Ghost Stalker Read Online Free Page A

heavy, but he fought off the lethargy.
    “You’re a sight,” she murmured.
    For the first time he thought to wonder what he really looked like. For years he’d relied on his good looks to get him exactly what he wanted from women, and he realized with a nasty lurch that he had lost one major advantage. Those women had gouged his face as if it were warm wax. He allowed himself to relax as she bathed his face and neck.
    “Are you certain they were ghosts?”
    He didn’t open his eyes. “Positive.”
    “How do you know?”
    “The stink. They smell like death and their eyes take on an unnatural yellow glow.”
    The drug made him woozy but did its work. Hemade an investigatory pat of his face as she drew out a stethoscope and listened to his chest.
    “Your lung is collapsed. We need to get you looked at.”
    His friend Sebastian would have him whole already. “I thought you were a healer.”
    “I am, but I can’t reinflate your lung. It wouldn’t be safe. I have a friend. He can do surgery on-site. He’s very good.”
    His thoughts were harder to gather. He tried to focus on why this was a bad idea. It came to him at last as he recalled her earlier concern that he may go wolf on the operating table. “Anesthesia?”
    “It won’t matter.”
    He opened his eyes and their gazes met. Her face flushed and he knew she was up to something.
    She tried for a smile of reassurance, but it flickered and died before reaching her golden eyes.
    “He’s a large-animal vet.”
    Nick drew a breath to protest but choked on the blood in his throat and managed only a gurgle.
    “Now listen, if he puts you out, you’ll already be in animal form.”
    Nick groaned again. “What if he puts me down instead of out?”
    “I won’t let that happen.”
    This from a woman who had already tried to smother him.
    “Why don’t I feel better?” he muttered.
    “I promise to do everything I can to help you. You have to trust me.”
    Trust a woman. That was funny. He’d laugh if his rib wasn’t jabbing his lung. Instead, he tried to think of another way. He had never been to a vet. The very thought was humiliating, but he had a nasty suspicion that he’d die otherwise. Given the people he needed to protect, he couldn’t do that.
    Nick nodded his acceptance.
    “I have to get you into the truck,” she said. “I think, if you change, I can carry you.”
    He looked at her and knew she couldn’t do it. He sat up. Even with the painkillers chugging through his system, the effort covered him in a cold sweat. Together they made it to the front steps. He was dribbling frothy pink blood from his mouth again and coughing. Pinpricks of light spun about him as he gripped the railing.
    “I’ll get the truck.”
    She set off at a run, bounding like a deer, and he wished he had the strength to give chase. The truck roared up to the steps. He lifted his head from the crook of his arm, not even recalling assuming that position.
    She wrapped an arm around his broken rib cage. The pain nearly buckled his knees.
    He made it to the door and staggered into the truck. She rounded the hood and jumped into the driver’s side. She reached for the clutch then hesitated, leaving them in place.
    “I’ll have help at the vets. Maybe you should change now.” She gripped the steering wheel as if bracing for a blow.
    Nick studied her. “You gave your word.”
    He waited until she nodded her acceptance before focusing his dwindling energy on the change. The power zinged through his veins, momentarily overcoming the pain. Then he coiled into the position of a wounded animal upon her vinyl seat.
    He kept his gaze on her as she stared in wide-eyed astonishment.
    “A wolf,” she whispered and he realized that she had not known his animal form when she agreed to tend him. Did it make a difference? It was certain it would to some. Had she been there—during the war?
    Her face paled as her bloodless fingers slipped from the wheel. She threw open the door and slid