“I’m feeling much better.”

“If we get caught—”

“They can throw us out of here.” He gave her a devilish smile.

“Yeah, but you need their help.”

“I need you—more.”

The smile on her lips said he won. She climbed onto the bed, one knee posed on the right side of him before she raised her other leg to cross over his waist. “Are you sure?”

“The anticipation is killing me, Tessa.” With his good arm, he helped her get settled, groaning when her sweet body sank on top of his rigid erection.

“Oh, oh, I’m sorry. Did I hurt you?”

Hunter wrapped his arm securely around her, holding her hot little body tightly against his before she bolted from the bed. “Pure torture, but not in the way you mean.”

She chuckled softly against his chest and relaxed.

Feeling Tessa’s heated body against his, he had the overwhelming desire to screw convention and turn her, claim her. Had he ever felt this way toward a woman? He couldn’t remember.

But he wondered how he could ever give up the minx. And yet he knew he had to. No woman in her right mind would willingly become a lupus garou. He wasn’t sure how he was going to cope with Rourke’s change, let alone a female he’d make his mate. It wouldn’t be fair to her, any more than it was to Rourke. But the deed was done and there was no going back.

She took in a deep breath and kissed his chest covered in the thin hospital gown. Her lithe body pressed against his heavy groin. He moaned inwardly. Already, he wanted her again, when he had no business coveting her. But everything about her made him desire her, the way her soft body felt against him, her fragrance, the way she cared so about his welfare.

Her breathing soon grew shallow, and he sensed she had fallen asleep.

Maybe he could take her to Rourke’s place for a while. At least until he healed up sufficiently. The stalker’s wound wasn’t as severe, and he would be back to Tessa’s house soon, probably with the brother who wasn’t injured badly either.

Knowing sleep would help his body to heal more than anything else, Hunter willed himself to shut down his concerns.

But he didn’t realize he had even fallen asleep until sometime later the sound of footsteps entered the room, waking him. Hunter opened his eyes and stared at the man dressed in scrubs, his dark hair curling down to his shoulders, his face covered in a shadow of a beard. He looked way too scruffy to be a male nurse. Hunter expected him to come closer, to make a comment about the sleepy redheaded goddess in Hunter’s arms, to check his vital signs. But this wasn’t a medical call.

Hunter got a whiff of the man’s scent. One of the stalker’s brothers. The one who hadn’t been injured too badly, probably now completely healed. If he’d thought to slip in and steal Tessa away while Hunter was drugged and asleep, he was going to have a fight on his hands.

“Why does your brother want her so bad?” Hunter hoped to learn more about these men before he had to eliminate them. Maybe he could still convince the brothers to give up the deadly quest.

“You have to ask?” The man snorted. “She’s as close to one of us as we can find, and my brother, Yoloff, will have her. If I’d seen her first, she would’ve been mine.”

“Had he followed her to California?”

The man’s grim face brightened a little. “He almost had her there. Several times he’s nearly taken her. The hunt is as appealing as the mating. Then you came along and he had to solicit our help.”

Hunter could envision how frustrated the lupus garou was, but the previous comment stuck in his craw. “What do you mean by she’s nearly one of us?”

“Hell, you can smell her pheromones.”

Which didn’t make sense, but there wasn’t any way she was one of them. “She’s not a lupus garou.”

“Say what you will, but she’s garnering a lot of lupus garous’ attention in any event. Only she’ll be my brother’s mate. You can either give her up nice and easy or we’ll take her the hard way. You don’t want her in any event or you would have already turned her, so you might as well just let us have her.”

“Then there’s only one way this is going down.” Hunter reached for the nurse’s call button.

Before he pressed the button, a female nurse suddenly entered the room. “Who are you?” she asked the faux male nurse.

“I work on another floor.” He gave Hunter a sinister smirk. “Just checking on my buddy here.”

She glanced at Hunter, her eyes rounding when she saw Tessa asleep with Hunter. “What… you can’t—”

The stalker’s brother gave Tessa another long look. “Just remember what I said.” Then he left.

“She can’t sleep with you in the bed. I can get another bed for her.”

“The man who just left has been stalking Tessa. He’d planned on grabbing her while I was knocked out on pain medication. She’s not moving from here.”

The woman’s face paled. “I’ll call security and report him.” She whipped out of the room and shut the door.

Hunter must have fallen asleep after that because the next thing he heard was Ashton’s chuckle near the doorway. Hunter opened his eyes, his arm still wrapped securely around a sleeping Tessa. His shoulder was stiff, but not half as painful. Although the medication dripping into his veins could have had something to do with that.

“You have style, Hunter. Real style.”

“Where’s Rourke?”

“He’s still sleeping at his apartment down the road. He was pretty wiped out, but before I left, I checked and his fever was gone. We were going to take Tessa with us, but found the two of you like this before we left. Guess Nurse Godzilla didn’t bother you any longer. I asked about her schedule and she’s gone home, but she comes back on duty tonight.”

Tessa stirred. Her eyes opened and she would have jumped from the bed if Hunter hadn’t held on tight. He kissed her good morning on the lips and wanted more, but she was squirming in an attempt to bolt, stirring him to high heaven, and he released her.

He gave her a smile, then said to Ashton, “I’m starving. When do they serve food around here?”

Tessa climbed off the bed, her cheeks blushing beautifully.

Ashton cast her a conceited smirk. “Never knew you had it in you to break the rules, Tessa.”

She glowered at him and headed for the bathroom.

“My breakfast?” Hunter asked Ashton, before he ripped off the I.V. and wiped the smirk off his face.

“Food’s on its way.”

“I want sausage, bacon, and a mess of scrambled eggs. Biscuits, too. And three pints of milk.”

“I’m not sure what they ordered for you last night,” Ashton said.

“Tessa told me you were a real prankster in school. I’m starving. I need solid food to build up my strength. Go get me—”

Rourke poked his head in the door, his eyes blurry, his hair mussed up, dark whiskers covering his chin, not the look of a reporter on his way to work. “You could have woken me, Ashton.”

“You needed your sleep.”

“I’ll get your breakfast,” Rourke said to Hunter, and he headed down the hall.

“Wait up, Rourke! I’ve got to see this.” Ashton rushed after him.

Tessa stepped out of the bathroom. “I’m taking a hot shower. Don’t let anyone in the bathroom.”

“I’ll join you.”

“Ha! You can’t get those bandages wet.”

“We could manage.” He started to climb out of bed.

“Don’t you dare or I’ll call a nurse.” Tessa ducked back into the bathroom, shut the door, and started the water.

Hell, wet bandages wouldn’t bother him. He was about to remove the I.V. when Rourke and Ashton walked back in the room, each carrying a covered dish.

“Ashton said you wanted both sausages and bacon. They came with one or the other. So we had to procure a couple of dishes to accommodate you.” Rourke glanced at the bathroom and sniffed. He smiled and then frowned. “Surprised you’re not in there with her.”

“I would have been if the two of you hadn’t returned with the food.”

“You shouldn’t get those bandages wet anyway,” Ashton said.

Rourke gave him a get-real look. “You think that would have stopped Hunter?”

“Probably not.” Ashton uncovered the dish of eggs and sausage. “Two poor patients will be without breakfast.”

“The kitchen staff can make them more,” Rourke said. “Come on, Ashton. Let’s go to the cafeteria.”

“What about Tessa?”

“She probably won’t leave Hunter’s side.” Rourke gave him a pointed look.

Enough with the innuendos. Hunter knew she was becoming way too attached to him. But what could he do about it? He had to stay with her until he got rid of the gray threat and helped free her brother. Of course, his human side said to cool it with her. His wolf instincts told him she was the one for him. But those were deeper, more primal needs. They didn’t take in account the horror she would most likely feel if he changed her. She could hate him. Probably would. She was close to her brother. How could she not tell him what had happened to her? Why she had to become a wolf for a jaunt in the woods sometimes during the moon’s appearance, how she aged so slowly? Yet, if she were changed, she couldn’t tell a human soul.

The shower shut off and Rourke grabbed Ashton’s arm. “Let’s get something to eat before anyone catches us in here with the stolen food and blames us for it.”

Ashton laughed. “Hell, I thought you were as straight-laced as Tessa.”

The two hurried back down the hall.

Tessa came out of the bathroom, wearing a towel on her head.

“Come,” Hunter said, patting the bed. “Share breakfast with me.”

“How’d you get two breakfasts?”