Lost by Dean Murray Page A

that will give the police enough of a pause once I do file
my report that they'll choose to just keep an eye on you until your
sister wakes up and can collaborate your story."
    I reached out
and took his hand in both of mine, shaking it with the unbridled
relief of an innocent man learning he was going to dodge the electric
chair.
    "Thank
you, Doctor Hamilton. I never in a million years thought we'd find
someone willing to give us the benefit of the doubt like this.
Between that and finding out that Kris is going to be okay, well, I
feel like the hall is spinning."
    I let myself
sway a little, which prompted him to reach back out to steady me.
    "Let's get
you back to your bed and look at those wounds."
    I shook my head
as he guided me back into my room and helped me back down onto the
bed. "Can you please look in on my sister again and get those
photos sent off to your friend first? I'll be fine for a few more
minutes and it would mean a lot to know that she was still okay."
    He gave me a
considering look, but nodded. "All right, but don't go anywhere.
I'm worried about your wounds and wouldn't want anything to happen to
you."
    I gave him my
best honest face and relaxed back into the bed in an attempt to put
him at ease. He nodded to a familiar-looking blonde nurse as he left
my room and turned right to go check up on Kristin, cell phone
already out and dialing.
    I still had
five minutes before my scheduled check-in with my nurse, so I offered
this nurse a wan smile in the hopes that she'd move on. It didn't
work.
    She walked into
my room and looked down at her aluminum clipboard as she closed the
door. Alarm bells started going off inside of my head a split second
before she kicked Ash's feet off of the low table where he'd propped
them when he'd fallen asleep.
    "It's
amazing that you've managed to survive this long on your own if this
is the kind of mess you typically make of things."
    I expected Ash
to pull a knife on her. Dangerous people are always the most
unpredictable when waking up somewhere that isn't completely safe.
This seemed like the perfect situation to have Ash go off like a
crate of dynamite, only he didn't.
    "Hi,
Celeste. It's nice to see you, too."
    Ash didn't seem
surprised that the nurse in our room was ready to rip his head off,
but I rolled out of the bed and subtly lowered my center of gravity
into something that wasn't quite a crouch, ready to respond if things
heated up even more.
    I opened my
mouth to ask what was going on, but before I got my question out the
nurse stepped forward and picked Ash up by the shirt collar, slamming
him against the wall with enough force that I wondered if there was
anyone in the next room over to hear the impact.
    "You piece
of trash. Do you have any idea the mess you left behind when you left
here? Do you know what I had to do to keep your secret? You put me
through nine kinds of hell and never bothered to even call and tell
me that you'd survived. Then a few months ago you call and tell me
that some Ancient from south of the border is tearing through the
western half of the country and please can I figure out a way to stop
him before he kills you? Oh, and while I'm at it is there any way I
can arrange to keep the fact that you were my anonymous tipster
quiet? Don't you know that you're supposed to grow up to be less of
an ass rather than more of one?"
    The surge of
energy coming off of her put to rest any question as to what we were
dealing with. To summon that kind of raw boiling energy she had to be
a shape shifter, and she wasn't just a wolf, she was one of the more
naturally powerful hybrids I'd ever come up against.
    Ash was in
terrible danger. She'd positioned herself perfectly to rip his head
off with her claws if she shifted forms. I'd taken a step towards the
two of them when she grabbed him, but now I froze, not wanting to do
anything to push her over the edge into a transformation.
    It wasn't until
I looked back over at Ash that I realized why he was still