by Em Ashcroft
“I was in the OR. I got here as soon as I could,” Nathan said crisply and spoke to Chris. “When I tell you, lift your hand.” He glanced over the figure taking up the space in front of the reception desk. The black and white tiled floor was only visible through a sheen of darkening and solidifying blood. If Vaughn lost any more, shape-shifter or human, he’d have no way back. “I ordered some universal units.” As she said it, a nurse arrived wheeling an IV pole, a bag of blood already hooked up. At Trinity’s curt nod, the nurse came around to the right side and swiftly attached a cannula to the back of Vaughn’s hand. Trinity felt a sense of relief that she’d kept standards high in this unit.
Another nurse stood by with a gurney. At some point they’d have to use it.
“On my count,” Nathan said. “Everybody got a piece?” Six people bent and tucked arms under Vaughn. “One, two, three.”
Smoothly they lifted Vaughn onto the gurney, and the nurse in charge of the IV pole ensured the blood supply kept coming. They were about to wheel him into a spare bay when Nathan said, “No, we have to get him straight to the OR. They haven’t sterilized from the last op, but we don’t have time for that. Since he’s a shape-shifter, contamination is the least of his problems.” Shifters could throw off infection faster than any antibiotic. If they were fully functioning, that was.
Someone called the elevator, and Trinity joined them in the crammed elevator, acting as standby to Nathan. None of their personal relationship seeped into this. Nathan swore when the wound filled again. “The bullet hit the lower left ventricle. This guy will bleed out if I don’t get to it soon. If he wasn’t a shifter, he’d be dead already. This is basic keeping-alive stuff, folks. I want to get him stable then find his consciousness and help him to shift.”
Without hesitation, he grabbed a scalpel a nurse held out to him and widened the incision so he could get his hand in the man’s chest. Even though she’d seen him operate before, even though she’d done similar procedures herself, Trinity’s vision swam. She was never squeamish, but she felt linked to this guy somehow. His enigmatic words, so soft she hardly heard them, and his fierce attention remained through the short trip upstairs and Nathan’s team joining them in surgery. She wouldn’t leave Vaughn, not until she knew he was going to live.
They got Vaughn hooked up to the machinery in no time, anesthetic running through him, and the blood cart standing by. Before Nathan had properly started, Vaughn had gotten through three bags of blood. The stuff spilled from Vaughn faster than the nurse could clear it. They cut off Vaughn’s clothes and left them under him, splayed over the previously pristine table they’d moved him to.
“I’m fixing what I can, then we’re going to try to get him to shape-shift,” Nathan said. “I can operate on most life forms.” He could operate on big cats as well as he could humans. He didn’t have as much experience with the birds of prey or canine-based creatures like wolves and hyenas. Bovines could be a problem. There were shape-shifting buffalo and bulls around, but not so many in this part of the world. Trouble was, they had no idea what kind of shape-shifter Vaughn was. An expert stood by, a doctor who could read minds, however unconscious the patient, and assist them to shape-shift in order to heal.
“I can’t reach him,” he said after a moment of fierce concentration. His brow was deeply furrowed over his sterile mask. “I’ve never come across shields this strong, though.” Everybody lived behind mental shields these days, humans and shifters. “I’ll try another way.”
“I want him ready to shift on my word,” Nathan snapped, intent on his work. Once the chest cavity was widened enough, he carefully inserted his hand.
The monitor above the table was already on. Trinity watched as Nathan’s hands touched Vaughn’s heart.
Then the world stopped. Her mind screamed to a halt, as it took on something new, an awareness she didn’t believe but had to. Lights became sharper, colors more intense. Nathan’s light blue scrubs turned into a more vivid shade, the white tapes that held his mask standing out in almost painful contrast. What the fuck was happening to her?
Nathan glanced up and caught her gaze. “He’s a big cat,” he said quietly. “And my breed partner.”
* * * *
Nathan struggled to accept what had just happened. Why now? Fuck, could anything could be worse than this? The certainty had struck him like a bolt of lightning from a clear blue sky. It smacked him like a blow to the side of his head, knocking him off-course. All his emotions, the ones he kept rigorously locked away during working hours, sprang free, a Pandora’s Box of forbidden temptation.
And he had his breed partner’s heart in his hands in a way that couldn’t be more literal if it tried.
At least being a shape-shifter meant he had a better chance. Nathan could skip a few steps. His mind chunked back into action, helped by a kick up its metaphorical backside. Stop the bleeding, seal the wound with a few stitches, and then let Doug do his work and help the guy to shift. He could take it from there, but the accelerated healing should give him a better chance. Though he wasn’t out of the woods yet.
Ten minutes later, he eased the heart back into its cavity and took a pace back, lifting his head to meet Doug’s gaze. “It’s your turn to shine.” He nodded to the nurse, who helped him strip off his blood-soaked gloves and put on a new pair.
He daren’t look at Trinity. He might crack if he saw her reaction. She’d have felt the link as strongly as he had because of their deep mental link. Shit, what would they do now? This was the one person who had a right to part of his life. And how did he feel about it?
Okay. Just okay.
Probably a bit lukewarm, but that was the best he could do right now. And it was better than anything he’d imagined last week. If his breed partner died now, he’d mourn for him. That was how powerful alphas like Chris and his breed partner, Odell, coexisted and shared a love and breedmate. It was biology. It predisposed them to share. If anyone even looked at Renata the wrong way, Chris or Odell were there to protect and support her. He’d meant to do that alone with Trinity. Now, even if Vaughn died, he’d always be part of their lives, the what-if in their hearts.
Doug’s exhausted tones broke into his thoughts. “I can’t reach him. I can almost see his consciousness, but he’s too far under, too deep for me to do anything.”
Shape-shifting started in the mind. It was a conscious thing. One of the first things a shape-shifter learned was how to initiate and control a shift. Babies would shift back and forth frequently. The ability arrived before reason. At about the time they were learning to walk, they also learned to control their shape-shifting. It was a motor skill, but children were taught to initiate and control the change in their forms. By adulthood, the spontaneity of shape-shifting had gone. Without a spark of consciousness to hold on to, a shifter had to remain in his current form. A man killed as a tiger would remain a tiger. Since Vaughn was a man, he would remain in that form. Unless…
Nathan had never done anything like this before, but he’d never met his breed partner before, either.
Trinity must have picked something up from him because she was the first to speak. “Can you do anything?”
Nathan nodded then shook his head. “I don’t know. Breed partners can connect on a deeper level. But I’ve only just recognized him, so I don’t know. I don’t fucking know. I have to try.”
Stripping off one surgical glove, he stepped forward and placed his hand on Vaughn’s, initiating skin-to-skin contact. The man’s warmth seeped through him in a weird way that he’d not noticed in anyone else before. “Do what feels right,” Doug said softly. “Don’t think.”
Nathan did his best. He could communicate telepathically of course. He opened his mind, something he didn’t like to do except with the people he trusted most, but he had no choice. He let go of his natural defenses and reached for the consciousness of the man on the table.
A sense of dreamy inevitability took hold of him.
“Don’t go too deep,”
Doug warned. “There’s a possibility he could take you with him.”
“No!” Trinity said in alarm.
He sensed a glimmer, a spark of a person. Eagerly, he went toward it. Dimly he heard Doug’s voice, raised in alarm. “Pull out, Nathan. That’s too far.”
Nathan took no notice, pursuing the elusive presence, pushing everything aside to reach it. He could get lost, he knew that, be unable to find his way back.
But a tethering presence appeared at his side, as if she held his hand. She could pull him back, even if she couldn’t go all the way with him. Trinity was holding on to him, like a true breedmate. Even though she wasn’t one.
Doug muttered something, but Nathan was concentrating too hard on his breed partner to take any notice. The spark retreated, as if cowering in a corner or racing toward something else.
A voice came dimly into his mind. I’ve done all I can. It’s time to leave.
You’d go now, just when we’ve found you? Anger pushed him to question Vaughn further. You don’t think we want you here?
I know what you are. I know you’re together. You’ll take care of her.
I will. But I can’t do it on my own. I know she’s in danger.
The voice grew stronger. I can’t stay. I’m being pulled away.
You need to shift. I need to see what you are.
I should go.
Tired of his words, Nathan reached out.
An iron band clamped around them, enclosing himself, Trinity, and Vaughn in an exclusive union, excluding everyone else. It appeared from nowhere, wrapping an unbreakable tie around them. Losing his temper, Nathan demanded, Shift, damn you! If you don’t, you’ll take us all with you. Understand?
With a ripple of muscle and bone, Vaughn finally shape-shifted. Nathan burst back into his own body, sucked back like a table tennis ball into a vacuum cleaner. He blinked, getting used to the bright lights and the explosion of sound, which was, in reality, a quiet conversation.
A huge black panther lay on the table, where there’d been a man before. Nathan’s team made themselves busy reattaching the instruments, re-sealing the cannula pushing life-saving fluids into Vaughn.
Already the flow of blood had eased, and his breathing grew more regular. When the team had done, a matter of a minute or less, Nathan stepped forward, shaky but more or less back in control. Standing just behind him to his right, Trinity was shaking. He didn’t have to look at her to know. He reached out to her, easier than he’d ever done before, and sent a reassuring wave over her. We’re back, and we’re okay.
What he didn’t tell her was that she was his now forever, whether she wanted it or not. If Vaughn died, they would feel it deeper than they thought possible. He knew what had happened, but he wasn’t ready to acknowledge it.
In his cat form, Vaughn’s body was taking care of business. Nathan did his part, sewing the cat back together before they withdrew the anesthetic. His team was as practiced as he was at taking care of a shape-shifter, whatever form he took. Nathan had made sure of that. He’d run them through all the possible scenarios he could imagine, human or shifter. He’d taken them through every second of the procedure, ensuring they could work without getting in each other’s way, in the most efficient way possible.
Nathan was proud of his team. He drove them hard, but they never gave less than their best, and they never gave up.
When it was clear the cat was taking care of the healing process, he gave the necessary instructions. He told them explicitly which machines to use, what drugs to give him and when. His team knew as well as he did, but he was taking no chances with his breed partner.
“Take him to room ten,” he said. Room ten was in a corner of the building. It had with only two access points. Someone had tried to kill this man, but they weren’t getting another chance, not on his watch. And watch he intended to do. “Unless there’s another emergency, I’m going off duty now.” If anybody objected, he’d call it vacation. Fuck knew they owed him enough time off. He’d been planning a romantic holiday, another chance to persuade Trinity to marry him, but all their plans were up in the air now. He’d gotten her acceptance to an engagement, even to let them go public, but everything had changed an hour ago.
“I’ll stay with him, too,” Trinity said. A few people gave her curious stares, but she shrugged. “My shift ended half an hour ago, but I want to see this through.”
* * * *
Trinity was more confused than she’d ever been in her life, and that was saying something. Long ago, she’d learned to click off her reasoning and just go with the flow, but it wasn’t happening this time. Questions bombarded her. The principle one had to do with what had happened in the operating room. That instant when they’d spun out of time, all three of them, as if they were the only people in the world. The sensation had been amazing. If the situation hadn’t been so dire, she’d have called it orgasmic. The out-of-control feeling had scared her, but Nathan had kept her safe, and weak though he was, Vaughn had reached out to her.
She watched the great black panther stretched out on the bed, a big cat seemingly at his ease, but she knew better. His chest heaved with every breath, and he was still hooked up to a bag of saline. Electrodes were stuck to various parts of his body. Her medical training told her what would happen now, but anxiety still racked her when she watched him.
“I don’t even know who he is. Not really,” she murmured.
Nathan lifted his head. Off duty now, he’d changed into black pants and a white T-shirt, his arms bare and tempting. She badly wanted to curl up into his arms, but because she wanted it so much, she wouldn’t do it. Wouldn’t betray her weakness. “He’s part of us,” Nathan said softly.
“How do you know that?”
He grimaced. “I don’t know. I connected with him deeply, Trinity.” He closed his eyes. “He’s my breed partner.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do. Something in him linked with something in me. I guess it’s a chemical change. Whatever it was, the minute I touched him I felt it, and when I did it skin to skin, our link was complete. He’s my breed partner, and I’ll never have another.”
He looked as bewildered as she felt. Fumbling in the pocket of her jacket, which hung on the back of her chair, she found the little box holding the lovely ring. She held it out to him.
“No!” His look of horror scored her through. “That still stands. I want you, Trinity. More than that, I need you now.”
“But you have him. You have a relationship to develop. We’re good, but you and him? You need to talk to him, to get to know him.”
“You’re part of that.” At her wide-eyed expression of astonishment, he continued, “Part of me. I love you, Trinity. That hasn’t changed. As to how we continue with Vaughn, I don’t know. I have feelings I never thought I’d experience.”
Trinity never believed in gay-for-you, but perhaps it was different in the shape-shifter community. Could she watch the two men make love?
Breed partners came in all sexual combinations. Sometimes two men would bond and have sex. Sometimes they wouldn’t. A trio was about far more than making babies. She didn’t know, and neither did Nathan.
The mental vision sent heat inappropriately through her, but she couldn’t help it. “You want to fuck him?” She couldn’t censor herself, but she wished she’d waited and worked out a better way of saying it. Ah well, she’d asked him now.
He gave an incredulous laugh. “No, I can’t say I do.” He shot a glance at the panther in the bed. “I don’t even really know what he looks like in normal circumstances. Not that it makes any difference. Sometimes I wish I could because, damn, the threesomes who fuck every which way have fun. I know a few.”
“I’ve never enjoyed that kind of thing.”
“That kind of thing?” He raised a brow, smiling. “What would that be, exactly?”
“Doing it with an audience. Sharing.” She waved a hand. “You know.”
“It’s natural to shape-shift
ers. We don’t think of it that way. A couple, now that’s strange.”
She tried to understand. She’d lived among shape-shifters for long enough, but she’d never had to face the probability for herself. She might have agreed with Chris and Odell, but it had never happened. Probably because she wasn’t their breedmate, so they didn’t have the same impulses. “Do I have to do it?”
“Only if you want to.” He paused. “Only if he wants to. The only thing that’s for sure is that we can only make a baby with him involved. It’s a lot more fun with three, or so they say.”
“Haven’t you practiced?” The thought of him with another man and a woman between them made her pussy damp. Which was strange because she’d avoided it before.
“Maybe.” He shook his head. “I can’t believe we’re talking like this and you’re here.” He turned his attention to the panther. “He’s healed amazingly quickly. I can’t quite believe it. Even for a shifter this is fast.”
“We don’t know anything about him.”
“We will. And we know that he won’t hurt either of us, even if he wants to. His instincts will stop him.”
Which was why they were in here on their own. A pair of guards stood outside, but Trinity and Nathan were safe in here. “We might be visiting him in jail for the next few years,” she commented.
Nathan shook his head. “He’s not a criminal.”
“You read him?”
The only time a shape-shifter would take advantage of an unconscious patient was in dire emergency. The emergency had been saving his life, and Nathan had plunged deep, but that was to bring him out, not to study him. “Not properly. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. He was barely alive. His name is Vaughn. He won’t hurt you. Even before we—” He broke off abruptly.
“Before we what?”
