the risk. And it’s a risk we all take.” Her gaze never left his as she said, “There is no protection spell strong enough. Even you, big, bad alpha, can’t protect Jane from everything in this world. If you tried, if you locked her away, would that really be living for her?”
“I’m not talking about locking her away,” he said. “I just—” Aidan broke off. I just feel powerless. No one else had ever mattered to him this much.
“I know,” Annette murmured and she truly did seem to understand. “But magic can’t fix everything. You love your Jane? Then just—just enjoy her. Enjoy every moment. Don’t look back and don’t look forward. No one on this earth—human, vamp, or werewolf—is guaranteed anything. We take our joy where we find it.”
His joy…it was all tied up in Jane.
“Thank you for your help tonight, Annette Benoit,” he said formally. “I know coming back to this place wasn’t easy.”
“Just like walking into my favorite nightmare,” she said, her lips hitching into a half smile. “So you owe me, wolf.”
He already knew that. “Paris will see you back home. He’ll also pay you for tonight’s work.” Aidan turned away.
“The cash is great, but I’ll be collecting a favor, too. Just so we’re clear.”
He’d figured as much. Aidan turned away from her. He wanted to go back to Jane and hear what Dr. Heider had to say about her wounds—
“Is it wise, do you think? Giving her your blood?”
Her voice was so hesitant. Very unlike Annette.
Glancing over his shoulder, he frowned at her. “I’ve given my pack blood plenty of times.” It had helped to speed up their recovery process when their injuries were particularly severe.
“But Jane isn’t a werewolf.” Her head tilted to the right as she studied him. “Have you given your blood to a human before?”
“No. It’s not like I’m overly tight with humans.”
“Right. Not you.” She rubbed her neck. “And Jane isn’t exactly an ordinary human. Aren’t you worried—at all—that there could be repercussions from what you’re doing?”
“I’d given her my blood before this attack. She was fine after taking it.”
Her eyes widened. “Just how many times have you given Jane your blood?”
“I gave her my blood twice last night.” Because she had been so severely injured. “And once before that. And she seems fine.”
“It’s werewolf blood, though. Alpha blood. That you’re giving to a vamp-in-waiting.” Annette’s face showed her worry. “What will that do to her?”
“It will keep her alive.”
“Aidan…you know better. Frankenstein isn’t the only one who can make monsters.”
“Jane isn’t a monster.”
“Not yet. But—”
The bedroom door flew open. Dr. Bob stood there, his eyes wild. “You need to see this—see her!”
“What’s wrong with Jane?” Aidan shoved him out of the way.
“Nothing…nothing at all!” Dr. Bob’s voice broke with excitement. “The stitches were barely hanging on and when I removed them—
Jane wasn’t in bed. She stood, studying herself in his mirror, his shirt hiked just beneath her waist. She wore only his shirt and the pair of blue panties he’d put on her the night before. Jane wouldn’t have liked waking naked and so he’d wanted to make sure she was comfortable and—
Jane touched her stomach and twisted her body a bit as she stared harder at her reflection. He saw the slightly raised skin on her right side—that long ago burn that would forever mark her but…
Jane turned toward him. “What happened to me?”
But there were no other marks on her. The deep claws that had ripped into her stomach hours before—there was no sign of the damage from those claws at all.
“Aidan?” Jane’s voice was confused, a little scared. “What happened?”
The floor creaked behind him. He knew that Annette had followed him into the bedroom, he’d caught her light, distinctive feminine scent. “This is what I was talking about,” she whispered. “You give a vamp-in-waiting your blood…and you don’t know what will happen.”
“She’s healed,” Dr. Bob said, his expression still dazed. “I thought she was dying, but you can’t even tell Jane was injured! Even as I cut the stitches away, her skin was getting stronger. It’s the damnedest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Jane still clutched his shirt in one hand and her other smoothed over her stomach. Then that hand slid to her side and pressed to the old burn mark. “Aidan?”
Jane’s scared. “Dr. Heider, Annette—thanks for your help.” He moved toward Jane, positioning his body protectively in front of her. “But it’s time for you both to go.”
Dr. Heider was still gaping.
And Annette—she just looked worried.
“Go,”