Betty seemed surprised she was going out in search of Mrs. Thompson so soon, but gave her directions to the town square.
River was glad of the thick lining in her boots and the thermal lining in her leathers as she crunched her way through the snow. The town square wasn’t hard to find, and it wasn’t a long walk either. Something River was glad of as everyone she met as she walked waved and wished her a Happy New Year.
River crunched through the snow, managing half-hearted waves to each passing stranger who greeted her with yet another “Happy New Year!” The whole town seemed to radiatean almost aggressive cheerfulness. Maybe there was something in the water here. Like she wasn’t anxious enough with being surrounded by over-friendly townspeople, she thought, absently reaching for the pill bottle she usually kept in her jacket pocket. Her fingers found empty space, and she stopped dead in her tracks. The realization bit colder than the winter air. In her rush to escape this morning, she’d left her meds sitting on her bathroom counter…and there was no way she was going back. Not now that she’d made it here. She scanned the quaint shopfronts surrounding the square, hoping to spot a doctor’s office or pharmacy, but found only tinsel and twinkling lights. Perfect. She’d have to add ‘find a doctor’ to her growing list of uncomfortable conversations, right after dodging whatever festival planning Mrs. Thompson had in store for her.
Chapter Two
Daniel
Daniel Millan was awfully young to be a doctor. At least, that’s what a lot of the town’s inhabitants thought—and hadn’t been shy about telling him so. He was a good-looking man in his early thirties and had set the hearts of all the women in the town a flutter when he had arrived.
But when he had shown little to no interest in them, hearts had broken instead, and they’d moved on to other crushes. That was fine with him. He was a doctor first, and he had no inclination to become involved with any of his patients.
His office had been full of people with cold and flu symptoms for the last few weeks, and the odd carving knife related injury in the last few days. But on the whole, Christmas was a quiet time for him. Most of the town was so focused on the Christmas festival and then the New Year’s Eve party that they forgot to be sick.
Besides Susie and Mason, two children from the local school who had head colds from building snowmen without coats, the only people who had been to see him recently had been Grant and Alice.
He wasn’t exactly sure about what had happened, but he knew it was something serious for Grant to have come to see him.
Grant West ran the local Christmas tree farm, and besides being one with his trees, he was also a shifter, and from what Daniel could gather, he was a bear shifter. The pair had never talked about it openly, but when Lily Parsons, the butcher’swife, had run screaming that she had seen a giant bear running out of town and the next day Grant had brought Alice to see him to check her over, coupled with the arrest of a corrupt and disgraced businessman who had evidently been trying to kill Alice…well, it hadn’t taken much for Daniel to put two and two together.
Daniel was a shifter, too, but he had no desire for this to be known in a town that, as a whole, had no knowledge of their kind. There were a few others of them hiding in this out of the way place, besides Grant. Daniel knew that James, the town mechanic, was one, and that there were at least three other shifters in their midst, possibly more. But none of them belonged to a herd or pack. They were all lone shifters, for one reason or another, and though he was certain they all kept a watch for trouble for each other, they also had no intention of talking about their abilities.
You are getting distracted again,his inner cougar chided him as one of his three cats jumped up onto his desk and startled him out of his musings.
Thinking is not the same as being distracted, Daniel replied.Anyway, you’re one to talk about distractions, or do I need to remind you about the yarn and cardboard box incident
The cougar went silent and Daniel chuckled to himself. Growing up, he’d had found it difficult at first to come to terms with his shifter nature, but he’d grown to love his inner cougar. And he had to admit that it had its uses in medical school.
His heightened senses meant he was a better doctor. There were many patients he had caught early for otherwise fatal ailments because of his sense of smell, his cat sight, and trusting his instincts to sense danger.
When he had graduated, he had gone to work at a big city hospital, but had soon found that it was completely overwhelming for his senses. There was too much pain, too much suffering, and too much incompetence.
He had come to blows with another doctor over his misdiagnosis of a patient and his refusal to treat or even admit the actual problem. Rather than firing him, the hospital had given Daniel a choice, resign and take up a backwater posting, or head to court.
Daniel had chosen the backwater. They’d never know it, but the board had done him a favor. He’d found something here he hadn’t known he’d been looking for. Peace.
Of a kind, anyway. It was close enough.
We need to go outside, his cougar announced. He was used to the abrupt nature of his inner animal, but it was no less annoying when these things were pushed upon him.
Daniel pressed his lips together and rose to his feet and made his way to the front door of his office. He opened it and the moment he did, he felt like he had been punched in the heart.
What is that?he asked the cougar.
Breathe deep,the cougar instructed. Daniel sighed inwardly but did as his beast form said. The scent of the snow, the Christmas trees, and cinnamon still hung heavy in the air, all the smells he associated with his home. But there was also something else. Something new.
What is that?Daniel asked with surprise. He sniffed again. A mixture of leather, motorbike fumes and vanilla, a scent that caused his heart to stir in his chest with a mixture of desire and longing.
His beast stilled inside him.That’s her.
Who?Daniel asked, unease swirling in his gut. He already knew the answer.
Our mate.
Our mate? That’s impossible. We always said that we would be alone.
She is our mate.the cougar growled more firmly.You cannot escape her. She is here. You must claim and protect her.
