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The scent was faded, cleaning supplies far overpowering it, but it was still solid enough that I wasn’t worried about losing it. I relaxed slightly as we passed the two “heavy hitter” rooms. Everyone else was divided by curtains, but those two spaces were designed for emergency patients with the greatest needs or sometimes the greatest risk of spreading their illness. My mate hadn’t entered those spaces, thank fuck.
But as I wound around the ER, I ended up back outside and to the parking lot where the trail went cold.
My mate was gone.
He’d been here.
Now he wasn’t.
I should’ve been happy. He was healthy enough to go home. That was a bazillion times better than being in the ICU.
But he was gone, and while I didn’t know a great deal about him, I knew he wasn’t admitted and that he wasn’t a co-worker. It was hardly enough to give me a solid lead, but it was something.
Unsure what to do next, I went to see what I could find out from the emergency department. I didn’t really know anybody in the ER, but one of the people I’d met on my tour was a squirrel shifter. If anyone understood what I needed, it would be them, right?
I went and found them, asking them if they knew anything about any shifters that were there. Unfortunately, the scent alone wasn’t letting me know the beast. Sadly, they’d been on vacation for a week and this was the end of their first shift back. They’d been really sweet and promised to tell me anything they might learn.
Mate, my unicorn grumbled. Mate.
I know. I miss him too.
Find.
I will. But first I need to work. There wouldn’t be any fresh veggies without me making enough to buy my beast the finer things.
That had him calming down. Not by much, but enough to focus on getting to my floor and starting my new shift. As much as I wanted to trace my mate across the city, I needed this job.
My mate could be anyone. The only bright side was that he was most likely a local. It wasn’t the time of year when tourists would come to camp—too much rain. That meant he was most probably from around here. And if that was the case, I’d find him. It might take longer than I wanted, which was more than turning around and having him walk in right this second, but I’d get to him.
Giving up sucked. But that was all I could do. I needed this job. And more importantly, the patients needed me. They had to come first.
It didn’t matter how lonely I’d been since long before I accepted this job. That wasn’t going to change a single thing, not when it came to my mate. The best… the only course of action was doing my job while I was here and using my awake time to scent them and let them know that I was theirs… and they were mine.
Chapter 4
Anders
“Be quiet, please,” a bunch of nurses hissed as I rounded a corner, searching for my mate.
I’d have to use my nose and not my voice.
My beast harrumphed. Should have done that in the first place.
But the scent was everywhere, on the walls, the floor, in a storeroom that I slipped into when I wasn’t supposed to. I’d search one floor and then race back to emergency to check on Edgar and Isabella. Poor Edgar was being so brave about getting stitches.
I bought Isabella a lousy hospital coffee and a candy bar for Edgar, both from a vending machine.
Ewww! My beast did the beast version of flapping a paw in front of his face. That stinks!
Coming from a snow leopard who tore animals apart with his bare teeth, that was saying something. But he was right, the coffee smelled like stewed drain water.
Gross!
I apologized to my friend as I handed over the coffee. Edgar’s teary eyes lit up on sighting the candy, and Isabella gulped down the coffee. Maybe she needed the caffeine and didn’t notice the taste or the smell.
After studying the information board, I took the stairs down to the canteen. Sniffing between and under tables got me weird looks from staff and visitors.
“Looking for my wallet,” I said as I tried to get into the kitchen, only to be met with a huge wolf shifter, his arms crossed and his beast showing in his gaze.
