Page 12 of Aaron
“All right.I’d like that.”He nodded once and started for the door.The nurse went out ahead of him, and he was glad that she wasn’t there to hear what Mac said to him when he was leaving.“Don’t let anyone else fall into your lap again, Aaron.I only just figured out that I’m a jealous person.I don’t want to have to hurt you.”
“I’m yours forever.”He wanted to kiss her goodnight, but didn’t want to ruin their evening together.Going down the hall to the elevators, he was nearly inside the big cavern when he realized that he was in love with the woman who had fallen on top of him.
Driving home, he was nearly to the house when his dad contacted him.It was late, so he was worried about what he had to say to him.When he asked if he’d figured out that they were mates at last, he told his dad that he not only was her mate but he was also in love with her.
“Well, of course you are.It happens fast for us.Like no time at all, I knew I loved your mother.And it’s been the way it’s been ever since.I love her a little bit more every day.”He said he’d never been in love before.“Ah, son, you have no idea what that does for my heart.One of my sons has found his mate, and I couldn’t be happier.Good for you.”
He told his dad what they’d talked about, leaving out the part where she’d been there to investigate Alaric for now.Instead, he told him how much they had in common and the things that they didn’t have in common.He even told him how he thought that he’d find that her ankle was healed completely.
“She’ll have to wear the cast for a bit longer, however.We can’t have people realizing that she’s been healed because she has a tiger mate.”He said that he’d pamper her a bit more if she left it on.“You do that, son.Yes, you have fun with that, and I’ll be a happy man.I’m off to bed now.I just wanted to find out if you had cleared things up between the two of you.I love you.Good night, son.”
“Good night, Dad.I love you too.
Pulling into his space at the complex he lived in he decided that it was time for him to get a house.He had a mate now, and the one-bedroom apartment wasn’t large enough for him, much less his mate as well.Tomorrow, when he had a break, he was going to see what he could find in the way of housing.He thought that they could have fun finding a house together.She’d no doubt have an opinion on one that they got.And he’d give her whatever she wanted in the way of…well, everything he thought.He’d give her the world if she wanted it from him.
Chapter 6
Mac was enjoying her afternoon when her door opened.She was shocked to see her boss there, Agent Gravestone.He looked like he’d been brought in by boat; he was so windblown, and his hair was a mess.His face was red, like he’d been sunburnt, but she’d been around him enough to know that it was his pissed off look and not because he had a healthy glow from the sun.Sitting up higher in the bed, she asked him what he was doing here.
“You’ve not been doing your job.”She looked around the room before looking at him again.“I had to come and see for myself if you were really hurt or not.I don’t care for my people to be faking their injuries to get out of work, young lady.”
“As you can see, I’m not faking anything.And I don’t appreciate that tone you’re using.”She didn’t know what was wrong with her, talking to him that way, but she wasn’t going to be accused of something when she had not lied at all about how she was feeling.“Also, I’m in the hospital, not lounging about in my bed at the B&B like some lazy person.”
“Don’t get lippy with me, and I’ll decide whether or not to believe you about your leg.”She told him it was her ankle, like he had been told before.“Who do you think you are coming here and half assing a job?I want results, not excuses.When do you plan on getting your work done?”
Before she could answer him, Franklin, Aaron’s father, came into the room.He’d been in earlier to check on her and asked her to call him by his first name.He asked her again if she was all right, and when she answered him, he turned to look at her boss.
“Do you know where you are?If not, I’ll tell you.You’re in a hospital, a place of healing.And I don’t think people around here will heal all that well with you screaming at someone else that’s in my care.You’ll keep your voice down and stop yelling at my patient, or I’ll see you out of here.”He told him that he was an FBI agent.“Agent or not, I’ll have you out of here so quickly that your head will spin.And don’t make me have to go over your head.Because I will.I don’t care what you think you have to say to one of my patients.”
“She’s not working the way I want her to.”Franklin grabbed the end of her sheet and flipped it up, showing the cast that she had on that went from foot to knee.“That could be fake.I know all the tricks to having a lazy person working for me.You take that off her right now.”Franklin drew in a long breath and let it out slowly before speaking.
“Get out of my hospital.Get out now before I have you arrested for being an abusive asshole.You heard me.”When neither man moved, she felt the room tighten up, and she saw Aaron there.“Son, this man is harassing Mac.He wants me to remove her cast so that she can get back to work for him.”
“My father told you to leave, mister, and I suggest you do it.”Peter puffed out his chest like that was supposed to mean something to them.“I don’t care how big you think you are; I’m bigger and meaner.Either go out on your own, or I’ll show you what I do to people that piss off my family.”
She felt it again, but this time saw what it was that made the room tighten around her.It was Aaron.And when he did it, she could see his tiger running along his skin.She wondered if he was going to shift when her boss seemed to shrink in size and leave the room.Aaron looked at her and asked her if she was all right.
“Yes.I am now.”He nodded once and turned on his heel and left.She didn’t know what his plan was with her boss, but she had a feeling that it was going to take a great deal for him to return demanding that she have her cast removed.“Thank you, too, Franklin.I had no idea he was coming here, or I would have warned someone.”
“It’s all right.Aaron will take care of him.It’s been a while since I’ve seen him so upset before.Aaron is usually so laid back that…well, it doesn’t matter.He’ll take care of your boss and make sure he doesn’t do this again.”She pointed out that her boss was an FBI agent.“So is Aaron.He’s only here being a detective when things are needed of him.He didn’t care for the rat race of being in the big city when he wanted to be home with us.I’m surprised that he didn’t mention it when the two of you were talking.”
She wasn’t mad at him, just curious as to why he’d never mentioned it before.They had talked about a lot of things last night, but she didn’t remember asking him what he’d done for a living.She’d have to do that when he returned.Also, she needed to talk to him about his cat and why she could feel it so close to coming out.Wondering what would have happened if he had shifted, she settled back in her bed when Franklin left and decided it might be nice to have someone coming to her rescue when she needed it.
When Aaron returned, she asked him if he was all right.He didn’t seem to be anything but pissed off, so she didn’t say much to him.But the questions in her mind were running in circles around and around.First and foremost, she wanted to know about his job, then about his cat.What she’s seen of him made her think that he was a lot bigger than any other tiger she’d seen in the zoo.
“He’s an asshole.”She smiled and said that was one way to describe him.“Stubborn too.And an idiot.Who would think that when you visited someone in the hospital, the injuries were fake?I’m going to call his boss when I get home.”
“Your dad said you were an FBI agent as well.”He said that he was retired now.“You don’t seem to be all that old to be retired.I’m just wondering what else you do for the government.Or is this job you have now the only one that you have?”
“I was an agent for about five years, and I got shot.I healed all right, but it was never the same after that.Being shot made me realize that it wasn’t the job that I thought it was.Not that I didn’t enjoy it, but it was just too much for me to wrap my head around.”She asked him how he’d been shot.“I was the detail for the president.One of many, but…remember about five years ago when the president was shot at?That was me who saved him from the bullet.Not that I wouldn’t do it again, but the aftermath of the situation is what got me to want to quit.People didn’t want to believe that I wasn’t a part of it.The shooting, I mean.”
“Because you’re a tiger.”He nodded, and she felt her heart break for him.“You healed quicker than you should have, and that’s what got you into trouble with the powers that be.”
“Something like that.I did heal faster, but I didn’t shift to heal.The wound was bad, but not as bad as it could have been.I was wearing my vest, and the others weren’t.They said because I took that one precaution that I was in on it, and the reason for myself getting shot was to gain the president’s attention for myself.”She told him that was just nuts.“Tell me about it.I thought wearing a vest was required of all of us when we were on duty.Apparently, I was wrong to do it.”
“So when you said you were going to call Peter’s boss, you meant the president, didn’t you?”He nodded again and smiled at her.“You know something that I don’t.I don’t like secrets.”
“I don’t either.But in this, you’re probably better off not knowing what sort of relationship I have with him.For now, anyway.I don’t want it known that I called him because my mate was being harassed.It is the reason, but there isn’t any point in showing my hand right away.”He took her hand into his and leaned closer.She thought for sure he was going to kiss her, but all he did was whisper in her ear.“The president is a tiger as well.I don’t know how many people know that.So keep that under your hat.”
