Chapter 10: EP10
Thompson folded his arms and leaned back in the chair. "You're too weak. Until the doctor says -"He looked at the IV on his arm and then pulled it out. He clamped his hand over the tape that held the IV in place to stop the bleeding.
"Wait, miss-"
He stumbled out of bed, throwing his blankets on the floor. What he wouldn't give for a quick wolf leg right now. Although he could run long and hard like a human, a nice, warm wolf skin was preferable to a naked human body in cold winter weather.
Thompson jumped out of the chair and headed towards him.
He turned his head and grabbed the mattress. The idea that he had fully recovered was an illusion.
Thompson walked around the bed to help him. "I'm - sorry. You need to go back to bed, ma'am. I didn't mean to upset you."
She hurried past him into the bathroom. With only a rotten hospital gown tied to her back and nothing else to dress her body with, her luck had run out. He locked the bathroom door and then looked out the window. There is no way to open it. There is no escape. He hurried out of the bathroom.
Thompson pressed the nurse's call button, her tanned face now pale. "I'll find a nurse to put the IV back -"
Desperate to escape from Diana, Bella ran out of the room. She ran to the nearest exit sign in the long corridor.
"Miss!" Thompson shouted after him.
The fire escape slammed into her door, and she looked back to see Diana in the nurse's room and Thompson walking out of the room.
Thompson looked back at Diana to see what had caught his eye. Both men looked at each other for a moment. She didn't wait to see what would happen next.
After descending two flights of stairs, he rushed to the first floor. A man's boots hurriedly followed him and rolled down the stairs. She burst into a hospital room undetected. Thank God an elderly patient snored in his sleep on one of the beds. His heart beating, he slid under the empty bed.
The door of the room opened. He took very little breath. Boots stopped at the door but then walked away and the door closed.
He hurriedly got out from under the bed and searched the man's wall cabinet.
After she threw off her hospital gown, she put on her wide button-down shirt with a collar that reached down to the middle of her thigh. He wore a loose sweater over it. His baggy pants and canoe-sized shoes were too big. He took off his velvet jacket and crossed his arms. Barefoot and barefoot, he ran to the door and looked out.
The hallway was empty, but Thompson, the police, and Diana must have been nearby. He leaned against the door frame, dizzy - not yet himself. He was confused and his heart was out of control.
Confused, she ran to the front door, which she imagined was centered in the middle of the building, beyond the bend in the hallway.
Diana suddenly walked out of a room down the hall and made her way, her back to him. His breath caught in his throat. Bolting tried to get past him, but jumped to block him. Instead, she slammed into his body and wrapped her arms around him in a secure vise.
Panic filled him. His touch forced her to ask for more—a burning embrace, another passionate kiss. Madness. He was going to hand it over to the pack leader, damn it.
Diana pulled him into the room. Horribly, Thompson and the two cops lay dead on the floor, forcing a breath from their lips. "What-"
His eyes blazed with anger as he brought a finger to his lips. Then he took her hand and whispered harshly, "We're going out the front door quietly." He gripped her hand tighter as he tried to free himself. "Quiet, dammit Bella. Behave for once."
She narrowed her eyes, straightening her shoulders. She had escaped the pack before, she. She could do it again, she. And for now, Dianu seemed like his only chance to escape the hospital. Yet, my God, how he had opened up to more than just holding her hand. It was mating season, she reminded herself, nothing more, and she would stare lustfully at every male… who the hell was she trying to fool? The way she looked at her bare legs, the way she touched him, even when she was in danger of being discovered—desired him as much as she did him.
Toward the center of the building, with long and relentless strides, he led her back into the hall, his arm tightly wrapped around her waist. His touch should have warmed her... But for all the wrong reasons. Desiring his touch more, she also resented the implication. It was the new zookeeper who had taken him prisoner; his blood sizzled.
As they passed the nurse's room, a woman wearing a polka dot apron spoke on the phone, eyes wide. "Is the patient missing?"
With her chin tight, Diana hurried Bella to the door that ran past the station.
The woman said, "Wait! Dear! Missing!"
He slammed the door with his shoulder and pulled Bella into the clear, cold air outside. Taking him in her arms, she ran to the black SUV parked on the curb.
She shoved the gray-haired Argos open the door.
"Argos," she said to herself, realizing that Viki had taken her back by the pack, overshadowing the joy of seeing her. She grit her teeth.
She gave him a warm smile. "We miss you."
"Viki missed me." Argos' smile faded.
"To hurry." Diana''s cousin, Tanner, pointed to the window. "A security guard is heading this way."
Diana jumped into the driver's seat as Tanner and her brother Heath squeezed Bella between them in the middle seat; Then Diana ignited the engine. "We'll split up. Give the police clues that Bella and I are heading in other directions."
Bella, Diana was crushed between her cousins who were sitting too close for comfort. "Give me some more room," she snarled.
Tanner laughed. Spicy vinegar, just like the old days, eh Bella?
"Viki won't like us leaving," Argos warned, looking at her over the seat.
He pushed Tanner to move his leg, it uncomfortably tucked into his thigh, but Tanner didn't budge. Her brother stroked her bare thigh. "About when you came back to the Pack. Of course I missed you being around."
He slapped her hand.
"They're going to catch us all if we don't leave," Diana protested, shifting her attention from the road to the rearview mirror and giving her cousins a dangerous look.
Mumbling objections filtered in, but Diana was older by pack rules, and although the eldest was Argos, she left the pack leader, and Diana made the decisions.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone