Big Bear: BBW Bear Shifter Paranormal Romance (BRIDES Fur BEARS Book 4) (9 page)

“Shhh,” Gramma said. “Don't speak. Breathe as slowly as you can. Don't let the venom spread so quickly.”

Ne-ma gestured frantically to Zoe. “Come here, Zoe. Oh my, you are so beautiful. I saw a griffin once when I was a little girl...”

“Neveah!” Gramma yelled. “Focus!”

“Right, right. Sorry. Zoe, give me that tiger heart. Don't drop it. Careful now,” Ne-ma instructed.

Nick opened his eyes and saw that Zoe had shifted back to her human form. She held him tightly with her bloodstained hands and bent to kiss him.

Her tears fell and splashed onto his cheek.

Nick tried to reach up and dry her tears but he couldn't move a muscle. He smiled at her tenderly.

I love you forever.

Jax and Josh crouched beside him. They had shifted back to human, and there was blood on their hands and faces.

“Don't you close your eyes, Nick,” Josh growled at him. “Don't you dare close your eyes! We'll get you to the hospital. Come on! Let's go!”

Nick inhaled a sharp, noisy breath and his eyes flew wide open. He stared up at the bright light above him and wondered for a moment if he was seeing that famed light that everyone was supposed to see at the end of the tunnel.

Well, if he saw the light, that meant that he had lived a good enough life and would now be going to a better place…

Except—he didn't want to go to a better place. He was perfectly happy where he was. In fact, he had never been happier. He had found his mate. They would build a beautiful little family and live happily ever after.

“Nick! Nick, you're awake!”

“Doctor! Someone call the doctor!”

“And the nurse...”

“Zoe is a nurse, dumbass!”

Nick winced at the bombardment of loud, excited voices. A circle of faces appeared above him. The circle broke up when Zoe pushed forward and captured his face in both her hands.

“Zoe...” He called out her name in a hoarse whisper.

Nick surprised himself with his strength as he gripped Zoe tightly to him. A flood of emotions crashed over him. He had never felt so blissful, grateful and relieved in his life. Life, glorious life! He was alive! And he had his brave, beautiful mate in his arms.

Zoe dried her eyes quickly and smiled at him. He saw that there were dark circles under her eyes, and she looked gaunt and pale. She looked like she hadn't slept or eaten in days.

Nick frowned at her. “Zoe...” he rasped sternly.

Straightening up, she thrust her hand into her pocket and dug out a pen. She glanced at the beeping monitor above him and scribbled something on a clipboard. Shining a light in his eyes, she checked both his eyes and made him say “Ahhh” for her.

She was in full nurse mode, professional and efficient. Nick noticed that her usually neat and spotless nurse uniform was slightly crumpled. There were smudges on her sleeve and her hair was a mess.

Just how long had she been working? Did she even go home to sleep?

Nick opened his mouth to interrogate her, but Marcus, Josh and Jax crowded eagerly around him and starting talking at once.

“How are you feeling, Nick?” Jax asked.

“You're looking good.” Marcus grinned at him. “Everyone was so worried. The guys have been coming to see you after work...”

“They're coming later. Thank God you've woken up, Nick! Damien said if you still refuse to wake up, he's going to try something drastic. Something involving his lips. Brrr!” Josh shuddered dramatically.

Nick shuddered as well at the mention of Damien's lips. “Why aren't you three at work?” He narrowed his eyes at them.

Jax rolled his eyes. “Even when you're lying in hospital hooked up to machines, you have deadlines on your mind. Relax, boss, it's Sunday!”

“Sunday? How long have I been out?” Nick's frown deepened.

“Six days.”

“Zoe has been here with you all the time.”

“The doctors tried to get her to go home, but she wanted to attend to you. She slept on that chair beside your bed, and she hardly ate.”

Nick scowled and struggled to sit up. The twins helped him up and propped a pillow behind him to support him.

He glared around the room. “Where's Zoe?”

“She ran out to get the doctor,” Jax said. “She...”

There was a flurry of running footsteps and Dr. Emily Halle came rushing into the room with Zoe.

Everyone stepped back except Zoe while Dr. Halle examined him. Finally, the good doctor looked up and smiled. “All your vital signs are good. We just need to do a final blood test to make sure all the venom has been neutralized. Then you can go home.”

“Venom.” Nick started. He had almost died and yet he had forgotten all about the saber-tooth tiger's venom as soon as he saw his mate. “How did you get all that venom out of my body?” he asked in amazement.

“Oh we didn't,” Dr. Halle replied.

“Then how...”

Dr. Halle hesitated and seemed to be choosing her words carefully. “We, um, gave you some antivenom.”

Nick squinted at Zoe and Dr. Halle. “And how did you get that antivenom?” he asked.

“By boiling the heart!” Ne-ma announced cheerfully.

Everyone turned around as Gramma and Ne-ma came tripping into the room, their arms full of paper bags. Josh and Jax cheered and went to take the bags of burgers and fries from them.

“Have some fries,” Gramma said, thrusting a pack of greasy, aromatic fries at Nick. “You must be starving. And I know you'd rather have this than hospital food! The patient can have normal food, right?” Gramma asked Dr. Halle.

“Go ahead.” Dr. Halle nodded. “You should eat. You need the energy.”

“Thanks,” Nick said gruffly as he took the fries from Gramma.

He stuffed a handful of fries in his mouth and his stomach growled in appreciation. He was starving, and the food was great, but he wasn't that easily distracted.

“What heart?” he persisted, once he had polished off the whole pack of fries.

Zoe held her breath as the entire room fell silent. She felt Nick's eyes on her and she glanced up with a grimace. Would he be horrified and repulsed by what she had done? She had ripped a bloody, beating heart right out of a living body…

Gramma and Ne-ma fought over the last fry and didn't seem to notice that the room had gone deathly silent.

After Gramma wrestled the fry away and crammed it into her mouth, she dusted her hands and tossed out, “The heart of a saber-tooth tiger.”

“What...?”

“The heart of a saber-tooth tiger is the only thing that can neutralize its venom,” Ne-ma answered. “That tiger tried to kill you. So it's only right that we use his heart to save you. We crushed the heart and mixed it with some dried eyes...”

“...add the tip of a tail...” Gramma said, ticking off the ingredients on her fingers.

“...a teardrop...”

“...a sneeze...”

“...and half a box of potion powder...”

“Boil everything at high heat and…

“Voila!” Gramma and Ne-ma said together with a flourish.

“They just had to inject the antivenom into you, and all the damage that nasty venom did to your body was reversed.” Ne-ma beamed. “You feel right as rain now, don't you?”

“Yeah. I do,” Nick replied, rolling his shoulders. “In fact, I feel great!”

“We told them you'd wake up when your cells finished repairing themselves, but everyone was just so scared and worried. They were afraid we got the potion wrong,” Gramma huffed.

“We knew what we're doing,” Ne-ma smirked. “We learned this in school. Potions 101.”

“Thank you, Gramma, Ne-ma. You're awesome witches,” Nick said sincerely.

“The awesomest?” Gramma wheedled.

Nick grinned. “The awesomest!”

When Nick reached for her, Zoe immediately took his large, strong hand and let him draw her to his side.

Nick pulled her down for a deep, lingering kiss. “Thank you,” he whispered against her mouth. “You saved my life.”

Zoe smiled and blinked back tears. “They did,” she said, indicating everyone in the room.

“They sure did.” Nick nodded and looked up at Josh and Jax. “How did you guys know where I was? You just rushed out of nowhere and attacked that saber-tooth tiger. We were in the middle of the woods, out of town...”

“Gramma and Ne-ma saw you tearing out of town like a madman. You almost ran them over. They flagged us down and told us to follow you,” Josh said. “Good thing that new client delayed us by asking so many questions so we were late getting back...”

“We were driving by when we saw Gramma and Ne-ma waving and gesturing wildly,” Jax recalled.

“It took us some time to find your car. There were skid marks on the road. Your car had slammed sideways into a tree, but the engine was still running,” Josh said, shaking his head.

Zoe tightened her grip on Nick's hand and looked at the twins, Gramma and Ne-ma. “Thank you...” she said, trying to keep her voice steady. “You saved me and Nick. We owe you...

“Nah. You owe us nothing.” Gramma waved a hand.

“We take care of our own,” Ne-ma said emphatically. “We love you, and no one messes with the people we love!”

“Nick is like our big brother,” Josh said, grinning.

“So you're our family too,” Jax said.

Zoe couldn't help her tears. But they were happy tears. She spread her arms and embraced them all when they crowded in for a group hug.

“All right, remember to get his blood sample,” Dr. Halle said and grinned at Zoe as she went to the door.

“I will.” On impulse, Zoe threw her arms around the doctor and hugged her hard. “Thank you, Emily!”

“I'm just doing my job. I'm a doctor, and you—are one of our best nurses,” Emily said, her eyes sparkling behind her glasses. “Our nurse, and our griffin! We have a griffin in Shadow Point! How cool is that!”

Zoe smiled and felt her heart swelling with joy and pride. She was a great nurse, and a powerful griffin. Seriously, how cool was that?

She turned and stifled a giggle when she heard loud, familiar voices down the corridor. Nick's workmates burst into the room, with Damien at the head of the group.

“Out of my way!” Damien hollered. “Where's the sleeping beauty? My magic kiss will wake him right up!”

Nick let out a healthy, hearty roar. After a stunned silence, his mates exploded into cheers and began to pile on him, pummeling him on the back and yelling delightedly.

Zoe stood to the side and waited. Finally, she cleared her throat and shooed the rowdy group from the bedside. “Let me take a blood sample,” she said. Bending down, she whispered in Nick's ear, “Once I get the test results backs, I'll have you discharged right away. I can't wait to take you...home.”

Home. That single, simple word held so much meaning, hope and promise.

Nick's eyes widened as he stared at her.

Blushing, Zoe whispered, “
Our
home.”

Nick's handsome face split in a grin and Zoe gasped when everyone started cheering and clapping. She looked up to see Gramma, Ne-ma and all the guys leaning in, shamelessly eavesdropping on their little, intimate exchange.

“Can we help plan your wedding?” Gramma and Ne-ma crowed. “We love weddings! And we've never planned a wedding for a griffin shifter before!”

Overcome with emotion, Zoe could only nod and smile at all the gleeful, excited faces in the room.

All these people accepted her and loved her as she was. And she knew that they would protect her with their lives, just as she would gladly lay down her life for them.

She was a griffin, a one-of-a-kind, powerful, unique hybrid. And she would use her full powers to defend and protect the town she had grown to love and all the people in it.

She knew that she still had a lot to learn about her animal. She realized that she might never, ever meet another griffin in her life, but she didn't feel alone. She wasn't alone.

She had her mate, and she had so many wonderful friends, colleagues and neighbors in this town.

“Yes! Of course,” Zoe said at last. “I'm going to have a big, griffin wedding and I'm going to invite the whole town! You're all my family! I'm so glad I came to Shadow Point and I am never leaving!” She laughed happily. “This is my town, my home, and I—am your griffin!”

~
End
~

About the Author

Natalie Kristen is a writer who enjoys mixing the sweet with the spicy, the light with the dark, the possibilities with the unimaginable. She enjoys exploring paranormal and dystopian worlds, deep desires and inspiring romances. She is hopelessly addicted to coffee, chocolate, reading and writing. She loves to hear from readers so please feel free to follow her on Twitter and Facebook, or visit her blog for the latest news and updates.

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