Her legs felt so weak that she let Christine lead her back to the bed and put her in it like a child. After she settled, she leveled her gaze on the older pack healer. “Okay, spill.”
Christine smiled and pulled a bag out from beneath the side table next to the bed. She pulled out a jar with some kind of wet gunk inside that made Vanessa’s nose curl even though couldn’t smell it yet. It just looked nasty.
“You’re at Dmetri’s and my place. Brayden brought you here.”
“Is he okay?” she blurted out.
Christine’s saucy wink instantly made her tense shoulders relax. She wouldn’t wink if it was bad, right? “He’s fine. You took the brunt of it. He had some cuts, but he’ll heal fast. Even faster, if he’d of let me put my salve on him. Oh well, men, you know? Anywho, good to see you, Vanessa. Though it’d be nice to actually see you when you weren’t hurt for once.” She laughed at her own joke, then gently tugged Vanessa’s shirt up.
Vanessa lifted her back off the bed so she could tug it up past her bra. She looked down and grimaced. Nasty barely covered how awful her stomach looked. She had a black and purple bruise that went from her right ribcage down to her left hip from where the seatbelt had been. The thing looked radioactive or something, because surrounding that nasty dark line was even more colors—all an assortment of ugly ones in dark yellows and sunburn reds and garish blues.
Christine fingered some of the goop on her hand then rubbed it across her stomach. “This’ll help, trust me. And don’t worry, it doesn’t stink.” She gave Vanessa a pointed look then laughed. “I know that’s what most people think when they see it. But really, it’s a mixture of herbs with some petroleum jelly; my own concoction! The jelly helps it to glide and stay on. I even added a touch of mint just so it’d smell kind of nice.”
Vanessa sniffed and still winced. “Smells like Vapor Rub.”
Christine shrugged. “Would you rather it smell as bad as you thought it would?”
“Hell, no,” she muttered.
That done, Christine went into the adjoining bathroom to wash her hands then came out drying them on a dark brown towel. “Brayden went to interview some lady or something, I don’t know. Said he’d be back soon.”
“Oh.” She tried to hide her disappointment, but she must have failed, because Christine’s face instantly drooped with a frown. She came and sat on the bed next to her.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
What was wrong? Hell, she wasn’t even sure yet. What she did know was that she didn’t like waking up in a strange place without him. She didn’t like not being able to see his injuries for herself, and she really didn’t like that he left without waiting for her to wake up so he could at least fill her in on what happened.
“Nothing.” She forced a tight smile. “Do you know when he’ll be back?”
Christine gasped and her eyes widened as if something important just dawned on her. “You and him...” She didn’t say the words, but instead made crude moaning and kissing sounds as her eyes rolled to the back of her head.
Vanessa tried not to laugh, but she couldn’t contain it. “Sort of...” she said with a shrug.
Christine’s eyes lit up. “That is awesome! I always told Dmetri that man needed a woman. What kind of good looking guy spends all his time alone like that?” She shook her head. “What a waste.”
“Yeah,” Vanessa agreed with another tight smile.
Christine eyes grew serious, her smile small but strong, then she cupped Vanessa’s hand in her own. “Okay, tell me everything. What’s going on?”
Maybe it was having another woman to talk to or Christine’s open honesty, but Vanessa found herself spilling the beans about everything. From what happened after she was kidnapped at the Kategans two years ago, to the mating and finally leaving Joseph. When she got to the parts involving Brayden, her cheeks burned and she wished like hell they didn’t. She didn’t mention any of the kisses, the amazing sex, the way he could make her entire body burn even on the side of a busy highway in broad daylight. But Christine saw that blush, heard her stumble over those parts of the story, and smiled. And what a smile it was—pure sexy knowing woman.
Christine winked. “You’re in real good hands with Brayden. Considering I’ve never seen him with a woman, you must really mean something to him.”
Vanessa’s heart leapt at the thought. Stupidly she said, “Really?”
Christine nodded slowly, her smile curling bigger. “Oh, yeah. You’ve broken him out of his shell. Hell, look at it—you both stayed here with us last night. Everything he’s used to is jumbled right now. I say take advantage of it while you can.” Her smile turned kind of sad. “You find love like that and you shouldn’t let it go, no matter who’s in the way.”
Vanessa’s face burned red and hot. “I didn’t say anything about love,” she said quickly.
Christine grinned, then winked. “I know. I’m going to get some food for you then I’ll be right back. Stay put,” she added firmly.
She left and Vanessa slammed her head back into the pillow. Love? Why did that word make her heart flutter and beat in fear at the same time?
After a full belly and a long bath, Vanessa’s moods managed to swing from happy, to content, to angry, to really pissed off. It really didn’t help that every single room she went in, even the damn bathroom, had a clock in it. So, as she bathed, because standing for too long wore her out, she got to stare at the clock and watch the hours fly by. First one, then two, then more and more until her teeth were grinding into sawdust.
She took a tour of the house with Christine and even said a brief hello to her mate, Dmetri, when he finally tore his gaze away from the newspaper. He still looked as good as ever. His hair had been snipped though. It looked good on him. It fell just around his shoulders, and almost made him look a bit younger. The house was massive, a mansion really. Christine showed her each of the suits, the expansive library, and the gardens outside. None it made her feel better though. In fact, each new room she walked through, her eyes narrowed on the clock.
The garden was lovely and elaborate. A maze of hedges led down a path of soft green grass to a circular enclosure. More tall hedges gave the inner space a separated, private feel. Pretty brickwork covered the ground and a fountain with cement benches surrounded it. Vanessa stared into the watery font and frowned. Five hours. He’d been gone even longer she was sure, since that was just when she’d woken up. He couldn’t call? After the terrifying experience yesterday, he couldn’t even shake her shoulder and wake her up? Could he not write? A damned note would have served just as well.
An arm curling around her shoulders jerked her out of her nasty thoughts. “Hey, what’s bothering you?” asked Christine.
“Nothing…I just feel kind of cramped-up here.” She flushed at the lie. Okay, it wasn’t quite a lie, but even she knew it sounded ridiculous, considering she was standing on God knows how many acres of land right now with only twirping birds to bother her.
“Wanna go out and get dinner?”
Vanessa’s eyes lit up. “Great idea! Can we go now?”
Christine nodded and they split ways to get dressed. Vanessa’s eyes narrowed in focus. Each step up the stairs to her room was a heavy thud. In her room, she tore through her bag of clothes and found the sexiest dress she had. She grinned down at it as she started pulling her clothes off. She’d made the right choice in buying it. It wasn’t particularly tight, but where it showed skin it did so with sleek straight cuts of material that somehow made a simple V-neck top look more daring and sexy than usual.
She pulled the dress on, slid on a pair of flats, since her other bag with various clothes and shoes was missing, probably crushed in the accident.