“I do. I actually met Luc already this morning. Alpha Osmund introduced us. It was somewhat surreal, actually.”
“I would imagine so. Come in. Sit. Do you want some tea?” Garin didn’t give me much of a choice; he simply pulled me down into an oversized beanbag and sat beside me with his arm around my back. “Was it just chance that you and Maxwell met?” Garin looked up at our mates, who were standing beside one another. “Actually, how did you two meet? I need to know these things because of course my uncle is going to need to know. He’s a busybody.”
“The same way you and I met,” Castiel said.
Garin’s brow furrowed before his eyebrows rose. “You’re the council’s new doctor?”
I nodded. “I am. Or I was supposed to be,” I said. “I had asked Maxwell if it would be an issue for the council for us to be working together. Next thing I know, we’re here.”
“I can understand that,” Garin said. “And I’d say that Maxwell brought you here because Castiel and I met the same way. I was the council’s new psychologist, and what do you know…my coworker was my mate.”
“Really?”
Garin nodded. “The council doesn’t care. They’re all about mates and taking care of them and their bond.” He sighed. “We did have some issues with getting our time off because we were really busy right around the same time because of the assignments that the enforcers were on at that time, but we worked things out.”
I glanced up at Maxwell. “I’m not sure about time off.” I shook my head. “I don’t know what he’s talking about.”
It was Castiel who answered. “The council does their best to give all newly mated couples a month or so off when they first claim their mate. It allows time for them to cement their bond and will also most likely cover any impending heats or fertile periods.”
“Oh.” I looked up at Maxwell and did my best to not think about him claiming me. Or the heat that would follow because I absolutely wasn’t on any sort of suppressors. “Umm…yeah, I guess I hadn’t thought about that,” I said instead.
“Why would you? Neither of us expected that we were going to be fated to one another. I was expecting a new coworker.”
I nodded in agreement. That was really the extent of my thoughts as well. It would have been nice if one of the enforcers ended up being my mate because then I would be able to keep my position, and he could go about doing enforcer things. But instead, I’d been fated to Maxwell. There were absolutely zero complaints from me about that.
“So now what?” I asked. I mean, I knew how things worked. I wasn’t a shy virgin. I knew how claiming worked.
“Since we have the day with zero patients and Owen is off doing a run in his panda form, I thought that perhaps the two of us could spend some time together and get to know one another.”
“Seriously? No patients?” Garin asked.
“Not today. We are going to have a busy few months, though, because there are three pregnant omegas that I know of. That’s right now. Who knows in the next month or so.”
Garin gasped beside me. “You know about Chase, right?” Maxwell nodded. “Poor Chase. I mean, he did okay with the first set of twins, but I can’t believe he’s having two more.”
I didn’t know Chase, but apparently, everyone else did, which made sense. They’d been here a lot longer than I had.
“Castiel,” Hawthorne said as he poked his head into the office. “Your patient is here.”
“Thanks, Hawthorne.” Castiel crossed over to us, and after leaning down and kissing Garin quickly, he stood. “It was nice to meet you, Camden. Best of luck with everything, and be sure to take time for the two of you and not let the council get in the way.”
“It was nice to meet you as well,” I said. Castiel walked out of the office, and I was left sitting next to Garin, while Maxwell smiled down at me.
“Do you think that sounds like something you’d like?”
I held my arms up. “Absolutely.” I could probably stand on my own—actually, I knew I could—but it was an excuse to touch Maxwell again. I didn’t know how touchy-feely he was going to be, but the hope was that he wasn’t one of those alphas or sires that kept the affection to private moments. Sure, I didn’t expect him to stick his tongue down my throat in the middle of the clinic, but a hug or his arm around me was incredibly nice.
Maxwell pulled me to my feet, and I smiled when he wrapped his arms around me again and pulled me close. “Thanks for your help, Garin.”
“You’re most welcome, but I don’t know what all I helped with.” I looked over my shoulder toward Garin, who was now standing. “Enjoy getting to know one another. And if you need to, send one of us a message, and we’ll contact whoever. Also,” Garin said quickly, “be sure to give Camden my number.”
“I’ll do that,” Maxwell said. He grinned down at me. “Are you ready?”
I nodded, and that was all it took for my stomach to do that flip thing, and then we were back on Treasure Ridge. We were actually back in the clinic on Treasure Ridge.
“We’re back here,” I said, stating the obvious.
“Yes. I need to clean up a bit and put up the sign. I also didn’t know if you wanted to go for a walk or if you wanted to do something else. I do need to let Master Edison know that you are my One.”
