“I wouldn’t count on it.
She was only just a teen when she was turned and her family wasn’t all that well off.
Where are you?”
She could hear the concern in his voice and tried not to let it distract her from keeping under control.
“I just turned onto Wilson.
Do you know where that i
s
?”
“Yes. I’m going there now. I have that cop with me.
He and I are in the car now.
I’ll see what I can do about having him let me out so that I can get there quicker.
Stay on Wilson so I can find you.”
She felt him touch her mind deeper and she let him.
“Holly, please tell me you’re armed.”
“Yes, but like you, I have a lot of humans in the way that would be witness
es
if I have to turn and shoot the sucker.”
She glanced in her mirror and saw that the car was gaining on her.
“I have to try and lose this guy before he gets me cornered somewhere.”
Her heart felt as though it was in her throat
,
but she took several deep breaths.
When the SUV was within a foot of her bumper she turned into a driveway.
She was glad that she’d been paying attention.
One house down had kids playing in the yard.
As he slammed on his brakes
,
she jerked the shifter into reverse and pulled back onto the street going in the opposite direction.
The larger car had to turn slower as the street was lined with cars parked on both sides.
“I’m still on Wilson
,
but I’ll be on—
”
She nearly didn’t see the other car.
When it pulled into her path
,
all she had time to do was scream at Phil that she was crashing.
The little car
was
a small one that was great on gas and everything but fell apart at the slightest bump
.
She hit it in the hardest part, steering her own big
,
ugly older car into his front, hitting the engine compartment going sixty.
The car wrapped into hers and went spinning with her into the main four lanes of Main Street with her.
She got several full windshield views of the SUV that had been coming back for her.
The last thing she saw before her head hit something very hard several more times and everything went black was the driver of the SUV that had been chasing her.
Mother fuck
.
I
t was one of her own partners.
Phil paced the waiting area trying very hard not to snarl at anyone.
He’d been here since before Holly had been brought in and he wanted to see her.
The short glimpse that he’d gotten of her when they’d wheeled her by him made him sick.
If someone didn’t give him answers soon
,
he was going to—
“Where is she?
My sister, where is she?”
He turned to see Austin and Dallas standing at the nurses’ station that he’d been barred from not ten minutes ago.
He moved toward the desk
,
hoping the cop standing there would try and stop him. Again.
“Austin?”
The big man turned to him and grabbed him.
Phil wasn’t much of a hugger
,
but he knew that as a wolf, all the Forces were.
He let the guy hold him until he either got control of himself or Phil passed out from lack of air.
“Have you seen her yet
?
” Dallas asked when Austin let him go.
“When you called
,
you said she wasn’t here yet.
I’m assuming she’s here now?”
“Yes. They took her up to surgery right away.
That person
…
” Phil pointed to the woman at the desk who’d told him that without a wedding certificate
,
he was getting nothing from her.
“She told me nothing.
I thought about draining her, literally
,
but I didn’t want Holly to be upset when I had to explain to her what happened.”
He was trying for humor
,
but knew he’d failed.
Dallas looked back at the woman at the desk and then at a man Phil hadn’t seen before.
When the guy walked to the desk, Phil figured he was going to try for information.
“Tell us what you know and I’ll decide whether or not you’ll get to see her.
As her mate
,
it’s your responsibility to keep her—
”
“You finish that and I’ll whip your bottom
,
Austin Jackson Force
,
so help me I will.”
Phil closed his eyes when he heard Nancy’s voice.
Nothing like a mom to bring a grown man back into line.
“You will not threaten him like he’s one of those pups.
The man wasn’t in the vehicle with her or she wouldn’t have been as hurt as she is.
Now
,
Phil honey, tell us what you know, please.”
Austin didn’t growl as Phil had heard him do before but took a step back and glared.
Probably
a
smarter way to go on his part.
Phil’s own mother would have had him pinned against the wall in a heartbeat if he’d tried anything like a raised brow at her.
Trying his best not to laugh at the big alpha, Phil started telling them what he knew.
“She was going to your house.
She told me she was going to visit with CJ.
I didn’t know why because before she could explain
,
she asked about a black SUV following her.”
He didn’t tell them of the terror she’d felt
,
nor the fact that she’d been armed. They’d not had a chance to tell them what she actually did for a living yet.
The man came at them and nodded at Phil before looking at Dallas.
“She is
in
surgery to take care of a cut on her head.
The doc said that it was to the skull and that she had a little swelling.
I don’t get the impression that they think there is any brain damage
,
but they are concerned.
She has some broken ribs and a few other cuts
,
but I’m thinking that once she shifts
,
she’ll recover from those.
I’m taking over her care as soon as the surgeon will release her to me.”
The guy walked away and Phil looked at Dallas.
“One of yours
,
I take it?”
Dallas nodded.
“A doctor?”
Again
,
he nodded
,
but grinned this time.
“He’s not been with us long.
Came to Austin just last month and pledged himself.
The guy thinks that the pack here will give him all he wants in a pack and decided to stay only after a few days.”
Phil nodded and then had a sudden thought.
He started to say something, tell them that they should be more careful
,
when a nurse came toward them.
She was dressed in scrubs and she still wore the cap that held her hair.
Everyone seemed to freeze
,
waiting for her to say something.
“Mr. Force?”
Both Dallas and Austin nodded and held onto their mother.
“Your sister is doing fine.
I put twenty-three stitches in the right side of her head.
She’s very lucky.
The x-rays show that she does have a concussion and a little swelling of the brain around the injury
,
but she’ll be fine.
I do want to keep her a few days to make sure there isn’t anything more than that.
You can never tell about head injuries.”
“This is her husband, Phil Campbell.
When can we go back and see her?”
Phil swore when this was over he was going to give Nancy that longevity if it was the last thing he did.
She’d just saved him hours of red tape by telling the nurse he and Holly were married.
“She’ll be in recovery for a few more hours. As her husband
,
you’ll be able to go in first
,
but only for about ten minutes.”
She looked at Austin when he growled.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“Nothing.
She’s my sister and I want to see her as well.”
His tone said that he was expecting her to obey him without delay.
“Now would be good
,
I think.”
“No.
I said him first.
You have a problem with that
,
Mr. Force
,
then you can simply leave my hospital.”
Dallas barely caught the laugh when the doctor spoke.
“Now, as I was saying, ten minutes at a time every hour.”
She went on to give more instructions
,
but Phil was trying to focus on the three men that had just walked in.
Two he didn’t know
,
but the third made him think that this had gone from something bad to downright fucked up.
“Hello,” the man said as he held out his hand.
“My name is Eli Blair.
I just found out that Holly Force has been fatally injured in an automobile accident.
I’ve come to see what it is that I can do for her family in this time of need.”
His smile said it all as far as Phil was concerned. But before he could tell the man to fuck off, Connor walked up and stepped between him and Blair.
Connor had moved so fast that everyone had to step back to give him room.
“And you would be?”
The question seemed to be silly when
one
thought that the stranger had just introduced himself
,
but Blair seemed to understand Connor’s query.
“I’m Eli Blair, Holly’s boss.
She’d been working for me for
a while
now and I knew she was in town for a few days.
Tragic accident
,
and I’m so sorry for your—
”
“Holly’s not dead.”
The look on Blair’s face was telling.
Connor seemed to know it
,
too
,
as he continued.
“Not only is she not dead
,
but she’ll be coming home in a few hours as well.”
Blair glanced over at the two men he’d come in with.
Phil would bet his last buck that things were not going to go well for either of these men if this man had anything to say about it.
“I’m sorry.
I’d not heard she’d been…
You must be very happy.
I’d heard that her injuries were exten—
”
“And where did you hear that?
There’s been nothing on the news yet.
Hell
,
the accident only just occurred about an hour ago.
And I know for a fact that there were no names released. I made sure of that myself.”
Phil watched Connor speak and walk the man backwards toward another newcomer.
“In fact, I don’t think anyone there was even aware that a female had been hurt much less
know
her name.”
When Blair bumped into the second man, Phil knew that Blair knew the man.
When he put his hands on the shoulders of Blair and turned him toward the door, he didn’t fight but went with him.
Phil stepped to the two men that had come with Blai
r,
reached for the one closest to him
,
and wrapped his hand around his throat.
“Tell me,” he whispered
,
and reached into the man’s mind.
The connection was brief
,
but gave him more information than he’d thought he’d get.
Underlings, what this man thought of himself
,
didn’t usually have this much information and Phil had to wonder why he’d been so well informed
.
Letting him go with a small compulsion to call him if anything more was said about Holly or this family
,
the man staggered away.
He turned in time to see the doctor, the wolf that Phil hadn’t gotten a name for
,
staring at him.
Something hot, quick
,
and startling surged though him and he looked at Austin before he turned back to the wolf.
He was gone. He’d simply disappeared.
Phil was sitting next to Holly still mulling over all he’d learned when she opened her eyes.
She was staring at him when he looked up at her face and his breath caught.
She looked wors
e
awake than she had sleeping.
But he leaned in and kissed her mouth gently before speaking to her.