Page 50 of Primal Bonds 1

I raised a brow. “What?”

Harris said, pointing to the door. “It’s him. I swear it’s him.”

Fred nodded. “He saved us.”

I felt my heart racing. Were Fred and Harris implying it had been Adam who had saved them last night? If so, didn’t that mean Adam truly was The Beautiful Monster?

I settled in bed again, my mind racing.

If Adam was The Beautiful Monster, then that meanthe was a mafia boss, right? Which meant he was an alpha. But Adam was just Adam, right? He lived in a luxurious penthouse and worked a normal job. Plus, he looked completely human.

But alphas, they had human forms, unlike us beastkin.

Shit, my head was spinning with all this thinking. I’ll think about it tomorrow, when I felt less dazed. With that, I closed my eyes.

It didn’t feel like it had been that long when I found myself waking up again, panting and shaking, the nightmare haunting me in my sleep once more. I took in a deep breath, working on calming myself down. When my breathing was even, I reached over to the table trolley and grabbed for the cup of water. I eagerly took a sip and then sighed, my head feeling heavy. I was just taking another sip when I saw a figure rushing past the door along the hallway.

Red hair, slender frame, and about my height.

Aka?

I scrambled off the bed, spilling the cup of water, but I didn’t care. That was Aka, right?

I rushed out into the hallway and saw the figure disappearing through a door.

Aka!I shouted internally.Aka!I ran after him down the hallway and then through that door and I found myself at the stairs. I frantically looked around, searching up and down, and then I saw the figure turning a corner up on the next floor. I ran up the stairs, calling out, “Aka! Aka!”

My voice echoed across the place as I ran. Then Iheard the door banging shut, and I knew I had to run faster. I was up on the next floor within an instant and opened the door. I looked around, but Aka was nowhere in sight.

Had I been seeing things? Was I hallucinating?

Shit!

I crumpled to the floor; my knees felt weak and my head was spinning. “Aka,” I said softly under my breath. “Where are you?”

16

Adam

Chase shut the door of his office with a click and then leaned against it, his hands in the pockets of his scrub pants. He said, “You that worried that you have to stick around?”

Sitting there on Chase’s chair and with his feet on the top of Chase’s desk, Adam said, “How was it?”

“Great,” Chase said. “Everything went great. Janet’s putting Shiro up for the night in Ward 3B.”

“Thanks,” Adam said. “For doing that.”

Chase snorted. “Oh, wow! That’s the first thanks I’ve ever gotten from you. Even when your life was on the line with a silver bullet stuck in your chest and I did the surgery brilliantly, you never thanked me. Shiro must mean a lot to you, huh?”

“Saving me is your obligation,” Adam said. “Helping Shiro is not.”

Chase laughed. “Yep, obligation. My job.” He straightened and then walked over to sit on the sofa across the room. “Ah, fuck, I’m tired.” Resting his feet onthe table, he asked, “Mind getting me a cup of coffee or something?”

“No problem,” Adam said, getting up from his seat.

He went to the staff break room a couple of doors down the hallway and took a few minutes to brew Chase a mug of hot coffee. When he returned, Chase was half snoozing, his eyes closed and his arms folded across his chest. Adam shook his head as he placed the mug of coffee on the table. He said, “You should get some good sleep.”

The man opened his eyes then and said, “We’re short-staffed.”