Savage Awakening (Alpha Pack #2)(32)

Nick was kneeling on the bed, shaking Aric's shoulder. "Aric, wake up! Shit, what's wrong with him?"

"Let me take his pulse," the doctor said briskly. "Move."

Both men wasted no time getting out of her way, though they paced anxiously. Rowan moved closer, hand over her mouth as Mallory dropped his wrist, shaking her head.

"It's too fast, and he's hotter than hell." Removing a white strip from her pocket, she peeled off the back and stuck it to his forehead. Within moments she got a reading and removed the strip as Aric remained unaware. "One-oh-six."

"That's impossible," she breathed.

Mallory answered. "Not for Aric. Remember, he's not human, and he's a Firestarter on top of that. His normal temp is around one-oh-two, but this is too high. He needs to wake up."

Firestarter? God. "What's wrong with him?"

"That's the million-dollar question." She fixed Rowan with a strange look, then turned back to her patient.

That was twice now with the look. What was up with that woman?

"Nothin' wrong with me," Aric muttered, opening his eyes to frown at the group. "Can't a man get some sleep? Think I've earned it, for f**k's sake."

"We're worried about you, ass**le." Jax crossed his arms over his chest.

"Really?" Aric's voice dripped with nasty sarcasm as he sat up and came fully awake, shoving hair from his face. "See, now I've an entirely different take on how much you're worried about whether I'm dead or alive. My viewpoint was from the inside of a helicopter as it took off and I was carried away to be tortured for weeks!"

Jax's face paled and he looked like he'd been punched. "You don't know how sorry I am about that," he rasped. "But I only had one chance to save my mate, and I took it. You're both alive, and-"

"But my survival wasn't a certainty, was it?" Aric asked in a deceptively quiet voice. Like he was a time bomb about to blow. "I was left to be picked apart by vultures, especially Beryl, the bitch. She always-" The man cut himself off and clamped his lips shut, stark torment replacing the anger of seconds ago.

The cop in Rowan went on alert, and she wondered what he'd been about to say. What he might be hiding about the "bitch" in question.

Nick, too, studied him for a few tense moments, but didn't pursue the subject of Aric's torture or the woman responsible. "We came for you as soon as we had a location. You had to know we would."

"But whether I'd be alive-did you know for sure?"

"I felt you would be, yes."

"What a comfort."

"I'm so sorry," Jax told him in anguish.

Rowan's chest hurt. Friends who were as close as brothers shouldn't be tearing one another apart over terrible events that neither would likely do differently if given a second chance. Aric was hurting, but not for a second did she believe he would've sacrificed Jaxon's mate to save himself. As for Jax and the others, she'd made some tough decisions herself, and no doubt Luis Garcia's survivors blamed her for making the only one she could at the time.

"Thought I was getting a handle on this." Aric gave a bitter chuckle. "Guess that was before I was put to the test, huh?"

"Aric-"

"Don't concern yourself. I'll get over it. So if you'd all kindly show yourselves out, I'd appreciate it."

The doctor was having none of that. "No can do. You were so lethargic we had trouble waking you and your temp is one-oh-six, which is a bit high even considering your specialized system. You're coming back with me for a more thorough checkup, and that's nonnegotiable."

"I don't need-"

"You're not the physician. I am," she said sternly. "You can come peacefully or I can call in reinforcements, but you're coming."

Her ultimatum hung in the air, Aric trying hard to glare her down. He didn't have a prayer. Rowan thought the doc would make an excellent police lieutenant or captain-one icy stare and most of the guys' balls would freeze and fall off.

"Fine, whatever," the angry redhead snapped, bouncing off the bed. His small show of defiance was ruined, however, when his legs wobbled and Nick grabbed his arm to steady him. Cheeks flushing, Aric shook off the help and crossed the room, yanked open the door to his walk-in closet and disappeared inside.

Nick blew out a breath and massaged his temples. "That went well."

"That boy is his own worst enemy," Dr. Mallory observed.

"This boy is thirty-five years old and has the hearing of a dog," Aric called from the closet. "Oh, wait-I am a dog. Shit." A humorless chuckle floated from inside.

His friends exchanged exasperated glances, but nobody wanted to touch that one. Rustling was heard and a couple of minutes later their friend emerged dressed in low-slung jeans and a loose T-shirt. When he met Rowan's gaze, the hard edges of his expression softened, and if she hadn't known better, she would've said he looked like he had a secret. One he'd like to share.

Or a naughty one they already had.

She wasn't a blushing kind of woman, but her face heated as the memory of the wicked dream chose that moment to taunt her. Stupid, because there was no way he'd had the same-

"Doc, are you sure I have to come in right now?" he asked, never taking his eyes off Rowan. His lips curved in a predatory smile. "I'm feeling a sudden urge to pop down to Vegas and play a little... blackjack."