Kindling Flames: Flying Sparks (The Ancient Fire Series Book 2) (6 page)

Michael’s humans followed him up the steps and out onto the porch as Darien walked down the path to his Aston Martin parked at the curb. He looked back at the motley bunch lining the porch and shook his head before driving off. Maybe now Michael and his crew would remember they were just small fish and stop giving Clara such problems.

***

The soft scent of roses met Vicky as she woke from the drug-induced sleep. Her eyes fluttered open and landed on the vase of white and yellow roses sitting on the table next to her bed. She breathed deeply and stretched as she tried to think through the fog left by the morphine.

“Are you awake now?”

Vicky looked up at the male voice coming from the far end of the room. Her eyes fell on a familiar figure in a leather jacket leaning against the wall.

Rupert uncrossed his arms and approached the foot of the bed.

Vicky stifled a yawn as she shifted up in the bed, so she was more presentable for her unexpected guest. “Uh huh,” she answered. “Did you bring the flowers?”

Rupert came over and sat in the chair next to the bed. “Sue sent them,” he replied. “She also sent these.” Picking up a plastic bag, he set it on the edge of the bed where Vicky could reach it.

She stuck a finger out and hooked the top of the bag to peek inside. The plastic box filled with Sue’s chocolate chip cookies brought a smile to Vicky’s lips. “Thank you.” Raising her eyes to her visitor, she leaned her head back against the bed. She hissed when the burn on her neck pressed into the pillow.

Rupert sat forward, ready to help her if she needed it. He fished for something to say to the woman as he watched her discomfort. “I talked with Karl before he left,” the werewolf offered. “He said that you were doing very well.”

Vicky wiggled around in the bed until she was more comfortable and waited for the pain to subside before answering him. “I don’t feel it right now,” she admitted.

“You don’t look it right now,” Rupert gave her a consoling smile.

She returned it in a weak grin.

“You really need to do something about your hair. It’s starting to look a little… ragged.”

She reached her hand up to the tangled mess on her head.

“Do you have a brush?” He looked down at the bag Darien had left.

“I don’t know,” she admitted.

He picked up the bag. “Do you mind?” he said, asking if he could look inside.

Vicky didn’t feel well enough to really care, so she nodded her approval.

Rupert set the bag on the edge of the bed to look through it. His eyes widened as soon as he opened it up. “Have you been eating these?” He pulled out a bag that contained a few of the honeyed cakes Darien had left.

Vicky shook her head. “Not since last night,” she admitted, earning her a growl. Vicky’s heart jumped when the man stood and picked her up into a sitting position in the bed.

He ripped the top of the bag open and plucked one of the cakes out, plopping it into her hand. “Eat!” Rupert barked at her.

Vicky looked at him in surprise, and Rupert glared at her until she raised the cake to her mouth and took a bite.

He nodded and sat back down to rummage in her bag again. “When a master goes out of his way to make you something to help you get better, you eat it. Understand?” He glared at her again.

Vicky mumbled her agreement around the mouthful of cake. “Are these that special?” she asked between bites.

“Those are probably better for you than most of the medicines this place will try to pump in you,” he answered, scoring a brush from the bottom of the bag.

Vicky examined the last bite of the tasty treat while Rupert zipped the backpack closed and dropped it to the floor. She slipped the last piece into her mouth, and he held out another one, ready to fill her empty hand. As he roughly shifted her in the bed so her back was towards him, Vicky began to feel uneasy. When he sat on the edge of the bed behind her and reached for her hair, Vicky nearly freaked out.

Sensing her panic, Rupert placed his hand on her good shoulder to stop her from bolting out of bed. “Sit still and eat,” he commanded, “I won’t bite you.”

She nearly laughed at his choice of words but decided that it would be better to listen to him. As she lifted the second cake to her lips, the werewolf ran his fingers through her hair to loosen the rat’s nest that had formed at the back of her head.

They sat in silence as Rupert worked the tangles from her damaged hair. Vicky was surprised at how gentle the coarse man could be as he ran the brush over her head. After licking the stickiness from her fingers, she folded her hands in her lap as the man played with her hair.

When the brush ran through Vicky’s hair smoothly, Rupert divided her locks and worked them into a braid, securing the end with a band from the handle of the brush. The alpha ran his hand down the length carefully and laid the braid over her good shoulder before standing up from the bed and sitting back down in the chair next to her.

“Thank you,” Vicky said quietly as she shifted back to the middle of the bed.

“You’re welcome,” he replied, tucking the brush back into the backpack. “Um, I know we got off to a rocky start…” Rupert began.

Vicky watched him pick imaginary lint from the bed sheets before he continued.

“But I wanted to let you know that my wolves will be watching out for you until we’ve caught the person responsible for this.”

Vicky’s eyes widened in surprise. “You think this wasn’t an accident?”

Rupert nodded. “The fire has all the same traces of those in the southern part of the city,” he explained. “We just can’t seem to find a connection between the victims.”

Vicky worried her bottom lip as she thought about this. “I knew a few of the victims,” she admitted.

He looked at her, shocked. “What?”

“They were in my classes at college.” Vicky spoke softly as she thought about the possible meaning of this. “…And a few of the others were in my best friend’s classes.”

Rupert stared at her with an open mouth. “Why didn’t you say something about this sooner?” he asked harshly.

Vicky cowered in the bed. “I didn’t know,” she replied, nearly bawling at the anger in the werewolf’s words.

“What are you doing to my assistant?” Darien’s asked as he stepped into Vicky’s room.

Rupert looked up at the new addition. “She knew of a connection between the victims,” he growled.

“I heard.” Darien came over to stand next to Vicky’s bed. “So, the victims all went to your college?” he asked her.

She shook her head. “Only a few of them.” Vicky rattled off the names of the ones that she had known. There was one for each fire that had occurred.

“That’s a lot.” Darien scratched his cheek as he thought. “Did you tell this to the police?”

“No,” Vicky admitted. “Do you think I should?”

“No.” He waved her concern away. “They’ve probably made that connection already. I don’t think it’ll help them find out what’s causing the trouble.”

The three sat in silence for a moment as they thought about the situation.

“Something in here stinks.” Rupert broke the silence.

Darien chuckled. He walked around the bed and found the planter that had the wolfsbane in it. Looking through the foliage, he pulled out a fallen bloom and held it up for the alpha to see. Rupert wrinkled his nose at the flower.

“One of the local florists thought these would look nice in an arrangement.” Darien opened the window and chucked the errant bloom out before shutting it again. “It was an honest mistake, and I’ve had words with the responsible party.” He wiped his hand together, dusting the issue way.

Amusement played across Rupert’s face as he stood up to leave. “You should see to your lady,” he said and looked back at Vicky as she scrunched down in the bed. “She’s in pain and hasn’t been eating properly.”

Darien raised an eyebrow at his embarrassed assistant.

“She’s also going to need a haircut,” he pointed out. “There’s a large section burnt out of the back.”

Vicky’s hand reached for the frayed ends of her hair sticking out of the top of the braid.

“Thank you, Rupert.” Darien patted the wolf on the shoulder as he slipped past him. “I’ll take care of it.”

He looked down at Vicky as the alpha left. “What am I going to do with you?” he asked softly as he slipped his coat off and folded it onto the back of the chair.

The red on her cheeks deepened, and she looked down at the blanket as he pulled off his tie.

Darien popped the top two buttons of his dress shirt open and shook his head at the lack of verbal response from Vicky. He found the button that raised the head of the bed and pressed it until it was high enough to lean against comfortably. Sitting on the bed next to his assistant, he slipped out of his shoes and rolled up the sleeves of his dress shirt.

“Come here.” Darien held out his arms for Vicky, but she just gave him a confused look. He rolled his eyes and reached for her. Carefully pulling her into his lap, he stretched out in the bed with her laying against his chest.

Unsure of what her boss was doing, Vicky curled stiffly in his arms.

Darien chuckled at her unease and patted her soothingly.

Listening to the rich sound vibrating from his chest, Vicky relaxed a little bit. She could hear the slow beating of his heart increase slightly as warmth radiated from him and soothed her pain. Vicky closed her eyes and let the tension ease from her muscles until she was completely limp in his arms.

He smiled at her complete trust and shifted her against him so he was a little more comfortable. “So, tell me what the doctor said.” Darien listened as Vicky told him about Dr. Urnkalther and Karl the werewolf.

Now that he was soothing her pain away, the morphine was addling her brain, and she prattled on about the nurses and Rupert’s visit, the cakes, the flowers, and what it was like to have the alpha brush and braid her hair.

He smiled as her words got more disjointed by the medication lulling her to sleep. The girl’s deep, even breathing told him when she was finally asleep. Tilting his head forwards, he kissed the crown of her head before relaxing back and enjoying the feel of a living body against his. It had been some time since someone had fallen asleep against him, and he schooled his heart and breathing to match hers so he could rest for a while. He hadn’t properly rested since Elliot had called him from the emergency room.

***

The nurse paused in the doorway and stared over the tray of food she was carrying at the pair sleeping in the bed. Rupert had pulled a few strings to make sure there was a wolf on duty in Vicky’s hospital, but he hadn’t warned them that Darien would be tending the girl himself. There was no question who the man holding her patient was. No one else would dare touch the injured woman like that.

The nurse was torn between leaving and letting them rest or waking them so Vicky could eat while her dinner was still hot. She was saved from the decision when Darien opened his eyes and looked at the intruder. “I’m Ruby,” she said, “and I have your lady’s dinner.” The nurse held out the tray for Darien to see.

He nodded. “Thank you,” he said as the woman came in and set the tray on the table.

Vicky stirred at the sound.

Darien loosened his grip on her as she stretched and snuggled deeper into his comforting presence. He let out a light laugh and patted her lightly so she would wake up. It would have been lovely to stay there with her cuddled in his arms for the rest of the evening, but she needed to eat, and so did he. “Wake up, Victoria.” He rolled them both onto their sides, so she was no longer resting on top of him. “Dinner’s here.”

Vicky moaned in protest as Darien pulled away from her slightly. Her eyes fluttered open, and it took them a moment to focus. When she woke up enough to fully comprehend that Darien was still wrapped around her in the hospital bed, the color that bloomed on her face would make tomatoes envious. “I’m sorry.” Vicky tried to push out of his arms.

Darien would not release her. “Don’t be.” He moved his hand to brush a few strands of wayward hair from her face.

Vicky’s breath caught at his gentle touch.

“But it’s time to wake up. Food’s here.” Darien finally released her and sat up in the bed. “I told you that you needed all the calories you could get.” He pulled the rolling table a little closer while Vicky shifted to a more upright position. After adding another of the cakes from the plastic bag to her tray, he moved off the bed and placed the table where Vicky could eat. He found his shoes and slipped into them as she pulled the top off the main dish and made a face at the hospital meatloaf.

“Thanks,” Vicky said begrudgingly. She would much rather have continued sleeping in Darien’s arms than try and choke down hospital food.

Darien laughed at her as he picked up the fork and placed it into her hand. “Make sure you eat all of it.” He patted her on the head, and she glared at him. Smiling back, he turned to the door. “I’ll be back shortly.”

Vicky nodded before she poked the mystery meat on her plate to see if it would crawl away.

Laughing again, he went to see about something for himself. He hadn’t realized when he laid down in the bed that mingling his essence with hers would be such a bad idea. A longing that he hadn’t known for some time had started to grow in him, and he was having a problem putting the feelings down. Closing his eyes, he could still feel the warmth from where she had snuggled into his chest.

Snapping his eyes open, Darien ripped himself back to reality before he turned around and went back in that room… and did things to Vicky he knew she wasn’t ready for. He hadn’t been home long enough to find the picture of his old love, so he was still not sure if these feelings were held over from her, or if Vicky inspired them herself.

Looking around, Darien found Ruby standing at the nurse’s station. He made a beeline for her. She would know where he could get something to calm the hunger in him. Solving that problem would go a long way towards allowing him to work on the other issues tangled up inside of him.

***

Vicky ate her meatloaf as she tried to sort out her feelings. She had just spent a fair amount of time curled up on her boss’s chest, asleep and probably drooling. As she thought about it, she wiped the corner of her mouth unconsciously. How was she supposed to feel about this development? Her mind had flatlined when he sat on the bed and held his hands out for her. Was she was more shocked that he’d climbed into her bed, or that she wasn’t against him being there?