3. Brett

Chapter 3

Brett

I never realized how poorly I slept when I lived in the city. I guess I always just figured it was me waking up repeatedly because I was working the later shifts and that messed with my internal clock. It made sense and I went with it. But now that I was here? I saw that it had far less to do with the scheduling than it did the location.

My new home was surrounded by the quiet of nature, and as a result, I was sleeping more soundly than I ever had. No longer was I hearing trains or buses go by, or neighbors going about their day when I was attempting to sleep. And as a result, I was feeling better than I had in a long time. This town was good for me. Even my unicorn agreed. He was perking up and significantly less grumpy.

Moving here was a good decision. Fingers crossed my choice of jobs was also. It wasn't like in more populated areas where if I didn't like the hospital, there was another a half-mile away. This was it. Love it or not, it was my choice.

Thankfully, I had a great feeling about it. Stan had even called to give me some tips about what to bring with me to work, including my own coffee pods. Apparently the ones that were provided shouldn't be given to anyone—ever. It was nice to have someone looking out for me.

Unfortunately, he was human. I had nothing against humans. I liked them a lot, but there were some questions I had about the area that were very shifter specific, and it would've been nice if we'd had that connection too.

I'd spent the afternoon rearranging the living room half a dozen times. It wasn't a large space, and there were only so many places the couch could go, but I tried them all. I loved the space, but had to choose between seeing the trees and local wildlife or the television. Selfishly, I wanted both, but opted for nature when I'd exhausted my options. I could always watch shows on my laptop, it wasn't like I had other people living here who needed to see also.

It was getting close to dinner time, which meant it was time to get ready for my first day of work. The nurses ran on a 7-to-7 shift cycle and mine was beginning soon.

I'd picked up food for my break at the local store. I tended to have my big meal at home and to basically bring grazing type foods for work. It made it easier to pack and less problematic if things were hectic and I wasn't able to sit down and enjoy a meal. I tossed random items into my lunch bag. I never knew what I wanted to eat in advance, so I just brought a little bit of everything, from the hummus to the veggies to some tuna salad I made. As long as I appeased my beast with enough vegetables and fruits, he was quite happy to let me indulge in the things that I wanted, including tuna, which had always been a favorite of mine.

Bags packed and water bottle filled, I drove the short distance to work. It was my first official day, and it was just like when I was a kid going to the first day of school—I was excited, but also nervous. Only this time, instead of worrying if the teacher would like me, I was thinking about my co-workers and if they were going to accept me, the new guy… a city dweller at that. And instead of worrying if I was going to get good grades, I was hyper aware that if I made mistakes, patients would be the ones who suffered.

When they used to tell us school prepared us for real life, I'd always assumed they meant by knowing how to read and do math, not worrying.

After finding and utilizing the staff parking lot, I grabbed my things and walked to the front door and up to Claire, who was sitting at the information desk, to say hello, when the scent hit me.

It was my mate.

He was here.

There was no denying his scent. Even my unicorn was prancing around, and he was a grumpy Gus if I ever met one.

"Are you okay?" Claire asked as I stood at her desk and closed my eyes, inhaling deeply, loving the notes of my mate's scent.

I opened my eyes and nodded. "Yeah, sorry. I just think I forgot something. I'll be back."

Technically, I had a little bit of time before I needed to be at my nursing station. Normally, I'd go right up there and get settled in and see how they did shift changes, but there was nothing normal about today. I'd scented my mate and now the only thing that mattered was finding him. My heart thumped loudly in my chest and my nerves were on overload.

My mate was at the hospital. If he'd been an employee, I'd have scented him while I was on the tour. Sure, it might've been an older scent if he was on vacation or something, but it would've been there. That left the most probable reason for him being here was needing medical services for either himself or a family member.

I couldn't have found my mate only to have them be sick or worse. Fate wouldn't be that cruel. And what if it was a sick parent or bestie? I didn't wish that on him either.

After giving Claire a little wave so she wouldn't think I was flaking out on my job or something, I followed the scent, determined to get to my mate.

I followed it directly to the emergency department, the last place I wanted to be. I'd been holding onto unrealistic hope that he'd been a delivery driver or someone who came to the cafeteria for dinner, because why not? It wasn't a closed club, and it was cheap enough.

The scent was faded, cleaning supplies far overpowering it, but it was still solid enough that I wasn't worried about losing it. I relaxed slightly as we passed the two "heavy hitter" rooms. Everyone else was divided by curtains, but those two spaces were designed for emergency patients with the greatest needs or sometimes the greatest risk of spreading their illness. My mate hadn't entered those spaces, thank fuck.

But as I wound around the ER, I ended up back outside and to the parking lot where the trail went cold.

My mate was gone.

He'd been here.

Now he wasn't.

I should've been happy. He was healthy enough to go home. That was a bazillion times better than being in the ICU.

But he was gone, and while I didn't know a great deal about him, I knew he wasn't admitted and that he wasn't a co-worker. It was hardly enough to give me a solid lead, but it was something.

Unsure what to do next, I went to see what I could find out from the emergency department. I didn't really know anybody in the ER, but one of the people I'd met on my tour was a squirrel shifter. If anyone understood what I needed, it would be them, right?

I went and found them, asking them if they knew anything about any shifters that were there. Unfortunately, the scent alone wasn't letting me know the beast. Sadly, they'd been on vacation for a week and this was the end of their first shift back. They'd been really sweet and promised to tell me anything they might learn.

Mate, my unicorn grumbled. Mate.

I know. I miss him too .

Find .

I will. But first I need to work . There wouldn't be any fresh veggies without me making enough to buy my beast the finer things.

That had him calming down. Not by much, but enough to focus on getting to my floor and starting my new shift. As much as I wanted to trace my mate across the city, I needed this job.

My mate could be anyone. The only bright side was that he was most likely a local. It wasn't the time of year when tourists would come to camp—too much rain. That meant he was most probably from around here. And if that was the case, I'd find him. It might take longer than I wanted, which was more than turning around and having him walk in right this second, but I'd get to him.

Giving up sucked. But that was all I could do. I needed this job. And more importantly, the patients needed me. They had to come first.

It didn't matter how lonely I'd been since long before I accepted this job. That wasn't going to change a single thing, not when it came to my mate. The best… the only course of action was doing my job while I was here and using my awake time to scent them and let them know that I was theirs… and they were mine.