The smells of blood and sickness are exciting to a wolf on a fundamental level; the injured and ill are the easiest kills. Not that Rule’s wolf would wrench free to wreak havoc. His control was excellent, and besides, his wolf was no crazed adolescent, too easily excited to understand the risks or forget that humans are not prey. But the scents kept Rule’s wolf edgy in spite of three of the most god-awful tuna sandwiches he’d ever eaten. And the man . . . the man did not like waiting. It gave him too much time to think. To remember.The first time Rule set foot in a hospital, he’d been only a little older than his son was now. Before First Change, a lupus was almost human. With his wolf still sleeping, the smells hadn’t been as acute, or affected him the same way. He’d waited in a room much like this one, waited with his father and brother and a few other clan while Benedict’s Chosen struggled for life.She hadn’t made it.Some memories were better than that one, yet not restful.
