The Tracker's Mate: Sunderverse (Mate Tracker Book 1) by Ingrid Seymour (book recommendations website TXT) 📕

healed skin. I’d been lucky, the healer doctor had said. She’d had to give me morphine for the pain while she worked on me for over an hour, restoring the skin on my forearms and hands, but the injuries had been superficial enough to only need an outpatient procedure. My back felt strange too, same as my fingers, but the pain was gone. I could still smell burning hair all around me. I would need a haircut, for sure.

Lucky, she’d said, which made me wonder... what did that mean for the others?

Determined to get some questions answered, I reached toward my back again, fumbling for the strings. I’d finally grabbed hold of them when the door to my room swung open. Jake stood at the threshold. His silver eyes held mine for a long moment, then he let out a pent-up breath and walked in.

He wore a gown just like mine and stood barefoot. He had been worse off than me, but he seemed fully healed, too. Oh, the benefits of being a werewolf. I envied him that.

He closed the door behind him and approached. Without a word, he came around and tied the strings at my back. He was probably getting a full view of my backside, but I didn’t care. Not at the moment.

When he finished and walked back around, I said, “You all right?”

He made a sound in the back of his throat and nodded once.

“Freeman?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I came to check on you first. Let’s go find out.”

Jake and I walked out of my room and headed toward the nurses’ station, our bare feet slapping on the linoleum floor.

One of the nurses glanced up from her computer and frowned at us. “What are you doing out of bed?”

“Werewolf.” Jake pointed at his chest as a way of explanation.

The nurse raised her eyebrows and nodded as if saying “okay, fine,” then glanced at me. “And what about you?”

“We need to know where Tom Freeman is. Is he on this floor?” I glanced down the long corridor as if I expected an arrow to appear in midair, pointing us toward the detective’s room.

The nurse frowned at us. “Is he a relative of yours?”

“Listen,” Jake said, leaning over the counter and staring her down, “we were in that explosion with him. I think that gives us the right to ask how he is.”

It really didn’t, but it kinda made sense. The nurse thought so too because she sighed and tapped a few keys into her computer.

“Tom Freeman,” she read. “He’s in the intensive care unit on the second floor. Doctors and healers are working on him. He’s scheduled for a second surgery tomorrow.” She glanced up. “His injuries must have been substantial.”

“Will he recover?” My voice quivered.

“You’ll have to talk directly to his doctors and healers to find out more.”

“What about the other people in the station?” Jake asked.

The nurse sighed. “Names?”

Jake shrugged.

She gave us an unapologetic head-shake. “I’m sorry. I wouldn’t know.”

We thanked her and walked back to my room. I sat on the bed, feeling confused and unsure of what to do next.

Jake remained by the door, a hand on the handle. I blinked at him, vaguely wondering why he was just standing there, looking uncomfortable, and I didn’t think it was just the unflattering gown.

At last, he blurted out, “Thank you.”

I cocked my head, frowning and, of all things, wondering if he was wearing anything under the gown.

“You know... for helping me... back at the station.”

I shook my head and struggled to focus on what he’d just said. Then the penny dropped. “You don’t have to thank me.”

“I think I do.”

“No, you don’t. I would have done that for anyone, even a stranger.”

“Oh.” He lowered his gaze and started backing out of the room.

“Jake, I... I didn’t mean it like that.”

“It’s fine. It doesn’t matter. Look, I hope you feel better soon. I can tell you’re still...” he waved a hand around his head as if suggesting I wasn’t all there at the moment. “Anyway, I’ll see you around.”

“Are you leaving?”

He nodded. “There isn’t much time left for Stephen. That explosion... I’m sure it was Fiore and her people. They want to delay the police effort, throw them for a loop. The detectives were closing in on them. Now, they’ll be occupied with this mess. I have to find him before it’s too late.” He turned to go, the gown fluttering around his muscular calves.

“Wait!”

He glanced over his shoulder, a muscle jumping in his jaw, his eyes all pupil, dark like onyx.

“Um, I didn’t go to the station to... ask about the break-in.” I paused to let that sink in.

When it did, one of his thick eyebrows rose. “I see.”

His mouth stretched in a smile that made me feel tingly all over. His demeanor, which had been stiff and guarded, relaxed a bit, giving me a flashback to the tenderness I knew him capable of. He extended a hand in my direction, palm up.

“Come with me?” he said, his timbre soft and hopeful.

“Like this?” I gestured towards my hospital gown, then his.

He shrugged as if he didn’t have a care in the world, and why should he? The moment he got outside, he could shift and thick, beautiful gray fur would cover him. Though not if I went with him, I supposed.

I returned his shrug, grabbed my phone and keys, and took his hand. His fingers tightened around mine. They were warm in my freezing hand and felt delicious. His temperature ran a little high all the time, a werewolf thing. It immediately reminded me of the many nights I’d spent in the heat of his arms.

God, was this a mistake? Would he ruin my life again?

For an instant, the urge to pull back came over me. I could wait to talk to Tom. He would get better soon, wouldn’t he? Or maybe I could talk to someone else at the police department who would hire me for the job, and provide