Free The Awakening: Liam (Entangled Covet) by Abby Niles Page A

cautious, I’d like to order an EKG and cardiac MRI.”
    This crazy person had messed with her heart? Why did that even surprise her? Her health hadn’t been a
    huge worry for him.
    The detective walked into the room. “I’m glad to see you awake,” she said. “I didn’t get a chance to
    introduce myself. I’m Detective Calhoun. I’ve been working on Liam’s case.”
    Liam’s case? “What happened? I don’t remember coming here.”
    Dr. Bradley removed the IV from her hand, then stepped back. “I’m going to order those tests.”
    The detective waited until the door closed before she spoke. “You passed out on me. Freaked me out,
    so I hot-wired Britton’s Jeep and drove you here.” The amused twist of her lips gave Ava the impression
    she got some pleasure from doing that.
    “Why didn’t you call an ambulance?”
    “We can’t risk any more human involvement. It was safer to just bring you here.”
    Human? “And where is here exactly?”
    “The Bradley Clinic.”
    She gave a growl of frustration.. “And that is?”
    “I keep forgetting that even though you’re marked, you don’t know the ins and outs of our community.
    Dr. Bradley is a shifter physician. Though we rarely get sick, wounds need to be treated on occasion. If the
    wound is bad enough, it takes longer to heal and we do risk infection. It’s safer going to one of our own.”
    “Which means, you’re—”
    “I’m a half-shifter. I moonlight as a homicide detective for Carnal Ridge PD, but my official position is
    the head detective for SPAC. ”
    “You have your own police force?”
    “We have our own everything, Miss Michaels. Doctors, therapists, police force, even our own
    government. My job is to keep shifter crime from the human eye.”
    How could this entire separate world exist without anyone aware of it? “What does SPAC mean?”
    “Shifter Protection and Concealment. And I have a lot I need to conceal. So now that you’re awake, I
    need to ask you a few questions.”
    “Have you talked to Liam?”
    “He isn’t here.”
    “Wait. Where is he?”
    “Like I said, I had to leave to get you help.”
    “ You left him in a cage ?”
    “Don’t worry,” Detective Calhoun quickly said. “Britton is with him and is looking for the key while
    they wait for one of my team to pick them up. They’ll be here soon.”
    “My sister?”
    “She’s at a friend’s house.” She glanced at the notepad. “Jessica Perkins?”
    Relief surged over Ava, one more knot of tension dissolving. Jessica . Emma was still with Jessica. Safe .
    Probably scared to death wondering what had happened to Ava, but safe. “That’s her best friend.”
    “We haven’t made contact yet. Unfortunately, your sister and your employees have filed a missing
    person’s report, so we’ll need to get our stories straight before we move you to the Carnal Ridge Hospital.”
    “Stories?”
    The detective gave her a patient smile. “This incident is shifter related. But since you are human, and
    missing person’s reports have been filed, the regular cops are involved. This isn’t good for us. We need
    them to close their case so we can continue our investigation without worry of their interference.”
    Good God, the entire species was about keeping secrets. “And what kind of story am I supposed to
    tell?”
    “You’d had a bad morning. Nothing was going right. You burned your hand making coffee, dropped
    your breakfast on the floor before you were able to eat it, stubbed your toe on the end of the couch.
    Frustrated, you went outside and started walking around. The crisp air felt good. The light breeze was
    soothing, so you kept walking. You hadn’t intended to go into the woods, but you did. And then you
    tripped over a root and rolled down into a ravine. The rocks jarred your body, and somehow in the fall you
    twisted your ankle and knocked yourself unconscious. When you woke, it was hard to move. And the
    ravine was steep. It took you two days to