by Ellie Pond
Elizabeth snorted. She didn’t snort. Why would she want to know anything about Theodore—Tad? Tad Larsen. No, she didn’t need this right now. Not ever. Ten minutes with the male and now she yelled, snorted, shook, and poked. She didn’t need any of the sexy male’s nonsense.
“I hope you change your mind.” Anna left without a fight, which was worrisome.
Elizabeth did her best to not look in Tad’s cousin’s exam room.
* * *
“You’re sure the cub is okay?”
“More than okay; it’s doing well. There is a little thing I want to talk to you about. Nothing we can’t handle.” She took off her gloves. The father’s eyes were bulging. She talked faster. “You’re a wolf shifter.” She pointed to the father.
“Right. What is going on with my cub, doctor?” The female took her husband’s hand.
“Nothing’s wrong. Only your doctor on land didn’t calculate your due date properly.”
“What? I’m a bear shifter, doctor. We carry our cubs the same amount of time as humans, if not a little longer.”
“Except for the fact that you’re having a wolf cub.” The couple was certain about the earliest she could have gotten pregnant. They’d been mated a little under three months. She was having a wolf cub for sure. The exam Elizabeth just finished had the baby’s head in position and the mother was starting to dilate.
“Oh.” Her mouth stayed open in a perfectly round circle.
“What does that mean?” The mate stared at the doctor.
“Twenty-four weeks pregnant is only a little bit over the middle of the second trimester for a bear; for a wolf it’s full term.”
He sank to the floor, his face next to his mate’s belly. “The cub’s almost here.” His face opened as he blinked away tears at his love.
“Your sister was right. She said I looked bigger than twenty-four weeks.”
Elizabeth didn’t shake her head. No pregnant female wanted to be called huge, but her patient was exactly that. She measured the mother’s belly. Having a measurement would be good to track her, only there wasn’t a lot of time for tracking. “The cub’s almost here. You’re in early labor. It could be a while, though. You’re welcome to wait here. But I have an idea. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be back.” She left the couple holding hands.
She didn’t intentionally glance into his cousin’s room, but she did. Tad was gone. A little crestfallen and confused, she headed to her office. With a quick call to the bridge and one to the front desk, she went back to the exam room.
“I’m back.”
The father sat on the table, legs spread, and his mate was nestled in-between his legs, her head resting on his chest. “How’s it going in here?” Elizabeth asked.
“Good. Just trying to get comfortable. How are we going to do this, doctor? Will I have to fly home?”
She didn’t laugh. This cub would be born on a ship, not a plane. “You don’t have time to fly. You’re having slight contractions already. I talked to the first officer. We’re going to move your room. There’s a suite open. When the time comes, I’ll come to you. It has a nice big tub and plenty of space for us to work in the bedroom. We have a port day tomorrow, but it’s Dark Wing’s private island. There’s a triage center there, but no doctor. The next port is Port-au-Prince, but they don’t have a sizeable shifter population, and no doctors that specialize in shifters. This cub will be here before we arrive at Port-au-Prince, anyway. You’ll come back to Florida on your cub-moon, with your cub. How does that sound?”
“Crazy. We’ll get to meet the little guy soon. It is a male? They got that right?” The mother rubbed her belly.
She laughed. “Guess we’ll wait and see. I’m sorry, our ultrasound machine isn’t working.” A fearful patient on the last cruise had accidentally broken both the X-ray machine and ultrasound when he stepped away from Nurse Anna who was attempting to take his blood and he sat on both machines. Medic Mike was trying to fix them, but they had new ones on order that would be delivered at the end of this cruise.
“Nurse Anna will be in—she’ll get you all set up. Your wristbands will open both rooms for a day to give you time to move your things over, the front desk told me. And we’ll be coming by to set up some equipment. Get some rest. You can eat until you feel some big contractions. Make sure you call the infirmary. Either I or Katie, the ship’s physician assistant, will be right up. Any questions?”
They blinked. “Tons . . . that I’ll think of as soon as you leave,” the mom-to-be laughed.
Elizabeth walked out of the room but turned to say something and she caught the couple in a kiss.
7
Red Marks
He moved to the other side of the waiting room, away from the door to the infirmary. Nurse Anna had put a wedge of wood under the door from the back room to the waiting room. She mumbled something about how it gets hot back there. She fanned herself. Odd—he didn’t think it was warm in the backroom when he’d been with Aurora or Duncan.
Maybe he should have been sitting back with Duncan. Gunnar and Spencer were there—Gunnar’s laugh occasionally floated down the hall. If Tad sat back there he would have to listen to Gunnar complaining about not having special time with Michele—sex. The blonde witch was trouble. Gunnar was too, but differently. Why had she interfered with Duncan’s fight? And he couldn’t talk about the witch in front of Spencer. But mostly he didn’t want to listen to Gunnar. Lately, the guy exhausted him.
Tad wasn’t ready to let them know he’d found his mate—was he even admitting that she was his mate? Not yet. He wasn’t sure, so not yet. What proof did he have, other than his hard cock and his overactive libido? Gunnar’s ribbing with the undertone of jealously no doubt would be infuriating.
Aurora kicked him out of her exam room and said that if she had to wait to see if they could fix the X-ray machine, she’d take a nap.
No denying it, Dr. Cottage pulled at him. His plan to ignore her was bound to collapse. An extraordinarily sexy female with auburn hair and ivory skin, tall with lush curves. Up close, she smelled of lime and cherries. And the scent drove him crazy. Never had he had such issues keeping his wolf in check.
She hadn’t liked it when he questioned her diagnosis. Which was correct. He stunk at treating people he cared about as patients, always thinking things were worse. But he liked the pink color that flushed over the slight amount of chest he could see and up her neck to her cheeks when he challenged her. The doc’s ass, even in the scrubs, made him weak.
The focus he used to keep his wolf suppressed also kept the messy emotions out of his life. The base instincts of his wolf, he understood—sleep, food, and sex. But his wolf pushed a second round of needs at him, ones for things he didn’t want. Love and companionship. Those divided him. He didn’t need those. They were a waste of time. And wasting time was his biggest peeve.
He growled and opened his book. The plastic chairs cut him. He was a shifter, an average shifter—why did they have human-sized dinky waiting room chairs on a ship for shifters? He read three pages of his book. And read the same few pages again. And read them again, his mind wandering every time the doctor’s scent drifted out into the waiting room.
He snapped his book shut. Perhaps he’d go back to Duncan’s room. He stopped at the propped-open door. Dr. Cottage was talking to an older woman in the closest exam room. She was explaining everything to the woman with care and patience, listening to the stories the woman told. When the woman had settled, Elizabeth told her she’d be right back with some instructions, and Tad darted away from the door back to his chair on the far corner, his book open by the time Nurse Anna came out.
“Hello, Mr. Larsen.” She sat down in the chair across from him.
They eyed each other. “Can I help you?” he said.
“I’m sure you can.” She leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms over her chest.
They glared at each other. He put his book down on the chair next to him. “How?”
�
�Tell me about yourself.”
“Excuse me?” He pushed back in his chair.
“This isn’t an interview, Mr. Larsen. It’s my interrogation for a woman I consider family.”
“And does she know you’re out here?”
“Hell, no. And it is going to stay that way.”
Tad nodded. “Theodore Larsen, friends call me Tad. Wolf shifter, libra. I’ll turn forty October sixth of this year. I like long walks on the beach.”
“Lie.”
“Puma. I thought panther. Right—no, I hate walking on the beach. It’s boring. If I must go to the beach, I need a drink and a book.”
“Truth.”
“Are you going to give me any information? In return?”
She stood and walked over to the front door where a display of the infirmary staff’s pictures and bios hung. She read from the wall. “Dr. Elizabeth Cottage joined the Dark Wing Medical staff as the chief medical officer two years ago. Dr. Cottage specializes in shifter medicine and shifter longevity research.” She blinked at him. “Where are you from, Theodore?”
“Tad. New York.”
“Lie.”
“Really interesting. I was born in Pennsylvania, but I’ve lived in New York for almost twenty years.”
“What do you do for a living?”
“Now: teacher, Kunyon ball coach. I even coached a mite hockey team last year—the little six-year-olds. And I started volunteering as an EMT with my brother’s fire department.”
She squinted at him. “Are you trying to stump me on purpose?”
“Most definitely.”
“You’re not going to be able to, but I like your shameless audacity. Siblings?”
“The firefighter brother, three sisters. All pains, some more than others. Dad’s gone. Mom helps those clowns back there run the family construction business.”
“Are you a jerk?” Pumas could be impossible.
“Depends who you ask.”
“Truth.”
“Are you going to hurt my friend?”
“Not on purpose.”
“Truth. Okay, Tad, good luck.” Why did it sound like she was sending him off to war? She got up. And he followed her into the back. She raised a perfectly arched eyebrow.
“Think I’ll check on Duncan.”
She nodded to him and sat down at her desk.
He expected to see Aurora asleep, but another nurse passed her paperwork as he walked by. He waved and entered.
“Hey, the X-ray machine is down for the night. They’re sending me to my cabin and I’m supposed to come back tomorrow after lunch.” She held up her wrapped ankle.
“Crutches or a scooter?” the nurse said.
“I don’t care, really,” Aurora said as Spencer joined them.
“Crutches,” Tad said in unison with Spencer, whose posture mimicked his own.
“Why? Scooters have wheels.” Aurora sounded so hopeful.
“Exactly! Wheels.” Tad pointed to her leg.
“You’ll fly off the side of the ship,” Spencer said.
“I will not.” Aurora glanced at Tad for support.
“Don’t look at me. I’m on his side. Remember that time you went four-wheeling by yourself?”
“That’s different. There’s no motor involved here.”
“You hadn’t turned it on yet.”
“That doesn’t count.” Aurora sat on the side of the exam table. “Fine. Crutches,” she gave in. To the nurse it must have looked like a bunch of bossy males telling Aurora what to do. But the girl was a danger to herself. And wheels? Unless someone else was steering the small device, nope. Remarkably, Aurora drove a car superbly.
“Crutches—you’re sure?” the nurse asked.
“I’m sure,” she said, resolute.
The nurse handed her a bunch of paperwork to sign and left to get her the crutches. Tad paged through the well-written instructions and gave them back to Aurora.
Gunnar joined them as the nurse returned.
“If you change your mind, you can drop by and exchange it for a scooter.”
“Scooter?” Gunnar said.
“Not you too? It’s fine, I’ll use the crutches.”
“Duncan kicked me out, said he’d make it back to the cabin on his own when they release him. He’s in a piss of a mood. But he’s healing up. He’s going to take a nap.”
Aurora practiced on her crutches. He noticed the grimace on her face when Gunnar mentioned Duncan.
“Are you coming?” Aurora called after him.
“I’m going to hang out here for a while. I’ll bring you back for your X-ray tomorrow.”
Spencer growled.
Aurora smacked him. “He’s a doctor. Stop it.” The three of them hobbled out, Spencer and Gunnar hovered over Aurora as she swung the crutches.
Doctor Cottage stood in the exam room across the hall talking to the expectant parents. Tad stood to the side and listened, jumping back into Aurora’s empty room before she pivoted back to the hall. She was a solid doctor.
The nurse returned to clean up the room, and he headed back to Duncan’s room to wait. Duncan was asleep, his chest slowly moving. The stupid kid. Tad stood in the doorway, and when Elizabeth returned to the pregnant bear’s room, he listened in the hallway again. The confidence she exuded in front of her patients turned him on, and this time when she pivoted to the hallway, he only had a moment to duck into Aurora’s empty exam room. From his angle he couldn’t see into the other exam room, but his sensitive hearing told him the couple in the other room were kissing. And his mate? She was watching.
He suppressed a growl.
8
No Time for the Pain
“I didn’t think you would be into voyeurism. But then again, I didn’t think you existed. So, there’s that.” His breath tickled the back of her neck.
She jumped, her backside flattening against the wall. “Mr. Larsen, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She wasn’t ready for this conversation. He might not be her mate, but all of the symptoms fit. Her heart raced, but that could happen for a simple attraction—although she had trained herself to be immune. He smelled good. Too good. She needed to move away from him and his delectable scent. His eyes dilated when she talked to him. Check. No way of telling if hers were dilated too, but she wouldn’t be surprised if they were. The tone of his voice made her wet. Luckily, his arrogance and pompous know-it-all attitude slowed down her lust. She stepped back, her back brushing the wall of the hallway as she slid towards her office.
“I was talking to Nurse Smithfield,” he said. “She’s nice.”
Why did that bother her? Anna was nice. The best—exceptional, to be exact. A staunch friend. She pursed her lips at the impossible male.
“She said that you’re an expert.”
“How complimentary of her.”
He’d moved closer to her. She sidestepped him to get back to the safety zone of her office. Her office with the nice door that didn’t slam.
Heat flushed up her neck. Another sign of mates. Double fudge. She wanted to look in the mirror to see if it was visible. And then she needed to start a file of her symptoms.
He brushed her arm, stopping her. “We need to talk.”
Elizabeth glared at his hand still around her arm. Her eyes traveled from his hand, to his face, and back to his hand again. “You need to let go, now.”
Tad released her arm, and something flashed across his face. Was it regret? “I apologize. I don’t know why I did that. It’s not like me at all.”
Elizabeth pursed her lips. “I accept your apology. I’m busy,” she snapped and stomped the few remaining steps towards her office.
“Well, you have a room for me.”
“What?”
“You heard what I said. You have a room for me.”
She questioned him with a glance.
“It’s called a waiting room. So, I guess I’ll wait until you’re not busy.”
“That’ll be a long time.” She close
d the door, and it latched with a slow click. The skin where he had touched her tingled, but not because he had hurt her. No. In fact, the warmth danced through her.
She snapped her head up to a light rap on her door. Go away. “Who is it?” Her voice pitched from her normal alto to a crackled great-grandma soprano.
“Anna.”
“Come in.”
Anna walked in with purpose.
“Is he out there?” She hadn’t been this unsettled since her relationship with her first shifter boyfriend in college. The comparison scared her.
“Who?”
Elizabeth sat at her desk. “Your new best friend, that’s who. What did you tell him about me?” Had she fallen into a high school portal? High school had stunk the first time around.
“Nothing that’s not on your ship bio.” Anna had her arms crossed across her chest and her head tilted in that way that meant Elizabeth would get a talking to. Elizabeth was no puma, but her friend had a few tells that screamed loud and clear. She waited for her to start.
“What?” Anna said.
“Just figured you would lecture me or something.”
“Now, what would I have to lecture you on, anyway?”
She glanced at Anna. She could pretend there was nothing going on, too. “Are there more patients in the waiting room?”
“Nope. As soon as the two wolf shifters kick their healing in, you’re done. The bear shifter is gone already. Any plans for the rest of the night? You’re usually up for a few more hours at least.”
“I think I’ll head straight to bed.” She stretched.
Anna glanced at her watch. “In bed before midnight? The only time that’s happened, the stomach flu kept you there for two days. Are you sick?” Anna tilted her head and pursed her lips.
“No. I’m tired,” she blurted out.
“Not trying to avoid anyone who might be waiting for you in the waiting room?”
Elizabeth gave her the I have no idea what you’re talking about stare. “Absolutely not.” Yes.
