-8- Lily

Lily groaned and slowly opened her eyes. The brightness of the light reflecting off the white walls hurt her eyes. Her whole body ached as she tried to sit up, but decided against it. Her head was pounding with a horrible headache. She reached up to rub her sore temple, noticing the bandage there.

Where was she, and why did she hurt so much? Oh yeah, the stupid thief at the lab. He’d hit her. “Lily, you’re awake,” Lacy cheered.

She opened her eyes slowly to peek at her sister. Lacy’s usual well-groomed blonde hair was all a mess. Her eyes are red and puffy, and her clothing is all wrinkled and twisted.

“Hey Lace,” Lily croaked with a small smile as she tried to sit up. Her sister pulled her into a tight hug. “Oh easy, easy. It hurts everywhere,” she said, feeling her body protest.

Lacy immediately let her go with a guilty look and apologized. “I am going to call the doctor, who is too cute by the way, and everyone. They went down to the cafeteria about twenty minutes ago,” Lacy told her. She gave Lily a quick but softer hug before leaving the room.

Lily touched her temple again, wincing with the pain. “Good Morning Ms. Nawassa. I am Doctor Ryland,” the doctor announced as he entered the room a few minutes after Lacy left.

Lily gave him a greeting smile, noticing that Lacy was right. He was pretty cute. He had the prettiest brownish red hair and sparkling green eyes. His light freckles gave him this cute, sexy air about him. “How are you feeling?” he asked, walking over to her bed.

“I’m feeling fine, considering I hurt all over,” she stated matter of fact.

He smiled a charming smile at her. “Well, that’s good to hear although you hurt all over, which, with some good pain killers should go away. I need you to follow this light for me, okay,” he told her, holding up a small penlight and moved it side to side.

The light caused her head to throb more, but she did as he asked and followed the light. “Do you think I can get out of here soon?” she asked, not bothering to hide her eagerness.

“I have a few more tests to perform, and if the results are what I expect, then yes you can leave,” he explained. “I hope your eagerness to leave has nothing to do with my bedside manner,” he added with a flirtatious grin.

“Of course not, Doctor,” Lily replied, giving him her best come-hither tone. Someone coughed from the other side of the room and she noticed Andrew and the others standing there.

“My poor sunshine,” Sandy cried as she walked over towards Lily and planted a kiss on her forehead.

“How is she, Doctor?” Andrew asked and Lily noticed him giving the doctor a slight look of disapproval.

“She is fine. I believe she only received a hairline fracture. I want to run some more tests, but she should be good to go in a couple of hours,” the doctor told him..

Tony walked up to her, shaking his head. He gave her a gentle hug and whispered in her ear with a mocked scolding tone. “You’ve only been awake for a few minutes and you’re already flirting with the doctor?”

“Hey, I am not dead yet! Besides, you’ve got to enjoy the little pleasures in life,” she whispered back.

Tony shook his head again with a hint of a smile on his lips but gave her the older brother shame on you glare. The doctor excused himself, stating he would return in about an hour to start the final tests. Lily gave him a sly smile and a flirty wave as he left. Lacy and Lily tried to hide their laughter as the doctor almost walked into the door. Some guys were just too easy; she thought, with her smile growing a little more.

“Nothing like making a cute guy squirm,” Lacy giggled, and Chris looked a little jealous.

“Please! I am so much better looking,” he pouted.

“Sure you are, baby,” Lacy told him. He gave her a kiss that got a little too intense for Lily’s taste, so she threw her pillow at them.

“Okay enough, you two or I swear I will call security,” she snapped.

“Yes, I have to agree,” growled Andrew with a look of displeasure. Chris paled some, nodding. “Now out please, so I can have a word with Lily,” he demanded. Everyone except James, who she just now noticed, left the room obediently.

What the hell was he doing here? She wondered as soon as she saw him.

Her father sat down on the bed beside her with a look of concern marking his face. “I want to know if what happened to you this morning is in connection to what I asked you to do.”

She knew where this was going. “Yes Andrew, it was. The thief was a werewolf looking for the pills,” she told him and saw the guilt flash through her father’s eyes.

“How do you know he was a wolf?” James asked, leaving the corner where he’d been lurking with a grumpy look on his face.

“His eyes turned yellow the angrier he got. Also, only you people use the word ‘human’ as an insult,” she said, but gave him a sly smile at the end.

“So he took the pills?” Andrew asked, still looking upset.

“Unfortunately. I eventually had to give him what he was looking for when he threatened to hurt people,” she said with a slight frown.

“Eventually? You actually refused to hand them over?” Her father asked as he looked at her with obvious disapproval on his face.

“Of course I did! I will not give in to a bully or threats that easily even if they’re coming from a werewolf,” she told him, crossing her arms.

“He could have killed you,” James spoke. This time with an unexpected stern sounding tone.

“Yeah. He could have,” Lily said, then shrugged as she continued, “like so many other things in this world. It’s a good thing I had a plan B.”

“A plan B?” Andrew asked, curiosity replacing some of the worry.

She got a large smile on her face. “Once you told me yesterday that there was a traitor, I thought they may try to break into the lab. Though I never expected a full-blown break in during operational hours. Anyway, I have some pills stashed at home. I can use the resources at school to continue working on them,” she explained, feeling satisfied with herself.

Lily expected him to share her feelings, or at least appreciate her forethought. Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest with a frown. “No Lily, you’re done! Involving you was a mistake. No more analyzing, no more tests, nothing...it’s over. I will take what you have and deal with it,” Andrew told her.

She recognized that tone in his voice. It was his alpha persuasion tone of voice, but that stuff never worked on her. It only made her angry that he was trying to control her like one of his little wolves.

“Oh, don’t go all Alpha on me, Mister, I am not one of your mutts! I will not give you anything and I’m not going to stop because someone played it rough. If that mangy mutt thinks he is going to intimidate me, then he has another think coming!” Lily told her father. She didn’t care if he was in the presence of another werewolf or not.

Andrew let out a small growl. “Lily!” he said in warning.

Lily wasn’t in the mood to listen or compromise. There was no way she was going to stop. No one breaks into her lab, steals from her, threatens her co-workers and gets away with it! “Andrew,” she shot back at him, imitating his tone. She tried hard to keep her face serious when she noticed James’s expression of complete surprise at their confrontation.

It wasn’t the first time they fought like this. Though it made her angry as hell Lily got where Andrew was coming from, she really did. He was the all mighty alpha, and everyone did what he said. Her not cowering at his feet like everyone else drove him more than a little nuts. She usually tried not to push him, unless it was something important to her, like now.

At that moment, a couple entered the room and identified themselves as detectives. She smiled with a gloating expression towards her father and claimed victory. He just glared at her and then left with James when the detectives wanted to ask her a few questions in private.

“Hello Ms. Nawassa, I am Detective Bryant, and this is Detective Santiago. How are you feeling?” asked one of them, a woman of maybe late thirties with auburn hair streaked with gray. She smiled at Lily, but Lily didn’t feel any warmth in the smile. “Ms. Nawassa, we would like to ask you about the break in,” she said, not waiting for Lily to answer her first question.

“Go ahead,” Lily stated, irritated that she didn’t wait for Lily to answer her first question.