I saw a mysterious beast

Vera

"Get out of the hospital this instant and head to the forest. Find out what happened to our brothers and our enemies before it happens to every single one of us."

That was a direct command from the alpha, and when the message arrived, I had no option but to follow it.

Now I was making my way back from the forest. I was trembling uncontrollably and my breathing was shallow as I stood in front of the alpha and the council. What kind of beast could cause such destruction? To lycans, of all creatures?

After a few moments, I managed to pull myself together enough to focus on Sofia.

"Vera, did you discover anything?"

"Yes, but you won't like what I found."

They all started murmuring and exchanging glances with one another.

"I saw a mysterious beast." I stopped talking, my heart thumping hard as I pictured what I had witnessed, until her voice pulled me back to the present.

"In your vision, was the creature on lycan land?" I wasn't certain where she was going with this, but I nodded anyway. "I never witnessed it cross onto our territory."

"It's targeting the lycans, Vera. Eric told me once they started running further into our territory, it stopped chasing them."

There was a pause as she carefully considered her next words. "This has the smell of magic, V. Very powerful and dark magic. Whoever was controlling that creature was directing it to kill the lycans, but not our wolves..."

"In that case, we need to send them back," I cut in before she could continue, but I couldn't stop myself, "I know what I witnessed, what that thing is capable of."

She let out a sarcastic laugh. "You want me to send your mate to his death?"

I was caught off guard by the reminder of that nonsense the man had spoken yesterday. "Have you even gone to see him yet to verify he's your mate?"

"Sofia, listen to yourself, he's a lycan!" I rose from my seat, frustrated that I even needed to spell it out. I started pacing, having completely forgotten about this small but significant detail.

"I mean, if he's a literal beast in battle, can you imagine in…"

"May the Moon Goddess forgive your impure thoughts, Alpha." I shot her a dark look.

"Oh, come on, V. You talk about the Moon Goddess, but she's the one who matched you with him! I don't even understand how this works, you have a mate without hearing your wolf, but finding one's mate is an incredibly rare blessing!"

My face was burning. Not from anger, but because I was suddenly acutely aware that I had seen this man naked yesterday. In fact, I had seen all of them naked. They hadn't even had time to put clothes on after shifting back to their human forms. I buried my red face in my hands and collapsed back into the chair, and Sofia chuckled. I had completely forgotten about the very serious matter we had been discussing just moments earlier.

"I suggest you pull yourself together before you go and see your mate. Doctor Blackwood."

I couldn't even form words right now; I turned to look at her as I was leaving, and her wicked grin made me blush even more.

**********

As soon as I entered my room, I checked my mobile. I had asked Violet to message me when my patient woke up. Still no text. I went into the shower and took a long look in the mirror.

My normally pale green eyes looked darker because of the shadows underneath them, and my skin showed clear signs of how little I'd been looking after myself over the past few weeks. I tied my black hair up in a ponytail; it was short and straight, just above my shoulders, but it was thick and I couldn't be bothered with washing it right then.

I pulled on my scrubs and as I reached for my phone, it beeped. I didn't even need to unlock it to know what it was.

I swallowed hard; my heart felt like it was trying to pound its way out of my ribcage. I wanted to believe it was because of the uncertainty surrounding everything that had happened in the forest, but I knew better.

I made my way to the clinic, expecting the staff to be tense because of the lycans being there, but instead, all the nurses seemed to be in excellent spirits. Violet and two others were giggling and chatting near the medicine cabinet as I approached.

"Are you joking? He's even better looking than Jason!"

"That's because Jason is a boy, and this one here is a man." They all burst into giggles again.

I couldn't help overhearing what they were discussing, but I wasn't interested enough to ask. I collected all my patients' charts and noticed something unusual in that particular one. Despite the instructions to update the chart every two hours, they had been going in there every thirty minutes.

I was about to ask them about it when Dr. Owens signalled me into his office. I put the charts down but caught one last comment from the nurses. "If only I could show him some real wolf hospitality."

"Good afternoon, Dr. Owens." I greeted him with a genuine smile. His soft brown eyes crinkled with mischief as I sat on the sofa opposite him. I adored this man, but I swear nothing good ever happened when he wore that expression.

"So, have you been in to meet your mate yet?" I stared at him with wide eyes. What had he just said? "Don't give me that look, Sam overheard him too. Don't worry, she only told me." Thankfully, Sam wasn't one for spreading gossip, or the whole pack would know by now.

"I haven't been in to see him and if I'm honest with you, doc, I'm absolutely panicking right now."

"Understandably so. Lycans are very mysterious creatures to us wolves. I didn't even realise they had fated mates too." He looked at me with concern this time. "They're not the terrible creatures our history books make them out to be, Vera. Remember there are always two sides to every story. We've only been taught the wolf side." I was still curious why Dr. Owens was so favourable towards lycans, and why he knew so much about them.

"You can hide out here until you've calmed down, I can even hear your heart fluttering like a bird's."

I was embarrassed that he'd noticed, but I gladly accepted his offer. I often came in here to help him out anyway, and with any luck, it would take me all day to organise his files.

******

Six o'clock arrived and Dr. Owens was getting ready to leave. I closed his laptop, having finished updating all the patient files and all the nurse schedules for the following week.

"Good luck, Vera." Dr. Owens gave me a kind smile and squeezed my shoulder. I smiled back but let out the biggest sigh as he walked out. Working with him all day had given me some peace of mind, though. I gathered my things and headed to the nurse's station to give everything one final check before leaving.

As I got closer, I noticed the clinic was empty. Only Violet and Sam were at the nurse's station as I approached.

"Hey, you two! Are you the only ones left?" They both smiled at me knowingly. Violet handed me a chart, but I already knew whose it was without looking. They exchanged a glance.

"I cleared the floor for you, doc." Sam winked at me.

"He has one final check-up for the day, and according to Dr. Owens, you should be the one to do it." These three had planned everything out, hadn't they? Of course, I shouldn't be surprised Violet knew, she was the eyes, ears, and heart of this place.

I took the chart and scanned through it. The latest x-rays looked fine, except for a bone in his leg that would need re-adjusting tomorrow. His lung seemed to be doing well, considering all the trauma, and his blood tests showed nothing worrying.

Dr. Owens hadn't been lying when he said they were resilient creatures. I took a deep breath and smiled warmly at the two nurses who were giving me thumbs up. I stepped into the corridor that led directly to him.

The room was dimly lit again as I entered. Instead of turning on the lights, I approached his bed quietly and noticed his two friends had gone. We were alone in the room, and I paused for a moment to look at him.

The man really was extraordinarily handsome. He had olive skin and wavy brown, messy hair that fell across most of his forehead; a beard had begun to cover his perfectly sculpted jaw, and his lips were full and slightly apart, breathing peacefully. Most importantly though, even though they were closed, I remembered his beautiful hazel eyes so clearly. The attraction to this man was impossible to ignore.

I focused on writing my notes down as quickly as possible. He was asleep and I intended to keep it that way; he needed proper rest to recover.

A few minutes passed and I checked all the machines and his medications and scribbled them down on the chart. To my relief, he had been stable throughout the day; I had been worried I might have accidentally nicked something during the surgery without realising it.

The heart monitor suddenly started beeping faster and I turned to it with a frown. As I looked over, the man I had just been admiring was watching me with a lazy smile on his face, no doubt from the effects of the painkillers.

He tried to speak but winced; I reached for the glass of water and brought it to his lips. I sat on his bed as he drank, his eyes never leaving mine. My own heart had started to race.

Once he had finished and I placed the glass back on the bedside table, he reached for my hand and placed it over his chest. His hand on mine made me blush uncontrollably, but I still managed to look directly at him. His eyes were indeed honey-brown, but I realised now they were even more stunning than I remembered. The pale green of his irises wasn't surrounded by brown, but by countless specks of gold that I could swear looked like stars.

A few moments passed but the sparks on the back of my hand didn't fade. On instinct, I lifted my hand from his chest to his cheek and smiled warmly at him.

"I knew I couldn't have dreamed of someone as perfect as you..." He said, almost under his breath .

I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but was interrupted by the room lights suddenly flicking on...how come?