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“Sounds good,” I say as I yank the drum off his chest and put the stethoscope back around my neck. “It’s still beating.”
“Of course, it’s beating,” he says with a serious look on his face. “It’s truly working for the first time in my life. It’s beating for you.”
I don’t know what to say to that—he’s clearly still delirious from the healing process—so I try to make my way out.
“Well, I’m glad to see that you’re doing better, Mr. Young,” I say as I take a step back from the bed. “I’ll leave you to your doctor.”
His hand darts out and he grabs my wrist in an impenetrable grip.
There’s a fierceness in his eyes that goes straight to my core and makes my pussy clench.
“You can’t leave.”
A low rumbling roar emanates from his chest and I gulp. That’s his grizzly bear making that sound…
“Do you need something?” I ask with my voice cracking.
“You,” he says with a dark edge to his voice. “I need you.”
“Are you in some kind of pain?”
His grip on my wrist tightens. “I’ve been in pain for twenty-eight years. It’s been torture. It’s been agony. But now that you’re here, it’s over. There’s never going to be pain again while you’re by my side.”
I’m confused.
“So, do you want painkillers? I’m not sure I’m understanding—”
“What’s your name?” he interrupts.
“I’m Dr. Matthews.”
“No. Your first name. Your real name.”
I swallow as I watch him. He’s hanging on my every word like he’s going to die if I don’t tell him.
“Mila,” I whisper. “Mila Matthews.”
He repeats it low under his breath, savoring every syllable. “Mila Matthews.”
“Um, sir,” I say as I try to peel off his steel fingers. “Are you okay? You don’t seem… like a… normal person.”
Shit. That was probably inappropriate. And mean. The poor guy got hit by an eighteen-wheeler truck. No wonder he’s not acting like a normal person.
He tries to sit up, but I put my hands on his chest and push him back down. “Don’t get up,” I quickly say. “You need your rest.”
“I need you,” he says as he looks me up and down.
“Can I call someone for you?” I ask, not knowing what to say to this guy. “Can I call your mate to come in?”
His head flinches back. “Mila,” he says slowly. “You are my mate.”
I clear my throat and tilt my head as confusion fills it. “I’m your what?”
Chapter Five
Rylan
“You’re my mate,” I tell her again.
She looks shocked. Stunned.
I can’t get over how beautiful she is. Her bright green eyes are locked on me as the truth slowly dawns on her. The warm morning sun is gleaming in through the window and bathing her in a soft orange glow.
Her blonde hair is done up today and all I can think about is reaching up and seeing if it’s as soft as it looks.
“I’m your… mate?” she asks as she sits down on the bed beside me. My eyes drop down to her thick hips and my bear groans. I know exactly what he wants. I want the same thing.
“You are,” I tell her as I gently take her hand in mine. She watches my fingers as I stroke her soft skin. “We were made for each other. Born as two halves that are now completed.”
Her stunned face cracks and she starts to laugh. “Is this some kind of a joke? Did Alice put you up to this?”
She tries to pull her hand away, but I keep it where it belongs—with my protective hand wrapped around it.
“It’s not a joke, Mila. You’re mine.”
My inner grizzly bear lets out a possessive growl as she swallows hard. I inhale deep and her sweet scent fills me up. There’s a hint of strawberries mixed with the smell of her skin. Her shampoo or soap maybe?
“I think you got hit in the head,” she says as backs away a little. “You might have a brain injury. Did you get a CT scan or an MRI?”
“My brain is fine. I have shifter healing.”
She yanks her hand away from mine and gets up quickly. Both me and my bear are watching her closely as she walks over to my files. Her cheeks are flushed and her breath is coming out quick and rough as she rifles through them.
“You did an MRI,” she says when she finds the results of the scan.
“And?” I ask with a grin.
Her face stills as she stares at the paper. “You have significant brain trauma.”
I laugh. “Well, I did get hit in the forehead with a Mack truck going eighty miles an hour.”
“This is very serious,” she says as she slowly turns back to me. “You should be in a coma.”
“I was in a coma,” I tell her. “Remember?”
“Rylan, this is not the kind of injury you can bounce back from.”
“This is not the kind of injury that humans can bounce back from. Shifters do it all the time.”
She shakes her head. She doesn’t believe me.
Every textbook she’s ever read has told her the opposite of what I’m telling her.
“You’re going to need time to heal.”
“I’ve had time. Go out with me.”
She laughs. “I don’t think so. You’re not leaving this hospital for a long time.”
“I’m not leaving this hospital until you agree to go out with me.”
She stares at me with disbelief. Fuck, she looks cute with the lines on her forehead out like that.
“You’ve suffered a serious brain injury and you’re trying to pick me up. You’re unbelievable.”
“I’m in love with you, Mila. You better believe that. Go out with me.”
“You need another MRI, not a date.”
“If I get another MRI will you go out with me?”
She walks over with the print-out of the results. My brain looks as swollen as a marshmallow in a microwave.
“I don’t know how to tell you this, Rylan,” she says in a soft voice. “The results are going to be the same. You won’t be able to leave for a long time.”
“Then you have nothing to lose,” I tell her. “But if the results show that my brain is back to normal, you go out with me.”
She laughs but agrees.
“Okay,” I say as I hop off the bed. “Let’s go. Now.”
It still hurts to walk, but I grit my teeth and head for the door. My bones are mostly healed, but the tendons still have some work before they get back to normal.
We head down to the MRI machine and she pulls some strings to let me jump the line.
Once I’m lying on the bed, I don’t move as the machine swirls around me.
My bear starts growling in frustration as the loud noise fills my ears. He’s pissed that I let Mila out of our sight. He doesn’t like that I haven’t claimed her body and marked her neck yet.
He doesn’t understand that women need a little time. They need to fall in love before all of that happens.
After the MRI, Mila comes back into my room with the results. She looks amazed. She keeps staring at them in disbelief and I have to fight back a grin as I watch her.
“You’re healed.”
I hop off my bed and go to her.
“It doesn’t make sense. Your brain was like a sack of apple sauce and now it’s perfectly normal.”
I laugh as I put my arm against the wall, pinning her in place. My bear is urging me to claim her now.
Do it.
Mark her.
I look down at the soft skin on the curve of her neck and my teeth start tingling with the need to put my mark on her. That will come soon. First, I have to get a date.
“You owe me a date.”
She looks up from the results and seems to notice for the first time how close I am. I can hear her heart start pounding as her cheeks flush an adorable shade of pink.
“You’re my mate, Mila,” I tell her softly as I mov
e a little closer, hovering my lips over hers. “It’s going to happen. There’s no point in fighting it. We’re inevitable.”
“What’s going to happen?” she asks with a tiny voice. She looks flustered and thrown off as she glances down at my lips. I can smell her arousal perfuming the air between us. It makes my bear crazy.
It makes me crazy too.
