Blood Moon (11 page)

David’s expression transformed to one of
relief and bewilderment. “No, actually. When I mentioned your
attack to the doctor, that’s the first thing she checked out. She
seemed to think you could have contracted something, but when she
took your bandages off, the wounds were already healing. She was
shocked when I told her you were only stitched up the night before
and how inflamed it was the next morning.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t believe him, but I
needed to see this for myself. I tore the left shoulder of my
hideous hospital gown down and looked at the bright pink and
healing skin that was so inflamed and angry-looking the last time I
saw it. There was still some healing to go, but the jagged slashes
from the wolf’s teeth had closed and the stitches were removed.

I delicately traced my fingers over it,
noticing that even the suture marks had faded significantly.
“How…?”

I didn’t have to look at him to know he was
smiling; I heard it in his voice. “I have no idea. I guess it
wasn’t nearly as bad as we thought it was,” David offered, bringing
my hand to his lips. “God, Brooke, I’m so glad you’re okay.” He
peppered kisses up the length of my arm, standing up and cradling
my face in his hands. His eyes were red from sleep deprivation, and
they held my gaze as he rested his forehead against mine. “I was so
worried.”

I tried to nod; it was difficult given his
hand placement, but I was able to tilt my face upward and press my
lips to his gently. “I know,” I murmured against them, “and I’m
sorry.”

A throat cleared from the doorway, forcing
David to take a step back, dropping his hands to mine again. For a
brief moment, I panicked when I saw my father in the doorway. Still
getting used to the idea of others knowing about our relationship,
it took a second to register the stolen moment of intimacy we
shared as
okay
.

I shifted in my bed, sitting upright. “Hey,
Dad,” I greeted sheepishly, and he exhaled a sigh of relief.
Nodding, I tried my hand at a bit of humor. “Yeah, I’m getting that
a lot.”

It was weak, but he laughed and stepped into
the room, setting the flowers he brought with him on the little
table beside my bed. “It’s not funny.”

“Then why are you laughing?” I said, jabbing
him in the shoulder lightly with my free hand; David had yet to
relinquish his hold on the other—not that I could blame him,
really.

“I’m just glad to see you’re awake,” Dad
told me. “Your mother will be thrilled to hear it.”

“Is she here?” I asked, anxiously looking
around him and expecting to see her in the doorway.

Dad craned his neck, following my gaze. “She
just went to grab coffee. We didn’t think you’d be awake.”

My eyebrows knit together apologetically as
I took in his haggard appearance. “Not sleeping well, huh?” The
inflection in my voice made it sound like a question, but it was
obvious from the dark circles under his bloodshot eyes that this
was exactly the case.

“Yeah, those waiting room chairs aren’t
exactly the most comfortable things to sleep on.”

Beside me, David laughed. “Don’t worry, sir,
I didn’t fare much better in here.”

Hearing David allude to having stayed by my
side these past two days shocked me, and my eyes snapped to his.
“You were here the entire time?”

“Where else would I be?” he asked with a
smile, bringing a hand up to gently cup my face. “I couldn’t go
home and leave you here to wake up alone.”

Tears burned my eyes; I blamed the drugs
being pumped into my system for the lack of control over my
emotions as they trailed down my cheeks. I brushed them away, but
they only worsened the minute my mother walked into the room and
rushed to my side, thrusting two cups of hospital coffee into my
father’s waiting hands.

“Oh, Brooke,” she wailed into my shoulder,
her hold almost constricting. “When you’re father told me what
happened, I was so worried.”

I pulled my hand from David’s and wrapped
both arms around her, holding her as firmly as possible in hopes to
assure her that I was going to be fine. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean
to scare you. Honestly, I don’t even know what happened.”

An unfamiliar female voice jarred me from
the tender moment shared with my mom, and my eyes were pulled to a
woman in a long white coat who stood by the door. “Usually during a
traumatic event—like your animal attack the other night—our bodies
run on a surge of adrenaline until we know we’re safe,” the
woman—my doctor, presumably—explained as she stepped into the room
and grabbed the chart from the foot of my bed. “Now, following the
impulse to survive, there’s a natural instinct to discharge any
additional adrenaline from our systems…in the case of wild animals
escaping a predator, their bodies will tremble or jump around until
the residual adrenaline has been expelled from the body. In your
case, your brain overrode the instinct to discharge this extra
energy in order for you to think clearly enough to get to the
hospital. From there, you were medicated, essentially interrupting
the natural order of things and locking the adrenaline in your
body.

“Everybody expels the energy a little
differently once the body and mind have relaxed following the
initial incident, but in your case, you blacked out. It’s quite
common.”

Looking up from the chart, the doctor
smiled. “I’m Doctor Channing. It’s good to see you’re awake, Miss
Leighton.”

“Brooke,” I corrected her, trying to process
everything she just told me. “Does this mean I’m fine, then?”
Looking around the room, I saw that both David and my parents were
watching Doctor Channing hopefully.

“You will be,” she replied with a curt nod
before looking back down at the chart, her eyebrows furrowing with
concentration. “Based on your vitals, I’d like to keep you at least
one more night. Your temperature is a little high still, and I’d
like to rule out any infections that might be causing it.”

I decided not to argue with the medical
professional, so I nodded. “Okay. Yeah.”

The room fell silent, and then I heard David
chuckle. “Wow, I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you agree
so willingly to someone telling you what to do.”

I shrugged, unable to think of anything else
to say; while I didn’t particularly
want
to stay in the
hospital, I wasn’t about to go against the recommendations of my
doctor—not to her face, anyway.

“Well, I’ll leave you to rest,” Doctor
Channing announced, flipping the chart closed and returning it to
the foot of my bed. “Be sure to call for the nurses if you need
anything, and I’ll be back to check on you a little later.”

“Perfect,” I responded. “Thanks so much,
Doctor.”

The minute the doctor vacated the room, Mom
pressed her hand to my forehead, and her own creased with worry.
“She’s right. You’re burning up.”

“Am I?” I asked, bringing my fingers to my
cheek. “I actually feel fine.” Skeptical eyes met mine, and I
laughed lightly. “No, really. I feel pretty good…all things
considered.”

While I understood my parents’ and David’s
uncertainty, I really did feel fine—other than a slight headache,
that is. It was possible that I was just being pumped full of
painkillers, and that was the reason for my lack of symptoms, but I
felt pretty confident I’d be experiencing some kind of residual
haze if that were the case. And, truthfully, I’d never felt more
clear-headed as the foggy details of the other day started to
unfurl again.

“Brooke,” my dad interjected, almost as
though he could read my mind. “If this is about work—”

“What?” I asked, trying to appear
incredulous. Naturally, he didn’t buy it—not entirely, anyway.

Instead of reprimanding me, Dad smiled.
“Listen, Brookie.” I rolled my eyes at the use of my nickname in
front of David—who didn’t try very hard to suppress an amused
chuckle. “I want you to take the next few days off. Samuels can
handle your caseload until you’re well enough to come back.”

Feeling the need to assure him once again
that I would be fine, I opened my mouth to protest, but David
stopped me. “He’s right. A lot has happened in the last few days,
and you’re clearly overwhelmed.”

Deep down, I knew they were right, but I
couldn’t stop thinking about the similarities to the slew of
unsolved investigations from 2007. The last thing I wanted to do
was put them through anything like this again, so I decided that
now was not the time to discuss anything regarding the case.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Dad shook his head. “Don’t be. I love that
you’re so dedicated—it’s why you got promoted, but, speaking as
your father and not your captain, I need you to take care of
yourself.”

“Got it,” I affirmed with a nod. “No work.
Can I make one small request, though?” The look that Dad and David
gave me was almost identical, and I smiled innocently. “I’m
starving. Any chance I can get someone to run out and grab me a
burger or something?”

With a nod, David smiled. “Of course. I’ll
go.”

Dad stood up and clamped a hand down on
David’s shoulder. “I’ll join you, Samuels. I think we should give
the ladies a chance to talk in private.”

“A double, please!” I called out before they
disappeared.

Dad and David had barely left the room
before my mom ran her fingers down the length of my hair, smoothing
it, and smiled. It should have been obvious when Dad offered to go
with David what it was my mom wanted to talk about; the look in her
eyes spoke volumes. I fidgeted nervously with my bedsheet, waiting
for her to begin her interrogation.

“So, we haven’t really talked much since the
night of your party.” A pause from her. A nod from me. “You and
David, huh?”

She launched into her questions, and I did
my best to answer them, but low voices in the hall distracted me.
It was a conversation I probably wasn’t meant to hear, which was
why they waited to leave the room before having it.

“You know she’s going to find out
eventually, don’t you?” David said, sounding so clear it was like
he was still in the room. I heard the elevator doors open, which
blew my mind, because it was all the way down the hall.

How is that possible?

Dad sighed. “I know, but if we tell her now,
she won’t rest and she’ll demand to come back to work as soon as
she’s released, and I don’t think she’s well enough.”

“And how do you expect her to keep from
reading about it in the paper…or flipping through the TV channels
and finding one of the many news reports?” A brief moment of
silence fell between them, and then the doors closed, muffling
their voices slightly, but not completely. “It’s not going to be
easy to keep three more murders from her.”

And then their voices disappeared from my
head, leaving me stunned.

Three more murders in the two days I’d been
unconscious. This wasn’t good.

I
was forced to
stay in the hospital for another day and a half. It wasn’t so bad,
really—except for the feeling like a caged animal part. They let me
walk the halls, and David was able to bring me some actual clothes
so I didn’t feel like a patient under constant monitoring, even
though that’s exactly what I was.

I understood it—I did—but that didn’t mean I
liked it.

The nurses and my doctor were concerned that
my temperature was still too high, but it had apparently leveled
out just above 101 F. I assured them that I was feeling fine—great,
even—and would just prefer to go home. They were reluctant to agree
at first, but as soon as I was able to convince David that I’d be
more comfortable at home, he charmed them into helping me break the
hell out of there. They discharged me shortly after noon, armed
with instructions to pick up some ibuprofen and to drink plenty of
water to help bring my temperature back down should it spike up
over 104 again.

“I’ll be staying at your place,” David
informed me, opening the passenger side door of his black
Challenger. He must have expected me to protest, because he was
quick to cite his reasoning. “In case you need anything.”

With a laugh, I looked up at him somewhat
coyly. “You don’t need to make excuses. I would love it if you
stayed…even if it is
just
to take care of me.”

Smirking, David bent over and placed his
hand on my jaw, his thumb moving softly over my cheek. “Maybe my
motives are partially selfish, as well,” he whispered, leaning
forward and pressing his lips to mine.

I was certain the kiss was meant to be a
quick and innocent peck on the lips, but desire quickly burned
within me. My hands found their way into David’s hair, pulling him
closer and deepening the kiss. David’s body was warm—even against
my own rising temperature. Slowly, my hand moved down his neck,
trailing along his carotid and feeling the pulse beneath the pads
of my fingers. I took my time following it, every beat of his heart
sending more blood through the artery. Why? I wasn’t sure, exactly,
but feeling the rhythmic beat of his blood moving through his
body—sustaining his life—thrilled me in a way I couldn’t describe.
My entire body sparked to life, crackling and humming like a fallen
live wire snapping against the cold, wet pavement. It awakened
something inside me—something…ravenous—and I pulled him closer,
using more strength than I thought possible. His pulse was so
strong beneath my fingertips that I swore I could hear the steady
thump of his blood moving through his veins, and warmth radiated
through my entire body, my arms and legs tingling as I curled my
fingers into his shirt and tugged.

I needed him closer.

Before I could get too carried away, David
wrapped his hands around my upper arms and parted us. He struggled
slightly against my reluctance to let him go, and his mouth curled
up into a goofy grin against my lips.