I didn’t know being a muscle man was a requirement for med school now.
It was on the tip of her tongue to say that, and it took a crapton of focus to keep the thought to herself. He’d probably take it personally or hit on her. Isa had enough with two men following her every move. She didn’t need another.
Not that she thought for one second the doctor was going to hit on her if he knew she was way into his muscles. Isa swore off men after about the tenth message from her stalker. YourOne&Only, as the creeper called himself, was all the man drama she needed in her life, thanks very much.
Especially with Luke around.
The doctor laughed at her comment. “I am the doctor. Now let’s see that arm of yours.” He took great care of holding her arm steady as he inspected it. He clicked his tongue, shaking his head. “How did this happen?”
“I fell off a boat.”
His eyes darkened. “You fell off a boat? How?”
Isa shrugged. “I was doing a handstand on the back of it. The goal was to do a cartwheel off the boat and onto a platform we were dragging.”
The doctor’s mouth fell open. “Why in the fuck would you try to do that?”
It was her turn to be stunned. “Are you supposed to swear at your patients?”
“I’m not like other doctors,” he shot back. His eyes were so damn dark, she thought he was trying to kill her with his glare.
What was up his ass, anyway? Hadn’t he ever heard of stunts?
“Well, I’m not like other patients. I’m also on a tight deadline, so if you could stitch this up so I can be on my merry way, I’d be really grateful.”
“A tight schedule?” the doctor repeated.
“Yeah. I have stunts to finish before we lose the sunlight.”
“Absolutely not. There isn’t a chance in hell you are walking out of this door to go do more idiotic things that will get you killed.”
Isa rolled her eyes. “It’s literally my job.”
“It’s literally your job to put yourself in harm’s way and almost die?”
“I haven’t almost died in months. This is just a scratch.” As soon as the words had left her mouth, Isa knew she had said the wrong thing.
“Months? Miss… what is your name?”
“Isa. They call me Daredev-Isa.”
“Daredev-Isa,” he repeated. “You cannot keep putting your life in danger.”
“Give me a stapler, and I’ll patch myself up if you don’t want to do it.”
The doctor blanched at her words, holding tightly to the examination table. “You will do no such thing.”
“You’ve got a choice here. Patch me up so I stop bleeding, or let me go somewhere else to get medical attention. I’m sure there’s a vet in town who will do what you apparently refuse to do.”
That did the trick. Finally, Doctor Thatcher burst into action. He cleaned the wound, being gentle despite the hard set of his jaw. She was sure he was having a hard time keeping his opinions to himself, but the man better keep his silly, sensitive bullshit to himself.
Isa was raised to be tough, and she wasn’t going to let a few stitches and injuries be an issue for her.
“Isa,” Doctor Thatcher growled, “what exactly is the stunt you want to complete this afternoon?”
“Bungee jumping,” she answered immediately.
The man reached into his coat pocket and produced a stress ball. It was no bigger than a golf ball and in the shape of a tiger. He squeezed it so hard, Isa was sure it would be flatter than a sheet of paper.
“You care a hell of a lot more about your patients than you should,” she pointed out.
He grumbled something under his breath, but she didn’t catch it. It was probably for the best. He looked like the kind of man who needed a soft little woman. One who would faint if she broke a nail. That made Isa want to laugh. Once, she had lost the nails off three fingers when her hand was crushed by a weight.
“I should tie your ass to this chair and forbid you to leave,” Doctor Thatcher growled. “You’re gonna get yourself killed, and then where will you be?”
Isa’s mouth dropped open. “Forbid me? Who the hell do you think you are?”
“Oh, little darling. You don’t want to know who I am, I guarantee you that. Try not to die before the day is out, will you?”
Without looking back at her, he disappeared, slamming the door behind him.
“What a weirdo,” she said to the empty room, testing the fingers on her injured hand of her injured arm. Everything was in fine working order.
Bring on the bungee jumping.
3
VALENS
No. Just one big fucking no.
Valens looked at the beautiful — and infuriating — woman sitting ever so still on the exam table/bed. Her arm, the one he had just spent the better part of an hour cleaning and stitching, was all wrapped up. He could barely smell the blood anymore, but the scent of it lingered in his nose.
It made him ache all over. His heart clenched painfully in his chest while his stomach was pretty sure he would never be able to eat again.
His tiger?
Well, that poor animal was howling like a beast on the brink of death. It pretty much mimicked exactly how Valens was feeling about patching up his mate. He didn’t even know her yet, and there she was. Already banged up and bleeding. Basically, at death’s door.
It proved exactly what he’d just been saying to Oz the night before.
Humans were too fragile to be mated to shifters. It wasn’t right in his mind. It was basically asking for a whole lot of pain and sadness down the line. Valens had to keep his cool, but it really wasn’t an easy feat. He was feeling a whole lot of stuff. None of it was good. All of it was intense.
I don’t care how you feel right now. I care how she feels. She is ours. Our mate. And she is hurt. You need to do something. You need to lock her up in this room. You can’t let her leave. She’ll just go out there and get hurt some more.
Valens agreed with his tiger. There were way too many scars on his mate’s body. He was able to count at least ten. There was one by her left brow. Another at the corner of her lip. Her nose had been broken at least once while still managing to be cute and delicate. There was a still fresh-looking and healing wound near her right clavicle.
Now there was a freshly sutured cut on her left arm.
Did this woman want to go home and rest?
Nope.
Obviously, that would make way too much fucking sense.
Isa, or Daredev-Isa as she called herself, was set on going bungee jumping. Probably without any safety gear too.
Of all the fucking things to do on the mountain, that’s what she wanted to do? Couldn’t she have a sudden but burning desire to sit on a couch with a light book?
Valens didn’t want to let Isa go anywhere. Just like his tiger, he wanted to tie her up right here until she started making sense. Because for Valens, a fragile human should most definitely not be going to bungee jump when said fragile human was still bleeding.
It was nonsensical.
His conversation with Oz from the night before echoed through his mind. His little brother had laughed at him, claiming that Valens had jinxed himself by saying he never wanted to have a human mate in his life.