Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Six

Havermouth, Present Time

Aislen was woken by a commotion in the hallway outside her room. Rhett had been napping in the recliner and threw himself immediately across the room to the door, pressing his shoulder against it and looking through the window. He relaxed almost immediately.

“Fucking reporter,” he muttered, glancing over to the bed. “Hey,” he smiled a little uncertainly. “Did I wake you?”

“The reporter did,” she shifted restlessly in the bed. “What’s happening out there?”

“Tabitha Marie trying to bluff her way into Stephan’s room down the hall. I guess she decided that she would throw staff off as they’d be anticipating another attempt to get to you, and she’d sneak into Stephan’s room instead. The security guys have got it handled. And there’s Heath and Cameron,” he added, his face lighting as he opened the door.

Heath paused in the doorway and leaned his head down to Rhett’s, murmuring something under his breath, but Cameron brushed past cheerfully with a bag in his hand. He nuzzled up to Aislen, kissing along her jaw. “You smell better,” he said with surprise.

“I’d think worse,” she commented wryly. “I am in desperate need of a shower.”

“No, you smell less sick,” he buried his face into the curve of her neck again despite her protests, breathing in. “Yeah, much better,” his relief was bright on his face. He pulled at the blankets, but she clutched them to her.

“If you stick your nose down there,” she told him sternly. “We are going to have words.”

“I was just…” He laughed. “I was just wondering if the wound smelled better. Fuck, it’s nice to be able to be a werewolf around you finally,” he added. “To fully be myself.”

“I’m all for you fully being yourself,” she retorted. “But no sniffing at my wound or anywhere else until I’ve had a shower.”

“Werewolves have a heightened sense of smell,” Heath walked over to the bed and leaned over to kiss her forehead. “Less in human form than in wolf, but we can smell certain changes in the body. A sick person has a certain scent.”

“The heightened sense of smell is what’s worrying me,” she muttered. “I can smell myself, so I can just imagine what I smell like to you.”

“You smell like ours,” Heath replied, with a slow smouldering smile. “And what’s ours always smells good to us. Some perfumes on the other hand,” he pulled a face. “Some humans go overboard in the effort to hide perfectly normal scents that are much more attractive on them.”

“Ovulation smells fantastic,” Cameron added.

“Cam,” Heath grimaced. “Probably not the wisest thing to say to your mate, that you enjoy sniffing other ovulating women.”

“I don’t go around sniffing them on purpose,” Cameron said. “But I can smell it sometimes, and it smells nice.”

They hadn’t smelt it on her when she was eighteen, she thought. Was that because she hadn’t been ovulating during their time together, and that the baby had been Toby’s, or that they had been too young and inexperienced to realize what the scent was…?

“I’m going to go,” Rhett said, from the foot of the bed. “I’ll be back in the morning.”

“Okay. Rhett…” She held out her arms and his expression relaxed as he moved around the bed and carefully wrapped his arms around her, burying his face into the curve of her neck and shoulder. She cupped the back of his head with her hand and pressed a kiss into the dark hair. “Okay?” She whispered to him.

He nodded, lingering for a moment before lifting and smiling down at her. “Cameron is right,” he said, brushing the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip. “You do smell better. I’ll be back in the morning, if not sooner, if I can’t sleep.”

“Try to get some sleep,” she told him.

“You could crawl in with me,” Cameron offered him as Rhett passed on the way to the door. "I'll be big spoon."

“Yeah, maybe,” Rhett replied over his shoulder with a smile. “It might be the night for it.”

Heath watched him go, his expression worried. He caught Aislen watching him and smiled, though the smile did not erase the concern in his eyes. “Do you feel better?” He asked her. “Has the doctor been in to see you?”

“I’ve been asleep,” she admitted. “A nurse came in a couple of times, but I sort of drowsed in and out whilst she was there, and she let me sleep. No doctor, and no food. I’m starving.”

“Maybe they’re waiting until the doctor has seen you to feed you,” Heath said soothingly. “It was a stomach wound after all.”

“I really want steak, rare, and roasted potatoes,” she decided.

Cameron laughed. “I think you’re more likely to get reheated canned soup and custard,” he told her. “Maybe some jelly if you’re lucky.”

“I’d take it,” she replied. “I don’t know what I want more, a shower, this damned catheter out, or something to eat!”

“So, the mayor has been elected,” Heath tried to distract her. “It’s unofficial still, but the final count is in. It is a draw.”

“Oh, god,” she giggled. “They actually did it.”

He grinned, his eyes dancing with laughter, and gave a slight nod. “They did. The Secret Keeper is apparently my co-mayor. I’m not entirely sure how they expect that to work,” he gave a shrug. “But I happen to have a personal line to the Secret Keeper so I’m sure that we’ll figure it out.”

“That’s so silly,” she wiped the tears from her eyes. “Was that what you were whispering to Rhett about in the doorway?”

“Ah, no,” he admitted, meeting Cameron’s eyes across the bed. “That was something else.”

“Something else?” She repeated, looking between the two men. Cameron shook his head and widened his eyes at Heath, but Heath sighed.

“There was a parcel in the mail,” Heath said slowly. “Tyler brought it in. He noticed that it was oozing onto the table where he put it and so he decided to open it, because it was obviously perishable.”

“Oozing,” she repeated, getting a bad feeling.

“It was a part of an animal,” Cameron cut Heath off when he opened his mouth. “She doesn’t need to know the details.”

“Yes, she does,” Aislen retorted. “It was obviously addressed to me, or you wouldn’t be dancing around telling me. Someone is sending me animal pieces in the mail, so I’m guessing it’s not like, here try this delicious steak stuff. It must be nasty.”

“It was a tongue,” Heath told her. “With a printed note: Hold your tongue or lose it.”

“Fuck,” she said, surprised. She wasn’t sure what she had expected, but it wasn’t that.

Heath raised his eyebrows. “Someone knows that you’re the Secret Keeper, Aislen, someone who shouldn’t. Maybe they worked it out, or maybe it’s someone that you have confided in.”

“The only people who know are you guys, Talen, June, and Lauren,” she protested.

“June or Lauren,” Heath repeated, looking to Cameron. “Lauren…?”

“The florist? Nah,” Cameron shook his head. “She was in tears this morning when she delivered all the flowers, and gushing over how brave Aislen is, and how she saved so many people…”

“June wouldn’t…” Aislen told Heath as he looked back at her. “She wanted me to speak up for Guy, she wouldn’t be telling me to hold my tongue.”

“Well, it wasn’t us, and wouldn’t be Talen,” Heath replied. “Which means…”

“Someone else knows,” Cameron finished.

“Someone from the pack?” Heath wondered out loud. “That would explain why they would go to such an extreme as ordering a hit on Aislen. If they didn’t just fear that her return and our relationship could expose the pack, but that she was the Secret Keeper as well, the town’s own whistle-blower…” His expression said what he didn’t.

“Don’t even,” Aislen held a finger up to stop him. “Don’t start.”

The door opened and a doctor entered with a nurse that Aislen didn’t recognize. “Heath, Cameron,” he said in greeting with a smile. He was a good-looking man in his early fifties, neat and tidy, and efficient looking. He wore a pair of reading glasses around his neck, which he lifted absently to perch onto the end of his nose.

“Dr. Petersen,” Heath replied warmly. “Are you Aislen’s doctor?”

“I didn’t do the surgery, that was Will, but he’s off for the day, so… Hello, Aislen, or should I call you Morgana?” He consulted the clipboard that the nurse took from the foot of the bed before handing it back to her.

“Aislen is fine,” Aislen told him. “Morgana is my legal and business name, but it is just confusing in Havermouth.”

“Well, Aislen,” Dr. Petersen moved to the bedside and Heath and Cameron fell back to allow the nurse to take her vitals. “The surgery went very well. There was considerable blood loss, and a transfusion was necessary. You are a very lucky young lady as the injury could have been far worse. A laceration to the small intestine, which was repaired and should give you no ongoing troubles.”

The nurse handed him the clipboard, and he raised his eyebrows. “Your stats are excellent,” he observed. “Let’s have a look at the site,” he lifted the bed covers and both Heath and Cameron closed in on the bed with interest as he eased back the bandages on Aislen’s stomach.

“Fuck,” Aislen looked at the bandages in disgust. “That looks terrible.”

“It’s antiseptic and blood,” the nurse told her, amused. “It looks far worse than it is. See, the wound is actually very small…”

Aislen closed her eyes. “I can’t look. I’m sorry, I just can’t.”

“It’s looking very good,” Dr. Petersen said encouragingly. “A nice, neat, little hole. There will be a scar, but compared to a lot of gunshot wounds, the trauma is minor.”

“Shouldn’t it be… like stitched shut?” Heath asked in concern.

“It’s best not to in gunshot wounds,” Dr. Petersen replied. The nurse began to reapply fresh bandages. “Do you have any questions, Aislen?”

“Yes,” Aislen said immediately. “I’m starving. When can I eat?”

The nurse and Dr. Petersen both laughed. “That’s a good sign,” Dr. Petersen told her. “I’m sure we can arrange for some food to be brought to you very soon.”

“And a shower?” She pleaded.

“You may find it difficult to move around with a stomach wound. You would be surprised how dependent even the smallest movements are on your stomach muscles. However, we do encourage patients to get back on their own feet as soon as possible, so I will allow an assisted shower,” he looked at the nurse who nodded.

“And the catheter?” Aislen grimaced. “I’d like not to be attached to a bag of pee.”

“We can remove that in the shower,” the nurse was amused.

“Great,” Aislen said with enthusiasm.

“When can she leave?” Heath asked.

The doctor raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Ms. Carter was shot yesterday afternoon, Heath, and had surgery last night. She will need time to recover. If we release her too soon, we cannot observe her for infection, manage her pain, prevent falls which might reopen her wound or add trauma.”

“Another day?” Cameron suggested.

“We will hire an in-home nurse,” Heath added. “And someone will be here around the clock.”

“We’ll see,” was all the doctor would agree to before moving on with his rounds.

“We’ll be in shortly to organize the shower and bring you food,” the nurse added as she left.

Heath sighed. “Another day at least. Hopefully with a bit more of Talen’s blood, they’ll see enough of an improvement…”

“I’ll call the nursing agency,” Cameron added. “If we have someone lined up, they might be more agreeable. We’ll put Aislen in my room, it’s the easiest to get into and out of the bathroom…”

Shit, Aislen grimaced. “I’m not going to the river house,” she said, and they both jerked their heads to look at her in surprise. “I’m sorry,” she held her hands out, palms up, and sighed. “I want to work on our relationship, and I must forgive the past and move on to do so, I know. But thinking of going back to the river house right now makes me feel claustrophobic and… no, I just can’t do it. I’m sorry. Not yet. So, when I leave the hospital, I’m going back to my house.”