The Mating by Nicky Charles

thought I told you to go home and get some sleep?” An efficient looking woman in her forties stood outside a simple, white vinyl-clad building. Her brown hair was drawn back in a long braid and she was wearing a lab coat.

    “I did go home, Nadia, and now I’m back.” Kane nodded at the woman and then put his hand around Elise’s waist, drawing her forward. “Elise, this is Nadia, our nurse-practitioner. Nadia, this is Elise, my mate.”

    Nadia looked Elise up and down as if she was trying to decide whether or not this new wolf passed inspection. She must have met the nurse’s standard because she gave the briefest of nods before turning and addressing Kane with a smile. “Thomas is awake now and doing well. He’s fortunate that he’d shifted back into human form just before getting hit. The extra chemicals in his blood helped minimize the damage.”

    Elise puzzled over that statement. She didn’t know a lot about werewolf physiology. Of course, she knew that the transformation from wolf to human, or human to wolf, was accompanied by the release of certain chemicals that allowed their bodies to complete the change, but she’d never heard about it having healing properties. While she was proud of her heritage, she wasn’t the best of students and had skimmed over her books only doing enough to pass the Lycan correspondence courses that her father had insisted all the young take. Maybe she should see if Kane had any copies of the textbooks in his library…

    She was pulled from her reverie by Kane taking her hand and leading her up the steps of the infirmary. Nadia was holding the door open expectantly, and Elise murmured her thanks as she passed by. The other woman just raised an eyebrow and hurried off to a desk in the corner where she immediately became immersed in paperwork and files.

    As Elise looked around, her nostrils flared in response to the medical smells—she hated hospitals and doctors and this space was definitely a medical facility. Several beds lined the one wall, separated by the regulation curtains. Chairs for visitors were strategically placed near each bed and a TV was mounted on the wall for patients to view. Across the room, locked cabinets containing medical supplies could be seen while a partially opened door allowed her a glimpse of what appeared to be an examining table or possibly a small surgery area.

    Kane led the way over to the lone occupied bed and introduced her to Thomas. It was hard to judge his appearance since he was lying down and rather pale, he seemed pleasant enough, nodding at her and smiling weakly. His mate, Julia, was standing beside him and trailing her fingers through his blonde hair in a comforting gesture. Elise recalled they were newly mated and imagined the separation was especially hard on them.

    After exchanging a few pleasantries, Kane indicated that he wanted to talk to Thomas alone and the two women stepped outside onto the small porch that skirted the front of the building. Julia stretched her lean athletic figure and turned her face towards the sun, her warm honey blonde hair streaming down her back. “Gosh, it feels good to be outside. I’m stiff from sitting beside that bed all night but I didn’t dare go home, even once he was patched up.”

    “It must have been really hard on you, not knowing what was going on, while they were searching for him.” Elise smiled sympathetically at the other girl.

    Nodding, Julia wrapped her arms around herself. “Yeah. As soon as he was shot, I knew something was wrong even though he immediately tried to block our bond. Crazy fool said he didn’t want me to worry.” She snorted. “As if being kept in the dark and not knowing what was happening, would make me feel better. Men, they just don’t get it sometimes, do they?”

    Elise gave a half smile and shrugged. “I couldn’t really say. We—Kane and I—haven’t known each other that long.”

    “Oh—I’m sorry, I forgot.” Julia clapped her hand