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Fine. I took my skin and put on my clothes, minus my underwear, and tossed the ragged remains in a garbage bin.
“Hey, who are you and what are you doing here? Where’s your ID badge?” Another security guard glared at me, his nostrils flared.
Gods, not again. Words wouldn’t satisfy him, so I took off. He was human and he wouldn’t catch me, so I raced out of the hospital complex, around the block, and into a clothing store where I bought a loud patterned shirt and a bucket hat.
Clad in my new clothes, I made my way back to the hospital entrance, I veered to the right toward the Emergency Department. Edgar was eating the candy bar while his mom spoke to a doctor.
But as I sat with Edgar, an older man barreled into the room. Waylon’s dad, Andrew, the former snow leopard Alpha. He was now Isabella’s mate and the dad to their kids, including Edgar. Andrew picked up his son and kissed him before examining his wound and hugging his mate.
I bid them goodbye after Andrew thanked me for looking after his family.
Now can I shift? My beast was eager to find our mate.
No. We need a plan. You can’t scent him when he’s in a car.
The guy could be anywhere by now. While I should have been bereft at losing my mate’s scent, I was ecstatic at discovering I did have a mate. I had to tell Jonah and Dylan and Isabella. Waylon and Daxon were on holiday. Maybe I could text them, I’ve found my mate. Yippee. But I also lost him.
It was probably best I put a pause on the announcement until I’d met the guy.
Instead of leaving, I sat in my car, pondering how to find my one true love. I could put a notice on the Snowford notice board in the community center. Or the digital version on the sizzle website.
But if he wasn’t a snow leopard or he didn’t live in the area, he wouldn’t see it. Maybe an old-style notice in the grocery store window or Damon’s coffee shops, as the Alpha Omega also had a second venue in another part of town.
I could hire a loudspeaker and drive up and down the streets of Oakheart, but I might get arrested for disturbing the peace. Maybe if I stayed here in the parking lot at the hospital overnight, the guy might come back in the morning.
My phone beeped, reminding me I had a plumbing job at Cecily’s house at 4 p.m. She was a member of the snow leopard council and she had a toilet that wouldn’t stop running. It should be an easy fix, but I refused to cancel because I was thinking about my mate. Maybe I could engage Cecily in conversation and ask her advice.
Reluctantly, I started the car and drove to Cecily’s. Like most of the council members who’d been the first to buy the unfinished houses in the area that became Snowford, Cecily lived within walking distance of the community center.
She greeted me with a smile and said there was coffee and cake when I was done. As well as the toilet, she had a leaking tap, but I was finished in fifteen minutes.
“Tell me. What’s going on in your life, Anders.”
I warmed my hands on the coffee cup, wondering if I should spill the details of my day.
Chapter 5
Brett
I adjusted my scrubs, the fabric stiff and uncomfortable. But that had been the theme since I scented my mate. I was uncomfortable in my hooves, my skin, my bed, the shower… I’d been uncomfortable every waking second, and I had come to accept that I’d continue to be so until I either found my mate or took my last breath.
Melodramatic? Me? Pretty much. But that was my current reality, and I couldn’t pull myself from it.
The hospital had the same sterile smell, a blend of antiseptic and something I couldn’t quite place, but it was oddly comforting in its own way. My mate’s scent no longer clung to the air, and it was both a blessing and a curse. I missed it, but I also knew that having it here would hinder my ability to do my job, and my patients deserved better than that.
The fluorescent lights buzzed softly above, casting a pale glow over the patient lying in bed, the buzz from them louder than normal. They really needed to upgrade to LED lighting.
In the bed was an older woman, her looks epitomizing the stereotypical grandmother from storybooks right down to her white hair neatly braided over one shoulder. The lines on her face were deep, but her eyes sparkled with warmth and vitality. I immediately liked her. There was something so warm about her presence. It wasn’t my first time seeing her today, and once again I wished she were a shifter so I could confide in her and gain her insight.
“Good morning, Mrs. Harrison,” I greeted, forcing a smile. I picked up her chart, quickly scanning it before setting it aside. One day they would have all of this on computers. Today was not that day. It was currently a mishmash of the two. “How are we feeling today?”
“Better than yesterday, dear,” she replied, her voice a soft rasp. “But I’ve been better.” She chuckled lightly, a sound that seemed to come from deep within her chest.
“And tomorrow you’ll be even better yet.” I grabbed the blood pressure cuff from my cart. “It’s time for vitals.”
“I hate that stupid thing.” She pointed to the blood pressure cuff.
She wasn’t alone in that. To some people, it was painful.
