“Hello, Betty speaking,” Betty said in her chirpy voice.
“Betty, it’s Daniel. I need you to call River. I need her to meet me at my office in the next ten minutes, please, I need her vet skills,” Daniel said.
“Oh, yes, of course. I’ll call her right away,” Betty replied and Daniel snapped his phone shut.
Calm down and focus on driving. She’ll be there,his cougar urged him and Daniel took as deep a breath as he dared to. This was one hell of a gamble.
Chapter Five
River
River heard her phone ringing in her pocket as she approached a small craft store down one of the side streets. Mrs. Thompson hadn’t been in the town square with the others, but one of the women there said that she was at a store not far away.
She’d followed the directions and found that it didn’t take long to walk anywhere in the town. And then her phone started to ring. She sighed to herself and decided to ignore it. There was no one calling her that would desperately need her, and she didn’t want to get sidetracked from finding Mrs. Thompson again.
The phone rang off, but then instantly it started to ring again. River growled to herself and pulled her phone out of her pocket and answered it.
“Yes?” she demanded.
“River, it’s your Aunt Betty, dear. I just had a call from Daniel. He needs you to go to his office. He says he has an injured animal.”
River didn’t need to hear any more. She hung up the phone and spun round on the spot, half-walking, half-running back the way she had just come. She was out of breath by the time she reached the office, and Daniel was screeching to a halt outside of it.
“What happened?” River gasped.
“It’s a long story, but I hope you are ready to save a life,” Daniel said as he grabbed his jacket with the wounded animalinside it and rushed towards the door to the office.
River was two steps behind him and feeling very confused.
Daniel was already in a side room she hadn’t seen before. It looked like the room for minor surgery, and he was already preparing the room for her.
“I am going to need to hear that story,” River said slowly as she came into the room and saw the injured mongoose lying on the table.
“Save his life and I will tell you everything, I promise,” Daniel said. “Now tell me what you need.”
River was surprised by how well equipped the small surgery was. It seemed like Daniel could handle most things in the small room, aside from major surgery. But she supposed with the hospital so far away, it made sense that he was set up to deal with so much.
Every instrument River asked for, Daniel had and handed to her. The mongoose was surprisingly docile and well-behaved, so she only had to use a local anesthetic to stitch up the wound in its leg.
“How long will it take to heal?” Daniel asked.
“Around two weeks for it to knit the wound well,” River said as she washed her hands and took off the apron she had borrowed.
“Two weeks!” a voice from behind her screeched. She spun around to find herself staring at a very naked young man where her patient had been.
“What the hell!” River screamed, scrambling back and crashing into a cart full of equipment. She tumbled over it andlanded on the floor.
“River, it’s okay, calm down. I will explain. Duncan, you moron. What did I say about not broadcasting?” Daniel said crossly.
“But she said it will take two weeks!” Duncan complained.
“No, it won’t. You’re a shifter, anything that takes normal humans and animals weeks takes us hours. You’ll be fine to shift back before it’s time for milking. We’ll make a show of you needing to be off your injured leg for a while, but right now, shift back, shut up and go to sleep.”
River’s eyes flicked nervously to the doctor, who was acting very much like this was normal. He took a deep breath before he slowly approached River.
“What the hell is going on, Daniel?” she snapped, rubbing her eyes and hoping very much she was about to wake up in her own bed.
“Come upstairs and I’ll explain everything,” Daniel said gently and offered her his hand.
