A Mate's Wish (Ouachita Mountain Shifters 0.5) by P. Jameson

of her felt the same desperation she saw in Layna. The other part still didn’t believe any of this could be true. But if this was Renner… She couldn’t lose him again.
    A sob escaped her throat.
    The cat cocked his head.
    “Please,” she whispered. “Just change so doc can help you.”
    He nudged her hand with his nose. His rough tongue gave a long lick to her palm. Over and over, he licked her hand before laying his head in her lap, giving up.
    Anger hit her like it never had before. The bastard . How could he do this to her again? They’d only just found each other again and now he was just going to lie down and bleed out?
    Just as she was about to scream for him to try, he began to shake. A tortured growl left his throat and his claws dug into the carpet near her leg. It only took a matter of seconds for fur to fall away and his limbs to become flesh again. If she had blinked, she would’ve missed it.
    Renner lay naked and bloody on the floor, shivering. He grunted with each inhale of breath.
    “Oh my god.” Beth stayed still as possible so as not to jar him. His worried gaze opened to her. “It’s okay,” she murmured. “You’re going to be okay.”
    Christina was already working at a steady pace, with Eagan and the stranger helping. They were going to save him. He was going to make it.
    “I’m sorry,” he whispered.
    “Shh. Later. We’ll talk later.”
    “Please. Stay.”
    Beth nodded.
    Renner winced. “Fuck, doc.”
    “Sorry,” she murmured. “It’s deep.”
    Keeping her eyes on Renner instead of what was happening under his arm seemed like the best idea. But the pain reflected in his gaze was hard to stomach. She had to do something to make it better.
    Drawing on her knowledge of pressure points, she located the ones she could easily access on the head and neck area. Beth slowly, carefully brought her fingers under the edge of his jaw, between his ear and chin. While rubbing his cheeks with her thumbs, she applied pressure to his jaw. Just enough to activate the nerves.
    Renner’s head fell back on her lap.
    She walked her fingers back to his ears, rubbing the bone behind them, and then repeated the motion back to the spot on his jaw.
    Christina glanced at her. “That’s helping. Thanks.”
    Beth didn’t answer. She kept her focus on Renner’s eyes. They were swimming with pain and emotion.
    Moving her hands to his temples, she rubbed small circles until some of the tension had left him, then she moved to his brow bone, applying a pattern of pressure.
    Time passed while Christina worked and Beth did what she did best: soothed, comforted, calmed.
    “Alright, I think that’s it,” Christina said finally. “It tore through the muscle and took a chunk of bone. It will take a few days to come back from this, Renner.”
    A few days? More like weeks.
    “You need to rest. You hear me? No work.”
    He breathed deep and ended up coughing.
    “Let’s get him to the bed,” Magic said.
    “No.” Renner’s voice was shredded, but his tone brooked no argument. “Stay… here.”
    “You’ll be more comfortable on the bed.”
    “I’m staying with Bethy.”
    Magic frowned at Beth like he expected her to oppose, but she’d do whatever Renner wanted right now.
    “On the floor?” he asked, skeptical.
    “With Bethy.”
    Magic glanced at Christina.
    “It’s fine,” she shrugged. “He should stay still for a couple hours at least.”
    He nodded. “Alright. Leave him.”
    The three men filed out. Layna squeezed Beth’s arm. “Doc and I will check in on you in a few hours.”
    “We’ll be fine.” She didn’t know if those words were true. She didn’t know what Renner was or if this was real. Or if he should be in a hospital. Or if she should run.
    She only knew she couldn’t leave him.

Chapter Seven
    This wasn’t what he’d had in mind when he decided he wanted Bethany’s hands on him. No, his ideas had been much more enticing and involved warm oil and her wearing a lot less