Page 81 of The Librarian’s Familiar

“You had me so worried. The storm broke about four hours ago. You’ve been unconscious for about six hours.” August kissed Charlie’s temple. “As soon as the storm broke, I shifted and called for help. Then I shifted back to keep you warm. I couldn’t keep you dry. Not entirely.”

That explained why his socks felt kind of squishy and his pants were glued to his legs. “I should remember why we were out in the storm.”

The reason they were out in the middle of nowhere danced at the edges of his mind.

August drew back and stared at him. “Do you know who I am?”

He did, didn’t he? He was August. That wasn’t the answer the shifter wanted. He’d remember in a minute or three. “Oh, my God. Of course I do. Does that line ever work?”

His eyes narrowed as if he didn’t believe that Charlie remembered anything. “Who am I to you?”

He held the shifter’s gaze, willing the memories to surface. August North, polar bear shifter, ex-hockey player. Fuck buddy. Through the fragments of memories he was trying to pull together, he felt August’s concern wrapped around him. Sensed the lines of fate joining them together. “My mate.”

“Yes.” He smiled. “Can you sit up?”

“Sure, why wouldn’t I be able to?” Had he broken something?

“I don’t know, you passed out. Like eyes rolling back in your head, collapsed. I dragged you about fifty yards, and you didn’t flinch. I thought you’d hit your head on something when you fell off my back.”

There was a lot to process in that sentence. He tried to sit up, but he didn’t quite have the strength. “Help me up. I’m not broken.” At least he didn’t think he was, but something was definitely off. While he could sense the fate lines, his magic was noticeably subdued. Usually it was seeking to create chaos out of order. “You’re going to need to fill in the blanks for me.”

“I’m not going to do any such thing until you’ve seen a doctor. A witch. Because you used a lot of magic and it clearly fried something in your brain. You have the whole nose-bleeding thing happening.”

Charlie nodded, which he instantly regretted because now he was upright, his pulse was echoing rather too loudly in his head. His stomach rolled, and saliva filled his mouth even though a moment ago, it had been dry. “I’m going to hurl.”

August lay him back down on his side. “I think you should stay right there.”

“Good idea. Maybe I should close my eyes again.”

“Nooo. You need to stay awake until help arrives. I think this should be treated as a concussion.” August sat next to him completely naked.

“Great. Aren’t you cold?”

“Nah, not yet anyway. When I get cold, I’ll shift, but I need to keep you awake.” He reached over and grabbed a phone out of Charlie’s coat pocket. The pebbles fell out, landing in the dirt. “Let me check on the help. I might need to shift and carry you to them.”

“It’s only a headache.” He wanted to be unconscious again.

August looked at him as if he’d grown fur. “Maybe I should shift and force some healing into you.”

“That doesn’t sound like fun.” Closing his eyes and going back to sleep was a better idea.

“I can assure you that shifting to heal is not fun. However, it is effective, and now you’re awake, I think we should try it.”

“Why don’t you make your call first?”

August did, and Charlie took the opportunity to close his eyes and rummage through his scrambled memories. It was chaos. Like someone had walked through a library and ripped the pages out of every book. How was he supposed to find anything?

There were warnings about the storm.

Memories of pulling apart an ant, from back when the Coven had been training him. A feeling of wind on his face and riding a polar bear…sure that made sense…

Pebbles in his hand.

Storm clouds and rain.

August shook his shoulder. “They are about fifteen minutes away. I should be able to hear the quad bikes soon.”

“Okay. I was trying to remember.”