’s dry voice had both their heads swinging round. “It’s time we had a chat, Shaun.”

  Cassie opened her eyes. She lay still, gazing up at the ceiling. A ceiling that wasn’t the one above the bed in her bedroom. She blinked, and her eyes focused sharply. Pushing her hands beneath her, she struggled up into a seated position and cast a panicked glance around the dimly lit room.

  Where was she? Was it a hospital? Why was she in a hospital?

  Heart racing, she threw back the sheets, stared down at her bare legs, and twisted around to climb out of the bed.

  “Hey … hey!” Two hands settled on her shoulders from behind and pulled her back against the pillows.

  Relief coursed through her at the sound of Shaun’s voice, and she sagged backwards with a shuddering sigh.

  “Shaun.” His name escaped her lips before she could stop it.

  “I’m right here, Goldilocks.” His hands lifted, cupped her cheeks and turned her head to face where he leaned over the opposite side of the bed. His own face came into her line of sight and he dipped to brush a kiss across her forehead.

  “You gave everyone quite a scare.”

  “What happened? Is this a hospital? Why am I in a hospital?”

  “What do you remember?” She felt the mattress dip as Shaun settled his weight onto it, facing her.

  “I don’t … I remember leaving your house.” She cleared her throat and Shaun leaned across for a glass of water on the table near the bed.

  “Here, take a few sips.” He held the glass to her lips, waited for her to swallow, then placed it back down.

  “When you weren’t at Gemma’s Sunday morning, she tried calling you. Your phone went straight to voice mail. She borrowed a neighbour’s car and drove to mine, thinking you’d stayed over again. While she was there, the hospital rang. Someone had driven past the half-mile point and found your car face down in the dip by the side of the road.” He sighed, raking a hand through his hair. “I should have insisted on driving you home. What happened? Do you remember? Did a tire blow out?”

  “I … I didn’t lose control of my car,” she replied, slowly, thinking about that night.

  “Goldilocks, it was upside down and halfway down the hill.”

  “No! Someone hit me.” She reached out, clutched at his hand as the final moments before the crash came flooding back. “Shaun, someone forced me off the road.”

  “Forced you off the road?” he repeated.

  “Yes! I remember them coming up behind me and I slowed down. I thought they were going to overtake me, but they didn’t. The first time they hit the back of my car, I thought it was because they were going to too fast, or I was too slow. Then they backed off and hit me again, harder.”

  “Cass …”

  “You don’t believe me.” She dropped his hand.

  “No … no, I do believe you. But who would do that and why?”

  Cassie shook her head. “I don’t know. I just know what I saw, Shaun. It makes no sense, but whoever it was … they did it on purpose.”

  “Fuck,” he breathed. He caught her hand between his and lifted it to his lips while his mind raced.

  Was it someone who knew what he was? Someone who knew she’d spent the night with him?

  Stranger things had happened.

  Had someone discovered his pack was moving to town?

  Pack politics – it wasn’t something that usually touched him, but with his brother being a pack Alpha, it was a possibility. Was it a warning to stay away from Greene Valley?

  He needed to speak to Cormac. Only Cormac was still angry with him over what he’d done.

  “Shaun.” His name snapped his attention back to the woman in the bed.

  “Sorry, Goldilocks. What did you say?”

  “This room. Did I wake up before now? In a different room?”

  “Yes. I had you moved to a private room.”

  “You could do that?”

  Before he could answer, the door opened, and a doctor entered. He nodded toward Shaun before directing a smile at Cassie.

  “Mrs Jacobs, it’s good to see you’re awake again.”

  “Thanks, I …” She broke off, frowned, opened her mouth and felt Shaun squeeze her hand. Her eyes shifted to him and he shook his head slightly.

  “Baby, this is Dr. Chase Murphy. He’s been looking after you since you were moved to this suite.”

  The doctor snorted and shook his head when Shaun raised an eyebrow.

  “It took a few hours to get everything straightened out, but once your husband made the situation clear to the administration and I arrived, we had you moved up here to a private suite.”

  “Husband …” Cassie repeated faintly and saw Shaun’s lips quirk up into a faint smile. “How long have I been here?”

  The doctor and Shaun traded glances above her head, and Shaun shook his head again.

  “Let’s not worry about that right now,” Dr. Murphy told her. “I just need to check you over now you’re awake, if that’s alright?” He turned to look at Shaun. “Considering how you behaved last time I ran checks, it’s probably for the best you wait outside.”

  “I was angry.”

  “Yes, I think everyone managed to figure that out for themselves,” the doctor responded dryly. He pointed at the door. “Outside.”

  Cassie watched their interaction with some fascination, especially when Shaun rose to his feet with a muted growl. He bent to press a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll be outside while the doc does his thing. We’ll talk after, okay?” His finger touched her chin, tipped her face up to look at him. “I’ll explain everything.”

  She knew he was asking her not to question the doctor about the whole Mrs Jacobs and husband business, and she was tempted to demand he stay and explain, but she nodded instead.

  “Yes, okay.” She was rewarded with a smile and another lingering kiss, and then he was gone.

  The look Cassie had thrown at him promised they were going to have words over Chase addressing him as her husband. And, while they weren’t married, after what had happened between them, after what he’d done when he arrived at the hospital, they might as well have been. He groaned softly and leaned back against the wall.

  He needed to talk to her, explain what had happened before much longer. He shoved his hands into his pants pockets and tipped his head back, closing his eyes. He hadn’t felt this exhausted in a long time.

  How are you going to explain to a woman you’ve spent one night with that you’ve mated with her, locked her into a bond that can only be broken through death? How do you explain that she agreed to it? Cormac’s voice whispered through his head. And, then let’s see you explain that her new mate can also shift into a wolf. Because telling her she almost died on that road isn’t going to be hard enough to deal with.

  He h
eard the scrape of a foot on the tiles, tensed, then relaxed when the scent of the person approaching reached him.

  “How is she?” Deacon stopped opposite him.

  “Properly awake now. Chase is with her.” He opened his eyes. “He called me her husband.”

  “Oh man, did she pick up on it?”

  Shaun huffed a tired laugh. “Yeah, she did.”

  Deacon stepped across the hallway and took up a similar position beside him, shoulder to shoulder. “Figured out how you’re going to introduce her to our world, yet?”

  “Not a fucking clue.”

  Deacon’s shoulders shook in a silent laugh beside him. “Do you remember when Asher pretended to be a stray dog and hung around that school because he fancied one of the moms? Maybe you could move into Gemma’s house, become their pet, sleep on Cassie’s bed… “

  “You’re so fucked in the head, Deke.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  They fell into a comfortable silence and Cormac found them both standing there a short time later.

  “The girl’s pack-mate is on her way up.”

  “Gemma’s her sister, Mac.” Shaun pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes briefly. Could Shifters suffer from migraines? He was sure he was getting one. “Her sister, not pack-mate. They’re human.”

  Cormac shrugged. “Pack-mate … sister. It amounts to the same thing. Either way, she’s coming.”

  By the time Gemma rounded the corner, the three men were involved in a conversation about their family’s relocation to Greene Valley.

  “Sam’s here.”

  Their conversation stopped at Gemma’s words, and three pairs of eyes focused on her.

  “Where?” Shaun pushed himself away from the wall and moved to intercept Gemma’s path.

  “He’s down in the waiting room, demanding to see Cassie. He’s claiming he’s her fiancé.”

  “I’ve been looking forward to meeting this guy,” Deacon growled.

  “Fucking asshole ex,” Shaun muttered.

  “Was she actually going to marry him,” Deacon asked.

  “No!” Shaun and Gemma spoke at once.

  “He never asked her,” Gemma continued. “I don’t think she would have said yes even if he had.”