Page 58 of Bearly Yours
He smiled. “I would expect nothing less.”
Taco leaned in and gave me a hug as well. “I’ll tell you what it is, and I think I can say for all of us that we like it a lot.”
“Does it involve death and mayhem?” I asked, patting his back too.
“Of course!”
I groaned and everyone chuckled.
Alpha Riggs stood on the other side of my hospital bed. “You’re looking better than the last time I last saw you.”
“High Elf potion.” I grinned. “I turned purple.”
He laughed. “Yes, focus on the color you turned and not the healing of the potion.”
I shrugged. “Wellll, turning colors is pretty cool.”
He leaned in and gave me a gentle hug. “Without a doubt.” He pulled back. “Do you want us to stick around?”
I tried to find a clock. “What time is it?”
“Four-thirty in the morning,” Alistair said, leaning down to give me a gentle hug and a kiss on my forehead. “You’ve been here for more than eight hours already.”
I groaned. “Go home, guys. Just because I’m miserable doesn’t mean everyone has to be. I’ll see you guys tomorrow when I check out.”
“You mean today tomorrow, or tomorrow tomorrow,” Mathan said, kissing my cheek and squeezing my shoulder gently.
“Tomorrow tomorrow.”
Drew gave me a timid little wave and I brought him in for a hug. He was a moody teenage bear-shifter, but he was Clan, and Clan was family.
I waved as my Clan left, and then slumped back onto my pillows in exhaustion. I loved my Clan, but they were a lot. Even in small doses.
I wasn’t paying attention to what Roarke was saying into his phone, so when the king of vampires starting wheeling in another hospital bed, except larger, I blinked to determine if I was having a reaction to the High Elf potion. Maybe a delayed reaction?
“Thanks, Draven.”
“No problem,” the king said. “I got it all straightened out.”
Roarke smirked. “Did the doctor have a hissy?”
“Of course not,” Draven laughed. “He looked like he’d swallowed his tongue, but what was he going to say to me? No?”
“Blatant misuse of power,” I teased, and then had to wonder if I were still high on shifter pain meds. Was Iteasingthe Vampire King? I winced when my brain caught up to my tongue.
Draven and Roarke saw the expression on my face and roared with laughter. I, of course, turned beet red in embarrassment and shrunk down in my bed, wincing at the strain on my side.
“Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry! I’m still high on pain meds.” I put my cool fingers to my cheeks to reduce the heat radiating from them but it barely helped.
Draven chuckled. “Can I hug your mate, Roarke?”
“Be gentle,” he growled.
And, surreally, the Vampire King hugged me as though I were precious to him and his family. He also smelled delightful. I’d never hugged a vampire before, so I considered the thought that it was a vampire thing. Maybe pheromones? They didn’t do anything for me, but they smelled really nice.
“I’m sorry you and Mia missed your ball.” I felt super bad about that.
“Don’t worry about it. The ball still happened, and Mia and I caught pieces of it. We wanted to be here as much as we could for you and Roarke.” I got all teary, stupid big feelings, and Draven politely pretended not to see my overwrought emotions. “I’ll leave you two to get some rest,” Draven said as he pulled away from me, and patted Roarke on his shoulder. He had to reach up a bit to do it, and I wanted to giggle inappropriately again. It felt like my filter was not just thin but completely absent.
