Rising Storm (Westin Force #2) - Julie Trettel Page 0,38

don’t mention it to the others.”

“I figured you’d be calling. I’m on my way.”

I didn’t have to even tell him why.

“I need you to put some clothes on, okay?”

Emma nodded without arguing and went to get dressed. I limped over to my dresser and took out a pair of shorts and slipped them on while she rummaged through the bags Shelby had brought over for her. She chose a green T-shirt and a khaki colored skirt.

“Is this okay?”

I stared at her. She was so gorgeous. All I could do was nod.

When Grant arrived, he knocked out of respect. Emma answered it.

“Hi, Emma. I’m Grant.”

“I know. And this is Taylor, or T, as everyone seems to call her.”

Taylor walked in behind Grant and I groaned. “I said don’t tell anyone.”

“She’s my mate. She doesn’t count.”

I rolled my eyes. “Just get this over with.”

“How bad is he?” Taylor asked Emma.

“Worse than he’s willing to admit.”

“Figures. They’re all like that. So stubborn and they never do the right thing when it comes to their own safety and health.”

I choked. “Like you’re any better.”

“We aren’t talking about me, now are we?” Taylor pointed out.

Emma still looked worried and I reached a hand out to her, she took it and was immediately by my side.

“I told you I’d take care of it. I’m fine.”

Grant snickered. “You’ve messed up all my work, you idiot. I’m going to have to cut it open and start over or you’re going to have a bad scarred knot there. Since I know you won’t listen to me and stay in your gorilla, we’ll just take Micah’s method this time.”

I grimaced. Micah was the Westin Pack physician. He was a big believer in letting injuries and wounds heal naturally. Broken bones and wounds requiring stitches should heal slowly on human timing. Well, not exactly that slow. Even in our skin, we had accelerated healing compared to an average human. Shifting caused other issues. Broken bones didn’t always stay in place and set properly. Wounds like mine caused bad scarring. I’d argued plenty of times with him that appearances were no reason not to speed things along, but he had once told me that scarred tissue could lead to all sorts of other issues, particularly if it was around a joint. This one wasn’t, but I’d do what I had to just because I hated seeing Emma worrying about me.

Grant rummaged through his bag and then cursed.

“I’ll call Micah,” T volunteered. “What do you need?”

“I used the last of my lidocaine on these two.”

She was already talking into the phone before he answered. “Hey Micah, it’s T. We have a situation. Grant’s out of lidocaine and needs to do a quick stitch up. Do you have something he can use?” She pulled the phone from her ear and spoke to her mate. “He wants to know if you placed your order yet?”

“Yeah, I did that yesterday.”

“Did you hear that? Yeah, yesterday. Okay. Great. We’re at Painter’s.”

“Taylor.” I cursed under my breath. “I wanted to keep this between us, remember?”

“Whatever, he’s on his way. Thanks, Micah.”

“You know I have to file a report for this,” Grant confessed.

I cringed. “I thought this was going to be off the books.”

T snorted. “As if anything stays secret around the Force. Elliot’s probably got flowers on the way apologizing for screwing up surveillance.”

I shook my head. “That was a set up. It’s not his fault. They saw exactly what the Raglan wanted us to see.”

“Tell that to Silas. He’s furious and wants heads to roll for this.”

“Great. Finding out I tore my stitches again will likely push him over the edge.”

“Nah,” Grant said. “Newly mated grace period. No one is actually counting on you to be there until you at least seal your bond.”

“What’s that?” Emma asked. “I mean we’ve already had sex, so we’re mated.”

Taylor and Grant shared a look and then turned it to me. I shrugged.

“I’ll explain it later,” I told her.

Taylor rolled her eyes while Grant grinned at Emma’s candidness.

Fortunately, Micah soon arrived to rescue me from an awkward conversation with company.

“Jesus, Grant. Did you have him shift again?” Micah said when he saw my leg.

“Let’s not be overdramatic. It’s not that bad,” I argued.

I could feel Emma going into a hyper protective state and I kissed the back of her hand in hopes of soothing her.

“He didn’t stay shifted long enough and then went for a freaking run this morning. Silas was being a tyrant and pushed us hard too. I knew