Page 30 of Shifter's Dream

Troy climbed in the back seat with Blake and held his head to keep it from bouncing around, while Jaggar sped them to the clinic. Troy kept up a steady stream ofruhithe entire drive, telling Blake to hang in there, just hang in there.

It was time to tell Blake’s secret.

19 – Felines and Fiends and Fathers

Troy leaned against the wall of Remington’s clinic, his eyes half shut, his gaze on Blake in the hospital bed in front of him, the same one Graeme had been in for so long. Too late, he realized he was sleeping and it was only a dream of Blake in front of him. Troy levered his eyes open with effort. Wake.UP.

He woke up. Blake lay in the hospital bed in front of him, comatose, like he had been for the last 24 hours. There had been no more earthquakes. He had not had a chance to tell Trevor yet, but he would, soon.

Blake being in a coma had taken Troy’s mind off his mate for the first twelve hours, but now he couldn’t stop thinking about her, he couldn’t stop wondering if he should have gone to Mugshots already, found out her name already, tracked her down already.No, his wolf said, but for the first time in his life, Troy had doubts that his wolf knew all.

Troy heard voices from the other room. He crossed to the door, which was cracked open, and put his back to the wall near it, not needing to see, only needing a clear shot at everyone’s scent.

It was Trevor, Wade, Remington, and about fifty dozen cats. Troy didn’t mind cats so much anymore, in fact, he quite enjoyed Chelsea, but why Remington needed so many of them puzzled Troy.

A lone cat wandered in through the door crack. Troy had seen this cat before. He was mostly white, with a black and orange face.

The cat meowed at Troy, one short meow almost like a bark. Troy pushed at it with his booted foot. It hissed at his boot and dug furrows into it with his wicked little claws, then met Troy’s eyes as if to say, “how dare you, Sir?” Troy grunted at it, wanting it to go away so he could hear what was going on outside. The cat didn’t go away. It sat down on Troy’s boot, then lifted one leg straight in the air and began to groom himself. Troy resisted the urge to boot the cat across the room just to see how it would land. Instead, he toed the cat onto the ground and pushed it away with his boot again.

The cat stood and wound between his legs and boots, purring, but like no purr Troy had ever heard. Something was wrong with whatever the hell made that noise inside him, because the purring sounded sick, like a grizzly bear who thought he was a cat. “That you, cat?” he said. “You a grizzly?” The cat made that noise again. “Grizz,” Troy said nodding his head. “That’s you.”

Movement in the scents of the others made Troy shift his focus back out into Remington’s waiting room. They were coming his way. Remington was speaking.

“He’s stable, but I can’t get him to respond to any sort of stimuli. I’ve never seen anything like this, and I recommend we ship him out to a human hospital for an expert diagnoses, in case it’s completely unrelated to Khain.”

“Where? What hospital?” Trevor demanded.

Troy’s wolf leaned in close.Time to tell.

He’s partfoxen, Troy relayed into all their minds, at the same time they reached the door.

Trevor swept into the room eyes wide, coming for Troy, a look on his face that Troy didn’t want to see.

“What, Troy? Say that again,” Trevor said carefully.

“Blake is partfoxen,” Troy said.

“And you’ve known this for how long and never told me before why?” Trevor growled, getting right up in Troy’s space. Troy didn’t mind. Trevor was his brother.

“For always, since I first met him, me and Trent both, and because it wasn’t my story to tell.”

Trevor’s lip curled. “Eventine said he died last time when Khain attacked-just fell over dead where he was standing. I’m thinking maybe you should have already told me.” Trevor’s voice was tight, his hands curled into fists, his concern for his friend winding him up. “Blake stays here,” Trevor said in general. Remington threw him a dark look, but did not argue.

Troy didn’t say anything. His wolf was silent and his brother was pissed, and Troy didn’t know who to believe.

His wolf loomed. “Earthquake coming,” Troy said carefully.

Remington only stared, but Wade and Trevor moved quickly to Blake’s bedside, as did Troy. The ground started to roll under their feet, making the house crunch and squeak on the second floor and in the boards below their feet. The three wolves watched the ceiling and stayed close to Blake, ready to protect him if the walls started caving in.

The ground shook one more time, hard, then settled. Blake’s heart beeps stuttered once, twice, making Remington finally get moving to the heart monitor. When the line went wavy, Remington moved fast, running to a wall for a cart, wheeling it in close to Blake, shouting orders, the first one being, “Go find me a bear, right now!”

Troy ran to do it, but Conri was already pushing inside. The two males were an awesome team at the bed, moving like blurs until Remington snatched up the paddles from areal life defibrillator like the kind you would see on TV, and the electric noise whined through the room, making them all cover their ears and Remington actually shouted CLEAR! Then Conri shoved Trevor and Wade back from the bed, since they clearly didn’t know what CLEAR! meant, and Remington shocked Blake right through the heart! Troy jumped at the slamming sound it made, like maybe Remington had thwacked him with a two-by-four in the chest, instead of shocking him with the defibrillator. Blake’s body bent and jumped on the bed. Trevor winced and hovered.

Blake’s body twisted and shifted under the blanket, until his wolf lay in the hospital bed, dark and silent. The leads all dropped off his chest when the hair showed up. Conri dropped his ear to Blake’s fur-covered chest and listened. He nodded. “Started again, sounds strong. Shave him?”

Remington nodded, wiping sweat from his forehead. “Yeah, his entire chest, just in case.”

“I’ll do it!” Troy said. “Just get me a razor.”

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