Page 8 of Reagan

His dad was retiring soon.He’d been giving his patients to him for a while now.Having them go over to his office instead of his so that they’d have continued care.Since he’d not been taking any new patients for a while now, there were only a few that he took over.Dad and Mom were planning a cruise soon and were going to see the world one country at a time until the babies came along.Both his older brothers were married, and they expected them to tell them that they were going to have a child any day now.

Going back to his office, he saw four patients before the end of the day.Usually, there were more, but he’d cleared his day for them when he realized that he was going to be busy at the hospital.Seeing nine patients there, he knew that he’d not be back to his office until after lunch.Today wasgoing to be a short day in the office, and he was looking forward to going back there to talk to Blake.He hoped that she wasn’t in too much pain when he got there.

Going by the house again, he changed into something more comfortable.He supposed he could have done that with his magic, but he wanted to make sure that he didn’t put on something that was wrong when he was seeing the woman of his dreams.Leaving the house again, he had put a load of laundry in the washer to get himself some clean sheets on the bed.He wasn’t expecting anyone, but he just liked clean sheets.He was embarrassed when he thought of what that might mean to someone else if they knew that he had his mate.It was something that he did often, and today just happened to be the day.

Blake was having her meal when he got there.He had thought to bring flowers for her, but decided that until he spoke to her, he’d be better off taking things easy.Asking her if he could talk to her, she invited him in and told him to have a seat.Just as he was getting ready to talk to her about what he’d discovered, his brother Aaron contacted him.

“Don’t forget tomorrow.”He almost had.It was the day that he was going to change Mac, and everyone wasn’t going to be around.This was the second time that they’d moved the date for Aaron and Mac.He was going to be there with his bag of medical items in the event something went wrong, but other than that, he was going to stay out of the way.This was his brother’s day.“You didn’t, did you?”

“No, I’m ready to go if you are.”He told him that he was nervous but ready to go.Then they were going to make a baby together.“I’d rather not be around for that if it’s all the same to you.”

He told Blake that he needed to talk to his brother and stepped out of the room for a moment.Taking out his cell phone, he pretended to talk to him while he was standing there.Just about everyone knew they were shifters, but few knew that they could talk to each other through a link.He told his brother that he’d found his mate and was just getting ready to talk to her for the first time.

“Well, don’t let me keep you, dumb ass.Talk to her about what a fabulous brother you have and that he’ll be there for her when the time is needed.”He asked if he was talking about Zeno.“No, shit head, I’m talking about me.I’ll let you go.Does anyone else know but me?”

“No, just you.And if you’d ever shut up, I’ll go and talk to her about what a fabulous mate she has in me.”They both laughed.“I have to go.I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

After closing the connection and his phone, he went back into the room to talk to her finally.She was smiling at him, and he felt himself fall in love with her.He needed to talk to her before he blurted out something that wouldn’t be good.Taking a deep breath, he decided that just saying it was the way to go.She’d either believe him or not.

“I’m a tiger.”She nodded, but her smile wavered just a little.“I’m a tiger shifter, I mean.And I’m assuming that you know what that means.”

“I know a few shifters, yes.I work with them.”He knew that.He could smell them on her.“What does this have to do with you being my doctor?I’m assuming that’s what you wanted to talk about.”

“No.I belong to you.I’m your mate.”She nodded again but didn’t say anything.“I only found out last night when some of the magic that you get when you find your mate comes to you.I can now change my clothing without actually doing it.”

“I think you should start from the beginning.”He nodded and drew in a deep breath.“I understand what mates are between shifters, but I didn’t know that humans could be a mate too.”

“My two sisters-in-law were both humans.You’ll get magic from them as well.But mostly from me.”She nodded, then shook her head.“I’m sorry.I wish there were a book that I could go over with you to help you understand.”

“I do too, because no offense, you’re totally screwing this up.”He knew that and told her that he was sorry.“Why am I your mate and not say one of the nurses?”

“The fates are what I was told put us together.They thought that the two of us would be good halves of a better whole.”When she nodded, he continued.“It was the magic that I noticed first.Also, today when I came into the room, I noticed the wonderful smell I got from you.It sort of calls to me.”

“So what does this do for me.Other than some magic.”He said that she would heal faster and that her broken arm was more than likely healed.“That would be great.I work at a job where I do a lot with both hands, and I’d hate to miss work just because of my sister.”

“She doesn’t like me.She’s going to hate me once she finds out that we’re mates.”Blake said that was an understatement.“She called today to tell me to discharge you so that you could not see me again.I think she thinks I’m a bad influence.”

“After this morning, I have no doubt that she’s blaming you for our fight.”He asked her if she was all right.“I am.I hurt for a while about some of the things that I said to her, but I’m getting over that.She called here today to tell them to discharge me, too.Like she has money and that’s supposed to get her what she wants.”

“We have money too.I’m assuming too a great deal more than she has.”He laughed when she did.“Everything that I have now belongs to you.”

“Thank you, but I’m not ready for that just yet.”He said that he understood, and she nodded again.“So where do we go from here?I don’t even know what I should be asking you about us.”

“We’ll take this one day at a time and see where that takes us.There is no rush on anything that we do from now on, and that includes sex.That’s entirely up to you when or if we have it.”She asked about children.“Same.It’s your body and your say in whether or not we have any or not.I would never pressure you or make you do anything you don’t want to.”

“It’s a lot to take in.”He told her that it was for him as well.“I just want to think about this for a while.If you could just answer questions for me, I’ll feel much better.”

“Anything you need, I’ll be there for you.”She told him that she wanted to think.“I can leave you to that.I have my personal cell phone number that I’ll give to you.I’d rather you not give it to your sister for obvious reasons.”

“Yes, I can imagine the calls you’d be getting when she figures this out.”He laughed when she did.“All right.It’s time for you to go.I need to think, and I can’t do that with you hanging around me.”

“Understandable.”He stood up to leave and stopped right by the door when he said her name.She asked if he was sure.“I am as sure about this as I am about being a doctor.You are my other half, and I will do anything to make your life better.”

After he left, he did feel better.On his way home, he reached out to his family and told them that he’d found his mate.He didn’t tell them that she was in the hospital; that would be something he told them later.Right now, he didn’t want anyone bothering her when she was thinking, and he thought that was about the smartest thing he’d done.

Calling his dad when he got home, he was so happy that he felt like he’d done the right thing in the way that he’d handled this all.They were going to talk, he told his dad, and he was waiting for her to call him.As soon as he had dinner, just more leftovers from his mom, he went to the living room and watched some television.After about twenty minutes of having no idea what was going on, he turned it off.He wondered what it would be like having Blake around all the time and couldn’t wait.He just hoped they could get around her sister.

Chapter 4