Mortal Danger by Eileen Wilks

breast. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “I told you once before: you don’t do innocent well.” But there was no heat in her voice. Pleasure rose in drowsy waves, stirred by the movement of his thumb, by his simple nearness. Her eyelids drooped. “How can I feel like this when my head hurts?”
    He bent and ran his tongue slowly around the curve of her ear. “I don’t know. How are you feeling?”
    “Distracted.”
    “Good.”
    The woman down the hall was yelling about a suitcase now. Someone had stolen it, and they’d better give it back right now.
    Lily sighed and straightened. “I hope Nettie gets here soon.”
    Nettie was Dr. Two Horses, a trained shaman as well as a Harvard-educated physician. She was connected to Rule’s clan in some way. Nettie wasn’t a lupus herself, of course, because lupi were always male. But their children came in both sexes.
    “You’re worrying me,” Rule said.
    “What do you mean?”
    “You haven’t once complained about my calling her. After all the grief you gave me over my interfering ways with the ambulance crew, I’d expected at least a minor hissy fit.”
    “I don’t like hospitals. I do like Nettie. I guess there are some perks to being involved with a prince. Nettie would be one.”
    Rule grimaced. He wasn’t fond of the press’s habit of calling him “the Nokolai prince.” He was heir or Lu Nuncio for his clan, but the position didn’t really equate with the human version of royalty. “Nettie isn’t treating you because of me. She’d have come for any clan member.”
    “Oh. Right.” Lily sometimes forgot that she was clan now. So far, that particular change hadn’t had much effect on her life, though the adoption ceremony had been moving. “You know what’s weird?”
    “All sorts of things lately. From your point of view, that would include me, the mate bond—”
    She nudged him with her good shoulder. “Not you. I’m talking about the fact that I’m still alive.”
    His arm tightened around her. “ Weird isn’t the word I’d use.”
    “I’m not complaining, but think about it. Someone went to a lot of trouble to get me alone. So what did they do when their plan worked? Bonked me on the head and left, locking the door behind them. Doesn’t make sense.”
    “They must have been interrupted.”
    “There was a bolt on the door, remember? And that’s another thing. Why was there a bolt on the door? I’ve seen bolts on restrooms in convenience stores or gas stations, but in a restaurant?”
    “You think your Helen look-alike brought it with her?”
    “Maybe.” She frowned. “I wish O’Brien had been running the S.O.C. team. I know he’d catch it if the bolt had been… what is it?”
    He’d turned to the right, head up, but his body stayed loose. Whatever he’d sensed, it wasn’t a threat. “Nettie’s here.”
    Had he heard Nettie or smelled her? Must be hearing, she decided. Rule wouldn’t be able to pick out a single scent in the soup of the ER, not in this form… would he? “Good. She can tell you I’m okay, and we can go home.”
    A tall woman pushed back the curtain. Her skin was smooth and coppery; her hair was gray, frizzy, and abundant. The knot she’d made of it at her nape looked ready to unravel at any moment, and her wide mouth looked ready to smile. “You’ll have to indulge me first. Professional pride insists that I poke at my patients before I agree with them.”
    Some of the tension eased from Lily’s shoulders. “Hey, you’re wearing a lab coat.”
    “It goes with the stethoscope. For some reason everyone wants to see my credentials if I show up in shorts and an athletic bra.” Nettie, like most of the residents of Clan-home, generally wore as little as possible. She came up to the table. “How are you feeling?”
    “Tired. Sore. Ready to leave.”
    “Mmm.” Nettie asked a number of questions as she went through the usual medical rituals, checking Lily’s chart and shining a