Page 7 of Furry Equations
“You’ve said a lot of things I doubt you normally would’ve voiced.”
“Blame the concussion. I’m usually much better at keeping the embarrassing thoughts inside my head. Like how your voice sounds like honey over gravel. Wait. Did I say that out loud too?”
“You did.”
“Well, this is mortifying.” She pressed her face against the cool window. “Feel free to forget everything I’ve said. Or we could blame it on temporary insanity caused by explosive chemicals. Or we could never speak of this again and pretend we just met tomorrow at the official meeting where I will be professional and articulate and not compare your eyes to sexy storm clouds.”
At the hospital, Marcus pulled every string necessary to get Natalie immediate attention. He paced the waiting room, making calls to secure the lab and begin cleanup while medical staff checked her over. His wolf refused to settle until he could see her again, confirm she was truly safe.
When they finally let him into her room, she lay propped up on stark white pillows, looking small but alert. The cut on her temple had been cleaned and bandaged, making his fingers itch to touch, to comfort.
“The doctors say I can leave soon,” she said before he could speak. “Just a mild concussion and some scrapes. Nothing serious. Though I reserve the right to blame any lingering embarrassment from our car conversation on head trauma.”
“What happened in the lab?”
“I...” She hesitated. “I got distracted. Added too much of a compound. The formula mutated.”
“Into what?”
“I’m not sure.” Her eyes lit up with scientific curiosity, momentarily overwhelming her exhaustion. “The molecular structure shifted into something completely new. If I could stabilize it...”
“Later.” He caught himself reaching for her hand and diverted to straightening her blanket instead. “Rest first. Science later.”
She yawned, fighting to keep her eyes open. “You’re very... commanding.”
“So I’ve been told.”
“S’probably why you’re good at being an alpha.”
Marcus froze. “What?”
“Alpha CEO,” she mumbled, eyes drifting shut. “Very authoritative. Like a wolf in a suit. A very nice suit. With sexy storm cloud eyes...”
Her breathing evened out into sleep, leaving him to wonder if she somehow knew what he was, or if the concussion had simply loosened her tongue. Either way, the simple fact remained—his mate lay injured in a hospital bed, and he had no idea what had caused the explosion.
His wolf growled, protective instincts warring with the need to maintain professional distance. This brilliant, stubborn woman had stumbled into his life and turned everything upside down in the span of an hour. And now...
Now he had to figure out how to keep her safe without revealing the mating bond. How to investigate the accident without letting his feelings cloud his judgment. How to be her boss and her protector when every fiber of his being yearned to be so much more.
“Well,” he muttered, settling into the chair beside her bed, “at least Mother will be thrilled.”
He reached out, carefully tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. “Though something tells me you’re going to make my life wonderfully complicated, Dr. Grant.”
Her sleeping form offered no response, but his wolf rumbled in contentment. For the first time in his life, Marcus Vale had found something more important than control—now he just had to figure out how not to mess it up.
FIVE
The scent of charred chemicals and ozone still lingered in Natalie’s lab the next morning. Yellow caution tape crisscrossed the doorway like crime scene bunting, and scorch marks painted abstract patterns across her usually pristine workstation.
“Well,” she muttered, ducking under the tape, “at least the explosion didn’t destroy my coffeemaker.”
She’d escaped the hospital with only minor injuries and a lingering sense of embarrassment over her concussion-induced rambling. Had she really told Marcus Vale his eyes resembledsexy storm clouds?
God, she hoped that part had been a pain medication-induced hallucination.
Her modified formula sat innocently in its containment unit, glowing that impossible shade of electric blue. The molecular structure had completely transformed—she could see it even without running detailed analysis. Whatever she’d created in that moment of distraction, it wasn’t a simple matchmaking serum anymore.
“Dr. Grant?”