Wolf Tracks - Bianca D'Arc Page 0,87

he’s already here. I’ll leave you two to talk. Just don’t get out of bed yet. I want to make sure you’re completely stable before I let you go, okay?”

“Sure thing, doctor,” she told him, already looking past his large form, looking for Jim.

And then, he was there. Filling the doorway, his face looking a bit haggard but every bit as handsome as always. He came into the room, and the doctor went out, pulling the door shut behind him.

“How are you feeling?” Jim asked, looking unsure of himself for the first time in their acquaintance.

“Awake. Alive. Better than when I passed out,” she reported with a smile. “I really thought I was done for. What happened?”

“The Grizzly Cove contingent showed up a few minutes after you passed out. Luckily, Sven was with them, and he was able to treat your wounds and stop the bleeding. We all helped. Most of us have had advanced training in first aid, so there was no shortage of skilled assistants, but Sven is an actual doctor, so he took charge of your treatment,” Jim said, walking closer to her bed. She noticed a chair had been placed right beside the bed, and she wondered if he’d been sitting in it while she’d been unconscious.

“Sven is the guy who just left? Doctor Olafsson?” she asked, just to make sure she had the right bear shifter in mind.

“Yeah, Sven Olafsson. He’s a polar bear, believe it or not,” Jim told her, shaking his head.

“I believe it,” Helen admitted with a chuckle. “He said you were in a meeting with the Town Council.”

“I didn’t want to leave your side, but when an Alpha bear tells you to do something in his territory, it’s wise not to argue too much,” Jim said with a rueful grin. “I think he just wanted me to take a break from my vigil. I’ve been sitting in this chair since they brought you in.” Jim patted the back of the chair. “I wanted to be here when you woke up because of what you said…” His words trailed off, and she searched her memory to come up with a meaning for them.

Then, she remembered. She’d told him she loved him. Oh, boy.

She was searching for the right thing to say when he went on. “You see, I realized something when you blacked out on me.” He sat in the chair and took her hand in his. “I realized that, if you died, right then and there, so would I. I realized that you were my mate, and there was no use fighting it—not that I had done so intentionally, in the first place. I was just sort of slow on the uptake and not sure how I could rightfully subject a beautiful soul like yours to my style of life. I was fighting against the change that I now know was inevitable, and for the better.”

He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles, one by one, as her heart melted. He lifted his head, and his gaze met hers.

“I love you, Helen. I want you to be with me forever, and I want to share my life with you. There will never be another woman who completes me the way you do. Please say you’ll be my mate.” His eyes were beseeching, his expression endearing, and there really was only one answer she could give him.

“Yes,” she said through happy tears. “Yes, yes, yes!” she repeated, just to be sure he understood. “I love you, Jim. I think I have for a long time, now.”

He jumped up from the chair and leaned over to place a deep, delicious kiss on her lips.

Sometime later, the door to her room opened, but she barely noticed. Jim didn’t seem to think it was a threat because he took his time breaking off that amazing kiss. He rose and turned to face whoever had come to disturb their intimate moment.

It was a big man, who bristled with power. Helen could feel his presence from across the room. Maybe this was the Alpha bear?

“Your timing could be better, John,” Jim told the other man, who just laughed as he walked farther into the room.

“If I hadn’t interrupted, Sven’s monitors would’ve exploded. She’s still hooked up, you know.” The man nodded toward the wires that protruded from Helen’s hospital gown.

She blushed, realizing that her response to Jim’s proposal had been visible in the elevated respiration, the speeding heartbeat and the rising pulse rate reported