The Patient Who Knew Me

e of wolfsbane and took the stairs down four flights instead of the elevato

n the windowsill where the parking lot light fell across them, and Silas had said something to me abo

with my hands on the wheel and thought about the mark on my wrist, then d

n my bathroom and opened t

who sold herbal remedies to people who did not want to explain themselves to a doctor. Five drops a day for seven years. Five drops in m

en I looked at the dropp

waited for the dimming behind my ribs, the way the world went from sharp to soft. My wolf settled i

, pale and curved, and it had not dimmed with

rdered the breakfast special and sat in the corner booth

had no idea what I was. He had found me in the parking lot one night when I was crying in my car because I had smelled a wolf in the emergency room and could not st

e about the mate bond and how it was not always a gift, and he had told me that the two of us were lucky because we had found each other by accident and not by

e road. He had kissed Eli on the head and said something in a language I did no

safe," h

from

, and the police had found the truck three days later with the dr

hospital, because my shift started at seven

been quiet all morning. The brother had been in and out. The flowers on the window

ight with the

oom the way they had followed me into the corridor. The IV bag was new. I checked the

ops," h

ha

is morning you took ten." His voice was qu

against the pillow and his eyes wer

bed with a tube in your ar

are six feet away and you smell like a woman who is trying to hide." He shift

the one I a

e afraid of my brother

forearm was warm through the fabric of the gown. His pulse was steady and strong, and

usband?" I asked,

the name softly. "Y

he never told me h

rd the pump click, and a cart go by in

challenge. He did not want you to know what he was, because he did not want you to be a target. He told me once tha

d h

e heir instead. He went alone, and he did not come back, and I have

dry. I had cried for Daniel for a year, and then I had stopped,

chart for the medica

ice came in

a voice in the space behind my eyes,

. I looked at Caleb and his lips had not moved, but his eyes were

Tam?"

Gamma now. He will know what to do." His voice was barely

ckets and a smile on his face, and behind him was a woman I had never seen before, with dark brown hair

b, and then at me, a

would like you to