The Woodland Packs

He turned and fled, and I turned my attention back to the woman before me.

“Doctor…?”

“I’m Doctor Claire Masterson. I’m the physician treating your father.”

“Claire…” I managed to say her name, even though all I wanted to do was put her over my shoulder and throw her into the back of our truck.

She looked at me strangely again. I obviously wasn’t behaving normally, and I didn’t want to scare her off. But how to do that?

“I’m sorry, Doctor. Please continue.”

She straightened up, her throat working up and down as she swallowed hard. The woman looked almost as uncomfortable as I was. Perhaps she felt this strange electric connection too?

I’d suggest when she meets him originally saying that a cardiologist had been paged to take over his father’s case and she was just there to update him.

“Your father had a massive heart attack. A cardiologist has been paged, and I believe they will operate tonight, inserting stents into his abdominal aorta. I’m here to give you an update and to let you know that there is a good chance of him surviving.”

Thank you, God.

Relief winged through my heart with such intensity, it robbed me of breath for a moment.

I’d talked myself into thinking there was no way my father could die today, but from the look of this woman’s face, it was a very real possibility.

My mother had said she couldn’t live without my father, and hopefully she wouldn’t have to. Not for another three decades or so.

“How long until he can come home?”

She cocked her head to the side. “Let’s take this one day at a time.”

I ignored her human pragmaticism. She didn’t understand what my father was, nor what his healing capacities were.

“We live an hour away. I need to get my mother in to see him. If you could give me a rough estimate, I can let her know.”

Claire hugged the clip board to her chest. “Best case scenario, he may be home within two weeks. But he’ll need to be managed by a local doctor.”

She didn’t know that my dad’s shifter genes would heal him if the doctors could repair the damage to his heart.

“Thank you, Doctor.”

I extended my hand to shake hers, my arm trembling with anticipation of her touch. According to the old stories passed down by my parents and pack elders, I would know my mate the moment I touched her.

Claire reached over and took my hand.

Her gasp was as loud as mine, the electricity pulsing between us like a thunderstorm on a dark night.

It would have taken out my knees if I wasn’t so determined to stand.

Claire wasn’t so lucky. Her eyes rolled back into her head and she began to crumple to the ground. I stepped forward and swept her up into my arms before she hit the floor.

Her eyes fluttered as she struggled to stay awake. She stared up at me with a confused expression, her eyelids dropping to half-mast. “What happened?”

“The mating call.”

Her eyes closed and her body went limp in my arms.

I looked around. No one had noticed what had happened yet. There was plenty of activity, and the medical professionals all seemed to be concentrating on the task at hand and not the room at large.

I turned slowly and began walking towards the hospital exit doors.