Page 20

She mewls a little in protest but tilts her head to meet my tongue, claiming me as I'm claiming her. I'm not sure if she realizes it, but her kisses say what her words don't. I pull her against me and run my fingers through her hair, loving how it wraps around my fingers. I graze her scalp, tilting her face to feed on her even more. Just like this. This is how I will hold her head when I feed her my cock. I moan at the image. Her scent rises, and so does mine. I'm licking her lips, tasting her tongue, teasing, twisting, wanting more. My mate. I can't fucking believe it. My mate is in my home, and more importantly, in my hands.

My hand swoops out blindly to clear her spot off the table, and I lift her into the place her plate recently occupied. I'm leaning her back, and her head falls backward, arching so that I can suck on her neck.

Her eyes meet my brother's, and she gives a muffled oomph at their wide-eyed looks. "Oh my God," she says, pushing me away. I'm still feeding on her. "Oh, my God. Your brothers."

I look at them and growl. "They were just leaving."

"No, no, they can stay, wait—" and she wiggles out of my arms. My tiger lets her. "Actually, you're right. I need to see my patient. But also, I didn't bring any clothes. I've been wearing this outfit; even with the time change, it's been twenty-four hours now. I don't have anything to put on other than this. I don't suppose in your infirmary you have any scrubs?"

"I can give you something of mine," I offer.

My tiger perks up, happy that we've found another way to provide for her.

She looks at me as I help her down from the table, taking me in from top to bottom. "I don't think anything of yours will fit. I'm sure your infirmary has some type of scrubs. Just until I can get some more clothes, or you can send for my things."

My nostrils flare. I want her covered by my things. My pants. My shirts. I want her drowning in my smell. 've already scented her, but it's not enough. My tiger complains.

I look at my brothers. Georgy quickly jumps up. "I'll go run down and get a few pairs. And then later we can send for something."

I nod at him, and then he's off, loping across the room.

"And I don't suppose you have a blow dryer? Or a flat iron?" she says.

"We have an iron," I tell her.

She sighs and shakes her head. "Okay. Natural curls it is," she grumbles.

I don't know what she means, but I'm reassured when she says, "I'm going to go and take a shower. Tell your brother he can just leave the scrubs on the bed, and I'll get them."

My hands ball into fists. "I will be the only one leaving any clothes for you on the bed."

She raises her brows. "Okay." Wiping her hand across her forehead. "Yes, alpha," she says, patting my hand.

She is being facetious. But I love it. Yes, alpha. I could hear her say that a few more times.

Her head and Dr. Roger's heads are way too close as they go over the X-rays. I've already shown her those X-rays. A low growl rumbles from my throat as I pace back and forth. Every now and then, Dr. Roger sends me a nervous, wide-eyed bird look over his shoulder, as if he's afraid I'll pounce on him again when he turns his head. I merely sneer. His hands shake a little as he points out more information she needs.

"So you see why I thought you might be able to help. I saw your research in the Journal of Shifter Science. It was very impressive, especially for one of your age."

"Thank you," she says, "But I'm sure if you read the article, then you understand that I have no idea if a procedure on a species this large would work. The mere force of his gait; a prosthetic device may not be able to handle it. I'd have to calculate the force, his weight, and the elasticity as he shifts from one form to the other. These are very delicate calculations, and I just don't know."

She bites her lip and looks back at me. "If this goes wrong, you understand you're taking a risk we won't be able to undo. Once we put the prosthetic in, his shifter ability will knit his biological matter with the artificial. But if it doesn't work, the only option left would be to remove the artificial and implant a steel rod. But removing it is going to be much more difficult than putting it in, because his ligaments, veins, muscle will all have grown around it. To take it out might be more damaging than leaving it in."

She runs her fingers through her hair. "I don't know. I need to confer with Dr. Singh."

I growl. "The man in your office. In your lab. The one who was looking at you with his weak puppy-dog beta eyes as I took you away? Nyet."

"He's my partner, Ivan."

It's one of the few times she's used my name, and I hold her eyes. "It's too late. We can't send for him now." I look at the doctor. "Tell her."

Dr. Roger nods. "We only have a certain number of days. Aleksej is heavily sedated, and we can't keep him under this long. We don't know the effect of heavy sedation on his mind over time. We could lose him. The levels we're currently using to keep him under would have long since killed anyone who wasn't a shifter."

She holds my eyes for a long time. Then she moves closer and places a hand on my arm, stroking it. "Ivan. I know you want what's best for your brother. Steven is the more experienced surgeon. We were full partners on this project. If we can't bring him here on time, then maybe we can set up a video link, so that he can be right next to me."

I instantly snarl at the image of him right next to her.

She continues, ignoring my growl. "Guiding me through the procedure. If you want what's best for your brother, if you want your brother to have any kind of a chance, it's not enough for me to do this alone. I'll need Dr. Roger and whoever he has on his team. And I'll also need Steven."