"Where there's one there's more." She closed her eyes, pressing her lips to my forehead. "When can you go home?"
"What time is it?"
"Almost two."
"Another hour or so."
"That's too long." She sighed, running her fingertips up and down my back.
"Eons." I laughed softly and pulled her into a hug. I was still getting used to our full mate bond. Sharing a connection with Vanessa was nothing like sharing one with Mal. His bond offered a steady flow of confidence, love, possession, nature, and stability. Vanessa's flooded me with her need for connection, affection, and closeness that sometimes filled me with mouth-watering desire. Nothing quenched it until we were together again. Alone or with others present, it didn't matter. As long as we were within reach, peace existed. I wondered if her cat magic affected our bond differently than with my wolven mate. I couldn't be certain. The only thing I knew for sure was that I held two mate bonds, each equally unique and powerful. In my life, love had never filled me like it had now. I had no holes inside me, my heart didn't ache. For the first time, I knew completeness.
"What will happen to the guy who shot himself?" she asked, leaning back to meet my gaze.
"We'll get him medically stable and then some psychiatric help." I watched her expression soften slightly as I brushed my thumb over her bottom lip.
"Does it bother you, seeing something like that?"
"Yeah," I said after a significant hesitation. No doctor wants to admit their humanity. But I wasn't in the business of lying to my loved ones. At least not anymore.
"I'm sorry you have to see these things." Her level of genuine sympathy hit me hard.
"I'm sorry you had to see certain things, too." I nipped her chin. "But I have you and Mal to make me feel better about everything."
"Two mate bonds."
"Yep. Two." I grinned. "I'm super special." Vanessa laughed and gave my rear a squeeze.
"Very."
The final hour in the emergency department passed in a whirl of sharing information with the doctor who followed my shift and signing off on charts. Vanessa stayed by the nurse's station with Beth and avoided answering any direct questions with nothing more than sheer cadence. Part of me wondered if Beth was simply enthralled by Vanessa's sharp presence or if Vanessa magically manipulated the situation. I couldn't be sure on either facet.
I returned to them after checking on my last admission, and dropped the paperwork in the outbox. Beth perked when she saw me, a smile spread across her lips as if she had been waiting for this moment all along.
"So, how'd you two meet?"
"In school." Vanessa peered over my shoulder at the prescription I slipped into the last chart. I flicked her in the elbow for being nosey.
"What happened to Mal?" Beth directed her question at me.
"He's at home," I stated matter-of-factly and slipped off my lab coat. "Doctor Fox is here, Ness. We can get going."
"Wait! I'm not done asking questions. You always do this to me," whined Beth.
"She's worse than Xany," Vanessa said as she hopped from her perch and held her hand to me.
"Doctor T says that, too. I have to meet this Xany person." Beth dropped back into her seat with a huff.
"Doctor T." Vanessa snickered as I took her hand, giving it a sharp squeeze for teasing me.
"You'll meet her someday I'm sure. See you Saturday." I waved to Beth over my shoulder as Vanessa led me outside to bend back home.
Chapter Two
"Is Beth a Breeder?" Vanessa asked as we dropped in beside the kitchen table. I held onto her to steady myself. Bending still made my head spin. A light glow from the hearth had the cabin melting into wavy shadows and flickering golden light.
"No. Well, actually, I don't know for sure but I don't think so."
"She and Xany in a room together might start a war."
"Or the most epic friendship ever. You can never tell." I laughed softly and tugged her over to the sofa. She sat first and tugged me into her lap.
"Where's Mal?" she asked.
"You're asking me with your super Changer senses? I think in the shower. He's not asleep. Caden and Xany are though."
"They were having at it for about ten hours," she commented, shifting me in her lap so that I was straddling her thighs. Normally, I'd rush home to shower but the bloody mess forced me to shower at work and put on fresh scrubs. Not to mention that Mal beat me to it.
"Knowing you, I'd say that was an exaggeration. Knowing them, there's a high possibility of truth." I draped my arms over her shoulders, relaxing in our closeness. Our link seemed to sigh, emitting a soft fluttering sensation in the center of my body. Vanessa caressed my hips and thighs while purring quietly. My bond with Mal seemed eerily calm when I focused on it, as if he had shut it down some. It made me slightly worried that I'd missed something or upset him.
"What's the matter?" Her voice was soft beneath the purrs.
"Huh?"
"Something changed, what's wrong?"
"Oh…Mal's bond feels funny."
"He was quiet before I left. I just thought it was because of the summon. Or the racket. Xany shouts so much."
"Don't remind me." I rolled my eyes playfully and Vanessa laughed. "What happened here when I summoned the pack?"
"Caden came out of the bedroom at the same time Mal and I came into the kitchen. Caden said the call ended quickly like when you have a panic attack. They could tell you were fine but I wanted to see for myself. Ana came inside as well but she followed me to the hospital."
"She did?" I raised my brows at the revelation. "I didn't see her."
"She stayed outside."
"Maybe she saw the leech."
"Can you sense her?"
"She's asleep." I nodded. "If she saw the leech, I doubt she'd be asleep."
"Unless she killed it."
"Oh. Yeah. That's true." I laughed softly considering this. My mother surely wouldn't let a vampire wander in our territory for long if she could help it.
"How'd you know that it was a leech?" Vanessa's hands slid up the front of my scrubs and tugged at the camisole I wore beneath until it lifted as well. She rested her hand on my stomach, her fingers pressing rhythmically in a kneading-like fashion. Cats.
"Her eyes. When she looked at me I felt the thrall and broke it." I relaxed under her touch. The crackling fire was the only sound in the room, save for the soft purrs.
The door to the bathroom opened with a sharp click and I looked over Vanessa's shoulder when Mal came down the hall. His damp hair hung loosely about his shoulders. Our bond gave a sharp tug and something swirled in my stomach like a foreign anxiety that didn't belong to me.
"What's wrong?" I asked him the same thing Vanessa asked me.
"We need to talk."
"Um… yeah, of course." I looked between him and Vanessa. She let me go and I stood. "Is everything okay?"
"We just need to talk."
That was probably the worst thing he had ever said to me. My insides twisted with nervousness and a sense of foreboding, which seemed alien in the presence of my mates. Vanessa turned to watch us but Mal avoided looking at her. What the hell is going on?
"In private," he added, glancing at Vanessa then back to me. She didn't seem to mind his behavior as she sprawled out on the sofa.
"All right." I made my way over to him. He led me down the hall and into his bedroom, closing the door behind us. "You're scaring me a little."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." He sat down on the edge of the bed, leaning his elbows on his knees and hunching forward. My heart thundered in my chest. Mal seemed fully distraught and I hadn't the faintest idea what had upset him. I sat beside him, turning to face him but he kept his eyes on the floor.
"Did something happen?"
"No. Yes and no." He shook his head. "I wasn't sure until now."
"What? Are you going to be a teen mom or something? C'mon, Mal, you're freaking me out and so is the mate bond you squeezed down so tight
that I can only feel your worry." My words came out more pressured than I intended. Mal smirked a bit at my sarcasm. It seemed to break his posture at least. He turned to face me now, taking both of my hands in his.
"I'm sorry. It's hard to explain."
"Well… good. I think." I squeezed his hands. "Just tell me."
"When we were in Ireland, something changed."
"A lot changed."
"I mean, between you and me." He sighed. I about hurled at that point.
"It sounds like you're breaking up with me. Mates can't do that, you know."
"Are you always funny when you're freaked out?"
"Yes, now get on with it already before I die." I pinched his hand.
"Our bond, it changed."
"It feels the same to me…"
"Just listen." He returned my pinch. "I followed you and Vanessa to the beach like I said I would. I hung back some but I knew the exact moment you had sex and your second mate bond formed."
"That doesn't seem unusual though, Mal. Everything changed in that moment. And then Dugan. He nearly ruined it." I shook my head.
"Yes but something more changed that day. Something happened to our bond... I don't know the word for it. Shifted? Reattached? Something changed inside me, too. And now…" He took a deep breath. "I don't just feel you."
I stared at him for a painfully long time, trying to understand what he was trying to say. He watched me, his hazel eyes shimmering under the glow of the bedside lamp.
"Am I sending you more pictures or something?"
"No, no." He shook his head. "I feel you as I always have. But I feel Vanessa, too. It's not as strong. But she's there. At first I just thought it was all the time we'd been spending in close quarters, but I can sense her in a way… as if she was part of the pack. Which she is, essentially, but there's something there inside me that sits beside our mate bond. It's Vanessa. Caden doesn't sense her in our ranks as part of the pack. It's only me." He breathed out the last part. I opened my mouth to say something, anything to help soothe him but I couldn't think of a reply. He continued, "Today when you summoned us, that's what confirmed it. I could sense Vanessa. We could sense each other as if she and I were pack."
"But… Mal, this isn't a bad thing, is it? Does she know there's a connection?"
"I don't think so. She's used to having a hundred or more pride bonds. It might feel the same, or she just assumes it's part of the mate bond. Shawnee… I'm not supposed to feel cats." His gaze locked on mine, as if I was supposed to share in this panic.
"I'm not supposed to carry two mate bonds, but I do. This can't be a bad thing, Mal. Maybe it's not a pack bond but like… a secondary bond, a side-effect of me holding both." I rubbed my thumbs over the back of his hands. This was the most upset I'd ever seen him. It worried me more than anything else.
"Maybe. Yeah, maybe it's that."
"Why are you so worried?" I let go of his hands to caress his face. "You can still feel me just fine, right?"
"Yes." He turned his head and kissed my wrist.
"Good. Me too. And stop squeezing things, by the way, I like feeling all of you." I hugged him firmly and he reciprocated with just as much squeezing.
"I didn't want Vanessa to sense it and tell you first."
"She didn't say anything about feeling you. She might just be used to sensing a lot of people that way." I sat in his lap and stroked his bare chest, his muscles twitched under the light caress.
"You're probably right." He hugged me again, burying his face in my hair.
"Er…Do you feel us differently now when we…"
"Yeah." He chuckled. "That's how I noticed first. It used to be that I could tell you were enjoying yourself and happy. Now, I can feel both of you like that. It's stronger."
"Shit, Mal, maybe this is unusual. Have you asked Mom about it?"
"You're the only person I talked to about this. It affects the three of us."
"We should talk to Vanessa…"
"You're not upset about this?"
"No, Mal. I'm connected to both of you. It seems natural that you two would share at least something. You're separate species. As separate as it comes. I would be torn to pieces over having to choose who to be with at what times. This way, we're all safe together. And we can share each other's happiness."
"What if something goes wrong?"
"I don't think Gaia creates Two-Spirit people to have it go wrong." I gave his hair a tug. "Speaking of which. My healing ability seems to have changed or advanced, too. Tonight I directed a heal to reattach an artery, and then interrupted it so that it didn't heal everything. I mean, all of this happened spontaneously without my doing it, but it still seems evolved."
"Maybe everything is changing…"
"Maybe all of this goes together. Evolving gifts, evolving bonds," I said, hoping to relieve him from at least some of his concern. "So were Caden and Xany really making sex noises all day long?"
"I wouldn't doubt it. When those two get together it's like rabbits." He placed his hands on my hips when I stood in front of him. He gave my scrubs pants a yank of frustration. "I hate the feel of these. They're so stiff."
"Do they remind you of terrible shots and bent over coughing?" I laughed a bit and he tugged my pants off, tossing them across the room.
"And screaming pagers." He growled and nipped my stomach as he jerked my scrub top over my head.
"Don't remind me." I ran my fingers through his hair. He held me in place for a moment as some of the tension left his shoulders. Without saying a word, he lifted me and in a practiced roll, dropped both of us down on the bed pillows. Mal held me from behind in a tight, possessive embrace. Our bodies melted together as small puffs of his breath met my shoulder. I stroked his arms as thoughts of his predicament ran through my mind. Our mate bond, although still somewhat constricted, told me that this wasn't over. His concern was real and this fueled my doubts. What if something went wrong? The problem was that I couldn't think of anything.
Chapter Three
"So that's it?" Xany's voice chirped out the question as her lesson in first aid came to a close.
"That's it. Now you know basic first aid. Next is teaching you stitches. Even if you say—"
"Ewww." Xany scrunched up her face.
"Exactly."
Vanessa snickered at us while she lounged on top of the exam table in the clinic. Xany and I had made it a habit to work together every day. She expressed a desire to gain medical knowledge and I agreed that it was a good idea. My mom and I wouldn't always be around in an emergency. Now, we had Xany and Vanessa as back up. With Mal off on a much needed run, and Caden over at Hank's, it was as good a time as any to learn.
"Can you teach me without it being on your body?" Xany lifted a brow at me and patted my knee, the last place she watched me stitch.
"Yes." I laughed softly.
Xany giggled but her ringing phone interrupted the moment. "Hey Gavy. Uh huh. Yep." She chattered on and took a seat at the desk.
I made my way over to Vanessa and she smiled at me, sprawling herself out on the table. The smile melted from her lips and she met my gaze. "I feel sick."
"What? Do you really?"
"Mhmm." She coughed a pretty dreadful imitation of a cough. "Can you help me, Doctor T?"
"Oh you're terrible." I laughed and swatted her arm. "You had me going there for a minute."
"Help me." She grinned and tugged at the stethoscope around my neck. I decided to play along.
"Well, we better make sure your heart and breathing are okay," I said, slipping the earpieces of the stethoscope on and pressing the diaphragm to her chest just beneath the neck of her shirt. Vanessa smiled at me as I listened to the steady beat of her heart and clear breathing. A sudden onslaught of purring met the stethoscope and I started, though remained in place. I had always believed the purrs came from her chest but it seemed to originate from her neck and throat area. I lost myself for a moment until she spoke.
"What are you doi
ng?" her words mixed with laughter. Through the stethoscope, it sounded loud and bizarre.
"Just listening to your purrs." I removed the headpiece and placed it around my neck again.
"Is it different?"
"Yes, a bit." Without much thinking, I pressed along her abdomen the way I would do for any patient. The behavior so routine that I almost forgot it wasn't necessary.
"Lower," she whispered.
"You're very naughty." I grinned and leaned over the table to kiss her. She gripped the stethoscope and used it to keep me close to her.
A sudden clang and crash broke our kiss, followed by a sprinkling of water. Vanessa hissed and pulled me away from the source of the commotion.
"Gavy!" Xany shouted. Gavin appeared standing ankle-deep in the sink.
"Xany, your guide-ship needs a bit of work," he said, jumping out of the sink and landing with catlike grace on the floor.
"Hush up." Xany giggled. "It worked good enough." She bounced over and hugged him. Vanessa sat up on the table and wrapped her arms around me, her chin at rest on my shoulder. Our mate bond gave a hiccup and I could tell right away she wasn't all that happy to see her brother.
"Good enough for a right mess, ay?" Gavin returned her hug and turned his attention in our direction. "Hey Vinnie, Shawnee."
"Hi Gavin," I said, stroking Vanessa's arms. She didn't address him but he lifted his chin to her and I assumed she returned the gesture.
"Welcome to America." Xany grinned, gesturing around her.
"Ahh, America. Where I am officially an illegal immigrant."
"I don't think it counts if you haven't actually immigrated. Bending isn't immigrating." Xany nodded as if her words were facts. Gavin shrugged and hopped up to sit on the desk.
"Sounds good to me. How's everyone?" he asked. Xany took a seat in the chair and propped her feet up beside him.
"We're all good, Gavy. How's the Pride?" Xany asked, nudging him with her foot. "Wanna stay for dinner?"
"Sure. The Pride is a'right. Jarleth is back to his strong self. Though he carries a fair bit of guilt at times." Gavin lifted his gaze to Vanessa who remained over my shoulder.
Bound (Legacy Series Book 4) Page 2
