by Ellie Pond
At almost 3:00 a.m., Katie wasn’t getting a great deal.
“First, I insist you go get some air or food. Or both, even.” Katie smiled like she’d tricked her into something that she actually wanted.
“Thanks,” Elizabeth said.
Katie hugged her.
She stopped by her office and, with impressive effort, ignored the piles of paper sitting on her desk, along with the plans for the lab addition and the stack of emails she’d printed. The ones the captain tried to hide from her. Elizabeth grabbed a sweater that she hadn’t worn in ages from the hook in her office and fixed her hair into another messy bun. She waved goodbye to Anna and bypassed the elevator for the stairs. She should eat. The last thing she had was the milkshake at the Bjørn Bar yesterday. She’d been distracted and hadn’t eaten anything when Tad met her and Anna on the pool deck.
It was close to three in the morning. Anxiety pulsed through her, and she opted to get her heart rate up. Elizabeth exited the crew service stairs on the Panther deck. She loved this time of day on the ship. All the revelers were on their way to their cabins and the early morning joggers weren’t up yet. The moon sat low on the horizon. It was large and golden this morning. The ocean breeze blew chilly against her skin. She plunged her cold, balled-up hands into the pockets of her sweater. Something crinkled in her pocket. Leaning on the rail, she stopped and pulled a note out.
She hadn’t worn this sweater since her birthday last fall. She smoothed out the crumpled note in Mother's handwriting. On her birthday she’d gotten distracted by something that’d happened in the infirmary. That portion of her day faded away already. She’d carried the card and box around in her pocket and opened it on her way to pick up dinner. The empty box was discarded, while the locket went on her neck. She’d put the note in her pocket. It didn’t deserve the crumple it received. It was sweet, really. It said she missed her and wished her a happy year.
And the locket was nice: understated, small, and—knowing her mother—expensive. And inside lay a sweet picture. But more than the sweetness, it represented a turning point. The small image of Dad and her. A pigtailed six-year-old smiling up at her father. One of her earliest memories. The day she told her father she wanted to be a doctor. It might have been the last day she didn’t feel pressure to be better than she was. That began her striving for the next thing. Get the best grades in elementary school, to get into the best high school, to get into the best college, to get into the best medical school, to get into the best research program. Always the next. This unbelievable grit she had had become her curse.
She placed the folded note back into her pocket and climbed the stairs from the rear Panther deck to the top pool deck. The coffee shop next to the large pool would be open. Most of the kitchens were closed at this late hour.
She thought about what Anna had said. There was no one else who could ever match what Tad had given her in just a week. Anxiety raced through her as she remembered seeing the other wolf tear into his leg. She never went to cage matches, preferring to stay impartial. She never wanted something that happened in a match to keep her from treating a patient fairly. And while rationally she would never act that way, she didn’t want her subconscious to have a reason either.
She tugged on the oversized door to the coffee shop. A couple sat next to each other, sharing a massive ice-cream sundae.
A strawberry-blonde with a mass of hair piled on top of her head jumped up from a chair behind the counter. “Dr. Cottage, you’re up later than normal. Hope everything is okay?” said Colette, the server that often brought her dinner to the officers’ dining room.
She found a smile. “Everything’s fine. It’s been a long week. I’m looking for a bite to eat before I head back to the infirmary. I haven’t seen you working at the coffee shop before.”
“Yeah, well, it’s a punishment. You don’t want a latte or anything, I hope? I haven’t got a clue how to do it. I’ve been faking it for the last three hours. Luckily, most everyone who’s come in has been a little drunk. I’ve just been giving them coffee with milk and a Russian roulette of drink syrups.”
“Punishment?”
“No worries. I let male troubles get in the way of being on time for my shift. The dining room supervisor found a few extra shifts for me. No big deal. I did the crime, I’ll do my time. What about a bagel with lox and the works?”
“Sounds great. And black coffee.”
“Not feeling lucky?”
“I am already. Very lucky.”
Elizabeth kept her back to the canoodling couple while Colette made her sandwich. Her hand found the note in her pocket again. There it was. Tad wasn't just the next thing, he was the thing. Her person. The one who she could be herself around. Neither of them needed to look for the next thing anymore. Sure, there were other tasks to tackle, but in sharing the distance they would find fulfillment while tackling instead of searching. The realization of it made her laugh and laugh harder.
Colette put the sandwich in a bag and handed it and the coffee to her. “Are you okay?” she said with a quizzical smirk.
“Never been better.” Elizabeth smiled.
32
Snow White
Mike was on call, but the rest of the staff were off for the night. Landon and Tad were the only two patients in the infirmary. Both were stable and asleep. Elizabeth made her rounds, checked in on them both and then sat down next to Tad. His vitals were normal. She had things to do, but they could wait. She touched his hand. He was awake, but his eyes were closed.
“You’re still here? You should have said something.” Tad hadn’t opened his eyes.
“You were asleep,” she chuckled. He shouldn’t still be loopy.
“I thought you would kiss me like I’m Snow White.”
“Does that make me a dwarf then? Which one?”
“Guess?”
She laughed. “Sneezy?” She wasn’t going to say Doc.
“I didn’t know if you would be here when I woke up.”
“I’m here. Where else would I be?” She rubbed her thumb around the backside of his hand.
“I don’t know. Out to lunch with Phillip?” He cocked an eyebrow at her and grimaced.
“We’re at sea today. Do you need something for the pain?”
“No. Right, sea day. No Phillip.”
“No Phillip.” She ran her hand along his arm. “No more Phillip ever again.”
“I like that.” His eyes closed again.
“I thought you would.”
Tad sat up a little, and he moaned as the bandage at his shoulder went taut.
“Easy. I had to sew you back together and you haven’t healed all the way yet.” She moved the pillow around his head. His blue eyes held her. He was a beautiful male.
He pushed himself up the rest of the way and rested his back against the headboard. He lifted the blanket, examining her repairs—bandages around each leg and his torso. There were several others on his hips, and his right hand was wrapped in gauze. His back and shoulder too, but he couldn’t see them. “Did you kiss my boo boos?”
“I sewed you back together—that’s not enough?”
“Nope.”
“I guess I can understand that. You want me to kiss this one?” She pointed to his wrapped left hand.
“It’s a start.”
She gave it a quick kiss. He pulled the cover off so it covered his legs only and pointed to one on his side. She kissed it. He pointed to the skin next to the bandage.
“You’re not injured there.”
“Internal. I’m sure I’m bleeding inside.”
“Well, if your kidney is bleeding, I should really open you up.”
“Nah, a kiss will do.”
“You're sure?”
“Yup.”
She kissed his skin, and goosebumps rose.
“Come here,” he said.
She studied the bed as if she was unsure how to get closer.
“I’m fine.” He scooted over with a grunt and patted the bed next
to him.
Elizabeth, with caution, sat on the edge of the bed. He pulled her to him with a thud and claimed her lips in one motion. She softened to his kiss. She didn’t care that she tasted of lox and onions, he consumed her mouth before she pulled away.
Standing, she sighed and smoothed her lab coat.
* * *
“Hey, is something wrong? We have to talk; I can see that. No more starting at the end or even the middle. Let’s go back to the beginning.” He patted the bed again.
She sat down on the bed with a little extra bounce, sending an extra ripple of vibration. Tad groaned. They stared at each other. Elizabeth bit her lip.
“What do you want to start with?”
“All right then.” She stood again, pacing the room. “You want to tell me why the hell you were in a cage match?” The rawness in their bond flew at him. Still, he had a hard time not laughing. Elizabeth had said ‘hell,’ and coming out of her it sounded so cute. Right. He glanced at her. She wouldn’t appreciate him calling her cute right now. He cleared his throat.
While his body felt like shit, never worse, his wolf lay calmly under his skin, one with him. The battle he had raged last night was more with himself than with Landon. “How is Landon?”
“Right. I’m glad you asked. He’s as shitty as you. What were you thinking?”
“You said . . .”
“Oh no you don’t, mister. This is not my doing. You getting almost killed and almost killing another shifter isn’t my fault.” She shook her arms at her side. He reached a hand out to her. She glared at it. He pulled it back to his side.
“I didn’t say it was your fault. But you were right. I had been out of touch with my wolf. Then, when my binding was taken off, my internal battle became too much. I don’t know what was going on with Landon. I’ve never met him, but something happened to both of us in the fourth round. I would like to talk to him.”
“Well, he’s not going to be up to talking for a day.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah, oh.” Elizabeth paced at the foot of his bed. Waves of anger poured off of his mate.
“Elizabeth, I want to thank you for helping me make the connection. You’re the thing that my wolf and I connected over. Come here, please. I need to touch you.”
She crossed the room with deliberate steps. “It can’t be that easy.”
He shook his head and held out his hand again. “I don’t understand.”
“One match can’t fix everything.”
“True. But it’s a start.” His body relaxed. “I’ll have to keep working at it.”
She sat with more care on the side of his bed this time. His hand found hers.
“Can we go back to the beginning?” He played with her fingers. “On the first night, we both said we didn’t need a mate. I was partially wrong.”
“Partially?”
“Yes, partially I don’t need a mate.”
She stared over his shoulder.
“I don’t need a mate. I need you. Forget the fated mate part. I want you. I don’t know if it’s allowed or how mates of crew work. But as soon as I can help get the Hundsburg pack back on track, I want to be here with you. We’ll make a good team.” She didn’t respond, and his heart waited to beat.
She pulled the folded, crumpled note out of her pocket and held it in front of her.
“What’s that?”
“Tad, I've never met somebody so frustrating, supportive, and amazing at the same time.”
“Thank you, I think?”
“Let me finish.”
He nodded.
“My whole life, it’s always been about the next thing: better grades for better schools, better residencies for a better job.” She pulled the locket out from under her shirt, took it off, and opened it. “This picture of my dad and me—it was taken the day I said I wanted to be a doctor. Most parents would laugh it off, but not mine. They took it as a mission statement: get Elizabeth into medical school.”
“That’s a lot of pressure for a little girl.”
Elizabeth nodded. “The note my mom sent me . . . it says, ‘you have the thing.’ When she called me on my birthday, I thought she was trying to say that my job wasn’t good enough. And I got mad at her. But what she was getting at, I hope, was that it’s okay to be happy where you are, with what you have.”
“Sounds pretty wise to me.”
“Well, she’s been on a spiritual journey, as she calls it, for the last few years.”
This time when he grabbed her waist and pulled her onto the bed, she lay next to him.
Elizabeth’s hands trembled. “I want you too.” She gently cupped the side of his head and pressed a kiss to his forehead.
He groaned. They kissed, and her hand rubbed his bandage. This time the groan was one of pain. She pulled away. Shit. He didn’t want her to move. He grabbed for her waist. But she eased off the bed and held his hand.
33
Doctor a Doctor
He watched her sleep, the rhythm of her chest comforting him. As soon as the first morning nurse turned on the hall lights, Elizabeth wheeled in a narrow cot and put it next to his bed. She’d pulled off her white coat and curled up under a small blanket. She started snoring before he said goodnight. Or good morning.
He couldn’t sleep anymore. His mate’s head lay on his discarded hospital gown, the gown they dressed him in when he was unconscious or drugged up. It scratched him in his sleep. He’d peeled it off and thrown it when he woke up a while ago, before falling back asleep. How it got under her head, he didn’t know.
His body was stiff but mostly healed, other than the gash at his neck. With the blanket peeled back, he bent his leg and removed the gauze from it. The stitches were precise, but they needed to come out soon. An equipment cart lay out of his reach, the IV tethered to the bed, preventing him from moving any more. He didn’t need it. Twisting in bed, he shut it off and removed the needle. He clamped his hand over the wound to keep the blood off the floor. A twinge of guilt hit him. Anna would not be happy about any drops.
As silently as possible, he swung his legs out of bed. He groaned with the first step and glanced over at Elizabeth, but she didn’t move. His ribs weren’t fully healed, and the wound on his other leg was larger than he thought. With two small steps, he reached the cart. He found tape and stopped the bleeding from the removed IV. One large drop of red blood glistened on the floor, with a few smaller ones beside it.
Tad gingerly made his way to the sink next to Elizabeth’s cot. He turned the water on to a trickle and watched her with every move he made; he wanted her to sleep as long as possible. She didn’t stir; he shuffled over to the other side of the room and wiped up the spots.
When he stood back up, Anna glared at him from the hallway. She pointed at the bed. He shook his head no and pointed at the hall. She scowled at him as they pivoted into the corridor. Tad didn’t say anything but marched to the restroom at the end of the hall, naked. He opened the door for Anna.
She held out her hand. “Let me see your hand.” He placed the hand without the tape on it in hers. “The other one. Did you pull it out while you slept?” She glowered up at him.
“No, I pulled it out now. I need to go to the bathroom.”
“Lie. What were you going to do?”
He squinted at her. “I was going to take the stitches out of my leg. They’re healing over. I need a kit.”
“You should be fine until Elizabeth is awake.”
“They’re itching. I checked again. They need to come out.” It was an issue with shifters. Sometimes they needed stitches. Leaving them in too long could cause problems too.
Anna bent over. He turned sideways enough to keep his junk out of her face.
“Alright. Go into the exam room over there.” She pointed to the room across the hall from where Elizabeth slept.
He shuffled in and sat on the exam table, his leg straight out, and waited for Anna to hand him the kit he needed. He would be waiting a long time.
“It’s stitches; I can take them out myself.”
“But you’re not going to.” Elizabeth strolled into the room. Her bun hung on the back of her head. Sleep wrinkles lined the side of her face that had snuggled his gown.
Anna stood and slid the stool across the room to her. “Do you want any help?”
“I think I can handle it. Thanks.” His mate studied his leg. “You’re right, these need to come out.”
“I didn’t want to wake you. You sure you don’t want some coffee first?” He wanted to tug her bun the rest of the way out, but she held scissors next to his leg.
“Don’t trust me? I can work without caffeine; I just prefer not to.” Her eyes flitted away from his leg to his face.
“I trust you.” He watched her work. “You did a good job.”
“Thanks. I don’t want to do it again.”
“I understand.”
She finished his leg and examined the rest of his injuries. She was careful to avoid his cock that was doing its best to get her attention. Positioned behind him, she took the bandage off his clavicle. She turned his head away from the wound and removed the few stitches she’d placed there, but put a bandage back on it.
He wanted to turn and watch her. Because he needed to see her. The second he felt the last stitch come out, his hand reached for her torso. It snaked up and down her back until she kissed the top of his head and pulled away.
“You need to heal more.”
The bossy doctor attitude did it for him, and his cock thickened more. Elizabeth stepped to the side of the table. She might have stepped away and told him he needed to heal more, but Tad scented her desire as her eyes roved his body.
“Excuse me? Is now a good time, Doctor?” Violet held the door frame.
His mate grabbed a blanket from under the exam table and tossed it over his lap.
Violet’s light laugh turned into a cough. He realized that her size from his earlier interactions came from her personality and robe. Leaning against the doorway, she was a child, and a malnourished one at that—her skin pasty, her eyelids drooping, and her voice a squeak. She pointed her finger at his mate.
