David walked down the corridor to his office with his thirteenth cup of coffee in his hand. Fuck, what a night!
As the Chief of Emergency Medicine at Macconwood Memorial, David had many duties. True, he was responsible for the successful planning, directing, and coordination of medical services provided in the Emergency Department, but he was also a damn fine doctor and surgeon.
As a Werewolf, David’s heightened senses allowed him to diagnose and treat traumas and ailments with a speed most normals could only wonder at. He’d been called many things over the years, a hard-ass amongst them, and tonight he had been one such hard-ass.
A local drug-addict, whom David had personally warned not to try to use his staff to get his fix of prescription meds, had been back again tonight. Only this time, the man hadn’t just injured himself in a head-on collision on the nearby Parkway. No, he’d brought his three-year old daughter with him.
Refusing to pass the case on, David spent the last three hours repairing the multitude of injuries to the girl’s fragile young body. She’d had several broken bones, fractured ribs, and a serious concussion. With a lot of rest and some prayer, she’d be able to walk again. He frowned as he went over the procedure in his mind. He’d done everything he could, at least he was certain she’d gotten the best care available. Now, it was in God’s hands.
He’d just finished talking to the girl’s mother, who’d been frantic with worry. She’d explained that her daughter’s father had weekly visitation rights and he’d gone to pick her up from the pre-school that day. She’d had no idea he’d be driving her around or she’d never allowed it. Usually, when he remembered, he would take the girl to the local fast food place for an hour and bring her home.
“Ricky’s got problems, but I’d never dreamed he’d bring Joelle into them! My poor baby, thank you for helping her, and please, don’t judge her by his mistakes,” she’d begged David to understand that she’d met her ex years ago. They’d both been into partying, but the second she’d found out she was pregnant, she’d been sober.
He’d done his best to reassure the woman. After hours in surgery, he’d called for a nurse to bring her to sit with her daughter. Family bonds sped up healing. It was like a magical connection between loved ones increased the body and mind’s ability to get well. David had witnessed it too often to question such things. Call it magic or miracle, it simply was.
He sat down behind his desk and rubbed his eyelids. It had only been hours since he’d seen Cassie, but it felt as if a hundred years had passed since then. Still, even the very thought of his mate set his Wolf at ease.
His job was high pressure, beyond a doubt, but as a Shifter he’d handled plenty of rough double and even triple shifts. The last thirty hours had been different though.
David missed her. He missed his mate. He looked down at his cell phone and smiled. Just before his last patient had been rushed in, David texted Cassie. He felt foolish for all of two seconds, but then he’d gotten caught up in the conversation.
Damn, she was special. So beautiful and open with him. He felt like a shit for not taking the time to tell her the truth about himself or his rapidly developing feelings for her. He reminded himself that she was a normal and she was used to a slower-paced type of dating.
His Wolf snarled in his mind’s eye. The beast wanted to claim her and mark her now. Fuck taking it slow. David told his other half to back down. He knew what he was doing. The instinct to mate her was strong and growing every day. He needed to tell her. Grrr. Soon.
It was all he could do to soothe the beast. His door opened, and he looked up, surprised to find Cael standing in his office with a garment bag over one arm and a bag of takeout in the other.
“Hey bro, I figured you’d still be here. Rayne asked me to bring you your tux and, since you’ve been here for over a day, she said I should get you some chow too, hungry?” Cael grinned and David stood and indicated a small table and chairs set to the right of his desk.
“You are a lifesaver, Cael, I was gonna try and hunt down a patient tray and take a shower before I headed to the cleaners to grab my tux! You saved me a lot of time! Thanks! Hey, did she pack my shoes too?”
“You know it! That woman of mine is a damn miracle,” he grinned like a man content with his life and yet, David was simply happy for his little brother. No more jealousy. This time he only felt anticipation. He’d found his mate. Now, he just had to tell her.
“So, what’s going on?”
“You know, busy, why? What’s up?” David spoke in between bites of chicken with broccoli and pork lo mein. His favorite dishes from a local take-out joint.
“Well, now that I’m back in the finance department, I’ve been earing some rumors,” Cael hedged, and David motioned for him to continue.
“A certain dashing young doctor has been spending time with a charming female around the hospital?” Cael waggled his eyebrows up and down.
“What?” David almost choked laughing at Cael, but seriously Cassie had only been to the hospital once that he could recall. Someone must have seen her and started a rumor.
“I guess, but you know man, I told you about her,” David said.
“Wait, she’s the one you mentioned to me? Hmm, but why didn’t you tell me she was a Werewolf?”
“Wait? What? Cassie is a not a Wolf,” now David was confused.
“But you just said the hospital rumors were true?”
“What rumors, Cael? I assumed you meant from the day she came here when I gave her stitches?”
“What? You gave her stitches? What the fuck, bro?”
David rolled his eyes and went into the story of how he and Cassie met. He glossed over some of the details his nosy younger brother did not need to know. Like how sweet and delicious his delectable little mate was.
“Anyway, she’s it for me. My Wolf and I want her. She’s mine.”
“Wow! Did you tell her yet?”
“No, but I plan on it. Tonight, after the ball,” David got a semi just thinking about his sweet Cassie and how good it would feel to hold her in his arms at the ball tonight.
He would always want her, that much he knew. He could only hope she wouldn’t reject him, but he knew better. She had to care for him. His Cassie was too sweet an honest to make love with him like that without giving some of her heart in the process.
His head was full of thoughts on how he’d tell her the truth about himself. The fact that he was a Werewolf and that he believed she was his mate. Two beings the Fates had designed specifically for each other.
Something hovered around the background of all his plans. He wondered who the heck Cael was talking about when he mentioned rumors floating around the hospital if not Cassie? She was his only woman. His mate.
“So, if you and this normal are mates, and dating,” he smirked at David and David punched him in the shoulder, “Geez, ease up, man. No, but for real, man, why is talk flying around about that new blonde nurse?”
David’s mind blanked. They had like a dozen blonde nurses at Macconwood Memorial. He knew them all by face and name, but he certainly wasn’t dating any of them.
Part of his job was to supervise the doctors, talk to the trustees, advise the board, and increase overall efficiency of the Emergency Department. He did not micromanage other departments, and the nursing staff had their own Chief.
“I don’t know what you are talking about, Cael, I’ve been nothing but professional to the nursing staff.”
“Well, you see, the rumor is that one of those new nursing transfers has got her sights set on marrying a big doctor, you apparently, and worse, she’s got connections,” Cael went on and on, but David could only half listen. His Wolf wanted his mate, and David had no time for rumors.
“Look man, I have no idea what any of that is about. Just people talking shit I guess. Anyway, I need to get dressed. Thanks so much for this! Will you be going to the ball tonight?”
“Uh, I’m not sure, Rayne gets tired so easily these days.”
“It’s to be expected, Daddy,” David smiled at Cael’s sudden paleness.
“Whoa,” realization dawned on him and he cursed himself a thoughtless fool, “Easy man, we are not our father, and you and Rayne will make amazing parents.”
David felt the tension in his brother ease through their familial and Pack bonds. Both brothers had been affected by their father’s abuse, but he knew in his heart and soul that they were nothing like that pitiful excuse for a human being. Just like David knew without a doubt that Cassie would be an amazing mother and mate. Mine.
Cael nodded and left not too long after. The brothers had always shared a special relationship. Their traumatic childhood brought them together in ways others could only imagine. When Cael had been falsely accused of stealing from the hospital a few years back it had almost destroyed his younger sibling. Rayne had helped bring Cael back from his forced isolation and with a little help, they’d cleared his name.
He trusted Cael implicitly. If his brother said someone was spreading a rumor about him and some nurse, it was probably true. David tried to recall exactly what his brother said, but he couldn’t. At the time, his mind had wandered to Cassie and he’d missed most of it.
He didn’t have time to call his brother now. He needed to get ready for the ball. And for Cassie.
Mistletoe, here I come!