Page 23 of Bad Moon Rising
The nurse put on the tourniquet and tapped over the vein of her right arm. Sweat gathered on Nova’s forehead. Her focus dropped from Roman to the approaching needle. A moment before the point hit her skin, her eyes flew back to his. She couldn’t do this. A noise of protest worked its way up her throat.
Her left hand fisted and started shaking.
When the nurse stuck her vein, she flinched, which made the stick hurt worse. Suddenly, he was next to her. Startled, she glanced up, expecting support but what she found…
Lips pulled back and teeth bared, Roman growled low in the back of his throat. Her fear did this to him? He was about to go full werewolf—no lycan…whatever it was he became when he fought. He wasn’t supposed to do it in public, right?
The nurse gasped and jumped, tugging the needle, but didn’t lose the vessel, which was a tribute to her skill.
Nova tried to smother a small whimper at the pressure on her arm to avoid aggravating Roman further.
“You’re hurting her.” It came out of him in a harsh rasp. His protectiveness reassured her but did little to diminish the escalating alarm over the needle in her vein.
Even though she felt desperate to be free of the needle, relief spread inside her to know she wasn’t alone in this. She wanted to tell him she could handle it, but the longer that needle remained in her arm, the more she thought she might not be able to get through it.
“I’m just doing my job.” The nurse’s voice quivered.
“Finish it.” His nostrils flared as he gazed death at the nurse as if working through every way he could annihilate her.
With her free hand, the one with his name on her wrist, Nova grabbed his. Her eyelids squeezed shut. She wasn’t sure if she sought comfort for herself or him.
Tension radiated through his muscles, even his hand, to a point she picked up a fine tremor. Did this nurse realize this dangerous creature barely held himself in check? That her life was in danger?
The nurse changed to the second blood tube. Upon inserting the new tube, the needle moved again. It hurt. It burned. Nova tried not to move, not to breathe for fear of setting off Roman.
“That’s it,” Roman rasped out. “Stop.”
“I’m good.” But Nova’s voice wavered.
“Done.” The nurse removed the needle and put some folded gauze over the injection site, but not before she saw it bubble with a blood droplet. After applying pressure for a few seconds, she slapped a bandage over the small hole, then skirted out of the room as if she sensed her peril.
Nova looked up and froze.
He stared transfixed at the bandage. “I shouldn’t have allowed you to bleed without a fight.” He touched over the bandage. “It’s sacrilege to betray our kind like that. To not protect you against…that.”
“You almost ripping the nurse apart seconds ago was over some sort of species righteousness?”
His gaze flicked away from hers. Yeah, it’d been about her specifically. Didn’t that just make her want to grin and hug him? He liked her.
Nova put her hand over his. “I think you scared her.”
“You think?” he said sarcastically. “I made the whole process worse.”
“I realized I don’t like needles.”
“Neither do I.” He paced the room. “I also hate human hospitals. The smell of sanitized death makes me nuts.”
“Something we have in common,” she muttered. She attempted a smile, but it didn’t quite work.
They waited in silence. Time slowed as he alternated between pacing and sitting.
“I thought we agreed you and I wouldn’t do this anymore,” boomed a voice from the doorway.
“It’s been a while.” Roman stood but didn’t approach the man filling the entryway.
This was not the person in the photo, and most certainly not human. He wasn’t as muscular as Roman, but he was still tall and wide with an aura of authority. Raised tattoos covered his neck and the left side of his face with geometric marks that instinctually she recognized as those that only came about from working powerful magic. Scars from what looked like knife wounds decorated the arms exposed by the short-sleeved green scrubs. Yet, between the clean-cut hair and facial angles, he came off almost elegant.
“Roman sucks at introductions. I’m Domini Tavlin, but you can call me Dom. I assume you’re Nova?” He didn’t offer his hand to shake.
