Twenty minutes later, the nurse who introduced herself as Michele came in with Meg’s dinner. The salad was huge with lots of veggies, a big piece of grilled chicken and three different salad dressings. On the side of the tray were peanut butter cookies and iced tea. Michele brought a tray over for Meg and adjusted it to the right height.
“Thank you. This looks delicious,” said Meg as she started to eat.
“You’re welcome. If you need anything, just call,” said Michele and handed Meg a cord with a call button on it. “And when are you going to eat?” she asked Ginny.
“At home. I’ve got lots to do and if I don’t get moving, I’ll be asleep too. You take care of Luc and I’ll be back later,” she said.
Meg nodded as she had a mouthful of salad. She tried to eat slowly, but she was famished. Between the adrenaline crash, the hike that morning and the drive down the mountain, she had burned up every calorie she had. She finished off the salad and started in on the cookies. She smiled when she saw that they were peanut butter. For a moment she wondered if chocolate ever crossed the threshold, or did it come with a skull and crossed bones poison label. She giggled.
Meg realized she had to get up, and tried to do so without waking Luc. It didn’t work. He woke, so Meg hit the call button. Michele came in and worked on keeping Luc in bed. Meg headed for the bathroom. Looking down, she realized that her shirt was spattered with blood as were her jeans. She’d have to call Ginny to bring her some new clothes.
He whined. Whined loud enough that Meg could hear him through the bathroom walls. She tried to hurry up and when she came back in the room, he tried to get off the bed.
“No!” she said forcefully. “You stay on the bed!”
Luc dropped back to the bed. Michele looked from one to the other and smiled.
“I didn’t think you had it in you to keep him in bed. I’m impressed,” she said.
“Thanks. I may be human, but I’m a real bitch when I want to be,” said Meg. Both women laughed.
“I’ll bring you a blanket if you want,” Michele said as Meg took off her boots and jeans.
“That would be great,” she said as she crawled back up to snuggle with Luc.
Michele returned with the blankets and turned off the lights as she left.
Meg snuggled next to Luc and eventually drifted off. It had been one hell of a day.
The wolf sniffed his mate. “Soft one safe. I safe. Hurt,” he thought as he drifted off to sleep.
*
Ginny and Duke brought them home three days later. Luc had been allowed to shift the night before. Most of his stitches held and the doctor bandaged him up adequately for a human form. Meg had a bag full of pills. Some for pain and others for infection. They got Luc in bed and Meg looked around trying to figure out what to do. Luc was already drifting off to sleep. Jeff and Michele said he’d do that for the next few days.
“Meg, just go sit with him,” suggested Duke. “We brought your camping stuff back and Ginny and Bitty put it away for you already. There is plenty of food in the fridge and we are taking care of the office. Go relax.”
“But I keep thinking I should be doing something,” Meg said. “What about the car? Do we need to call a wrecker or the insurance agent?” she asked.
“Already taken care of,” said Ginny. “Oh! I almost forgot. That bear left a claw in the side panel of the car. Must have hurt like hell when that ripped off,” she said as she dug in her pocket. She pulled a huge claw capped with silver out and handed it to Meg. It covered her palm from her thumb in an arch over to her pinkie finger. It was heavy.
“Oh my gods,” said Meg with a shudder. She had pocket knives smaller than that claw.
“We notified the park rangers up in that area that a bear had attacked you. They’re looking for it just in case. Of course they said there were no grizzlies up there, or wolves, but we both know differently,” said Duke.
“Oh yeah,” said Meg still holding the claw. She’d give it to Luc when he woke up later.
“If they don’t find it, some of us are thinking of going up and taking care of it,” said Duke.
“With guns or fangs?” asked Ginny who thought the whole idea was stupid. Leave the damned animal alone had been her thoughts when asked.
“Guns of course. Geeze Ginny, we aren’t stupid,” said Duke.
The look Ginny shot him said otherwise.
“We’ve got the office guys looking for another Subaru. We know how attached Luc was to his, but there isn’t enough left of that one to make good scrap. I’ll let you know what they find,” Ginny said.
“Okay,” said Meg. She hadn’t realized the car was that damaged. Granted, she never really looked at it, but after looking at the claw, she wasn’t sure she ever wanted to see it.
“Meg,” came a faint call from the bedroom.
“Be there in a second Luc,” said Meg.
“We’ll be back later. Call if you need us,” said Ginny as she propelled Duke through the door.
“Bye,” said Meg as she waved and then headed to the bedroom.
*
Luc was sitting up in bed and trying to move to get comfortable. He saw her and stopped. Meg sat down on the edge of the bed, the claw closed in her hand.
“Hey Meg, are they gone yet?” he asked.
“Yes, finally. It’s good to be home,” she said.
“Yeah, I could hear most of what you were talking about. What did Ginny give you?” he asked.
“Um,…” she hesitated. “This,” she said as she handed him the claw.
Luc took the claw in his hand. He turned it over once or twice and then his hand went to his neck. “Damn I was lucky,” he said. “We were lucky.”
“Yes, we were,” said Meg. They sat there for a moment just looking at the claw.
“Do you think we could get me in the shower?” he asked.
“I guess. Can we get the bandages wet?” she asked.