So through the harrowing birth, Jackie had worked tirelessly and with a professional calm she’d been far from feeling. After what felt like a million years, Jackie finally held a quiet female pup in her arms, and, staring into the tiny blue eyes gazing up at her, she’d fallen in love. Again.
Though only thirty-one, Jackie had a biological clock that was clanging away at her on a daily basis, but until she found her mate, having her own pups was impossible. Biologically she could have kids with any fertile male, but they wouldn’t be shifters. Any male offspring would be human while any female child had a small chance of receiving shifter DNA. Because of the rarity of finding one’s mate, the birth of any shifter child was a blessing.
Once the sweet baby had entered the world and all necessary precautions and tests taken, Jackie had left the glowing family to go home, shower, change clothes, scrape her thick, long chestnut hair into a tight ponytail, and head to the clinic. Though she could have called in, she didn’t think it fair to her patients and at that time, she was still fully functional. But the day had been a long one. Too long. Instead of ending her shift at five, she’d found herself providing medical attention to two young and energetic pups. Both required multiple stitches, one a leg cast and the other an arm cast. While shifters healed quicker than humans, they didn’t heal immediately. A broken bone would take a week to two weeks to heal and still needed to be immobilized. Then she’d sent the boys and their parents home with a stern lecture.
She sighed now, remembering the intense concentration on each boy’s face as she’d tended to them. Shifter children were called pups until puberty hit. That was when the males started to exhibit heightened aggressiveness, their senses becoming superior to humans and the opposite sex suddenly more interesting. Then their beast emerged for the first time at the full moon. After that, they were considered juveniles.
But this only happened for the males. For some reason the females never shifted from human to wolf form at the full moon. It was stated that because the woman carried the pups, a physical transformation would cause a female to lose the baby. But why not at least have the ability to produce claws? Heightened senses and super human strength were great, but sometimes she could really use a good pair of sharp claws.
Thinking of the full moon, which was a mere week away, Jackie headed back to the kitchen hoping for one more piece of pizza before Dean showed up. She always found it amusing that ER staff and cops alike equated the full moon with an increase in accidents and crime. For her, it was actually the week leading up to the full moon. The male wolves had a tendency to get restless. Many became short-tempered. Others got downright cranky, and they were all horny. To the nth degree.
Jackie grinned around a mouthful of pizza. She thought of the week leading up to the full moon as a male shifter’s PMS, Pre-Moon Syndrome, and she knew she wasn’t alone in that regard. Hell, even her soon-to-be Lupa, Dean’s fiancé Kaylie Gentry, often joked about it. That woman was a spitfire, smart as a whip, easy to get along with, and one fantastic veterinarian. Even though she was fully human, Jackie couldn’t think of a better mate for her Alpha. The man had been on the edge of losing control of his wolf. Too serious, too self-contained, and so full of a barely controlled fury that she’d harbored some doubts about his stability. But Kaylie centered him, calmed him and most importantly, made him laugh.
If nothing else, that alone earned the human Jackie’s love and loyalty.
The sound of an engine brought her around and she shoved the pizza aside, quickly washing her hands once more. By the time she opened the front door, Ben Anderson, one of Dean’s leaders in the pack, was there.
“Evening DocCha.” Though long used to the nickname, an abbreviated term for Doctor Chavez, Jackie blinked at the man with some surprise.
“You okay, Ben?”
“I’m good.” Though the welcoming grin faded to concern, it did little to detract from his rugged handsome looks. Jackie liked Ben, as did most of the ladies, and had been a little sorry they weren’t mates. If one looked beyond the serious eye-candy and jovial attitude, they would see a highly intelligent man. The breadth of his shoulders and the muscles she knew roped his abdomen—hey, she was his doctor after all—weren’t just from being a shifter. Ben worked the winters up at the ski lodge, usually search and rescue, and in the summer months he logged at the Woodcliff Lumber Company, now owned by Dean Kinigos. She’d also seen him doing odd jobs throughout the years that required not only physical strength, but people skills.
It was rare that a pack leader not have a stable job, but then again, the man exuded strength, stability, and empathy. If Jackie had to guess—which she often did out of shear curiosity—Ben was Dean’s feeler. Checking into the lives and concerns of the pack members in a more informal way. Not that he wasn’t sincere, but because the pack was so large that even with leaders, sometimes issues went unvoiced.