He already his suspicions about what Duncan had been doing. He was twenty-one, and if Daniel had to guess, he’d say he had only recently discovered his shifter abilities. Unusual, but not unheard of.
Daniel wasn’t entirely sure what kind of shifter Duncan was, but the reckless behavior and the series of injuries told Daniel he was probably better of not knowing.
“I slipped off the barn roof,” Duncan said and flinched as Daniel tried to move the metal.
“You did well to shift back,” Daniel said, quiet pointedly, and the last of the color left in Duncan’s face drained away.
“You know?” he asked desperately, eyes widening with panic. “How do you know? Even my parents don’t know.”
Unusual,his cougar mused.Adopted?
Not our biggest problem right now,Daniel told it pointedly.
“Relax, you aren’t the only shifter in town,” he said to Duncan, raising one hand in an effort to calm him, before he could do himself any more damage trying to get up, and then continued wryly, “though I wouldn’t recommend advertising it too much. I know you’re keen to test out your new abilities—they are new, right?—but you need to be more careful.”
“You’re one too?” Duncan asked with wide eyes.
“We don’t talk about it, but yes. Now, let me see what I can do for you,” Daniel said. His biggest concern was stopping the blood flow, and so he took off his jacket and used tied as tightly as he could around the injured leg, above where the metal was stuck.
It’s not tight enough, the cougar growled. So Daniel picked up a stick and used it to wrap the jacket tighter.
“I need to take out the metal, see the damage and stop the bleeding before I can release it.” He met Duncan’s eye. “I know it hurts, but hold on.”
He had to work quickly, so he carefully pulled the metalshard out, making sure he did as little damage as possible. He could see where the damage was done, but he was in no position to operate on him there and then.
“I’ve got good news, and bad news,” he said. “The goods news is, your shifter healing is faster than that of a human.”
“Great,” Duncan grunted weakly. “What’s the bad news?”
Daniel pressed his leg together, assessing the wound. “It’s not going to be enough. I can’t leave the tourniquet on there too long or you are going to lose the leg. I have an idea, but I am going to need you to trust me. I don’t have the equipment here in town to operate on you in your human form, but there’s a vet here. She’s visiting. She might be able to save your leg…if you will shift.”
That is the most sensible thing you’ve ever said, his cougar said with only a hint of sarcasm.
“Why can’t you take me to the hospital?” Duncan asked as he winced.
“I could do that. But I’m not going to lie to you. It’s a long drive, and I don’t think you have time. We could call in the air ambulance, but it’s the same deal.”
“But shift?” Duncan said, sounding wary.
“Yes. I’ll be right here.”
The young man sucked in a deep breath and then nodded. Daniel watched as first his eyes changed, and then fur sprouted all over his body, then he began to shrink inside his clothing.
When he had shifted, a mongoose was lying in the pile of clothes, with a bloody leg.
“When you’re this small, how on earth did you get injuredlike that?” Daniel said with disbelief as he pulled his jacket free and then wrapped Duncan up in it. Grabbing up Duncan’s clothes, he rushed to his car and put Duncan down on the front seat. He knew he couldn’t leave them behind. If River could save Duncan, then he would need his clothes. He’d had to try to explain unexpected nudity more than once, and it was never fun.
He pulled out his phone and dialed Mary and Barry’s number. It took a minute for Barry to answer.
“Hello, Jones Dairy,” Barry said with just the slightest tremble in his voice giving away his anxiety.
“Barry, it’s Daniel, I’m taking Duncan to the office. I can’t fix the damage here but I’ll call you when I know more,” Daniel said, and waited for Barry’s acknowledgement before ending the call. He climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine.
In the rearview mirror, he could see the door of the dairy open, and Mary starting out of it. Just what he needed. He couldn’t let Mary see her son in his shifted form—it was Duncan’s secret to share, if he chose—so he put his foot on the gas and drove as fast as he dared away from the farm.
His phone was still in his hand as he kept one eye on the road and one eye on his phone. He pulled up Betty’s number and dialed it on speaker.
It seemed to take forever for her to answer.
