Chapter 9 #3
“I can’t wait to begin working here.” The phone rang, interrupting me. Dr. Niffen held up her hand.
I couldn’t help but hear the other end of the conversation. When Dr. Niffen replaced the receiver, I prepared to end the meeting. “I apologize, but I have a patient that I need to see. If you were already on staff, I’d take you with me. Next time,” Dr. Niffen assured.
Dr. Niffen and I stood at the same time, walking back the way we’d come. I took the time to look at the other offices we passed. The ones with the open doors were almost as nice as Dr. Niffen’s.
“We’ll see you in a few days, Dr. O’Neil. Lila, be a dear and send these down to Human Resources.” Lila stood. The brunette was almost as tall as me.
“Absolutely. Welcome to the team, Dr. O’Neil.”
“Thank you. Lila?” I held my hand out. The cool fingers gripped mine firmly.
“Yes. Lila Grant.” “It’s nice to meet you.
” I could sense the woman had looked at Kellen, but hadn’t tried to poach, which moved her up a notch.
“You’ll love it here. All the doctors in the practice are very pleasant to work with, and I love our patients.
” Sincerity rang in her tone. Yeah, I’d made a great choice.
“I can’t wait to get started. Have a great day, Lila.” Turning to Dr. Niffen, I held my hand out. “Whenever you have a firm date, just give me a call. My schedule is open.”
“We’ll see you in a couple of days. Until then, enjoy your time off.” Dr. Niffen looked over to where Kellen unfolded himself from a lounge chair. He walked forward with his usual confident swagger.
“This is my...” I trailed off, not wanting to say mate.
“Hello, my name is Kellen. It’s very nice to meet you. I’m Laikyn’s fiancé. Since her car is in the shop, and I had some things to get done in town, I thought we’d kill two birds with one stone.” He held his hand out to the doctor, and I swore the woman looked ready to swoon.
Introductions were made, and in typical Kellen style, he had the older woman eating out of the palm of his hand.
Tattooed badass men clearly didn’t faze Dr. Niffen.
Several minutes more of Joy blushing and extracting a promise from Kellen to take care of me.
All of which made me roll my eyes. Of course, the good doctor didn’t notice since she seemed totally focused on Kellen.
“We’ll be on our way so you can get to your meeting. It was a pleasure meeting you, Joy.” Kellen kissed my boss’s cheek. The fact that the other woman had told him to call her by her first name had made Lila raise her eyebrows. Obviously, the doctor didn’t let just anyone use her given name.
In the elevator, I waited until the doors closed before turning to him. “You realize you are a menace to all women?”
He crossed his arms over his chest, a smirk on his face. “How you figure?”
“Joy? She told you to call her Joy after two minutes.” I couldn’t help but smile.
Kellen unfolded his arms and reached for me. “The only woman I care about is you. I’m glad she felt comfortable with me. Sometimes I can scare people.”
I snorted. “Sometimes?”
He nuzzled my neck. “Only when the need arises.”
“Hmm, I think there is a whole other need arising now.” I pushed my pelvis in close to his.
The ping of the elevator had me stilling in his embrace. “I’d better watch myself when I’m in my place of work,” I said, pulling away before the doors swooshed open.
“For now, I’ll let you.” The words had a thrill shooting through me.
Several people piled in, keeping me from voicing anything out loud.
A little girl tugged on her mother’s hand, bringing the harried woman’s attention to her.
Kellen and I could hear her whispered words as she asked why her daddy was so sick and if he was going to survive.
The mother picked the little girl up and cuddled her close.
I met the somber, brown-eyed gaze of the child over her mother’s shoulder.
Clutched in her tiny fist was a stuffed wolf with sparkling blue eyes.
“I like your stuffed animal,” I murmured to the little girl.
“My daddy gave it to me. He said wolves were the fiercest of all, and they protected their own.” She sniffed, dropping the toy.
I bent, the scent that hit me was that of a shifter.
Wolf, to be exact. I pretended to drop my purse, knowing Kellen would help me out.
With so many bodies in the elevator, I hadn’t thought to scent our surroundings.
Kellen’s blue eyes narrowed on the toy in my hand, then glanced at the woman and child.
“Sorry, I dropped my purse getting this.” I stood after making sure Kellen had inhaled the scents on the stuffed wolf.
“Thank you,” the young mom murmured.
On the ground floor, we headed toward the cafeteria. “I don’t recognize the scent, but he’s at least part wolf. I smelled human, but it could have been the mother. Shit!” Kellen ran his hand over his head, looking around. “You are gonna ask me to try, aren’t you?”
“If he’s a shifter, or part but never shifted, whatever is wrong with him...” I stopped myself. As a doctor, I wanted to fix everyone. Not knowing anything about the man whose child smelled like a wolf made both the woman and the shifter in me want to fix them.
“Mon Chaton, it’s not that easy. If he’s in bad shape, the wolf’s bite could kill him. Or...” he held up his hand, stalling me. “The shifter we smelled on the toy could very well be the mother, and not him,” Kellen said too low for anyone but me to hear.
My brain knew what he said was a possibility, but in my heart, I couldn’t squash the part of me that needed to find out, one way or the other. Kellen growled. “You’re set on finding out more. Aren’t you?”
My head moved up and down. “Fine, but we do this my way, or I will toss you over my shoulder, and I don’t give a flying fuck what it looks like. Feel me?”
“I fucking love you.”
The blue of his eyes flashed to that of his wolf.
“Damn, you are so making up for this. I hope you don’t have any plans after this, cause the only ones are going to be me, you, my cock, and your pussy.
Whatever I decide, wherever I decide, I will take you.
I’m not asking, baby. Just letting you know. ”
The air around us thickened. Without a doubt, he could smell how his words turned me on, but I thought, in Kellen’s words, I gave no fucks. After we tracked down the little girl and her mama and found out a little more, I was surrendering my body to that of my mate. My Alpha.
Dang it, I hated walking around with wet panties. Kellen’s husky laugh had me reaching for his hand.