Scout: Reckless Desires (Norseton Wolves Book 7) by Holley Trent Page A

held over her mouth, “We’re usually pretty clingy with our matches, too.”
    Paul groaned. Thanks a lot, Queenie .
    “He’s fighting the pull,” Petra said, and she seemed to be truly hurt by the idea that he’d avoid her.
    He didn’t want to avoid her. He just needed to make sure they both knew what they were getting into. He wasn’t an easy person to live with. He was a dick. If anyone would want to leave the relationship, the runner would probably be her .
    “He doesn’t want to be with me. That’s why he’s trying so hard to buck it, but I—” Her knees wobbled beneath her, and Nadia grabbed her by the arms.
    “Whoa,” Petra said after a gasp.
    Paul took a step forward to take Petra, but she waved them both away.
    “I’m all right.” She held up her hands as if to dissuade anyone from getting closer, but she couldn’t get another word out.
    Her legs faltered again and face froze in some pained expression as a croak sounded in her throat. He didn’t understand what was happening until the trembles started.
    He barely managed to get in front of her before she crumbled to the sidewalk.
    A seizure.
    He scooped her up and headed straight back to the hospital with her, Queenie and Nadia at his back.
    “That’s why you totaled your truck, isn’t it?” he whispered into Petra’s hair.
    “What?” she asked sleepily.
    “Never mind. Hold tight.”

CHAPTER EIGHT
    Arnold seemed a little less bony than usual. On the very regular occasions when Petra had to share a bed with her brother, she tended to wake with bruised ribs and shins. He had pointy elbows and knees.
    Must have put on some weight in the past week.
    Eyes still closed, she patted down his chest and poked at his leg with her big toe.
    She didn’t remember him being that wide.
    And he didn’t smell quite right.
    She sucked in some air through her nose and itemized the notes of the scent.
    Not wolf.
    Viking .
    Vikings smelled like too much coffee, wood, and leather, for some reason.
    She withdrew her hand and opened one eye.
    Paul chuckled. “I was wondering where you were going to put that hand next.”
    She sat up too quickly, head spinning like a merry-go-round fueled by Pixy Stix and speed.
    She tipped backward, but thanks to Paul putting an arm up behind her, she didn’t crack her skull on the headboard.
    “What happened?” she asked.
    The last thing she remembered was arguing with him on the sidewalk downtown. Somehow, she’d gotten back to her room.
    A glance downward confirmed she was in the same clothes, so she couldn’t have slept too long. At least, she didn’t smell like she’d slept all that long.
    “Careful.” He leaned her back so her spine was against the headboard and pulled his arm away. Then he tossed the book he’d been reading onto the nightstand at his right and folded his hands atop his belly. “I’ll call Adam and let him know you’re awake. He told me to let him know first thing, but take a minute to get your bearings before I do.”
    “What happened?” she repeated. Him not having immediately responded wasn’t a good thing, in her estimation.
    “I think you had a seizure. Your temperature was through the roof, probably from your body working so hard to heal itself, but I can’t be sure. Your physiology isn’t quite like that of anyone else I’ve ever treated.”
    She suspected that healing probably wasn’t the only reason she was running a fever. The mate bite likely had a little something to do with that, too. She’d felt the flaring heat in her body before she’d gone to sleep and knew with an unusual certainty that he’d caused it…or rather, what she’d told him to do. She wished her mother had been around to explain things to her when she’d come of age. She hated feeling like she was stumbling her way through life. Things were easier for Arnold.
    “A seizure…” she whispered, staring as his socked feet at the end of the bed.
    “Got you a second opinion. He also thought that’s