Dana Bell - Cynful

“How is he?”

“He’ll be fine. He’s exhausted and dehydrated. We’ve got him on a drip and a sedative for now. He keeps fighting us, wanting to get up and find you.”

“Can I see him?” She clenched her hands to keep from wringing them like some weepy romance heroine. She wanted to see him so badly she was ready to burst into tears.

“Yes, but make it brief. He needs his rest more than anything right now.”

“Thanks, doc.” She practically ran into the room Julian was in, stopping dead at the sight of her mate hooked up to tubes and wires again.

This shit had to stop. She was ready to set up a bedroom in the hospital, she was here so damn much.

Julian whimpered, twisting in his sheets, fighting the medication that kept him unconscious. Cyn placed her hand over his, careful of the IV strapped to the back, and watched in astonishment as he immediately settled down.

It seemed Super Bear was still trying to save her, whether she needed it or not.

She settled in the bedside chair, prepared to fight to stay by her mate’s side. If Julian needed her presence in order to rest, then she wasn’t going anywhere, hospital regulations be damned.

It was hours before Julian stirred. Cyn had a cramp in her lower back, her arm was partially asleep from reaching for his hand, and her eyes were dry from lack of sleep. But when those beautiful brown-flecked silver eyes opened and focused on her, she smiled. “Hey, Jules.” She swallowed around tears she refused to shed. “I love you. Moron.”

He was too weak to say it back, but that was okay. He was alive. Nothing else mattered.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No, damn it.” Cyn’s hands were fisted on her hips. Her foot tapped out an annoyed tattoo on the floor. “Fuck this, no.”

Julian sighed and adjusted the flash he was hanging on the wall. In its new thick, black frame it stood out against the pearly gray walls of her new shop. “It’s the best solution for everyone, Cyn.”

Cyn set the box of ink she’d been carrying into the back room on the floor and growled. “You are not going to medical school, Jules.” No fucking way. If he went back and became a doctor he’d have to do a residency in a hospital for at least three years. What the hell was he thinking? He’d kill himself! He’d been out of the hospital a month and now he wanted to go back? “Max and Rick are working on a solution. Let them deal with the shifter doc, please.”

Julian made a face. “I just wish…”

She stroked his arm as he looked away, his expression one of guilt and regret. “I know, Jules.” Saving Jamie hadn’t been a blessing. The man had finally woken up, but he had become cold, and angry at the world. She’d never seen someone do such a personality one-eighty before in her life. She wouldn’t be surprised if he turned into a serial killer.

Everyone agreed that if Jamie ever decided to take vengeance on Jules for saving him he would go after Cyn first. Even his family had told them to keep away from the former doctor, fearing that the sight of Cyn and Julian would trigger a need to kill in him. Gabe was keeping a watchful eye on him to see if he came out of the current funk or turned rogue.

He’d told her in private he was worried. Needless to say, she was keeping her distance, and making sure Julian did too.

“What do I do? There are people who aren’t getting help because Jamie has his head up his ass.” Jules flopped down in the turquoise chair by the window and watched the cars go by.

They’d kept the old chairs but had them reupholstered to match the new gray, turquoise and black color scheme. She liked the new color scheme even more than the aqua color of her old shop. It was soothing, yet modern. Tabby had talked them into buying a totally awesome chaise lounge in smoky gray that Glory had declared hers and a lighter gray sofa that Cyn had fallen into and in love with all at the same moment. The curtains at the window were white and black, in a modern floral print that Cyn wanted in her house.

Hell, even the floors here were nicer, a gorgeous dark oak that had sold her on the shop even without the added incentive of an awesome landlady.

“You’re a Spirit Bear. If the Pride or Pack needs help, they can come to you. Otherwise, let the humans find a new human doc to deal with.” Jamie’s practice had been closed by the Howard family shortly before he woke up. He’d been in the coma for six weeks before waking up, raging and crying. He’d torn up his hospital room before being sedated. There was no way he was in any condition to deal with patients. “We could also have the shifters go to Doc Woods.”

He rolled his eyes. “Jim Woods is a veterinarian, not a doctor.”

“See? Perfect.”

He snorted out a laugh, but it didn’t last long. Julian looked pensive, never a good thing with her mate. He worried far too much in her estimation. “What do I do? If Immigration finds out I’m not working I could be deported back to Canada.”

Cyn shrugged. “If that happens, I’ll open a parlor in Manitoba.”

“British Columbia.” He turned and stared at her, stunned. “You’d go back with me?”

Was he really that stupid? “I can’t believe you just asked me that.” She’d follow her mate to hell. It was an odd feeling for someone who’d never wanted to be tied down to someone else’s whims, but the knowledge that her mate valued her happiness above all else made the decision easy.

“Your family is here. All your friends.” He stood and crossed over to her, caressing her cheek. “I can’t ask you to give that up for me.”

“Then marry me.” Really, it was a no-brainer. Even if it took three years to get his green card, he’d be able to find a job and update his visa, she was sure of it. If not, she’d see if Gabe couldn’t pull some strings with the shifter Senate and get Jules a permanent residency in the good ole US of A. Having one of the rare, elusive Spirit Bears on American soil should go a long way to getting Jules his citizenship, legally or not.

He laughed. “That sounds oddly familiar. Aren’t you the one who asked me to mate you?”

“Because you take too long to get this stuff done.” She wiggled her fingers in his face. “Make with the ring, Share Bear.” She knew he already had one. Her Jules was thorough that way.

He closed his eyes and groaned, but the laughter still lit his face. “I’m not going to ask how you found out.”

She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Ve haf our vays.”

He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “You were the one who wanted to go slow and date, remember?”

She shrugged. “I’m invoking a woman’s prerogative and changing my mind.” She wiggled her fingers again. It had irked her something fierce when the hospital nurses had tried throwing her out of Julian’s room. She’d had to bring in Gabe to lie for her and say she was Julian’s fiancée. She wasn’t going without spousal privileges again. “Ring me.”

He shook his head and pulled a ring out of his back pocket. It was gorgeous, a small but brilliant diamond flanked by emeralds, set in gold. “The diamond is my birthstone.”

She grinned, loving it. His birthday was May 30. “And the emeralds are mine.” She’d been born on April 5, and thanked God every birthday she’d been four days late.

He lifted her hand and kissed the back, his brown eyes twinkling. His dark hair had been left loose around his shoulders, just the way she liked it. “Thank you for agreeing to be mine.”

She chuckled. “Agreeing, my well-padded ass.”

He squeezed her butt and sighed happily. “I’ve come to enjoy that little extra bump in your grind.”

She smacked his arm as Tabby walked, or rather waddled, into the room. The woman was barely four months along and acted like she was about to pop any minute. “I swear, I’m going to whelp triplets.” She lowered herself into a chair with a groan. “My ankles look like Mama Leone’s meatballs.”