Chapter 3
1365 Words
Chapter 3
“What’s wrong with her?” Ryker asked the doctor.
“Exhaustion, mostly,” the doctor replied. After Ryker rushed Rain to the pack hospital, the pack doctor immediately began assessing what was wrong with her. At first, he was shocked to see Ryker bringing in an unknown woman, but once Ryker explained who she was, the doctor got to work. It didn’t really take long to determine what was wrong with her once Ryker filled him in on everything.
“Is she going to be all right?” Lanie asked with concern.
“Yes, Luna. She will be fine. She needs plenty of rest, fluids, and nutrition.” Lanie sighed in relief. She was anxious to hear more about Rain and her story, as well as how she ended up at Golden Moon, and, by extension, in the United States.
“I wonder how long she had been running?” Lexie asked.
“My best guess, Beta Lexie, is that she’s running for her life for a while. The amount of adrenaline in her system is through the roof,” the doctor replied as he checked the monitors to make sure Rain was stable.
“Doctor, can you determine her age?” Ryker asked. Everyone looked at him quizzically. “What?”
“What does her age have to do with anything?” Lanie asked.
“I’m over two hundred, little one. For my species, I’m still considered to be in my prime, but I’m not necessarily considered young. I need to know how old or young she is.”
“Ryker, does this have anything to do with mating and reproduction?” the doctor asked. Ryker had no shame and admitted with a stiff nod. “Unfortunately, there’s no way to determine how old she is without asking her.”
“I thought you could tell an animal's age by their teeth?” Lexie questioned.
“That only applies to animals, Beta Lexie. It’s different for us because we have two different forms. The age and health of our animal counterparts are dependent on us, their human counterparts. If we take care of ourselves, eat right, and stay as healthy as possible, then our animal parts will also age like fine wine. But if we don’t treat our bodies like temples, it will have a direct impact on our animals’ health,” the doctor explained. Lexie and Lanie nodded with understanding.
“Can you give me a best guess?” Ryker asked.
“Unfortunately, given how slow your species ages, Ryker, I cannot. I didn’t even know how old you were until you said something just now,” the doctor replied. Ryker sighed but nodded. He would have to wait until Rain woke up to ask her.
“How long before she wakes up?” Ryker asked.
“It depends on her body. There isn’t an exact science to this, Ryker. You’ll have to be patient.” Ryker sighed again, but came to terms with the fact that he would have to wait.
“Come on, Ryker. How about we all get some rest, and we can check back in on her later in the evening,” Lanie suggested.
“You two little ones can go. I’ll stay with her.”
“Ryker, I understand that she is your mate, but you need to eat, shower, and get some rest if you want to be at your best for her,” Lanie tried to persuade him.
“Little one, I spent years locked up in a cage, having never slept because I needed to stay alert in case those ingrates came for me. I think I can handle half a day,” Ryker responded as gently as he could. Lanie looked at Lexie, who shrugged in response.
“All right. Just let us know if you or Rain need anything.” Ryker nodded as the girls hugged him and took their leave.
“If you will excuse me, Ryker, I have a few other patients to tend to this evening. We have her hooked up to the nurses’ bullpen, so if anything happens, we will know right away. I’ll be sure to have someone bring you a foldable bed to sleep on,” the doctor offered.
“That’s fine, doctor. The reclining chair will suffice.”
“Are you sure?” Ryker nodded. “Very well. If there is anything you need, just hit the call button.”
“Thank you.” The doctor smiled and left Rain’s room as well. Ryker stood off in the corner for a while longer before he felt his adrenaline leave his body. He pulled the reclining chair to the same corner he had stood in and kept watch over Rain.
He still didn’t know how to feel about having a mate so late in his life. It was rare for a weretiger to have a single mate. With the rapidly declining numbers of weretigers in the world, he had been hoping to locate the last few remaining weretigers around the globe to help increase their numbers, but now, he wasn’t sure what he was going to do. He was excited at the prospect of having Rain, but his duty to his species was starting to weigh on him.
Meanwhile
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LOST HER!?”
“She ran at the transfer point!”
“I NEED HER BACK!”
“We know, boss! We know! But she ran into a werewolf territory!”
“How do you know it was a wolf territory?”
“We could hear their howls.”
“We could also smell their scents.”
“Do you two imbeciles understand how crucial it is for me to have her!? She’s one of the few remaining female weretigers in the world! I need her!”
“We understand, boss! We really do!”
“THEN GO GET HER BACK!”
“Boss, we can’t just barge into a werewolf territory!”
“AND WHY NOT!?”
“Because they’re pack animals. They protect their lands fiercely.”
“And they’d smell us coming from a mile away. We’re lucky that the other tiger didn’t—”
“What other tiger!?”
“There was another tiger. He killed the hunters.”
“You said she ran into a werewolf territory!”
“She did!”
“Then why are you mentioning another tiger!?”
“We think he’s part of their pack like some protector or guard!”
“Why would a tiger be part of a werewolf pack?” the boss questioned out loud, curious about the sudden turn of events. “You said ‘he’?” the boss’s lackies nodded their heads. “How could you tell?”
“We saw him in his human form,” one of them responded.
“Could it be?” the boss asked out loud again. His goons were confused at his sudden calmness. They were sure what to make of the situation.
“Boss? Did you want us to—”
“Shut up! I’m trying to think,” he shouted and then turned his back to walk away. His men were even more confused. They were sure that he would slit their throats, but now, he was too busy talking to himself to even care about them. They took the opportunity to skedaddle with their lives intact.
“What do you think is up with him?” One of them asked the other.
“Who gives a f*ck? I’m not going to question why we’re alive. Are you?”
“Nope.”
The boss, on the other hand, went to his office and continued to mull over the fact that the female tiger he wanted for himself was suddenly with a different male tiger.
“It can’t be. It couldn’t be,” he continued to say to himself. “He was supposed to be trafficked years ago. But if it’s not him, then who else could it be?” He kept racking his brain. If the other male tiger was who he believed it to be, he knew he was in for the fight of his life.
- Writer
