It Begins With a Rogue's Bite (6 page)

When Thomas got up and came to the table, Shane gave him a piping-hot cup of coffee.

“If I were you, I’d take more than one pastry and plenty of coffee, because soon we’ll need all the strength we can get.” A smile spread over Shane’s lips as Thomas glared at him.

Sex on demand by a werewolf-to-be in heat surely took a lot of energy. Now that the decision had been made for them, and they couldn’t change it, they had to go with it.

Shane’s cock rose higher in anticipation as he took a gulp of the scalding beverage and then a bite of the scrumptious pastry.
Mmm, that’s good.
It was probably the best thing he had ever tasted. He walked back to his chair and slumped into his seat, savoring every bite while he exhaled a sigh in satisfaction.

He wondered if his expelled sigh was for his delicious pastry or the sex they’d soon have to participate in. Maybe it was for both. He quietly chuckled at the realization.

Chapter Six

Heat radiated from deep inside her now that the blood transfusion ended. For some reason, Cheryl’s body felt foreign to her. Her veins literally throbbed with every heartbeat. She observed it by the veins on her inside wrists. It was so bizarre.

Her stomach spasmed continually, making her feel like she traveled on a rollercoaster at a high speed. What type of cursed psychedelic trip had she embarked upon? Hopefully, it would end soon because she’d surely go mad if it didn’t.

Turning to her right side, she tried to relax on the hospital bed. The hard mattress made her uncomfortable, and her heavy arms bothered her. She folded them hoping to stop the surging in her limbs. It helped a bit but not much.
God, please let it go away.

Just when that wishful thought entered her mind, the door opened and Dr. Jonas walked in with two tall men, following closely behind her.

“Hi, Miss Brete, how are you feeling now? Stronger?” The doctor smiled in greeting.

“Yes, but it’s like my veins are on fire, Doctor. I feel really strange,” she confessed, turning to rest on her back and stare at the approaching doctor. She couldn’t draw her attention away from the mysterious men. They followed the doctor, heading toward the foot of the bed.

She got a better look at them as they got closer. Oh my, but they were twins, magnificent looking twins at that, who stared at her in silence as she gazed back at them in bewilderment. They looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place where she had seen them before. Their raven-black hair shone in the fluorescent light and their piercing green eyes just took her breath away. Their strong jaws appeared set in worry. Even though their mouths were closed, she could see they clenched and ground their teeth. Why did they have such serious faces? Did it have to do with her condition?

Her condition. What was her condition? She had awoken a couple of hours ago with a splitting headache and found herself plugged up to several machines, one of which spun red liquid continuously around before it passed through a thin, clear plastic tube with a needle that was inserted into the inside fold of her arm. Bubbles, along with the peculiar liquid, flowed slowly into her. Weren’t air bubbles deadly?

She panicked when her mind registered that air bubbles were getting into her bloodstream, and she tried to pull the needle out with what little strength she had left in her.

She hadn’t seen the doctor standing beside the machine. She stopped Cheryl’s movement and told her not to worry because the air bubbles weren’t harmful to her, and that this type of blood needed to be shaken while it transfused. She hesitated, but the doctor didn’t let go of her hand, obviously fearing she might try to remove it again.

So she remained still for five more minutes, just staring at the bubbling blood flow into her. She was okay, and from the half empty bag, it appeared the transfusion had been going on for quite some time before she awoke. So then the doctor was right. The air bubbles didn’t kill her.

Once she regained enough strength to talk, she asked the doctor what happened to her. For the life of her, she couldn’t remember anything since driving on an isolated road heading for the party.

Dr. Jonas frowned, saying she didn’t know but that the men who brought her in said they found her in the woods wounded and bleeding to death. They had saved her life.

Then the doctor checked her vitals and said she was doing fine. She should just rest while the transfusion continued. She needed to visit other patients before coming back and would have a nurse come in to monitor the rest of the transfusion. She left after that.

Two hours had passed, and now, she was back as promised. She walked up to Cheryl, unhooked the blood pressure monitor cuff hanging beside her on the wall, and wrapped it around her arm.

“The fiery feeling in your veins is perfectly natural. It’s because of the transfusion. Your body is reacting with the higher levels of electrolytes administered through the transfusion. Once your brain registers the change, it’ll adapt and the sensation will go away. It takes about an hour or so.” She placed the earpiece of the stethoscope on her ears and the diaphragm piece under the cuff on the inside fold of her arm.

“I’m going to check your blood pressure first and then listen to your heart and lungs. Just relax. It won’t take long.”

Cheryl took a relaxing breath and made her arm go limp as the doctor tightened the cuff. Her arm began to tingle, and it freaked her out. She jerked her arm.

“Just relax, please. Whatever you’re feeling is normal and not dangerous.” With a serious expression, the doctor looked into her eyes.

She nodded and gazed over the doctor’s head in the hope of distracting herself from the strange feeling going up and down her arm. She noted the two men continued to stare fixedly at her. When they saw her staring back at them, one cracked a small smile while the other turned his attention to the wall next to him.

Hmm, how strange.

A few seconds later, the doctor removed the cuff and placed the stethoscope on Cheryl’s chest over the thin hospital robe. “Take a deep breath, please.”

And she did. She asked Cheryl to take several more deep breaths. Once that ended, Dr. Jonas put the stethoscope around her neck and measured her temperature.

“Good,” she said with a reassuring smile. “I’ll be coming back in a few hours to check on you again, Miss Brete.” The doctor walked over to the foot of her bed and retrieved the chart. It seemed to Cheryl Dr. Jonas was marking her readings on it.

“Excuse me, Doctor, but when will I be able to leave?” She sat up straight in the bed and dizziness made images in her head spin for a few seconds.

“If you continue to respond to the treatment this well, you will be able to leave in about a week.” The doctor turned to give her one final reassuring smile.

“A week? That long?” Cheryl remarked, flabbergasted at her response.

“Unfortunately, the treatment takes a week, so you will need to stay here for that long.” The doctor pivoted to head back to the door. Meanwhile, the men just stood motionless at the end of her bed, not moving or saying anything, just staring at her. She found it extremely weird and uncomfortable. What were they doing here? Who were they?

Oddly enough, the doctor seemed to answer her question right before she exited. “Oh, I almost forgot,” Dr, Jonas said, stopping in her tracks and walking back to where the men stood. “These are Shane and Thomas Bicks. They are nurse’s aides and will be taking care of you for the next week.”

“Hi,” Shane, the less shy brother, said with a wide, bright smile while bowing his head cordially.
The more timid one, Thomas, just smiled and diverted his gaze to the foot of her bed.

They sure didn’t act like nurse’s aides she thought.

She nodded with a forced smile. “Hello.”

“I must be going.” The doctor checked her watch and darted for the door. “I’ll see you in a few hours, Miss Brete. In the meantime, Thomas and Shane will give you a sponge bath. It’ll help bring down your temperature and will ease the feeling of heat traveling through your body.” Then she closed the door behind her.

Upon hearing those words, it seemed like a bulldozer had just ploughed through the room, stunning her. Had she heard correctly? A sponge bath? By these two gorgeous strangers? No, she’d misunderstood.

Yet, Dr. Jonas had said they were her appointed nurse’s aides, and nurse’s aides did give patients sponge baths. Good Lord, this was awkward. Why couldn’t they be two females?

When she looked up to say she didn’t need a sponge bath, she almost fell off the bed in shock. Just when she thought things couldn’t get any more bizarre, they did.

Heaven’s mercy, Thomas looked paler than her hospital bed sheets. He even seemed to stagger on his feet. The other twin, Shane, acted completely opposite. He had the darnedest, most devilish smile she had ever seen.

Damn, her words of refusal just slipped from her mind, and she simply gazed at them, gulping air in silence. What did she do now?

One thing was for sure, things would heat up soon either way. Her body went from feeling hot to aroused under Shane’s stare. She just hoped she didn’t melt. His bewitching green eyes could cast a spell on her easily enough if she let them.

Chapter Seven

Now that the rules had been set, all Shane needed to do was go with the flow. The sexual tension brewing in the room right about now had just sent his werewolf hormones on overdrive.

Dr. Jonas had informed Shane and Thomas before she brought them up to her room that the female, Cheryl, would probably still be experiencing a fiery sensation in her limbs, but soon it would travel to her reproductive system and genitals. Her sexual libido would gradually rise and take over her body. Giving her an ice cold sponge bath would ease the transfer of heat and put less stress on her.

Yes, okay, it would put less stress on her, but what about him and Thomas? Having such a beautiful, vulnerable woman naked before them while they bathed every delectable, sexy inch of her body with a small, thin sponge, without being able to kiss her or touch her in any other way but in a cleansing rub, would drive them crazy.

Did the doctor think them gods able to control their bodies and minds with a flick of their hands? They were vibrant, virile werewolf men in the prime of their sexual lives. Something like this would take them over the edge.

Shane thought the doctor must have seen the shocked look on their faces and realized how much she was asking of them because she explained with emphasis that he and Thomas should
not
make the first sexual move on the female. That could cause an imbalance of sex pheromones to form in her bloodstream, thus causing the potassium levels in her body to drop significantly, and she could suffer a heart attack.

Her body wasn’t yet fully a werewolf’s body and was still human. Not until the full moon passed would she be fully transformed into a werewolf. So they just needed to ease her into a situation where she felt comfortable and sexually aroused, and when the time was right, she would make the first move.

Then he and Thomas could follow her lead and let nature take its course and satisfy each and every sexual demand she’d make. They were pawns in this evolution, and they should never forget it.

After hearing the gravity of the situation and that any sexual advances they made could endanger her, Shane decided he’d keep a tight chain around his manly urges for as long as it took. It would be a tough battle, but protecting Cheryl was all that mattered to him. Fate had bonded all of them through that vision somehow, and he’d do anything to protect her now.

Thomas had had the same resolve when they discussed it before coming up here, but now as he observed his brother, his resolve seemed to be sinking in quicksand. Fear and worry showed on his face, and that wasn’t good.

Shane turned to Cheryl, who seemed to be panting, lost in thought.

“We’ll be right back, Miss Brete. Just sit back and rest for now, please,” he said, putting his open palm on his brother’s back. He guided Thomas outside the room and shut the door quickly.