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mouth.
    “He’s cleaned up and already starting to heal,” Janni said. “And before you come at him with a needle again, you need to know that doing that while he’s awake without warning him first is a terrible idea. We’re talking thermonuclear meltdown.”
    “I’ll keep that in mind. I take it he has his reasons?”
    “Yes,” she said briefly. It wasn’t like anyone needed to know the why, just the what. Even her mom didn’t know.
    Allen checked Ben’s color and had a look at his wounds. “He’ll have some interesting scars, but he’ll be okay—this is all surface, superficial stuff, relatively speaking, other than the cracked ribs. It looks worse than it is. You did a good job, young lady. I don’t think he’ll need another injection, but keep an eye on him, watch for infection, fever. He’ll be alternately hungry and tired from the nanotech. Let him eat and sleep as much as he wants.”
    “How’s Mr. Jarrett?” she asked.
    “He’s all right, recovering in his bedroom. It was nasty, but pretty basic; I’ve seen him worse.” He turned and tossed off a wave, lighting the cigarette. “I’m going to sit with him until Megan gets here. Holler if you need anything. House is intercommed.”
    Janni blinked. “Well. I guess it fits that an eccentric billionaire has an equally eccentric doctor.”
    O O O
    The ringing telephone jerked Megan out of a sound sleep. Blearily, she looked at the clock. Three in the morning?
    She picked up the receiver. “What’ve you done now ?” she asked, because only Alex would be calling her at such a ridiculous hour.
    “Miss Megan, you’d better come.”
    “Chambliss?” Alex’s butler never called her. Suddenly, Megan wasn’t sleepy at all. Her wolf went on high alert.
    “He’s all right,” Chambliss hastened to say. “But he’s been shot, and he came in with two other people, one of whom is terribly injured.”
    “ Shot ?” she squeaked. Hair sprouted on her shoulders and stood on end, and she felt herself hyperventilating. Between the alcohol abuse and the adrenaline addiction, Alex was an accident magnet, but he’d never been shot before. “Shot where? Who shot him? Chambliss—”
    “Miss Megan.” His voice was firm. “Master Alex is all right. He’s out of surgery and he’ll be fine.”
    Chambliss was an expert at soft-pedaling Alex’s injuries, but he wouldn’t outright lie, so Megan swallowed hard and made the fur go back where it belonged. “Okay. Okay.” More breathing. “I’ll be there in a few minutes. You’re sure he’ll be all right?”
    “Doctor Allen said he’ll make a full recovery.”
    “ You called Doc Allen in ?” Her muzzle lengthened, and she had to fight the wolf back yet again. They only called Doc Allen for dire emergencies, because he was the best in the business and was discreet enough to make house calls and keep his mouth shut. She’d assumed “shot” meant in the arm or something relatively minor, maybe a graze. If they’d called Allen …
    “Not for Master Alex, originally; it was for the other young man.” Chambliss hesitated. “Miss Megan, I’d rather not go into details over the phone.”
    “I understand. I’m on my way.” Hanging up, she swung out of bed, briefly considered changing into actual clothes instead of the flannel frog-patterned pajama bottoms and oversized white T-shirt she slept in, and rejected the notion in favor of speed. She slipped into a pair of loafers and broke several traffic laws on her way over to Alex’s mansion.
    Chambliss opened the front door before she even got all the way up the steps. He looked exhausted, and she understood why when he explained that Alex had been shot in the back over two hours before—which really ticked her off.
    “Why didn’t you call me sooner?” she demanded.
    “It didn’t seem necessary before we had any news.” Even as the words left his mouth, he seemed to realize that the excuse wouldn’t fly. “Just because the rest of us