Chapter 4
FOUR
Christian
“You can explain why I got shot and woke up with a bite mark on my neck?” Quinn asks, her voice high with panic and adrenaline coursing through her.
“Yeah, I… Why don’t you go to the bathroom? Then we can sit down, and I’ll tell you everything. Okay?”
She nods wordlessly. As soon as the door closes between us, I turn away and drag my hands down my face.
Fuck. I thought I had more time before I needed to tell her about all this.
This is a good thing, my wolf replies. The sooner she knows about shifters and fated mates, the sooner we can be with her.
Or the sooner she bolts.
We’ll catch her.
I sigh and pace to the window, checking to make sure it’s locked before pacing back to the bathroom. On my second pass, I hear the toilet flush and the water turn on in the sink.
When Quinn swings the door open, I’m right there to steady her and guide her back to the bed.
“Okay, explain,” she says once I have her settled back on the bed, her blankets tucked around her.
I sit in a chair next to the bed and lean closer. “You were shot in that field. Do you remember that? You were on a hike up there.”
“I remember being shot and falling. I remember the blood, then waking up here.”
“I carried you here from the field. I removed the bullet and repaired the damage, but you’d lost so much blood. Every time I thought I’d contained the damage—found the tear, stopped the bleeding—another wound appeared.”
I risk a glance at my mate, who looks pale.
“So, I bit you,” I finish.
She stares at me in shock.
I should hook her back up to the monitors. I might be scaring her half to death, I think to myself.
No, our mate is strong. She can handle it, my wolf replies.
Quinn shakes her head. “You’ve lost me.”
“Yep, yeah, that makes sense. I… There’s more.”
“More?” she croaks.
“Have you ever heard of shifters?”
“No…”
“How about werewolves?”
“Sure.”
“I’m a werewolf.”
Her mouth drops open.
“We call ourselves shifters,” I rush on. “We’re humans who can turn into animals. There are bear shifters, bird shifters, rabbit shifters, you name it.”
Quinn doesn’t blink, doesn’t move a muscle.
“I’m a wolf shifter.”
“Riiiight,” she says as if she’s humoring me. “But that still doesn’t explain the bite mark.”
She thinks I’m crazy, like she might say the wrong thing and set me off.
“Shifters have certain abilities. Our hearing and eyesight are more advanced than humans', and our healing abilities are more advanced. We heal much faster.”
“Brag,” she mutters under her breath.
I smile.
See? She’s tough, my wolf states proudly.
“I bit you because you’re my fated mate and that’s what shifters do, but also because you were dying. I knew the bite would give you my healing abilities—without it, you wouldn’t have survived.”
“Do you bite a lot of your patients? Are you a real doctor?” Quinn asks, looking upset.
“No! I mean, yes, I’m a real doctor. No, I don’t bite patients. Only you. I’ll only ever bite you.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re my fated mate. We’re meant to be together. Shifters only have one mate. We never want anyone else.”
“You’re crazy,” she says shakily.
“No.”
She releases a shaky breath. “I think you should leave.”
“I can prove it!” I say desperately.
I stand, my hands going to my belt buckle, but before I can strip and shift for Quinn, Melanie calls for me.
“Dr. McAdams?”
“Not now!” I snap.
“We need you!”
I give her a small smile. “I’ll be right back. Just a minute.”
She watches as I stalk to the door to help Melanie.
“What’s going on?” I ask my assistants as I leave Quinn’s room.
“A tourist came in with a nasty cut on his leg. He took a fall, hit some rocks.”
“Okay.” I hurry into the patient's room to address this latest incident.
Just staple him up, my wolf orders. We need to get back to our mate.
I ignore him and greet the new patient. I make small talk as I disinfect the wound and stitch him up. It’s a nasty cut, and it takes me almost an hour to get him stitched, bandaged up, and sent on his way.
Then I beeline it back to my mate’s room.
I know Quinn must be freaked out. She needs to see me shift, see my wolf, and she’ll believe me about all this. Then we can talk about fated mates and us being together. We can move on and discuss our future.
I open Quinn’s door and curse like a sailor when I see the empty bed and the open window.