I made my way around to the surgical ward without telling the guys. I wanted to meet Jack by myself, for some strange reason.
With butterflies fluttering in my gut, I knocked on the glass window and made my way into the room.
“Hello, Jack, I’m Doctor Claire. I was here when you were admitted yesterday.”
Jack’s gaze came up and my breath tightened in my chest. They were Dexter’s eyes. Same cool blue. Same calm, steady confidence.
“Hello, Claire. When can I go home? And where is my family?”
I laughed, pulled up a chair next to him and sat down.
“You certainly get straight to the point, don’t you, Jack?”
“I know what’s important, and that’s getting out of here and going home.”
I smiled and picked up his wrist, counting his steady heartbeats with my fingers. His colour was good, no blue in the fingertips.
I stood up and checked his hour-by-hour chart. “This all looks great. When you came in yesterday I wasn’t even sure you’d survive the surgery, let alone be practically ready to go home the next day.”
His eyes lit up and a smile curved his full lips. “I can go home today?”
“Soon.”
I walked back around the table, wanting to stay close to him for some reason. The pull of an Alpha male, perhaps?
“Hey, Claire…”
“Yes, Jack?”
“Why do you smell like my son?”
I glanced towards the other bed in the ward. The other patient was asleep, and intubated. Probably not capable of hearing or understanding what I was about to say.
“Um… because yes
terday after he dropped you off, your son kidnapped me and took me home with him.”
I tried to say it with the same calm and professionalism that I reserved for my patients, but I lost the battle when heat flushed up my face.
Jack’s eyes went wide. “He took you back to the pack?”
I nodded. “Yes, and I met Mary and Sue, and Grayson and Jay and Taylor, of course.”
“But why would he…” Jack was looking confused, until his gaze snapped together sharply and he looked straight at me. “You’re his mate, aren’t you?”
He looked me up and down like he was assessing my size, weight and strength.
“But… you’re human.”
I laughed out loud at that one. “Ah, yeah… last time I checked.”
“But that would mean…”
“That we humans are going to save your pack, Jack.”
He sat up straighter in bed, his naked chest catching my attention. The strength and size of him at sixty years old would rival his son. And the huge scar now trisecting his ribcage only added to the image of toughness.
“You’ve mated with him? You’re going to stay?”