Free River Wolf by Heather Long Page A

he lifted him. Colby winced, but the arm holding the umbrella over them remained steady. Luc let out a low groan.
    “I have you,” he told him. Agony contorted Luc’s features, but Brett kept his gait steady. “Shut the door.” Colby nodded and pushed it to then kept pace with him to the porch. She swept aside the umbrella and shook it off. Not waiting for her, he carried his friend into the house and then up the stairs. “You’ve put on weight,” he told Luc. If his friend was even a little aware of him, he’d appreciate the lie of the joke. If anything, Luc had lost a few pounds.
    In the guest room, he set him down slowly. Luc released another pained exhale. The casts were the first things that had to go. “Give me a minute,” he told the wolf watching him from within Luc’s eyes. “We’ll get the casts off.”
    “That’s a bad idea. He’s got some severe breaks.” Colby challenged him as she came into the room. Water dripped from the ends of her dark hair.
    “I understand,” he told her. His phone rang and Gillian’s number flashed on the screen. Perfect. Answering it, he said, “Gillian, I have Colby Jensen here. She brought Luc from a hospital in Maine. I’m going to pass her over so she can fill you in on his condition.” Read between the lines, little wolf.
    “You need to assess him, and she doesn’t know he’s a wolf.”
    Damn, she is good . “Yes, please.” The addition of the last word earned him a pause from Gillian.
    “I’ll take care of her. Should we head back today?” They’d left only a few hours before and couldn’t have had very long at Niagara.
    “I’ll let you know.” He glanced at Colby as he extended the phone to her. “Dr. Chase is our personal physician. Can you fill her in on everything.” It wasn’t a request.
    “Of course.” Despite her unease with him, she responded with professionalism. Her fingers brushed his as she took the phone and another static crackle raced over him. His wolf lunged forward and Luc’s low, almost sub vocal growl gained intensity. “Don’t take the casts off.” The order she gave glanced off him and he could hear Gillian’s laughter as Colby carried his phone from the room and the quiet, steady murmur as she recited Luc’s condition.
    “Whatever you do,” Luc growled in a low voice. “Don’t let her leave.”
    “You need to rest. You’re in way worse condition than you let on.” His nose told him infection existed somewhere in Luc’s blood. The mixture of sweat and musk didn’t hide the sour scent of sickness. “And you need to shift.”
    “She can’t see the wolf yet. She’s not ready.” Despite the strain, he reached out to grasp Brett’s arm. “Keep her here.”
    Yes. He would kidnap the human. Gripping Luc’s hand he gave it a gentle squeeze. “Lie still.” Reinforcing his will into the sentence, he set Luc’s hand down then went to the first cast on his arm. Splitting it as carefully as he could, he removed it. These weren’t the first casts he’d ever seen. “You know,” he spoke, keeping his voice low. His ears told him Colby had moved to the stairwell. Whatever Gillian did, she kept her busy. “The first time I had to break a cast was your fault, too.”
    “I didn’t tell you to jump.” Luc grunted. The arm cast broke into two easy pieces. The skin beneath was moist and shriveled. He hadn’t located the source of infection yet.
    “No? Then I think we’re remembering the incident very differently. You dared me to climb the cliff.” Moving efficiently, he kept track of Colby’s whereabouts The first leg cast went from the middle of Luc’s thigh to his ankle. Had he broken a femur?
    “Climb. Not jump.” The last syllable rode an angry exhale. “Then I jumped.”
    “Yeah, well, what you can do I can do better.” They’d been about fourteen at the time and already competing in everything.
    “Ha.” Luc choked on a laugh. “I didn’t break any bones.”
    Snorting softly, Brett cracked