entire society and multiple cultures that existed within the paranormal world was another thing entirely.
Based on his observations she was probably still in shock. Liam wondered how long it would take her to move on to the next stage. Would she be like Amelia and accept it all readily, or would she be more like Bonnie and fight every step tooth and nail?
“I’m surprised any of you know how to properly insert a catheter,” Zoe muttered, pulling the blankets up and around Chris. “This IV was nicely done too.”
It was one of the most irritated and begrudging compliments he’d ever heard.
Her attitude amused him even if it also set his teeth on edge. It wasn’t because he thought she was a bitch but more that he wasn’t sure how to break through her walls. If he wanted any chance at all of connecting with his mate, he was going to have to figure out how to deal with all the thorns and the unscalable walls with barbed wire at the top.
The fact that she was so defensive and extremely independent made Liam want to do the impossible. He didn’t want to just break down those walls. No, he wanted her to open the fucking door and let him in.
“Chris, you better wake up, you asshole,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest as she stood straight. “I’m not working the night shift without you.”
Zoe was abrasive, but she cared about people in her own way. That much was obvious.
Then her glower landed on him and Liam let his tongue loll out of his mouth just to fuck with her. Zoe’s eyes narrowed and she huffed before turning back to the man on the bed.
“Where are we? Am I allowed to leave?”
He tilted his head like there was a possibility he might not understand her. As a wolf there was a better chance he could keep her talking than if he shifted back to his human form. Zoe would get all her answers soon enough.
She certainly didn’t need to get pissed at him for giving her those answers.
“Is your twin the same color as you?” She sat down in one of the chairs along the wall, eyes still on her friend.
Liam chose not to respond to her question. One day she’d see Noah for herself. It was impossible to describe to people how he was a white grey and his brother was a grey white. They didn’t get the difference if they could even tell the two of them apart to begin with.
Watching her had been his guilty pleasure for the last few days. There was just something about her black bob with its sharp edges. Her light brown eyes, and the freckles across her nose and cheeks. She was savagely beautiful.
And tiny. She couldn’t have been taller than 5’3”.
Still, Liam didn’t want to see just how vicious she could be if pushed. She’d nearly killed a wolf shifter as a human with nothing but a hatchet.
“Did I really ask for you?” she demanded, as if this might be a lie.
Liam couldn’t help but huff his laughter, even as a wolf. He flopped onto the ground, watching her watch Chris.
Every once in a while, she looked at him, expression unreadable. Liam wasn’t sure what she was thinking, but her scent was almost as familiar as Noah’s after holding her day and night through the worst of the fever.
Lily was positive the only reason Zoe had survived was the mate bond, as incomplete as it was, but Liam was sure Zoe would have made it all on her own. She had the tenacity for it.
“Why would you even bother?” Zoe muttered, running her hand through her short, black hair. She made a face then. “I need a shower. Is that allowed?”
So much attitude all the time. Liam might have found it exhausting if he was a different sort of person, but he loved distractions. There was a reason he and Noah bickered about the stupidest shit.
Neither of them liked remembering the past, and if they couldn’t forget it, they made jokes about it. Alexander always smiled, but he never laughed, and even Jacob had a hard time with some of the jokes.
He stood on all fours and led her out of one of the patient rooms. What she didn’t know was each room was built to hold a shifter, and the doors were made of reinforced steel. If there was an emergency, all they had to do was press a button.
Everyone