Page 6 of Wolf It Down, Knot Me Up

Opening my eyes, I glare at my bandaged hand, and it throbs back.

Suddenly, a doctor strides in—fiftyish, glasses, moving quickly. He unwinds my bandage while he talks. “Good news first. It’s healing. Was the bite from your Alpha?”

I blink at his words, not wanting to think that the bite is anything but an accident. My gaze falls to the punctures and torn skin in my hand. “It’s a long story, and I was unconscious for the ending.”

The doctor re-dresses my arm, checks my eyes, and asks me the date. “You’re doing well,” he says finally. “There are no signs of concussion, and your hand is healing fast. I see no reason you can’t go home today.”

“Okay, great, because I have somewhere to be. But my grandmother is in the hospital too. She fell, fractured her ankle. Eve Rose?” And then the penny drops, shiny and obvious. “Wait. This is the closest hospital to Rusty’s Bend. Is she here?”

“One of the nurses can find out for you.” He glances at the doorway, where Suzanne has rematerialized. She holds up one finger, vanishes, and comes back three minutes later looking extremely pleased with herself.

“Eve Rose is upstairs in the recovery ward. Such a sweet lady.” She smiles. “But bossy.”

“Sounds just like her.” The tightness in my chest unfurls at being so close to my grandma. “Can I go see her?”

“Yes, and the nurse will take you, but I want you to remain in your bed a bit longer so we can watch over you,” the doctor explains. Then he’s out the door with Suzanne.

I lean back and wait, which turns out to be three hours before the doctor finally agrees I can leave my room.

The nurse returns to take me to my grandma. She unclips me from the wires, and when the beeping finally stops, the silence is heaven. She leaves the room again.

That’s when I spot my backpack against the wall under the window. It’s scuffed and dusty but in good condition. I’m guessing Roman brought me here, so thank God he grabbed my bag. I shuffle over and unzip it to collect the white box inside, which is still intact.

Suzanne reappears, rolling a wheelchair to the bedside, and helps me into it, then tucks a blanket over my lap like I’m ninety. “Come on, I’ll run you up. Doc wants you in a chair, seeing as you knocked your head and just to be careful.”

“A bit dramatic, but I’m not going to say no to a free ride.” I grin, holding Grandma’s gift in my lap.

Suzanne kicks off the brakes and swings me into the hallway as she leans down over my shoulder. “Your savior is extremely handsome, by the way,” she whispers only for me to hear. “I almost fainted at seeing him.”

My hands close on the armrests because she doesn’t mean Roman, right? The man with the thinning hair at his temples, the toothy, creepy grin, and the dual personality who could never cause an Omega to swoon. Plus, he tried to drag me down the dark path. Which left the human hurricane who exploded out of the trees, flattened my guide, and accidentally sank his teeth into my hand. Did he scoop up not only me but also my bag and carry us out of the forest to an emergency room? That’s a twist I wasn’t expecting.

Suzanne wheels us into the elevator and hits the button for the next floor.

The doors ding open on the recovery ward, and Suzanne pushes me out and down a long corridor until we swing into one of the rooms. Grandma is alone in the room with a huge window spilling with sunlight.

Silver braid over one shoulder, ankle propped in a big black boot. My chest tightens at seeing her, as it’s been two years since I last saw her in person. She glances up, and her whole face lights, and then, in the same breath, sharpens.

I smile and get up, needing to rush over to her.

“Lucy. Oh, dear, you’re at the hospital? Are you okay? What happened?” Her hands catch mine, and she turns my bandaged hand over.

Suzanne parks the wheelchair, then murmurs something about the call button and slips out.

“I’m fine. I promise.” I wrap my arms around her, holding on a little tighter than I mean to. I’ve missed her terribly. She’s the only family I’ve truly known, the woman who stepped in when my parents walked away before I was old enough to remember them. Grandma didn’t just raise me—she became my whole world. “How are you doing?”

“The ankle is still fractured and now booted,” Grandma says, as I pull away. “I still can’t walk on it yet, which is so frustrating. It annoys me that I just missed one step at the back of the lodge, then tumbled into my potted plants, breaking my ankle.” She exhales loudly. “I can’t just sit here when there’s so much to do at the lodge.” Then her gaze drops to the box in my hand, her eyes widening. “Is that for me?”

I laugh and hold the box out to her. “Lemon tarts from Miami.”

She takes it, lifts the lid, and inhales them, then grins widely. “You wonderful girl. Let’s eat them together.” She sets the box on her tray table, pats the bed until I’m sitting up there with her, and she takes my good hand. “Now, you know I love you more than anything in this world, but what happened to your hand? You’ve got me worried.”

So I tell her the whole ordeal—the bar and the walk, and Roman trying to drag me down the dark trail when I said no. Then the huge stranger, the brawl, the fox, and my fall. And how I ended up here.

She doesn’t interrupt once but holds my hand tightly. “Oh, Lucy, I’m so glad you weren’t hurt worse. And I will have a word with Roman when I see him next.”

“It’s fine. I’m here and safe. That’s the main thing.”

Grandma falls quiet. “Hm.” She stares past me and out the window. “My mother once said that when a fox crosses your path, you pay attention, girl, because the forest is telling you something. In the old fairy tales, wolves would wear fox skins to trick travelers through the woods, so you never knew who to trust.” Her gaze swings back to mine. “Being conned by a wolf meant you ended up in the wolf’s belly. And listening to the fox lead you straight to Grandmother’s house. The problem was knowing who was who.”