BirthRight (5 page)

Jasmine stood as Tyrone was wheeled back
into the room, and watched as they laid his limp body on the bed.
The nurse followed and hooked him up to the IV.A hand rested on her
shoulder. “He’s out of it, huh?” Renee said.

Jasmine nodded.

“You want to grab a bite to eat?”

Jasmine shook her head. “No. I’m not hungry
right now. Go and get you something. I’ll be right here.” She
retook her seat and stared hard at her son. There was a niggling
feeling in the back of her neck that something was off. He looked
drugged. She looked at the IV and realized that was a possibility.
Leaning forward, she rested her fist beneath her chin and looked
around the large room. Everything in this place was plus-sized,
made for big people like her sister’d said. She chuckled at the
absurd thought.

Her cell rang and she dug it out of her bag,
checking to make sure the noise didn’t bother him. Her heart
pounded with profound relief when she looked at the caller ID.

“Rese? Rese how you doing, sweetie?” Her
throat tightened when she heard the deep timbre of his voice. Her
boys were now men.

“I’m okay, Mom. I got your message, where’s
Rone?”

“He just came back from some tests and he’s
asleep now. But it was close for a minute.” She didn’t want to get
into everything with him being so far away, but she knew he wanted
to know.

“I know. It was…well, it was weird. I felt
him leave. It freaked me out and almost cost the lives of some of
my unit when I fell flat on my face. They said I was unconscious
for five minutes.”

Her hand flew to her mouth in horror. “Oh my
God,” she whispered, closing her eyes. This was too much. Both her
sons had been at risk. She frowned. How was that possible?

He released a long sigh. “I’m being sent
back for testing. My commander doesn’t want to risk me passing out
again. I’ll be stateside, Bethesda in twenty-four hours. I had to
wait to call you until I got clearance.”

Her heart ached for him. “Are they putting
you out of the service?” She knew how much he enjoyed his work. She
didn’t like it or understand why he courted danger, but she tried
to be supportive.

“I’m not sure. The connection with Rone
isn’t my fault or something within my control. But when he winked
out, he took me on a ride with him. That’s never happened before.
Maybe with these tests, they’ll figure out something.”

On one hand her heart ached for him, but on
the other she was jumping for joy that he’d be here tomorrow. She’d
have both her boys. “We’re at another hospital, one that
specializes in the kind of trauma Rone had. Whatever they’re doing
for him, it’s working. When we got here a few days ago, he looked
like he was on his last leg. Now, he sits up, talks, and eats. I
don’t know why that doctor at the other military hospital said it
would take him months to recover.”

She heard his breath whistle through the
phone. His silence concerned her. “Rese? Rese, he’s going to be
alright. I’ll tell him you’re coming and that’ll cheer him up.
Don’t worry, he’ll be fine.”

“Ma…Ma, I…”

“Yeah, baby?” She waved over her sister, who
was holding a tray of food.

“I love you and can’t wait to see you.”

She smiled. “I love you, too. Your aunt just
walked in, say hello.” She held the phone out to her sister, picked
up a fried pickle from the plate and popped it into her mouth.

Renee squealed. “I can’t wait to see you,
Boo. You sound good and have just made my day.”

Jasmine looked up and noticed a handsome man
standing near the entrance. He wore sunglasses and his thick dark
hair was brushed back from a widow’s peak. As he stepped into the
room, her eyes roamed across his wide chest, flat, narrow stomach,
and long thick legs. The short-sleeved shirt he wore stretched taut
across his chair and protested at the large muscular arms that had
to be pulling at the seams. He wore a tailored pair of dress pants
and dark leather loafers.

A tingling started at the base of her neck,
slid down her back, and settled in her core. Her face warmed when
she realized he’d been watching her stare at him.

“Can I help you?” she asked, pulling her
eyes to his face. High cheekbones, a straight nose, full firm lips
and nice teeth. She couldn’t see his eyes, but was sure they
enhanced his looks alongside everything else. He wasn’t pretty, he
was masculinity personified. One hundred percent all man.

“I came to check on Tyrone. I met him
earlier this morning and he asked me to stop by later to meet his
mom and aunt.”

“Oh.” She looked at Tyrone who was stirring,
but not fully awake, and then at the man who had to be almost six
and a half feet tall. They sure grew them big out here.

“Sir?” Tyrone whispered, struggling to sit
up.

All thoughts of sexy man flew out her mind
as she walked to Tyrone’s bed and fluffed his pillow. The tall male
followed.

Renee eyed him and pointed at his back.
“That’s him. That’s the one,” she mouthed silently.

The man turned to look at Renee. She handed
Jasmine the phone and walked to the other side of the bed. “How you
feeling, Rone? Do I need to call a nurse?” Renee asked, avoiding
looking at the handsome stranger.

“No, just a few ice chips, please.”

“Sure.” She picked up the bucket, shook some
ice into his cup and placed one on his lips.

Eyes closed, his head flopped back. “How
long have I been out?”

“Just a couple of hours,” Jasmine said,
looking over her shoulder at the silent giant. “You have a visitor,
someone other than me and your aunt.”

His eyes opened and she could have sworn
they flashed. But it happened so quickly she wasn’t sure.
“Rone?”

He turned his gaze to her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m just waking from a deep sleep.
I think the meds were too strong, I shouldn’t have been out that
long.” Although he was talking to her, he kept looking at the guy
behind her.

“Should I call a nurse, have her check it
out?”

“No, I think I’ll talk to the person in
charge to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

There was a grunt behind her. She spun
around and the man looked down at her. Sticking out her hand, she
introduced herself. “Hi, I’m Jasmine Bennett, Tyrone’s mom.”

He took her hand. “I’m Silas Knight, an
administrator of this facility.”

“Why didn’t you just say that when were in
the first hospital?” Renee asked, her tone testy.

He shrugged and released Jasmine’s hand. He
stepped forward and spoke to Tyrone. “How are you feeling right
now? Rested?”

Nodding, Tyrone looked at the man for a
second or two. “But I might take the doctor up on the therapy
tomorrow.” He said it as if it were an afterthought.

“What time tomorrow?” Jasmine asked,
frowning. She didn’t know how much time Tyrese would have to spend
with them and she didn’t want Tyrone to miss him.

“Uh…I don’t know.” He glanced up at Silas.
“I guess I can ask the doctor in the morning.”

Jasmine eyed their visitor and spoke. “Good.
Rese called while you were out.”

“He did?” A light flared in her son’s
eyes.

Jasmine nodded, so pleased with his response
she forgot the stranger. “Yeah. He should be here tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” Tyrone beamed. Then he frowned.
“Are you sure? How’d he get off?” His eyes slid to Silas and then
returned to her.

Hesitating, she bit her lip, not wanting to
talk family business in front of a stranger.

“We’ll talk about that later,” Renee said.
“Silas, do you know how long they intend to keep my nephew here?
Can he be transferred to St. Louis and receive treatment
there?”

“That is certainly something that can be
discussed with the doctor in the morning. I’m not exactly sure what
type of therapy is planned for Tyrone, so I cannot say.”

“Thanks.” Renee nodded and turned back to
Jasmine, her brow raised.

“Something smells good.” Tyrone lifted
slightly to see over the footboard.

Jasmine looked back at the tray with quite a
few goodies on it. “Your aunt brought back lunch, but none for you
until the doctor clears it.”

His face fell as he slumped back on the bed.
“Tomorrow. I need real food to get better.”

She and Renee laughed.

Silas smiled. He had a nice smile, Jasmine
thought.

“Mom, Aunt Renee, I wanted both of you to
meet Silas Knight. He’s the top man in charge.”

Silas looked at her and then Renee. “If you
need anything or have any concerns, feel free to come to me.”

“How do we contact you?” Renee asked.

With an economy of movements, he handed
Jasmine a card, nodded at Tyrone, and walked out the room.

When she could no longer hear his footsteps,
Jasmine sat on the edge of the bed and held Tyrone’s hand.

“Now that’s a man.” Renee blurted.

Both Tyrone and Jasmine stared wide-eyed at
her.

“What? Because I prefer women don’t mean I
can’t appreciate a good-looking man. I do. I just don’t want to do
more than look.”

“Okaaaay,” Jasmine said, turning from her
smirking sister and looking down at Tyrone. “Rese is being sent
stateside for testing. When you …” She couldn’t say died. “Went
under, he fainted in the middle of a tense situation.”

Tyrone’s eyes widened.

“It… it caused a problem for his unit.” She
swallowed hard, feeling him tense. “So he’s being sent back for
testing and to see if he can still serve in the military.” She
watched as his eyes closed tight. His head fell to the side away
from her. Wary, she sought Renee to get her take on what she’d
said.

Her sister shrugged. “They’ve always been
close. I imagine this separation has been hard for each of them.
Maybe they have to serve together.”

Jasmine shook her head. “Rese is
Marines.”

Her sister frowned.

“Rone is Army.”

“Oh. I got it. Can’t mix the two.” Renee
brushed Rone’s cheek. “It’s going to be okay, your brother will be
here tomorrow and the two of you can work it out.” She looked at
Jasmine. “With Rese here, chances are they’ll both have to do some
psyche stuff.”

Jasmine nodded, she hadn’t thought about
that. But it didn’t matter, there was no place other than right
here that she needed to be. Her house was paid for and all her
bills were on automatic bill pay. Her car was parked safely in her
garage and her mail was being held at the post office. Plus, she
had great neighbors who looked out for one another.

“Probably, but we’ll get it all worked
out.”

Tyrone turned and looked at her for a few
moments. He squeezed her hand and lifted up on the bed. “Ma,” he
whispered and fell into her arms.

Rubbing his face and back, she whispered.
“It’s going to be okay, Rone. You’ll see. Things have a way of
working out. You’ll see.” She kept rocking him gently until his
tense muscles relaxed, and he kissed her on the cheek and lay back
down. He reached for his aunt. She leaned over him and held him
close for a while.

“Your mama’s right, Rone. Things always work
out in the end. We don’t understand everything, but we have one
another and we stick together.”

He nodded. When he looked up at her again,
his eyes were uneasy. With the threat of his brother being put out
the service, and him as well, he had a right to be troubled. So she
let him be. But her gut churned in apprehension.

They’d always been able to fix problems by
meeting them head on. As a single parent for the most part, she’d
had to think outside the box and many times, create a whole new
box. But this was the government and her influence was
non-existent. Her husband had spent almost twenty years serving
Uncle Sam, but she had never met any of his unit or any of his
friends. He’d kept her separate from his career. They’d never lived
on base. From the very first, he’d always rented a house far away
from town and base.

She pulled herself from the dark muddle of
her past. “That’s right, Sis.”

Chapter 5

Silas moved down the hall, deep in thought.
There was something about Jasmine Bennett that attracted his wolf.
Not only did that surprise him, it pissed him off as well. The
attraction wasn’t just superficial, not that she wasn’t an
attractive woman, she was quite beautiful. Smooth, creamy fair
skin, a nice firm body, and an even nicer smile. She was a little
taller than her sister’s five foot, seven inches. But her breasts
and hips were larger. He closed his eyes to stop dissecting her.
She was a sexy statuesque package with curves in all the right
places. Her body and face would attract any human, but shouldn’t
necessarily pull a wolf, especially his.

And that was the problem.

His wolf had stirred and sniffed, curious of
her unique smell. Tyrone had picked up the energy and asked him
what was going on through their link. Silas had no idea and waited
to see what his wolf was going to do. While they were in the room,
his wolf seemed content to watch, but the fact that a human had
stirred his wolf for the first time in centuries was something of
concern.