The information went in one ear and out the other when Toby’s heart sank at the fact, he must be mistaken about the smell clinging to his clothes.A mate would never leave, he was sure of that.
He must have a concussion, that was it.He had read somewhere that it could cause changes to the brain.His sense of smell must have been affected.
I told you I could smell our mate!
When?I don’t recall you saying anything.He didn’t.
That might be because you were flying in your human form out of the basket at the time.
Then why didn’t you shift and save me from the head banging I got off the ground?
I was in shock.And I told you it was a bad idea to go in a hot air balloon after the first landing, but did you listen?
Toby was too upset to argue about what a spectacular impression he’d given, if indeed his bird was right.
I am right.
Then where is he?Why isn’t he here making sure I’m alright?The more he thought about it, the more the alarms bleeped.
His bird had gotten it wrong.
“Ah, good, you’re awake.”A tiny guy strolled in looking far too young to be a doctor despite the scrubs and the name badge that identified him as such.“I was getting worried we’d need to ask the surgeons to come and review you, even when your CT scan came back negative for any trauma.”
Toby was sure there was damage, he just wasn’t going to argue with an infant when his temples throbbed.
“When can we take him home?”Morty sniff-sobbed, taking hold of one of Toby’s damaged hands and squeezing hard enough to make Toby wince and grit his teeth to prevent the cry escaping when Morty didn’t notice.
“We need to observe him for another hour, check that the lump on his head is healing as it should, given how long he was out cold.Then I’d say you’ll be free to go.”He’d picked up the chart and looked at it, mumbling something before he put it down on the table, offering a toothy grin.“I’ll write up a prescription for some pain medication for when you need it and arrange for a follow-up in the outpatient clinic for tomorrow for your head, and get the dressings removed from your hands.
“You did a good job in ripping the skin off and filling the raw wounds with dirt.We just want to check we got all the dirt out, so you don’t add insult to injury with a nasty infection.No telling what kind of bugs were in the soil.”Back was the toothy grin like he’d just said ‘What a delightful cake this is’ rather than talking about dirt, bugs, and infections.
“Right, if you have no questions…” The pause was all of two seconds, not enough time for Toby to get his pounding head to form a question.“Great.”Then the guy was gone leaving a very bewildered Toby.
“He’s… young.”
Morty giggled wetly, rubbing at his damp eyes with the back of a hand.“It’s a sign we’re getting old when he looks no more than a teenager!”
Niall snorted and nodded in agreement.“I feel ancient next to him, and I’m only in my late twenties!And let’s not talk about underachieving when he had to have finished school years ahead of his time.”
Toby was grateful for the distraction, giggled at Niall’s mournful sigh, then regretted it when his body allowed him to feel all the aches and pains of his flight out of the balloon and over the ground.He groaned and went to rub his head, only to stare at his bandaged hands and sigh in complaint.
“What do you need?”Morty asked as they heard a commotion coming from beyond the doorway.
“For whoever is complaining in the corridor to shush, and some of those painkillers would be good.”He didn’t like taking pills, but right then, with the drum speed increasing at how angry the person was somewhere in the department, Toby gave in.
“I’ll go find that doc, give me a minute,” Niall said, walking out.
“Did you leave Hector at home minding the baby?”Then something else struck.“Shit, the café…” tears welled in his eyes at what it meant when both his friends were here with him.
“Shush now, I just put up a sign to tell everyone we were closed due to unforeseen circumstances, it’s no biggie.Our customers are loyal, they won’t flee to some other café,” Morty reprimanded him softly.
Toby sniffed and got another whiff of the scent on his top, his lower body, regardless of the aches and pains, didn’t seem to care and reacted to the smell.
He really was in trouble.
You are not.I told you he’s our mate.
Who is our mate?Everyone we met—none of them made me react like this,he argued, even with his head hurting.His animal side was really starting to get on his nerves.
