Page 37 of Matched By the Dragon

“Are you craving deer?” Clyde asked.

“No, but it would feed the cubs,” I said.

“That’s what Bennie and Alby are going to do,” he reminded me.

“I know that, but they’re hungry now. They eat all day long usually and watermelon isn’t something I carry in my pockets.”

“I’ll find an intern to run to the store.”

“Do you think I’ll be here long enough to need them to do that?” I asked him.

“If you don’t figure out how to shift back? Yeah, you will,” he nodded.

“I thought the med was supposed to help,” I sighed at him.

“It is, but since it’s not, it may be something else,” he said. “Or your bear just doesn’t think you’re ready for it.”

“Well, screw him! I need to get home so that Brad can relax.”

“He’s not going to relax anywhere until you calm down and are okay. You smell like you’re ready to bum rush Medwin Moonscale if he walked in here and the anxiety med didn’t change that. So, who are you mad at?”

“I’m not mad,” I said and it was the truth. “Well, I’m mad at the nurses for upsetting Brad, but not that mad. Can we switch places so that he can lay down?”

“No,” Clyde said. “I can bring in another bed, but I’d like you to stay in bed until we know what’s going on.”

Resin let out a little growl at Clyde but it had no real bite to it. He knew Clyde and was confused about why I smelled more angry when he was around this time. Then the second dose of the med hit me and the room felt softer. I still needed to get Brad and the kids home, but I didn’t feel the need to eat the nurses right this second. It could wait a little while. I stretched out on the bed and put my face in my paws. It was darker in my little face hole. Then it was really dark. I was half asleep and half awake. Was that what people meant by high? Had Clyde gotten me high?

“I thought you said it wouldn’t make him sleep? Not that I’m mad. He probably needs the rest, but is this normal?” Brad asked, sounding farther away than he actually was.

“He’s not asleep. He’s high – medically high, but high,” Clyde said. “It’ll wear off in about thirty minutes. It’s about the dose we’d give a bear omega. It would have you like that all night, but he’ll process it out. Think of it as putting his nervous system in time out. And look,” Clyde said but I couldn’t raise my head to look.

“Awww!” Brad said. Over the mating link I saw it. The babies were on my back asleep. My little guardians. My little babies. My precious little babies. One half of which tried to off himself through exploration. My poor little guy. I’d have to stay on them like crazy after this. I’d rather be hurt or dead than for something to happen to them or Brad. No more climbing towers. Not that high anyway. It was such a fluke. Like some freak accident. I didn’t even almost die. I didn’t see Liza or meet Jac. No shadowy doors. Just a head injury. No near-death experiences here. Just a high bear who cracked his head on a misplaced trampoline. A tiny little trampoline. It was sort of funny. A little bouncy toy nearly did me in.

What was that smell? Why was there bacon walking around the hospital room? My head was too heavy to lift up, but it smelled as if a bacon had walked through the door and around my bed. Was it going to make Brad sick again? No, he’d had bacon since his morning sickness eased up. It better not make him sick. I’d kick its ass and the pig who they cut it off of too. I’d totally kick that pig’s ass.

“Eat that pig and call it bacon,” my bear mumbled.

Sounds of chewing filled the room. Was someone trying to eat me? Chew. Chew. Chew. Chew. Why were all these pieces of bacon chewing so damn loudly?

“Alpha,” Brad’s voice broke through the bacon’s chewing. “You need to eat.”

“Let the bacon finish eating first,” I told him over our mating link. My neck still hadn’t figured out how to lift my head back up yet. My face was between my paws and pressed against the hospital bedding which smelled like someone tried to strip all the smells out of it.

“The bacon is done cooking,” Brad said over our mating link.

“But is it done eating? I can hear it chewing. It sounds so hungry,” I said.

“Are you sure you didn’t give him too much?” Brad asked.

“Who too much? I didn’t feed the bacon. I don’t know where it got food from,” I tried to explain to him, but he had moved away to talk to someone else. Maybe the bacon. Maybe the daddy bacon?

A piece of bacon wiggled under my nose! It was attacking! It had eaten its food and now it wanted to eat me! I grumbled at it but it just poked against my nose again and again. Its teeth couldn’t find a hold on my nose because its mouth wasn’t big enough. I grumbled and tried to warn the mini predator away but it didn’t stop charging at my nose. Eventually I bit it in half.

“Take that! Take that you bacon hunter!” my bear grumbled in my thoughts as I ate it.

Then the unthinkable unfolded against my nose. The surviving half of the bacon found its second wind and began charging against my nose again! How unthinkable? I bit the damn thing in half, and it kept fighting! So I ate it too! Then its friends came looking for it one after another after another. One of its friends was a fry and another was part of a burger! The food had grown ballsy after centuries of being eaten by us! Now we had to eat it before it ate us! Eventually, the food army exhausted itself and I fell asleep too. Hopefully the food army had been thoroughly eradicated.

Chapter 13