Mack 'n' Me: The Wolves of Alpha 9 by C.M. Simpson (top ebook reader txt) 📕

I watched as Mack’s look went from startlement to consternation to impatient frustration.

“When you’re quite finished, Doc.”

Which only made Doc laugh harder. When he was done, he wiped his eyes, and slapped Mack on the shoulder.

“Sure, Mack. Keep your britches on.”

He stopped, mid-turn, and started to snicker. I groaned, and Mack had had enough.

“Doc!”

Doc stopped snickering, and cleared his throat.

“Yes. Cutter. Out of the tank. Let me see what the timeframe is. I take it you need her at her best for the retrieval?”

“You could say that.”

With that sort of a growl, anyone would think Mack was part wolf himself.

“You stay out of this.”

The response made me smile.

Sure, Mack. Whatever you say.

He rolled his eyes.

“For fuck’s sake! Doc! When will she be mended enough for training?”

That sobered the doc up pretty damn quick.

“You crack ribs like that, boy, and you’d usually need a couple of months,” Doc told him.

“You’ve got a week.”

“Ship doesn’t get in to Rennet’s for two...” Doc wheedled, but Mack was having none of it.

“I need her on her feet and training at least a week before.”

“She isn’t going to like you very much.”

“She’ll like me even less once we hit the mats.”

Well, so much for the man having feelings for me.

“There’s a big difference between me having feelings for you, and sending you out underprepared,” and he didn’t bother keeping that response behind his teeth, either. He just said it right out loud for the whole world to hear it.

“You forget I can hear your head, too,” Doc reminded me. “Most times I wish I couldn’t, but there you have it. None of us wins.”

Mack gave him an evil smile.

“Don’t feel bad, Doc. I get what I want.” He glared at me. “And that is one retrieval artist in good shape by the end of the week, and top shape by the end of the week after that—whether I decide to kiss her, or not.”

That was all very well and good for him to say, but I hadn’t decided if I was going to let him kiss me, no matter how much the idea might appeal.

That thought made both men roll their eyes.

“Contrary piece of work, you’ve decided to fall for,” Doc murmured, and laid a hand on Mack’s arm, steering him out of the room. “Good luck with that.”

As soon as Mack had gone through the door, Doc closed it behind him, and turned back to the tank.

“And you, you cantankerous cow, need to suck up some up fast-nans, and sleep.”

Oh, I did, huh? But Doc wasn’t stopping to argue. He just worked the dials and switches on the panel in front of the tank, and let the nans and sedative swirl into the fluid around me.

“Get some sleep,” he said, as the darkness swept me under.

There wasn’t even any time for me to argue—and I was really tired of ending up asleep in a tank!

“You could always go dirtside and grow flowers,” Mack said, when I woke up.

I was out of the tank, and covered in a light sheet. I was pretty sure I was buck-naked under the sheet, too, but I was past letting little things like that bother me. It would have made life a helluva lot more difficult, and slowed me down. Right now, I felt like a wolf had crawled into my mouth, taken a dump on my tongue, and then died there.

My head hurt. My body ached—and not in a good way, and all I wanted to do was either sleep, or kill something. I pushed myself up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed.

“Fuck you. Fuck your flowers. And where the fuck are my clothes?”

I didn’t bother waiting for a reply, and I ignored the fact Mack’s eyebrows had hit his hairline.

“By the Stars, Cutter. That’s a great way to say good morning.”

Morning? On which day? And why the fuck would I care?

I slid out of bed, let my feet hit the floor, and bounced, launching a solid hit into Mack’s gut.

He doubled over with an ‘oof’ of pain, and then straightened.

“You asked for it.”

Funny, but I didn’t remember asking for anything. I slid under his first grab, twisting as I made it past him, and driving my heel into the back of his leg. It buckled, but he regained his balance, and turned—and he didn’t look happy.

Well, bully for him. Now, he knew how I felt. I did a quick scan of the room, pinpointed the door, saw there was absolutely nothing I could use as a weapon, and was surprised when the door opened and Doc came into the room, shock stick in hand.

Man didn’t say anything, either. He just set about the two of us with the stick, until he had us backed up and separated, and then he jabbed Mack in the gut for good measure.

“No. Rough-housing. In. The. Clinic!”

Wow, so that was Doc looked like when he was really pissed off. I raised my hands as he turned towards me, flinching when the end of the stick struck the wall beside my head.

“And don’t think I don’t know who started it.”

“He started it...” I muttered, and he belted me in the fleshy part of the thigh with the stick—which wasn’t what hurt the most.

Damn! He must have that thing set as high as he could make it. Made me wonder how Mack was still standing, because I sure as shit wouldn’t have been if I hadn’t had the wall to prop up on.

“Now, get out of my med center,” Doc growled, standing clear of our path to the door.

I pushed off the wall before he could ask again, and Mack did the same. He reached out and snagged my arm pretty darn quick, too, the strength of his grip daring me to try and break loose. I didn’t even try—not until we’d left the Doc’s domain, and not even then.

Being naked in a room of your own, with someone you’re used to being naked in front of is a whole