by Tigertalez
“I don’t know if anyone has asked you, but are there any family, friends, or alpha that you would like for us to contact?”
The jaguar shook his head. Seamus could see he was tired so he gathered himself up, and, clicking off the light, he quietly exited the stall.
The two wolves were believed to be sisters. They stayed together in one stall. They were in rough shape. Both were severely emaciated, and both had infections and bare spots and sores dotting their fur. They were even diagnosed with worms. That had to have been humiliating for them. But they were strong and were accepting as he and Maysa applied more medicine on the sores.
“I’m really quite pleased with your food intake. You’ll be better in no time.” He smiled down at them.
Moving to the next stall, he observed the black bear. He had to have been a new arrival to the lab before we had gotten there, Seamus thought to himself. The bear still had good weight, but his body sported many breaks and some of his claws were torn out. He also had deep cuts and fur missing from what looked like a fight. However, he was docile and easy to be around. Seamus read on the charts that he was also playful and in excellent spirits.
The next stall was the okapi. She was lying down in a very thick, soft bed of hay covered over by a blanket, and a large pillow was under her head. He approached her with a smile. “Hi there, sweetie. You look comfortable.” He grabbed the pad and glanced over it while Maysa crouched down beside her and began stroking her neck. “Says here you’ve been doing very well, even allowing Gale and Connie to give you a good, thorough washing. Did that make you feel better?”
The okapi slightly nodded her head, and Seamus could see she, too, was tired. “I’m sorry I’m here so late. I’m just going to do a quick check on you and then I’ll let you get back to sleep.”
Even though the light wasn’t very bright, Seamus was still able to notice her colors were brighter now that she was clean, and he could see more clearly where skin was healthy and others where there was the starting of infection. He rubbed a special cream over those areas then gathered his things. “Goodnight, sweetie,” he said as he clicked off the light and exited the stall with his beloved beside him.
The last stall was already lit when Seamus looked in. He saw the rhino sleeping on the floor with his brother sitting on the floor, leaning over the rhino’s shoulder, sleeping. He had a laptop that had, at one time been on his lap but now lay fallen over onto the floor.
Seamus squatted down and nudged his twin. Ryker snorted but didn’t wake. Seamus shook him a bit harder, drawing a growl from the rhino.
“Easy now. I’m just trying to wake my brother.” Seamus tried to calm the black rhino. Even though he was several hundred pounds underweight, and his horns were cut off, almost too low, the rhino could still crush all of them. A light nudge from his heavily boned head would feel like being hit by a car.
Ryker rubbed his eyes and stretched. “Hi, Sea. Guess what?”
“What?”
“This beautiful horny stud is my beloved,” he said joyfully.
“Congratulations, Ryker,” Maysa said with a smile over Seamus’s shoulder.
“Thank you. It was a big surprise. I came out here to put up three more cameras. When I walked by I felt whammied when I scented him. So I asked if I smelt like mate to him, and he nodded yes. You gotta help him, Sea. He can’t shift back. It isn’t a choice for him.”
Seamus sat on his heels and thought over what his brother just told him. “I’ll do what I can, Ry. You know I will. He’s not the only one unable to shift. I’ve got to say, Ry, I don’t know if it will wear off or how long it will be before I can find a countermeasure. Have you talked to him about letting you drink from him?”
“Yeah, kind of. I told him about what happened to you. I didn’t want him to feel pressured, but it’s important information. You can’t make the right decisions if you don’t have all the information, so I had to let him know. He’s willing to let you draw blood so I can drink it. It should do until you can fix whatever it is that’s preventing him from shifting, right?”
“In theory, yes, but I can’t say for certain. I don’t know if whatever is in his blood that’s preventing him to shift will affect you. And there’s no telling how long it would take before he can shift to fully claim you. If neither of you mind, I would like to take some blood samples, and if you wish, I can draw extra for you to feed from, but did you tell him it will start the bonding process?”
Ryker’s bright blush was clear to see in spite of the low level lighting. “Yeah, I think he likes that idea.”
“If you are his mate, I’m sure he will appreciate being able to have some kind of claim on you until he can properly claim you himself, is that right?” Seamus directed the question to the rhino shifter. The large heavy head dipped in a nod, and Seamus could see the tension leaving the large rhino.
As Seamus grabbed what he needed from his bag and proceeded to run a quick exam, Ryker picked up his laptop and took it to Maysa.
“I looked up some manufactured home plans earlier. I found two that I thought would work pretty well. Would you like to see?” He held up the laptop to show her something on the screen.
“Oh, uh…”
Seamus saw her dart a look his way. “Go ahead, sweetheart. I’ll leave it to you to choose one for us,” he said before he put the stethoscope against the rhino to hear his heart beating.
He heard them talking quietly as he continued his exam.
“I like this one best. This area, would work perfect with room dividers to be used as exam rooms,” Maysa was saying. He could hear the excitement in her voice. “We can use these two rooms as hospital rooms, and that room as an office or lab. That leaves the master bedroom as our living quarters. Seamus, does that sound reasonable to you?”
Seamus walked over and looked at the plans. “Sounds perfect.” He leaned over and planted a light kiss on her cheek and smiled at her.
Ryker was excited, too. “Cool. There’s one for sale up near Ottawa. With your permission, I’ll send the guys to go buy it. We can add or remove any feature, like flooring, after we get it here. I’ll give Kace the dimensions in the morning and have him start to get the foundation going. They already started clearing and leveling the ground.”
“Thank you, Ryker. That will be great.” Maysa looked really happy, and it warmed his heart to hear and see her like this.
“Would you like to help me draw the blood, sweetheart?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Ryker closed the laptop as she dug into the bag for the items they needed.
He inserted an intravenous line, and after getting some vials filled and handing them to Maysa, he drew out more blood and put it in an unused specimen cup for Ryker to drink it from.
Seamus could see Ryker’s eyes go blood red, and he had a wild look in his eyes as he stared at the blood-filled cup. After Seamus handed it to him, Ryker threw his head back and downed the thick crimson liquid. Immediately he bowed over and dropped to the floor crying out in pleasure. His hand dropped to his crotch, and he rubbed against it. Seamus quickly leaped up and escorted his beloved out of the room. The air filled with the smell of his brother’s release, and Seamus fought not to make a sour face. He held Maysa as they waited, giving Ryker some privacy.
“Crap. Sorry guys. I totally forgot I would, uh, I totally forgot about that.” Seamus could hear his brother’s embarrassment in his voice. He walked back around the corner, but Maysa stayed in the hall.
“It’s okay, Ry. I take it he’s undoubtedly your beloved.” Seamus smiled as he gathered everything up. “Does anyone else know the rhino is your beloved?”
“No. I was just supposed to be out here to put in the cams. Guess I should tell Alphy, huh?”
“Alphy can wait until the morning, but maybe when you go into the house to change your pants, you can let Gavin know where you will be.”
“Oh, right. Thanks, Sea.”
Chapter Ten
Maysa came out o
f her sleepy haze slowly. Pleasant heat wrapped around her, and the scent of her mate surrounded her. Scent? I can scent him? My senses are coming back! Excited, she thought about waking her mate with a blowjob, but as her haze cleared, she could hear Bronya whispering to Nix just on the other side of the divider. With her bladder now urging her on, Maysa forced herself to unwrap herself from her mate cocoon, and headed for the bathroom.
After a quick shower, she volunteered to retrieve breakfast for everyone. It’s time to face that fear.
Maysa was grateful to her parents and sister who helped her take up several plates of food. She was glad to have them around. They were understanding of her spending all her time with her new mate. And she wasn’t surprised, as she returned, to see Nix had been allowed to shift back to his human form, much to Bronya’s relief.
After they ate, she studied blood samples while Seamus checked up on the other patients. After Seamus had returned and joined her, she let him know what she had found. “It looks like whatever it is that is preventing the shifts, is chemically induced. You can see it clinging to the cell receivers.” Seamus leaned over to look into the lenses of the scope as she continued to explain her findings. “I can’t tell yet if they are wearing off. Look at this one.” She pulled out the slide and replaced it with another. “This one was taken from the same patient when you first freed him.”
Seamus leaned over and looked again. “It doesn’t appear any different. If it is degrading, it has an awfully slow degradation rate,” he said.
“Yes. I’m still trying to figure that part out. I don’t know if it is the same with the shifting, but my scenting ability is coming back.”
Seamus’s smile nearly blinded her. “That’s wonderful news.” He wrapped his arms around her, and Maysa returned the happy embrace.
They both heard feet trotting up the stairs, and Maysa looked to see Reese. He approached with a somewhat uncertain smile.
“Hey, Sea, I know I said I would help today, but Tom and Connie are taking Paul to that specialist you suggested, for that glass eye thing. Everyone was too busy, so I offered to watch the twins. Is that going to be a problem?”
“No, that’s fine, Reese. It is good of you to help them.”
“Thanks, Sea.” Reese looked relieved as he trotted back down the stairs.
Just minutes later, Maysa could hear the sounds of children laughing coming from the playground. Taking a quick break, she looked out and saw Reese playing with two young twins in the playground. It was still wet outside, and a bit overcast, but it wasn’t raining, so it was undoubtedly a good time to burn their energy. She leaned back into Seamus’s arms and sighed wistfully as he wrapped around her, watching with her.
“They’re adorable,” she said.
“Yes, they are. Did you want kids someday, Maysa?”
She could feel his body tense. She wasn’t sure what he wanted, but the answer was important to him. “Yes. I love kids. What about you?” Now it was she who tensed.
The body behind her relaxed, and he squeezed her closer, nuzzling her neck. “Yes, I do, too. It’s odd since the incident with our parents one would think neither I nor Ryker would want to be one, but we both want to be parents.”
“You told me earlier that you and Ryker weren’t close with your parents. What happened?”
Maysa felt warm breath blow over her skin as Seamus let out a sigh. He held her tighter. “When Ry and I were about seven, we became big brothers to a sister. When she turned three, there was an accident that left her seriously brain damaged, and she couldn’t even eat without assistance. They had to put a feeding tube in her. Vampires are very humanlike and vulnerable in their younger years before their change. My parents were embarrassed. There wasn’t a lot of acceptance in those days for anyone in that condition, let alone vampires. It was so acutely rare for any vampire to have any physical issues. Ry and I loved our sister and didn’t care that she was different. We were actually the ones who helped take care of her for the most part because our parents didn’t want to be around her anymore then they had to.
“That’s when I decided I wanted to become a doctor. I liked being able to take care of her. But she got sick, and her body was struggling to fight off the infection. My parents could have tried to help her, but they were told it would be more merciful to take out her feeding tube and let the infection finish her off, so instead, that is what they did. Ry and I have kept our distance from our parents ever since then.”
Maysa gasped. Tears stung her eyes as she turned and held her mate close. “I’m so sorry, Sea. They were wrong. I would never give up on our child, should we be blessed with any.”
Seamus kept his head berried in her hair as he squeezed back. “I agree. I wouldn’t either. It’s what drove me to being a doctor, and wanting to make a hospital.”
“What was your sister’s name?”
“Pearl. Her name was Pearl Rossi.”
“Do you already have a name for the hospital? Maybe you can name it after her.”
“We’ve talked about calling it Paranormal General Hospital. We wanted to keep it neutral because we are going to serve both paranormal associations.”
“But what about the human side of it? They will require a name, so how will you explain Paranormal General Hospital? How about Pearl Paramedical?”
Seamus paused. “I’ll ask Alphy about it, but I like the sound of that. Thank you, beloved.” Seamus bent down and suctioned her lips to his. Maysa closed her eyes and hummed as her belly flopped and her toes curled. Seamus pulled back and looked deep into her eyes. “I’m in love with you, Maysa. You have my heart beating in time with your own.”
“Nix!” Bronya yelled from the hospital room. A loud crashing sounded from the room. Seamus cursed as he rushed to help Nix.
Maysa turned back to the window to observe the kids at play again before heading in to help, but as she did so, the smile on her face fell. Reese and the little boy were missing, and the little girl was running towards the tree line, chasing a butterfly. Without thinking, Maysa ran down the stairs. Her heart thumped heavily as she tried catching up to the romping tot, but Maysa saw the shadows of the forest envelop the girl before she could reach her.
Maysa slowed just marginally as she scented around for the little girl. Even in her human form, she could echolocate, so she let out a twitter. She saw the little girl and began running for her. She also saw a man squatting nearby, and a large steel trap in the girl’s path. Adrenaline pumped hard as Maysa put on extra speed and yelled, “Stop!”
Maysa dove for the little girl and caught her, but in doing so, her next step triggered a trap. Snap.
Pain exploded up her leg, and she could feel it travel up her spine. The girl screamed as they tumbled to the ground. Maysa wrapped around the girl just as spikes shot out, skewering her left arm and leg.
Scott’s rotting rancid smell drifted through her nose, but she was too blinded by pain to care. “Ah, now ain’t she sweet. Looks like I got you and a bonus.” Roaring in her ears drowned out all other sound as blackness swamped her.
****
Seamus felt Maysa’s emotions spike, but he thought it was from the drama with Nix. He had suffered a night terror when Bronya had just stepped away to use the bathroom. He had fallen out of bed just as Bronya was returning.
Nix was a mess. His IV was torn out, and some of his stitches in the most worrisome places were ripped out. Seamus focused on his work trying to stop all the bleeding and get Nix back in bed. He didn’t realize Maysa wasn’t there until he felt pain shoot through their link, followed too quickly by the weight of nothing.
“Maysa?” Seamus tried to call for her through their link, but he was still working feverishly over Nix. Blood was starting to soak into the sheets. His heart ached as their link remained silent. “Maysa? Answer me, sweetheart. Where are you?” Still nothing.
“Maysa?” He yelled out loud. Still nothing. “Bronya, run inside and find the guys. Something’s happened to Maysa. Run!”
<
br /> Bronya was already rushing out before he told her to run. Chances were she didn’t even hear him yelling it after her, but he couldn’t stop himself from at least trying to verbally rush things. Meanwhile, Seamus worked his hands over Nix as efficiently as he could.
“Sea, I’m so sorry.” Nix tried to apologize.
Seamus wanted to lash out at him even though it wasn’t his fault, so he kept quiet as he worked to repair the damaged stitches.
Time seemed to stretch on, but Bronya finally returned with Reese, and Tom and Connie’s son, Danny who was bawling. Reese didn’t look too far off from joining him.
“What’s going on?” Seamus asked but he couldn’t stop what he was doing.
“Danny had to go to the bathroom, really bad. I thought Abby would be all right for just that little bit of time, but by the time I got back, she was gone. Before I could do anything, Bronya came running to the house. I joined her ‘cause I didn’t know what else to do. They sent me up here while they go out and look for them. I’m so sorry, Sea.” Reese flopped down on a chair and finally gave up the fight to hold back the tears.
“Reese, snap out of it. I can use your help. Bronya, would you be willing to hold Danny so Reese can help?”
“Yeah, absolutely. Come here, little guy.” Bronya reached out and picked up the crying tot. The boy wiped his nose on her shoulder, but Bronya didn’t bat an eye. She just reached over for a tissue and after wiping his nose, cleaned off her own shirt. Reese wiped his eyes on his shirt as he rushed out into the kitchen to wash his hands. He quickly returned straightening up the lines that Nix had messed up, mopping up blood, and handing Seamus items he needed.
Sweat dripped down his back, and his hair clung to his forehead. Alphy arrived with Katie, just as Seamus finished the last stitch.
