I took notes and listened the way I always would, trying to go into professional mode.
“Aria also said something to me the other day,” she continued. “Aria,” she spoke to her daughter, “will you tell Dr. Keaton what you told me the other day? About your body?”
She nodded. “It feels like my body wants to explode, but then doesn’t,” she said. Her voice was so small and cute. My protective instincts kicked in threefold, needing to fix whatever was going on, though that feeling she described in her own words was a common way young children described shifting.
“I need to run a few tests, but I’m pretty sure you’re correct. Aria is a shifter.”
Harper’s stress was written all over her face. I peeked my head out and called for Abby, who came quickly. “Can you take Aria’s vitals while I ask a few more questions?”
“Of course.”
“Harper, if you don’t mind, I need to ask a few things.”
She nodded as she turned to Aria. “I’m gonna step out and talk to the doctor for one minute, okay? Stay with the nurse and I’ll be right back.”
“Kay,” she said, turning her attention to Abby. It seemed she was excited to have someone new to talk to as I led Harper out and down the hall to another room I was sure we wouldn’t be heard in.
I clicked the door shut and turned to her. All my professionalism went out the door, and I hugged her. She wrapped around me as she started sobbing. I rubbed her back, trying to comfort her.
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” I said, and she didn’t. Though I would have liked to know she had a kid, things were still new, and I understood her reluctance to bring it up.
She pulled back a bit and took a few deep breaths as I wiped her tears away. “You’re being too nice,” she said.
“I’m not just being nice,” I said earnestly. “I care about you and want to help.”
She smiled lightly, another tear falling. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’m not a shifter. I don’t know how to teach her anything. And don’t shifters need a pack? I don’t have one.”
“Breathe,” I said. She started getting worked up, and I didn’t want her to have a panic attack. “It’s okay, we’ll help you figure it out.”
“I can’t put that all on you,” she said. “We just started going out.”
“Don’t worry about that right now. Let's just focus on Aria.”
She nodded.
“I hate to ask you this, but can you tell me about her father?” If she didn’t have any wolf shifter in her, someone had to.
She groaned. “I didn’t know him well. He was some guy who knocked me up during spring break. I barely spoke to him, much less got his number. But I didn’t know he was a shifter.”
“Don’t worry, Harper,” I said. “I promise we’ll help. You won’t have to do this alone.”
“You don’t mind that I have a kid?” she asked. “You still want to…date? Or is it over and this is just an offer from one shifter to another?”
“I speak for all of us when I say we still want to date. This isn’t a deterrent for any of us.”
She let out a deep breath, as if she was genuinely worried. “Okay.”
“If it’s okay with you, I’d like to tell Hawthorne and Leo. I think they’ll know how to help. I can do that while you take amoment, and when we’re done, I need a couple of blood samples from Aria so I can find out for sure.”
“That sounds good. Thank you.”
I dropped a kiss to her lips without even thinking, and when I pulled away, she smiled.
I went to another room and called Leo first.
“Hey!” he said. “Are you getting out early? I could use some help moving the couch.”
