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With a deep breath, I gathered myself, turned, opened the fridge, and took out the eggs and bacon from the top shelf. “Breakfast time. Let’s go.”
Chapter
Two
Opening the door slowly, I walked into the first bedroom, the one for healed but unconscious patients, and was sad to see the male tiger still asleep and in his tiger form.
He’d been asleep since he was dropped on my front porch six days ago, a deep gash on his head and evidence that it had been cracked, but healed before I saw him. We weren’t sure who had dropped him off, but it was far from the first time that someone had brought an injured hybrid shifter to me for help.
Although the wounds were healed, I suspected the head trauma was the reason he hadn’t woken up yet. I’d hoped he might have woken at some point and switched to his human form, but he was still in his tiger form. Had I not seen the wounds healing quickly, I would have thought him an animal, but shapeshifters healed incredibly fast.
After checking his IV and fluid levels, I sat beside him on the bed and stroked his fur. “You’ve got to wake up soon, friend. It’s concerning that you are still asleep after so long. I’m worried about you. When you wake up, I’ll give you the biggest, juiciest steak you’ve ever seen, promise.”
Straining to listen, I tried to pick up anything telepathically, but he was still silent, truly unconscious.
Sometimes, coma patients would come out if they heard sounds to confirm they were safe. One trick that seemed to work for me was to sing to them, a song about running through the fields full of flowers and sunlight. The song had come to me when I was a child, and whenever I sang it outside, animals flocked to me.
My parents had freaked out, assuming I was cursed or a mage. They’d had me tested extensively, at multiple locations by different people. When they had learned I was a mage, it had caused a huge rift between them as accusations about affairs or lying about their lineage were thrown around. I still didn’t understand their extreme hatred of mages, but it had caused my parents to all but abandon me as a child, sending me to a school for mages and refusing to spend any holidays with me. My land and cabin, plus a monthly salary had been the only things they’d given me, and while it hurt to have been abandoned, I was very grateful for what I had and the ability to help others. I was especially grateful for the school they’d sent me to, which had taught me how to use all of my abilities: telekinesis, telepathy, and emotional manipulation. The mage instructors were unsure about some of my abilities, stating that mages didn’t usually have those powers, but they had been unable to find any proof that I was a hybrid.
Finished with my song, I stroked a hand down the tiger’s face, stood, and walked out, leaving behind a plate of thinly fried beef and eggs. I left the food just on the off chance they woke up while I was out of the house. The first thing every animal, shifter or not, wanted when they woke up after being injured was food and water.
“Your voice is very soothing,” Riddick commented.
I jerked my head up, shocked to find him standing in the hallway. He had on a pair of sweatpants that hung low on his hips, a dark happy trail visible.
“Oh, um, thank you.”
“Do you know how I got here?” Riddick asked, his brows furrowing and mouth dropping into a deep frown.
“A black van dropped you off. Winnie was the only one who saw them, and she’s a normal pig so she can’t read license plates. She did say the people had masks on, but that’s all I could really get from her.”
Branson kept trying to convince me to get security cameras, but I was hesitant to do so because I was worried it would be a deterrent for people to drop off the injured shifters like they did, and I didn’t want a single one missed because of that.
He sighed. “That tracks. I was looking into a missing shifter case for a friend and one of the local shifter gangs caught me sniffing around.”
“I’m surprised they didn’t just kill you,” I admitted.
The corner of his mouth curved upwards. “You don’t know who I am, do you?”
“Nope,” I said and made the p sound pop. He was attractive and looked somewhat familiar, but I wasn’t up on the latest celebrity gossip.
His laughter echoed around me in the small hallway, the sound full of amusement, and warmed me in a way I’d not experienced in years. Finished with his laughter, he straightened his shoulders, turned to face me, and said, “I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Riddick, assistant to Prince Caleb.”
Prince Caleb was one of the most popular princes in all the realms, after his fathers. He was a hybrid, and while not the first, he was the first of royal lineage and the first to be revealed publicly without fear of death that anyone knew of. His mother, Princess Jolie, was thought to be human when she’dbecome mated to the Four Princes of Jinla, but it had later been discovered she was the siren princess. In some strange magical insanity, Prince Caleb was born a hybrid combination of siren, werewolf, dragon, elf, and mage.
Hybrids were feared as sometimes the combination of races could create an unstable person who was unable to control their powers. It was extremely rare, but due to long standing biases, stretching back to when hybrids were simply murdered for existing, people still feared them. Prince Caleb was working to end those fears and with the help of his parents, created a few schools for hybrids to learn to control their powers.
Riddick was extremely well known, and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t recognized his face. He was always at Prince Caleb’s side during media events.
“Well, I’m glad I was able to help your leg heal properly, or I might have had to face his wrath.” I smiled wide and turned to check on the next room.
“Who are you?” Riddick asked.
Spinning back around, I scowled. “What do you mean? I’m just a woman who lives in the woods and helps the injured.”
He stepped closer and shook his head. “No.” Bending down, he inhaled from the top of my head and I closed my eyes to avoid staring at his bare chest and stomach, muscles rippling as he moved. “You’re a mage, but … smell different.”
“Bad different?” I asked, embarrassed that my voice was breathy.
