Wild at Heart

“Emma,” she smiled sweetly at me, but I wasn’t buying her act. “You startled me. I didn’t think anyone was still here.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“Right.” She batted her hazel eyes at me for a second attempt, but my wolf growled at her. “I was looking for some paperwork Nick said he was going to leave for me, but I don’t see it here, he must have forgotten before everything happened.”

“What paperwork?” I questioned.

“The paperwork for the last patrol I was on.”

“The one where you guys needed backup and I ended up off a cliff and drowning? Or have you been on more since then?” My wolf smelled something off about her since the day I laid eyes on this female and I wasn’t going to let myself ignore it.

“I’ve been on many more since that tragic day, Emma. I was so scared for you when that happened. I’m glad Alan was able to get to you in time.” She didn’t let that sweet innocent demeanor drop. I have to admit, I was impressed. Males are usually intimidated by my questioning, especially females, so either I lost my touch, or she just didn’t care.

“I was actually just leaving to go see Nick, you can come with me and we’ll talk to him about that paperwork.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“I shouldn’t.” She said with a small smile. “I don’t want to interrupt your time with him after everything that just happened.”

“Oh, I insist.” I wasn’t giving her an option. This female was coming to the hospital with me whether she wanted to or not.

“Okay.” She agreed, knowing I wasn’t about to back down. “Yeah, if you think he’s up for it.” Given the way he was recovering, he should be feeling sore, but okay enough to deal with this… sneak. “Do you want me to drive?” She asked. Did I want to be encaged in a vehicle with a female I didn’t trust just to get to the bottom of this? Hell no.

“I prefer to walk.” If she ran, I knew I could catch her and throw her ass in the cell with Natalie.

“Lead the way.” She said.

We were both silent on the way to the hospital, but I kept a close eye on her. I didn’t trust her as far as I could throw her. The hospital was pretty quiet when we entered, it was late in the night and not much was going on. I lead the way to Nick’s room which making sure Sophia wasn’t trying anything fishy. When we turned into Nick’s room, he was sitting up in bed watching the television mounted on the wall. He raised his eyebrow at us, obviously surprised to see Sophia with me. He turned the television off with the little remote.

“This is a surprise.” He said. I narrowed my eyes at him as I caught on to the sound of his heartrate increasing at the sight of Sophia. Was he nervous?

“Hi Nick.” She said with a smile and a wave. Jealousy steamed from my pores as I watched her eye my mate from head to toe. “How are you feeling?” She asked. “You’re wrapped so tight; you look like a mummy!” She chuckled in a flirtatious way and it took everything I had in my in body not to rip her throat out with my claws.

“I’m doing just fine. What’s this about?” He asked me.

“I found Sophia here in your office at the training center. She said you had some paperwork for her about her patrol of the borders?” I turned to Sophia, but she still had that stupid grin on her face and her eyes locked on Nick.

“Paperwork?” He questioned as he turned back to her.

“Oh yeah, remember we talked about that a few days ago.” She said. “Your memory must be foggy from everything you’ve been through.” She said with a nod. “Do you want me to get you anything? Water? Juice?” I growled and Nick fidgeted in the bed.

“No, I’m fine. Daniel handles all the paperwork for the patrols, Sophia, what would you need from my office?” I knew the bitch was lying.

“I must have misunderstood our conversation is all, Nick. I apologize for any inconvenience I caused, Emma.” She spoke to me, but her eyes still never left Nick. My claws were threatening to come out with my fangs, and I had to look away from her to get myself back under control.

“Okay.” Nick said with a nod. “You can go.” He dismissed her just like that and I turned to him. What just happened? She can go? No questioning? No interrogation? What is going on? I closed my mouth and let it happen.

“Sure!” She said. “We’ll talk later.” She waved at him again like a childish schoolgirl with a crush. She ignored me as she walked out of the room and I practically slammed the door on her ass.

“What the hell, Nick?” I asked.

“Emma—”

“No! Don’t ‘Emma’ me. She broke into your office, your personal office, and you just let her go without even questioning her?”

“What did you want me to do, Emma?” He asked with a shrug. “Interrogate her from my hospital bed?”

“What the hell is going on between you two?” I asked.

“Nothing.”

“Don’t lie to me, Nick. You can’t even get your own heartrate under control.” I could feel the anger boiling up inside of me. Why was he keeping things from me when it concerned her? Had I been overlooking something between them in the past, or was I just being paranoid out of jealousy for the way she looked at my mate.

“I was blindsided is all!” He replied. “I’m stuck in a hospital bed with bandages all over me and you bring one of my Omega’s in here for questioning while I’m recovering. It’s bad enough I have nurses seeing me like this, but now my own warriors too. What were you thinking, Emma?” He was upset that I tarnished his Alpha status in front of his Omega? That was all it was? I wasn’t buying it.

“I was thinking you would have my back.” I responded quietly.

“Emma…” Nick sighed.

“Forget it, Nick. Get some rest, I’m going to check on the bar.” I opened the door to his room.

“Emma, wait—” I walked out of the room, my skin still on fire from our argument. I needed some space to cool down before I shifted right in the middle of the hospital.

I walked out and around the hospital to the back of the building instead of taking the sidewalk. I pulled my t-shirt off and tossed it to the ground, not caring if it would get lost or not. I needed to shift, I needed to run. My anger was going to take over my body and I was going to shred my clothes completely if I didn’t hurry. As I grabbed the button to my jeans the wind blew a foreign scent towards me, but before I had time to react, I felt a pinch on my arm. I looked down to see a small dart sticking out of my bicep. Where the hell did that come from? I pulled it out, but as soon as I did, my vision began to blur. Shit. Shit. Shit. I tried to move my feet to run, but I barely took a few steps before I hit the ground. I lifted my head when I heard footsteps coming closer to me, but it felt like it weighed a thousand pounds on my neck. I saw a shadow coming towards me, but my vision went dark and I lost all consciousness.