Chapter Four #2
“What happened?” Thomas asked the crying lady who was hovering in the entrance.
“I didn’t do it on purpose. It jumped in front of me on the road, I swear.”
Thomas nodded and patted her arm. “They tend to do that.”
There was blood on the woman’s t-shirt, but she didn’t seem to care.
She was staring at the vets, who were wheeling the deer into the back.
One of the rooms was always ready for emergencies, and hopefully, they’d be able to save the poor animal.
Rowan’s job wasn’t to get in there right now, though.
No, his job was to wait and clean up once they were done.
It wouldn’t be nice, but it needed to be done, and hopefully, the deer would be alive when all of this was over.
“Do you think it’s going to make it?” she asked, turning teary eyes to Thomas.
“The vets are going to do everything they can, but we can’t make promises. You did hit it with your car.”
The woman started crying again. Thomas looked startled, which Rowan found amusing. What had he expected after reminding the woman she’d hit the deer with her car?
“Maybe you should sit down for a few minutes,” Rowan suggested. “I’ll bring you a glass of water and some wipes.”
Thomas turned wide eyes to Rowan, clearly panicking at the thought of being left alone with the woman.
Rowan hoped he hadn’t made her cry harder, but he wouldn’t swear on it.
Sometimes, he wondered what was going on in Thomas’s mind.
He probably hadn’t thought that the woman would cry again, but she was worried about the deer and about the fact that she might have killed it.
It wasn’t something easy to deal with, even though it had been an accident.
By the time Rowan was back in the entrance, Thomas had convinced the woman to sit down. She still looked shaky, and he was gently talking to her. She was teary-eyed, but she’d stopped crying, which was a good thing.
“Here you go,” Rowan said as he handed her the water.
Thomas was crouching in front of her, so Rowan sat next to her.
It caused his knee to brush against Thomas’s, and Thomas briefly looked up to smile at him.
Rowan told himself not to behave like an idiot.
He smiled back, then quickly focused on the woman.
“Is there anyone we can call to come and pick you up?” he asked.
She looked horrified. “I don’t want people to see me like this.”
“Like what? You’re in shock. I’m sure your family would want to know.”
“I almost killed a deer. Maybe I did kill it. I don’t want them to know.”
“It was an accident,” Thomas told her firmly. “No one in your family will care. Hell, I’m going to be honest, no one in your family will care even if the deer dies. You were lucky, but I saw your car. It could’ve ended up very badly.”
Rowan agreed. He’d seen the car, too. The windshield was destroyed, and it was a miracle that the lady had come out of it without a scratch. He was sorry about the deer, and she was, too, but she didn’t seem to realize what could have happened to her. Maybe it was better that way.
Eventually, Thomas managed to convince the woman to call her husband.
It made Rowan feel better to know that she wouldn’t try to drive home.
They had to convince her to go instead of staying around until they knew what would happen to the deer, but she took the sanctuary’s number and promised to call for news.
Rowan hoped the news would be good, but there was no way to know.
“I’m glad she allowed us to call someone for her,” Thomas said as they watched the woman’s husband guide her toward his truck in the parking lot.
Rowan glanced at the woman’s car. From where he was, he could see the frontend, and he grimaced.
The deer really had done a number on it.
It was a miracle that it was still alive, but Rowan didn’t have a lot of hope.
There was no way it would survive, right?
That meant that Rowan needed to prepare himself, and he wasn’t quite sure how to do that.
He’d never had to deal with this before.
“So what happens if the deer doesn’t make it?” he asked.
Thomas frowned. “Why wouldn’t it make it?”
“Thomas, you’ve seen the car. Hell, it’s right there. Do you really think the deer is going to survive?”
“I think that we don’t know and that it’s useless to worry before it happens.
” He turned toward Rowan. “But I understand why you feel the need to do that. I’ve been where you are before.
You’re worried, and maybe you’re right to be.
It wasn’t good. It doesn’t mean a miracle can’t happen, though, and if it doesn’t, you have to remember that you’re not alone. I’ll help you through it.”
“You shouldn’t have to. This is a job.”
“And you’re a human being. It’s always sad when animals die. I would know, I’ve been through it a few times by now. The first is always the hardest, though. Even when you expect it, you have to find a way to deal with it.”
“I will.”
Thomas stepped closer and put a hand on Rowan’s arm. “I know you will. Still, you should come to me if you need anything, right? I want to be there for you.”
Rowan licked his lips. He leaned closer to Thomas, and Thomas mirrored his movement. Rowan wasn’t sure if it was on purpose. He just wanted to be close to Thomas, and he liked that Thomas seemingly felt the same.
The back door banged against the wall when it opened. Shane stepped through, smiling when he saw them. “There you are. Did the lady leave okay?”
Thomas took a step away from Rowan and cleared his throat. “Yeah, she was fine. We called her husband. They’re going to leave her car in the parking lot until they can get someone to pick it up. I told her it wouldn’t be a problem.”
“It’s not. I’d rather not have her drive it again. Considering everything, it’s a miracle that she was able to drive it to the sanctuary.”
“It was. How’s the deer? Do we know anything yet?”
“Doctor Robberson said that he expects the deer to survive. They’re still working on it, but he was hopeful.”
Rowan blinked. It was great news, but he couldn’t say he’d expected it.
He glanced back at the car in the parking lot. There was a lot of blood. It definitely would be a miracle if the deer made it out alive, but maybe Thomas wasn’t wrong. Maybe miracles did happen.
* * * *
THOMAS COULDN’T STOP thinking about the moment he and Rowan had shared.
That had happened, hadn’t it? He hadn’t imagined it.
He didn’t know what would have happened if Shane hadn’t come in, but even though he had a wild imagination, he needed to remember that he and Rowan were at work.
They couldn’t have done anything. They shouldn’t even kiss at work. It was unprofessional.
But God, Thomas wanted to kiss Rowan.
He ignored the wariness that rushed over him.
It wasn’t him. It was his rabbit, and while he understood why it was wary of a wolf shifter, it wouldn’t be enough to keep him away from Rowan.
The only thing that would was if Rowan wanted him to stay away, but Thomas didn’t think that was the case.
His rabbit would have to get over it, just like he had.
Thomas knew that Rowan wouldn’t hurt him, be it in his human form or in his wolf form. He was a shifter, not an animal. He wouldn’t let the wolf take over.
But Thomas knew that humans could be just as dangerous as animals, if not more. He’d seen enough while he lived on the street, and while he’d been protected by his family, they hadn’t been able to shield him from everything.
He trusted Rowan, though. They’d been working together long enough.
They’d been spending even more time together than they should since Rowan was helping Thomas study, and if there was one thing Thomas was one hundred percent sure of, it was that Rowan would never hurt anyone.
Hell, his eyes had been damp yesterday when someone had come to visit Finley in the hopes of adopting him.
As much as everyone wanted Finley to leave the sanctuary, they would all be sad when it happened.
Thomas knew that he would definitely be.
Finley might be massive, but he was also incredibly sweet and gentle.
He’d been found protecting a bunch of kittens.
Thomas was sure that if Rowan could, he’d adopt him.
He hadn’t mentioned anything, but he’d been spending more time with the dog.
The adoption hadn’t gone through. The woman had realized that Finley was too big for her, and while she’d been apologetic, she’d also been certain that she wouldn’t go ahead with it.
That left Finley back where he’d started at the sanctuary, and while Thomas was glad to have a little more time with him, he also knew that it couldn’t be good for the dog to be there.
He needed more space. He needed to have a nice couch to rest and an entire house where he could choose the best spot to nap.
He deserved to have space outside to run.
Thomas could give him that. He lived in a house in the middle of pack territory.
Finley would have plenty of space to run there, and he wouldn’t have to run alone.
Thomas wouldn’t be going with him since he was a rabbit shifter, but Seth was a bear.
The pack was made up of mostly bear shifters, but if they were too intimidating for Finley, Thomas’s sisters Josie and Paisley were wolf shifters. That would appeal to Finley, right?