Her Werewolf Bodyguard

Chapter 3

It was one forty-five in the morning when Nick’s cell phone rang on his nightstand. His ringtone was some obscure metal song from the nineties. He turned on his side, away from his most recent conquest, a pretty blonde from the upper east side, and pressed the screen to answer. 

“What’s up?” he asked in a husky sleepy voice.

It was Liam. “Get dressed. Ariana was attacked. She’s in the ICU at University Hospital. Meet me there.”

It was like ice water was doused over his head and into his veins. Ariana in danger? Someone hurt her? He was up and dressed and on his way to the hospital in five minutes, the pretty blonde completely forgotten. He arrived ten minutes later at the hospital and jogged the whole way to the nurse's station in the ICU.

“Ariana Black. What room?”

The nurse, Ashley, didn’t even need to look it up. “Family?”

Nick slowed down and paused. They wouldn’t let him in if he wasn’t family. “I’m her … brother. What room?”

Nurse Ashley pursed her lips and didn’t look convinced. “Miss Black seems to have a lot of brothers. And uncles and fathers. 209. Down the hall to the right.”

He sprinted down the hall until he came to room 209. He shoved open the door and saw Liam, Mac, and all the others in the pack standing around in the room. Liam was closest to Ariana’s bed and he narrowed his eyes, making a beeline straight for her bed.

What he saw made him stop in his tracks. Ariana lay on her hospital bed, pale and small. Her face was beaten and bruised, her lower lip busted open as if someone hit her. Her lower arm was in a soft cast and he wouldn’t be surprised if she had some broken ribs too. Someone had beaten her up real good.

Liam moved out of the way so Nick could get closer to her. “She’s in a medically induced coma but the doctor said she should make a full recovery in a couple days.”

Nick took one of Ariana’s hands with both of his. Her’s was so cold. His jaw clenched as he stared down at her battered face. “What happened? Who did this?”

“We don’t know yet, but when we do he’s dead. No question.” Liam put a hand on Nick’s shoulder which Nick shrugged it away. “She was found in a parking lot next to her car a couple hours ago. I called you as soon as I heard.”

He closed his eyes against the image that evoked. The thought of someone doing this to sweet, beautiful, kind Ariana, someone who never hurt a fly in her entire life, was almost impossible to comprehend.

“Nick, there’s something else. Come with me.”

The hairs on the back of his neck rose and he looked up at Liam. His Alphas face was dead serious. Nothing else would get him to leave Ariana’s side except that. He pushed up out of the chair, walking past Mac, whose face was almost as morose as his own and followed Liam out into the hall.

“What is it?” Nick asked, his jaw ticking. Whatever Liam had to say he knew wouldn't be good.

Liam dragged a hand down over his face and then blinked hard. “The others don’t know this. I wanted to protect Ariana as much as possible.” He gave a humorless laugh at that. She hadn’t been protected at all tonight. “When they found her unconscious, she didn’t have any clothes on.”

It hit him like a punch to the face. What did that mean? “Was she…” No. The thought was too unbearable. The wolf inside was finding it harder and harder to be contained. Shifting in the middle of the ICU ward would be disastrous.

Liam shook his head. “She wasn’t r***d. The cops think that maybe it was some kind of humiliation thing but they’ll know more during the investigation.”

“It’s a bad idea to have the cops involved, Liam. What if this is a wolf thing?”

“That’s why I called Antonio. Asked him to keep an eye on what he could and inform me if the cops get too close to our secret.”

Nick nodded. Antonio was a wolf who was also a cop. He didn’t belong to a pack, per se, but he’d always been loyal to Liam and was generally well-respected. He didn’t get messed with like other rogues. “I’m going back in.”

“Nick, we have to find out who did this.”

He set his jaw. “I told her I would never let anyone hurt her again.” Behind him, Liam stayed silent and Nick knew that he had won this small victory. He wouldn’t leave Ariana until she woke up. He wouldn’t let her open her eyes alone.

It wasn’t until late afternoon the next day that the nurses started to wean Ariana off the meds keeping her asleep. They told Nick it could be hours or even a day or two before she woke up. He slept in a chair right next to her bed the entire time.

It was late when Ariana’s eyes blinked open. Everything was blurry at first. Everything hurt. “Nick.” He was the only one she wanted right now. Her fingers twitched within something warm.

“Ari? Oh thank god, you’re awake. How do you feel?” Nick covered the top of her hand with his other one, cradling it close.

Her mouth was thick. “Awful.”

“I should think so. Let me get a nurse, okay? I’ll be right back.”

Before she could protest, he slipped away into the hall and was back almost immediately with a dark-haired nurse in her forties with glasses.

“How are we doing, Ariana? Do you feel any pain anywhere?”

“Everywhere. What happened?”

Nick cut in. “We don’t know the full story yet, but you were found in your parking lot next to your car a couple nights ago. Someone had beaten you pretty badly.”

Images slowly came back to her. They were disjointed at first.

“Do you remember who did this? What they looked like?” he asked softly, desperately wanting to kill someone but not wanting to work her up.

Ariana slowly shook her head. Then, “Wait. I remember a man. I couldn’t see him because of the streetlight. There was something…” She couldn’t remember but it was on the tip of her tongue. “Familiar.” She closed her eyes and tried to focus on that night. “I drove home. I got out of my car in the parking lot. The air, it smelled so good. But then… there was something else there too.” Her eyes flew open and she ignored the pain the lights brought. “Nick.” She reached for him and he drew close.

“What is it, baby?” The term of endearment slipped out as naturally as if he’d always called her that. “What do you remember?”

Long, slow terror filled her chest. “Jason.”

Nick’s face shuttered in recognition and he looked at the nurse. “Can we have a few moments alone?”

She finished checking the IV bags. “Just a minute. Don’t rush me.”

They waited impatiently until she left, then Nick descended. “Jason did this to you?”

“Him or Derek. I remembered their scents but I was so young. I can’t remember which was which.”

Nick sat back his mind going a million miles a minute. “I have to tell Liam.”

“I’m sorry,” she said thickly, closing her eyes against the imminent tears. “This is all my fault.”

Nick immediately sat back down and took her hand. “Don’t ever say that again. This is not your fault. It’s that sack of s**t’s fault and no one else's.”

“If I could shift…”

“He’s stronger than you. He would’ve done this anyway.”

She stayed silent, not believing him, and eventually, he walked into the hall to call Liam.

The Alpha answered immediately. “Yes?”

“Ariana’s awake. She told me who did it. It was Jason or his son. She could smell them.”

“Come to the house now.” Click.

Nick let Ariana know where he was going and then threatened the lives of all the nurses there to protect her and keep anyone out of her room. Then he jogged outside around the hospital where no one could see him and shifted into his wolf. He would enjoy the run since being cooped up in a room for two days straight. He would run forever if it meant finding the bastard who did this and tearing his throat out.