BirthRight (7 page)

Jasmine walked into Tyrone’s room, well
rested, yet uneasy over the speed of her son’s recovery. Her sister
may have a point, she thought, looking over her shoulder at the
large man in the hall who watched her and then turned when he
noticed she’d seen him. Was he following her? She frowned at the
idea and walked further inside.

The doctor stood at the bed talking with
Tyrone in quiet tones. When she entered, her son smiled at her.

“Good morning, Mrs. Bennett,” the doctor
said, reaching for her hand.

“Morning.” She placed her bag in the lower
drawer and turned to face them.

“You look pretty,” Tyrone said.

“Thanks, hon.” She placed a kiss on his brow
and looked at the doctor who watched them indulgently.

“What’s next for him?” she asked with a
touch of apprehension.

The doctor’s brow furrowed as though he
hadn’t expected that question. After clearing his throat he looked
down at her. “I was just discussing that with Tyrone. I’m pleased
with the progress of his healing.” His face pinked. “Although he
needs more rest for a complete recovery,” he rushed, almost as an
afterthought.

She eyed him and looked at her son.

“I have him scheduled to relocate to a rehab
complex in the city for additional treatment, and—”

Jasmine’s hand flew up in the air. “Hold
up.”She pointed at the doctor, who appeared shocked at her
interruption. “Seven days ago, my son stopped breathing, was in
critical condition. The doctor told me it would take months for him
to recover and now, he’s been here, what – five days, and almost
looks like he did before he left for this last deployment.” She
inhaled, pulling her thoughts together. “Now, I don’t want you to
think I’m not grateful.” She shook her head. “I am, but something’s
not right. Tell me right now what kind of treatment you’ve given
him that has him like this.” Her stomach quivered with nerves. She
prayed they hadn’t done some experimental procedures on her
boy.

“Mrs. Bennett, the treatment I used on your
son is a patented process unique to our hospital. It works only
when the recipient is in top condition and has the ability to heal
on his own with therapy.” He crossed his arms and looked down at
her. “I assure you, Tyrone has received the best medical care in
the country for his situation.”

She crossed her arms. “Explain why the
doctor at the other hospital said it would take so much longer for
him to heal.”

He shrugged, nonplussed. “I can’t answer
that. But I will tell you we use cutting edge technology here that
many hospitals in the area don’t utilize. And I am an expert in my
field. We have done nothing wrong here.” He finished his tirade in
a huff.

Exasperated that he’d put her on defense,
she backed off, unwilling to apologize for being a concerned
parent, but recognizing the need to mend bridges. Instead of
addressing the specifics of Tyrone’s care, she ventured down
another path. “Is this place expensive? Will the Army cover the
cost?” No one had asked her for any information on him and that
struck her as strange.

His face tightened. “Mr. Bennett has already
talked to finance and admissions. From what I’ve been told, his
financial arrangements have been taken care of.”

She looked at her son. His clenched jaw
stopped the next remark from leaving her mouth. Had she gone
overboard? Embarrassed him? She wasn’t sure.

“Sorry I’m late,” Renee said, strolling into
the room. She stopped and looked between the three occupants in the
room. “What happened?”

Jasmine glanced at her son. The muscle in
his forehead jumped. “Nothing, the doctor was just saying he wants
Rone to go to another facility to finish recuperating.”

Renee eyed the doctor and then walked over
to her nephew. “Rone, honey?”

He opened his eyes half-mast. “Hi
aunty.”

“Hey sweetie. How do you feel? Are you up to
moving again?” The worry was evident in her voice.

Tyrone nodded. “I feel good, but I need to
get stronger. Food, exercise, and time should do the trick.”

Renee patted his shoulder as she glanced at
Jasmine. “When did you want him to begin?” she asked the
doctor.

“By the end of the week, he should be ready
by then.”

“Will there be a place for my sister?” Renee
asked. “I’m leaving later today, some things came up and I need to
get back to Missouri. My other nephew will probably need to crash
there as well.”

The doctor nodded, a pensive look on his
face. “Normally there are living quarters for those using the
facility, because people come from all over the country.” There was
a thread of pride in his voice. “I’ll check on what’s available and
get back to you.” He made a point of looking at Tyrone when he said
that last bit.

Jasmine stewed as they discussed her son’s
next move as though she weren’t standing in the room. So this is
how they want to play this card? She fumed as she listened.

“Okay, when’s Rese getting here?” Renee
asked, looking at Tyrone and then at Jasmine.

Tyrone shrugged. “I don’t know, do you,
mom?”

It was on the tip of her tongue to lash out,
but she resisted and shook her head instead. Rather than explode
over her treatment, she picked up her purse, hefted it onto her
shoulder and left the room without a backward glance. She’d made it
to the lobby, when her cell beeped.

Inhaling, she spoke in a calm tone. “Hey,
baby. Where are you?” she asked Tyrese while pushing open the heavy
glass door and then walking into the gardens.

“I’m just finishing up my debriefing. I’m
waiting for my driver and then heading over there. How’s Rone?”

“He seems to be doing better, the doctor
wants to move him to another facility for therapy and stuff,” she
said, wondering what he thought of the move. He knew better than
anyone how serious Tyrone’s injury had been.

“He does? Hmmm. What do you think about
that?”

She released a long pent-up breath. “First
off, I’m surprised by how fast he’s healing. Don’t get me wrong, if
I never see him look the way he did that first day, I’m okay with
that. It’s just, this is so fast. When I asked the doctor about it,
he got offended and Rone acted like I’d embarrassed him.”

“For real?” The surprise in his voice was a
soothing balm to her injured feelings. It had always been the three
of them against the world. She understood they were grown men, able
to make their own decisions, but there had always been respect and
love between them.

“Yeah.” The sadness in her voice must have
translated through the phone.

“Mom, you know he’d never do anything to
stress you out. He’s going through some things right now, don’t let
it get to you.”

She looked straight ahead at the wild array
of brilliant colors in the garden, inhaled the multitude of
fragrances, and allowed the sweet smell ease her pain. “Hmmm.”

“Where are you?”

“What?”

“Where are you right now?”

“I’m at the hospital.”

“With Rone?”

“No.”

“Okay. Tell me, where you are?”

“Sitting in the garden.”

“Garden?”

“At the hospital. It’s pretty and it calms
me down.”

“Okay. I’m in the car now and should be
there in about…” he paused. She heard him talking to someone,
“…ten more minutes. I wanna see you first. Can you wait for me in
the garden, please?”

Jasmine looked up at the cloudless blue sky.
Throughout most of her marriage, she’d been ignored by her husband.
The one thing she’d counted on keeping her sane was the connection
with her sons. Now that appeared to be waning.

A shaft of pain lodged in her chest. “Yes,
I’ll wait. See you soon.” Weary, she disconnected, and pulled a
stick of gum from her purse. “What the hell happened to me?” she
murmured. She’d met Davian in high school, they’d become friends.
One night he’d been in pain and had come to see her. He could
barely speak, he hurt so bad. Something clicked inside her and all
she wanted was to ease his suffering. Instead of following her
parent’s rule of no company when they weren’t at home, she’d
allowed her friend to come in for just a few minutes.

He’d looked terrible.

Sweat dripped from all over his body. One
minute he’d been hot, the next cold. She’d been baffled and had no
idea what to do, so she just held him as he cried, jerking in pain.
Later, his breathing normalized and when he could speak, he thanked
her. She’d pushed away, but he’d grabbed her hand and kissed
her.

Initially, she’d struggled, but the timid
boy who’d been her closest buddy turned out to be real strong. One
thing led to another and the next thing she knew, she’d cried out
in pain and tried to push him off her. He moved a few more times,
grunted, and rolled off. She’d scrambled away from him and demanded
he leave. He started crying and apologizing as she pushed him out
the door.

Two months later she told him she was
pregnant. Her life had been one of duty and doing the right thing
ever since. Davian never loved her, and she didn’t love him either.
But she’d been pregnant with twins. Her parents were hurt and
wanted her to give her children up for adoption. Davian’s parents
had been assholes and disowned him when he owned up to his kids. It
had been hard in the beginning. She’d never made it to college like
she’d dreamed. The constant moving and living in the boonies kept
her from making lasting friendships. Now, at thirty-six, she was
alone and that sucked.

Tyrese Bennett hung up the phone and ground
his teeth in anger at his brother. The one person they’d both swore
would never be hurt in this charade was their mother. She’d
suffered years of neglect and emotional abuse from their father.
Although they’d promised their old man to never expose their wolf
nature to anyone, keeping that bit of information from their mom
hurt the most. His dad had been adamant that they keep her in the
dark for her own safety, but he’d never bought into that
explanation.

Heaven help them if she ever discovered
they’d kept that information to themselves, especially the fact
that their father had found his mate, and had lived the last few
years of his life with Matt. Tyrese had hated the way his father
treated his mom and vowed to never give her cause to be sad again.
Now she sat in the gardens of some hospital upset because she had
no idea her son was a wolf with serious healing capabilities.

He reached out to Tyrone through their link.
“What’d you do to mom?”

“
Hello to you too, bro.”

“
Answer me.”
Tyrese wasn’t in the
mood to play games. Tyrone knew how protective he’d become of their
mother since his dad had proved how much of an ass he could be.

“
She was questioning the doctor over my
care like I was some idiot just laying here. I didn’t say anything
to her—”

“
You’re an ass.”

“
Of course I am. And you are?”

“
Think for one moment how she feels. You
were dead. Get that? Dead a week ago; now you’re ready to go
jogging. She doesn’t understand your wolf abilities. Humans do not
heal that fast.”

“
Damn.”

“
Yeah. If she’s upset, I swear I’mma fuck
you up.”

“
Too late, that’s already happened. I’ll
send Aunty to find her so I can apologize.”

“
I got this. I’ll see you later.”
Tyrese pulled from their mental connection as the car pulled
beneath the hospital portico.

“Thanks, man.” He passed the driver a few
bills as he exited the car. Striding inside to the information
desk, he ignored the curious glances. “Hi, which way to the
garden?”

“Which one? We have three,” the lady at the
counter said, as she pulled a map from her desk. Pointing at the
diagram, she spoke. “This is the largest and it’s near the
cafeteria.” Her finger roved the sheet. “And this is where the
other two smaller ones are located. Just follow the map and signs,
you shouldn’t have any problems.”

He took the paper and noticed she’d written
a phone number on the front. He sent her a wink and a smile, with a
promise in his eyes to get back in touch. It had been a while since
he’d indulged himself between a woman’s thighs, and she looked
hot.

“
I need to talk with you. Come to my
office
.” Tyrese stumbled as an unfamiliar voice entered his
mind. At first he thought he was hearing things. He looked up and
then around, searching for speakers. When he didn’t see anything,
he shrugged and continued toward the cafeteria gardens.

“
I’m not going to ask you again. Come
into my office, now.”

This time there was no way Tyrese could
misunderstand. Someone had just spoken to him in the same type of
link he’d used to speak to his brother a few minutes ago. Curious
and half afraid, he followed the thread.

“
Who are you?”

“
La Patron. I need to speak to you before
you speak with your mother.”

At the mention of his mother, Tyrese balked.
“My mom? What does she have to do with this?”
One moment he
was standing in the middle of the hall, the next he was on all
fours in wolf form.

He yelped. His paws all but slid over the
concrete floor as the feeling of being dragged forward ran through
him. His wolf followed directions that led him up a series of
stairs into a room where two men sat at a conference table.

“Close the door,” a large man with green
eyes said.

Tyrese’s wolf turned and nudged the door
closed. When finished, he sat on the floor wagging his tail, much
to Tyrese’s disgust. This was the first time in years he’d had no
control over his animal. That someone else, someone he didn’t know,
had control, pissed him off and scared him.

“Come take a seat, we have much to discuss
in a short amount of time. Right now your mother is enjoying the
gardens, but I don’t know how long she plans to remain.” The man
waved to a chair at the table.