She looked back at Ashton as Hunter led her out of the room. "We've had this discussion before." Her gaze shifted to Hunter. "You're right, I didn't sleep well in that hard chair at the hospital, and when I rested with you, I kept feeling like the nurses would catch us. I must have dropped off right before Ashton walked in on us though. Wouldn't you know."
Hunter smiled at her. Even when she was tired, she was agreeable. Even when she was mad at him, especially when she was mad at him. She reminded him of an alpha then.
Mentally, he shook his head at himself. He had to quit thinking of her in those terms before he went down the path he knew he shouldn't.
"You locked the back door, didn't you?" Hunter asked, helping Tessa out of her sweater.
"Yes. You guys left it wide open. I'm going to have to start charging you for the high electric bill I'm bound to get." She helped Hunter ease out of the field jacket. "You seem really stiff."
"I need to work the shoulder out."
"You need to let it heal first."
He swept his hands down her arms and kissed her forehead. "You'll help to make it happen."
"No, Ashton!" Rourke shouted down the hall. The back door slammed shut.
Now what the hell?
Footsteps ran toward the bedroom, but Hunter jerked the door open and met Rourke midway down the hall. "What's happened?"
"Ashton said he had to take a... walk."
"Damn it." Hunter turned to see Tessa standing in the hallway, her eyes wide. "Why don't you take a nap? I'll join you in a few minutes. Rourke will stay here with you."
"But your shoulder."
Hunter didn't reply, just headed for the back door. No time to waste. "Did he take the rifle?" he hollered back to Rourke.
"Yeah, he did."
Good. Maybe Ashton hadn't been turned after all. Maybe he intended to shoot the wolf that bit him. Not good, but better than if he'd been turned.
Hunter hurried outside, sniffed the air, then saw the rifle next to a patio chair. Damn it. He grabbed the rifle and handed it to Rourke. "I'll be back shortly."
Then he tore across the patio and headed for the woods. "Ashton, come back here this instant!" Hunter hollered in his most threatening alpha voice.
The wind howled back and he knew the storm would begin soon. But worse, Ashton was bound to get himself into a hell of a lot of trouble without a guide his first time as a wolf.
Tessa pulled her sweater back on, figuring she couldn't take a nap now. Not with worrying about Hunter and Ashton's safety. But she wondered now if Ashton had been infected and could carry rabies, which might account for his strange behavior. Yet she thought it would take longer for a person infected to react. She just hoped to god he didn't have rabies.
Trying to settle her upset, she meant to fix a cup of cocoa for her and Rourke and then replace the back doorknob. But when she walked down the hall, she felt the cold wind blowing into the house through the back door.
A chill sliced through her, and she ran toward the kitchen. "Rourke?" she yelled.
He didn't answer and Tessa felt as afraid as the day she came home from the trial and suspected someone was watching the house. She stepped onto the back patio and stared at where she thought the guys might have gone--north. She hollered again.
No reply.
With apprehension, she closed the door and locked it. She'd manage if she didn't let her fear run amok. Grabbing the new doorknob for the back door, she hoped to replace it before the stalker realized she was home alone, and tried to squash the nerves wreaking havoc with her stomach. She opened the door, her heart gave a jolt, and she squeaked out a scream.
Nurse Godzilla. Wearing her long dark hair down, she had on a jeans jacket, turtleneck, jeans, and snow boots, the only part of her outfit that looked warm enough for the weather.
The attractive woman smiled at her in a fake way. "Mr. Grey took a powder. The doctor reported his 'escape' to the police. The sheriff should be coming here soon."
"So why are you here? To warn him?" Tessa assumed the woman wanted to see him instead, try to ignite a flame between them, maybe outside the hospital setting.
"Sure, to warn him." She looked around the place. "Cozy, pretty forest green color scheme. Soft, like you." She took a deep breath. "Hmm, your other male friend's changed. Mr. Grey bite him, too?"
"No. Thank you for the news, if that's all...? "
"I'm Cara Woodson, by the way. Can I help you with that?" She pointed at the doorknob in Tessa's hand.
"No, thanks. I can manage. Hunter won't be back for a long while. Maybe you could return some other time." How was she going to get rid of the pesky woman without just shoving her out the door?
"He won't stay with you, you know." Cara grabbed the Phillips-head screwdriver resting on the countertop. She began removing the old doorknob. "Why are we doing this?"
Barely hearing the question, Tessa was too wrapped up in the woman's comment about Hunter. "Why do you think he won't stay with me? Are you his former lover?"
Cara laughed. "Hardly. Although I'd like the chance to be his new lover."
"He's not interested." Tessa had no doubt he wasn't interested in her. But what if the woman plied her sexual charms on him? Any man would succumb eventually to a seductress.
"He's not interested in me yet because of you. But you're a temporary fling."
"If you don't know him, how could you think you know so much about him?"
"I just do. So, has someone been getting into your place without permission?"
"Yeah." Why Tessa said so, she didn't know. And afterward she wished she hadn't.
"He has a key? Someone you've known? An old lover?"
"I don't know who it might be."
Tessa began installing the new lock while Cara examined the old one.
"What if he didn't have a key to your place?"
Tessa glanced at her. "How could he not have?"
"What if he had a skeleton key? A lock-picking toolkit so he can get in anywhere he wants?"
Tessa felt sick to her stomach. If the guy could get in no matter the kind of lock they installed, she would never be safe until he was caught. Then what? He would get a slap on the hands? A restraining order? Then he would most likely be back to stalking her again.
"Is Hunter trying to locate the intruder?"
"Yes. But then he got bitten and..." Tessa shrugged.
They finished replacing the doorknob, and Tessa glanced back at the woods. A couple of inches of snow had already fallen. She turned around and found Cara watching her. "Since you came all the way out here, did you want some cocoa before you return to the city?"
"Sure. That would be grand." Cara pulled off her jeans jacket and slipped an envelope out of her pocket. "Thought maybe you'd like these since your insurance was paying for Hunter's accident on your property, and he left the hospital's care early."
Tessa glanced at them.
"The release forms. That way you weren't charged for Hunter's stay when he'd already left because he hadn't officially signed out."
"Thanks. I appreciate it." Truly she did, but Tessa was torn between being glad the woman was here so she wasn't alone while the men were gallivanting in the woods, and not liking that Cara would undoubtedly try her womanly charms on Hunter again as soon as he returned.
"So what does your intruder look like?"
"I haven't seen him, but Ashton says he's tall, dark-haired like Hunter, and runs pretty fast."
"Uh-huh. So what's Hunter going to do about it?" Cara grabbed up a couple of napkins like she was used to playing hostess, and when the cocoa was ready she took the mugs to the table.
Tessa grabbed a package of chocolate wafers and joined her. "He's going to turn him over to the sheriff when he catches him. He broke one of my windows and stole my gun."