fate of the alpha - episode 2 Read online

  None of them could come. Until they could sense that Ainsley was safely out of trouble.

  CHAPTER 11

  Some days Grace Kwan-Cortez wondered where she had left her common sense. Being a police officer in Tarker’s Hollow required discretion and a certain amount of rule bending. But was she really going to a public hospital in uniform, accompanied by an alpha wolf and a mysterious warlock, to bust out a coma patient who might or might not turn into a wolf?

  This was so far beyond the pale that even Dale, the interim sheriff, didn’t know what was going down. She hadn’t had the heart to tell him.

  Grace tried not to think about what might happen to her if someone caught on. Instead, she focused on her best friend by her side.

  Ainsley was fighting admirably against the pull of the full moon. She walked carefully down the tiled hallway at a measured pace. From all Grace had been told about the subject, Ainsley was probably being tossed back and forth like a rag doll right now between her libido and her desire to shift and run through the woods.

  At least they had libido troubles in common.

  Grace tried her best not to look at Julian, who was traversing the endless hallway on the other side of her. Since their kiss, Grace had been fighting a full-blown obsession with him. Last night, after the magic she’d expelled, she’d had to soothe herself with a frigid shower and a glass of white wine to wash down the migraine meds. But then the dreams...oh...

  The sooner the professor finished his tour of duty and went back to New York, the better. It was getting harder and harder to remember what an ass he was.

  At last they reached Sadie’s room. Grace nearly gasped at the sight of her. Sadie’s small figure lay on the hospital bed in complete stillness. She looked tiny without her gardening hat and tools. And without Camilla Parker Bowles.

  The small screen beside Sadie showed a steady row of waves and blips, confirming that she was alive and breathing. A huge window gave a view over the parking lot and the cloudy night sky.

  Ainsley shuddered and strode over quickly to release the blinds, obliterating the view.

  “Now what?” Julian asked.

  Before anyone could answer, Ainsley spun around, reminding Grace of a K-9 officer on high alert.

  A moment later, a very attractive male nurse appeared in the doorway.

  “Grace.” Owen called happily. His cheeks dimpled and his green eyes crinkled with pleasure.

  Grace smiled in relief and allowed him to put an arm around her. She couldn’t help notice Julian scowling. Was he jealous?

  “How can I help, honey?” Owen asked.

  “I’m so glad you’re here.” Grace said. “Sadie is one of ours, we need to get her out before the moon.”

  Owen whistled.

  “Don’t wait until the last minute or anything!”

  “We’ve got a lot going on right about now. Ainsley Connor,” Ainsley offered him a hand, which Owen pumped enthusiastically.

  “Oh wow, hi! I’m Owen Blaine. I’m dating one of your pack, Brian Stevens? I’m the pack’s liaison at this hospital. I didn’t realize you were coming tonight or I would have made arrangements so this would be easier. It’s good I was on night shift.”

  Ainsley smiled. But not as hard as Julian. Wow, he had been jealous. Grace decided to table that thought.

  “Why isn’t she getting better?” Ainsley asked.

  Owen grabbed Sadie’s chart.

  “She was admitted with blunt force trauma to the cranium as well as minor cuts and contusions.” He looked up from the clipboard, shook his head and gave Ainsley a frank look. “She’s been unresponsive ever since. The minor wounds have all healed. But the head trauma hasn’t made any progress and the doctors don’t know why. I’m even more stumped now, knowing what she is. Maybe her age is a factor - maybe she’s not healing as quickly as a young wolf would?”

  Ainsley stared at him blankly and Grace could sense that her friend was beating herself up for not knowing more about wolves.

  “Owen, listen, what’s the fastest way to get her out of here?” Grace asked quickly. “Without risking your job, of course.”

  “Personally,” Owen pursed his lips. “I think the best way is to cover her and say you’re headed for the morgue in the basement. Then sneak her out into the back parking lot. You can use your morgue key. I can cover for this patient’s absence until my shift is up at 8 AM. But you’ve got to get her back here by then.”

  Grace tried not to think about how much could go wrong with that plan.

  “It’s not like anyone’s likely to miss her,” he added. “She’s only had one visitor.”

  “As long as he didn’t have a wolf’s head cane,” Grace joked.

  “How did you know?” Owen asked.

  Crap. Garrett had been here. Of course he had.

  She exchanged a worried glance with Ainsley, who only shrugged. Nothing they could do about it now.

  “Thank you for your assistance to the pack,” Ainsley said in her alpha voice. Owen was clearly tickled, but he shrugged his wide shoulders modestly. He opened a cabinet by the window and pulled out two plastic wrapped sets of scrubs.

  “Grace is fine in uniform, but the two of you should suit up.”

  Ainsley grabbed the simple blue set of scrubs he offered, leaving Julian with a loud geographical print. Grace managed not to giggle as he pulled them on. A look of distaste marred his handsome features.

  All of a sudden, the whole crazy scheme seemed like more of a caper than a heist. A lightness crept into Grace’s heart.

  “I’m going to take her off the monitors now,” Owen warned. “You’ll hear the beeping but I’m going to override. She’s not on life support, thank goodness, so she’s safe. And I can do this myself.” He pulled suction cups off Sadie’s chest and a plastic clip from her finger.

  A series of loud beeps came immediately, then silence as Owen pressed buttons on the monitor’s keypad. Then he removed the tubing from her IV.

  “What happens if I don’t remove the port and she shifts?” he asked.

  Grace and Ainsley shrugged.

  “Better to be safe,” he said, and peeled back the tape holding the port to Sadie’s little hand.

  Grace turned her gaze away. She was normally pretty no-nonsense, but something about Sadie’s vulnerability tugged her heartstrings. When she turned back he was smoothing a band aid onto Sadie’s hand in its place.

  Owen gently covered Sadie with a sheet in the age-old indication that the bed’s occupant was deceased. Then he looked up at Grace.

  “Okay, you have until 7 AM. May the force be with you.”

  “Thank you again, Owen,” Grace said, grabbing the end of the bed and pushing it into the hallway.

  To reach the elevator they would have to pass about twenty rooms and the nurses’ station. Grace did her best to set a businesslike pace. She had learned, through years of police work, how to put on the visual blinders and strong posture that told civilians not to distract her from her duty. She only hoped that Ainsley and Julian could follow suit.

  The fluorescent lights seemed brighter than before and the Halloween decorations on the patients’ doors more garish. Her shoes slapped the tile floor loudly as they approached the nurses’ station.

  The constant double beep of the phone lines told her that they were busy tonight. That was a good thing. They would hardly be likely to take special notice of a group of unfamiliar nurses with a gurney.

  They passed the bustling desk without incident, and Grace allowed herself to turn back to Ainsley and Julian and give a slight smile.

  As if on cue, an elderly lady in a wide open hospital gown came bursting out of the room in front of them and skidded on the floor, hanging onto the doorframe for dear life.

  “Help! My roommate is dying!” She grabbed Julian by the arm and shook him hard.

  “I- we,” he indicated the gurney helplessly.

  “Whoever that was isn’t in a hurry anymore! Rosemary needs you now!”


  With that she whisked Julian into the room. Grace caught one last glimpse of his panicked face as he disappeared.

  Ainsley looked at Grace and shrugged.

  Shit.

  Julian couldn’t handle himself in there, Grace was kidding herself if she thought he could. She parked Sadie carefully next to the door and headed into the room, Ainsley trailing close behind.

  Inside, the screen for the patient in the hall-side bed was flat-lining. A large woman in a pink hospital gown was reclined on the bed, eyes closed.

  “It’s going to be fine,” Julian was saying to the roommate. His hands were on the prone woman’s chest and he was compressing lightly.

  Grace was ready to throw in the towel and dash back to the nurse’s station to get a professional when the monitor lit up and the regular blip of a heartbeat reappeared on the screen.

  “See? No muss, no fuss?” Julian said to the awestruck roommate. He turned on his heel and strode out of the room with Grace and Ainsley following like ducklings.

  Grace was floored.

  Magic could do many things, but it couldn’t bring back a life, or start a heart that was stopped. If that were the case no witch would ever die. Julian must be very powerful to have performed such magic.

  “How did you do that?” Ainsley half-whispered.

  “Oh, her oximeter fell off,” Julian explained. “You know, the thingee on her finger that tracks her heart rate? Happens all the time. I slipped it back on between fake compressions.”

  Oh. Smart.

  “Are you a real nurse?” Ainsley asked.

  “No, no, but I assisted in a hospital many years ago. I’ll tell you about it some other time.”

  Grace suddenly took in the empty hallway they were standing in.

  The completely empty hallway.

  Oh no. Oh god, no.

  “Uh, guys,” Grace said, her heart in her mouth. “Guys?”

  They turned to her.

  “Where’s Sadie?”

  The trio looked up and down the corridor, but the gurney was nowhere to be found. A grinning skeleton decoration on the door across the hall mocked them.

  Ainsley lifted her nose toward the ceiling, then took off toward the elevator at a run. Grace followed, Julian’s footsteps just behind hers. They rounded the corner to the elevators and came face to face with a male nurse, pushing their gurney.

  “Hey, whoa,” the nurse said. “You guys looked like you had your hands full back there, so I thought I’d do you a favor and take this one down to the morgue.”

  “Thanks.” Grace grabbed the gurney from him. “But we’ve got it.”

  “No skin off my back.” The nurse shrugged. “I’m headed down there anyway, but suit yourself.”

  The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. Geriatric Rehab was on the top floor of the hospital, putting them ten stories up.

  The elevator was one of the few luxury additions to the sensible 1950’s building. It’s all glass exterior walls gave a spectacular view of Springton Falls. After all the stark lighting and antiseptic tile floors, Grace found the peaceful glimpse of nature soothing.

  The nurse squeezed onto the elevator with them and pushed the B button for the Basement. Perfect, but they would have to find a way to ditch him before they snuck out the back door of the morgue.

  That shouldn’t be a problem.

  Behind Grace, Ainsley sucked in a breath, hard. With so many riders plus the gurney on the elevator, she was pinned against the glass wall of the elevator. Outside, the clouds parted slightly, revealing a sliver of the full moon.

  Crap.

  Ainsley moaned a little and curled her body away from the glass.

  “Are you okay?” the nurse asked.

  “Lady troubles,” Grace interjected quickly.

  “Oh, er...” the nurse replied.

  Thank goodness those two words could shut down any man, even a medical professional. They only needed to make it down ten floors. Ainsley could do this.

  A ding announced that the elevator would be making another stop on the 8th floor. Ainsley drew in a slow breath that Grace was sure was meant to be calming. It actually sounded kind of like air being let out of a tire.

  Some of that meditation Julian was always pushing would have been a great idea right then.

  The doors slid open and a doctor with a neatly trimmed salt and pepper beard entered. He leaned across the gurney and pressed 3.

  “Some night,” he said by way of greeting. “Just delivered an eleven-pounder.”

  Grace nodded with eyebrows slightly raised to indicate her respect for the gargantuan baby he had brought into the world, then returned her gaze to the view from the elevator. Ainsley breathed slowly, while Julian kneaded her pinky between his thumb and forefinger just below the level of the gurney, so no one could see it but Grace.

  A sudden flame of jealousy licked at Grace. She pushed it aside in frustration. Ainsley loved Erik. And Grace did not love Julian.

  Just then, the clouds parted to reveal half of the harvest moon. It was so large it seemed to pulse, its radiance bleeding out to color the sky.

  Ainsley’s legs buckled and Julian caught her deftly in his arms. She made a sound that was half cry, half growl.

  “Good god,” the doctor said.

  “Lady troubles,” the nurse replied.

  “Cafeteria food,” Julian said at the same time.

  “We think it’s a little of each,” Grace laughed awkwardly.

  “Yeah, that would do it,” the doctor said, shaking his head. “Poor kid.”

  The ding of the elevator told them they were on the third floor.

  “Feel better,” the doctor said as he stepped off.

  Just as the doors were sliding shut again, a hand shot between them.

  “Hold it for me!” a deep voice said.

  Grace took a deep breath and tried not to panic. She knew who it was by the voice. She had worked with him many times.

  The doors opened and Dr. Adam Wilson, the lead coroner, stepped on.

  “Adam, hey!” She greeted him in her best impression of a relaxed voice as the doors slid closed once more.

  A quick glance told her that Ainsley was barely holding it together. Julian had released his hold on her. She was staring blankly into the interior wall of the elevator and trembling lightly. She would be no help to Grace in getting out of this mess.

  “I see you have something for me,” Adam joked. His tanned cheeks dimpled and he took a sip from his styrofoam coffee cup.

  Grace glanced down at the gurney.

  No. No, no, no, no, no.

  Near the bottom end of the gurney, a furry gray tail peeked out.

  “How are you?” Grace chirped, trying to keep his attention on herself and off the gurney. “Are you getting any time off for the holidays this year?”

  Adam looked pleased to be asked such a personal question. Grace usually kept things very professional with him. He was known to be a bit of a ladies’ man and she didn’t want him getting the wrong impression.

  Oh well.

  “I’ve got a bit of time off here and there. What are your plans?” he asked with a wolfish grin.

  The elevator brightened as the clouds revealed the rest of the moon.

  Ainsley moaned loudly, causing the coroner to look away from Grace.

  Time slowed to a crawl. Grace’s heart constricted as she prepared for him to see the tail and rip the sheet off the gurney.

  She could kiss any hope of ever becoming sheriff goodbye.

  Julian reached out his hand and jostled Adam’s coffee cup.

  The steaming black liquid splashed all over the coroner’s white lab coat. Adam cursed and tried to wipe it off himself.

  “What’s going on?” the nurse asked.

  Grace almost jumped out of her skin, she had nearly forgotten he was still standing beside her.

  “Oh, wow, sorry, man,” Julian said in an innocent voice.

  She quickly pressed 1. There was a ding and the doo
rs slid open.

  “I thought you said this patient was going to the morgue,” the nurse said as Grace, Julian, Ainsley, and the gurney raced out into the main lobby of the hospital.

  “Her prognosis has improved,” Julian called back.

  Grace had her eyes on the front door. Twenty paces. They could make it. They would make it.

  “What’s going on with this patient?” the blonde at the front desk asked, pushing her pink glasses up the bridge of her nose.

  “Police business,” Grace flashed her badge.

  “What do you mean-” the blonde began.

  Julian raised one hand in the air and waved to her.

  “Ignosce,” he murmured.

  The pink glasses dropped down the bridge of the blonde’s nose again but this time she didn’t bother to push them up. Instead she turned back to her computer monitor with a confused expression.

  Grace pushed and ran. The automatic glass doors opened before them and the cold night air washed over her skin.

  Ainsley pounded past them toward the trees that separated the parking lot from the open space beyond, bordering the falls. Well, good for her, she’d made it. She’d get back to Tarker’s Hollow on foot. Or on paw, or whatever.

  Grace turned the gurney toward the rear lot where her car was parked and took off as quickly as she could without endangering the furry body on the gurney. Julian jogged alongside in companionable silence.

  Grace had to ask.

  “Did you Jedi mind trick that receptionist?” She couldn’t help but grin. Really, in spite of the circumstances, it was hard not to geek out. Julian was amazing. Really, really amazing.

  “Sorry, I don’t really get the reference. I’m not a Star Trek fan,” he replied.

  A squirrel raced up one of the weeping cherries that lined the parking lot and Sadie’s tail moved slightly with what Grace prayed was just a breeze.

  “We have some movies to catch up on,” Grace said as they took off to her car at a run. She tried not to think about what it would be like to have the elderly wolf wake up in her Civic.

  CHAPTER 12

  A insley crashed through the college woods in the form of a large red wolf, taking the long way home to end up behind Princeton Ave so she could sneak in her own back door.