Live Alaska

4. Calling a Friend

Leeson

It had been a few days since he’d started talking to his mate. She was amazing, she had a sharp wit and amazing comebacks when she wasn’t crippled with social anxiety. She was smart, too. He’d found out that she was a researcher for a law firm, and she seemed to be successful in her job, even with her crippling anxiety.

He had also arranged their date and was as excited as a cub on the first day of spring. Though the conversations had helped with his need to be near his mate, he wanted – needed – to be close to her.

And though she had seemed excited about their date, he hoped that their long conversations over text would help some with her social anxiety. But he was not above spending their date having her text him what she wanted to say.

But then she had sent him a text early this morning that she would have to postpone their date, since she had come down with a bad case of pneumonia. He was heartbroken and desperate, since he knew from her scent that she was not healthy at all and her body was not as strong as she tried to pretend she was.

He felt this intense need to be near her. Maybe his presence and touch would help some with her recovery, or he could talk to her about turning as his mate and being healed. He needed to try, since his bear was going insane. He followed his instincts and went to the coffee shop where they had met, to talk to her friend.

“Hey there!” She greeted him with a welcoming smile. “Xyla’s not here.”

“I know; she let me know she’s not feeling well.” He noticed the alarm in her eyes, before she managed to hide it. And he knew then that she and her friend both knew that she was dying.

“That’s so sad, since she was very excited about your date.” She answered with a carefully kept expression.

“Which is why I’m here,” he answered nervously.

Her friend, Jenna, from her name tag, blinked at him with curiosity. “Which is…”

“If she can’t come to the date she was looking forward to, what if I bring the date to her?” He suggested with what he hoped was a disarming smile.

Jenna watched him with uncertain eyes, chewing on the side of her lower lip while she was thinking. Then she sighed heavily. “What are your intentions with her? I don’t want her to get hurt; she deserves some happiness in this life.”

He noticed how she stated “this life” like she was trying to convince herself and him, even though she thought he didn’t know the whole truth about her health. But he was nervous, and he needed to be with his mate. It was all he could do not to threaten her to show him where she was so he could go to her.

“Look, the truth is that I’m head over heels in love with her and I don’t want her to miss out on a date if her lungs are holding her back. She told me she had trouble with her lungs, which is why I want to make her a healthy dinner at her place, so she could get better soon. I want to be there for her.” He held her questioning gaze, showing her the truth of his words in his own eyes.

Jenna’s face almost crumpled into misery, but she caught herself, though the emotions were not hidden in her eyes. She was feeling the extreme sadness of her best friend on the verge of dying and finding someone who loved her when they all knew she didn’t have long to live anymore.

“Alright, I’ll take you to her. Give me an hour so I can finish my shift,” She said in a husky voice, clearly trying to hold back her tears.

“Great, I’ll go shopping for the ingredients while I wait for you to finish your shift.” He answered with an excited smile, before he headed to the door with large strides, wanting to make sure he got everything he needed to cook her a healthy meal that would nourish her body and some medicine to help her lungs. His mother had sent him some homeopathic lung medicine to help her.

“Leeson?” Jenna called, and he turned to her in question, just before he reached the door. He could see her struggle with herself; she clearly wanted to warn him, but she also didn’t want him to just disappear and leave her friend heartbroken. She was in a difficult situation and he understood. “She doesn’t like radishes…” She finally substituted what she had intended to say.

He grinned in answer. “Thanks!” Before he rushed out, intending to get everything sorted and ready in case he convinced her to turn so she could be healed. One of those arrangements was getting her home, which is why he phoned Raymond; he was always up for everything, much like his father.

“Hey, Leeson, my buddy, my pal…whatchya doing down there?”

“Ray, I found my mate, but she’s sick, like deathly sick. So, I need you to do me a huge favor.”

“Like pretend we’re stealing a body or curing incurable illnesses?” Ray asked with interest. “I need to know so I can bring the right go-bag.”

“You have a go-bag for stealing a body — You know what, I don’t want to know…” He answered, remembering that Raymond had been raised by the couple that handled intelligence and protection of the sleuth; he had no doubt that Raymond knew quite a few clandestine things. “I need you to bring a kitted van to keep someone alive. Like a hospital on wheels, because I don’t know how serious this illness is right now, and I want to turn her with my mother present, once she agrees.”

“Alright, I got you. Where am I going?”

“I’ll text you all the information, including my hotel name and room number. You can relax there until I have everything ready.”

“Cool! Road trip!” Raymond called out before he hung up, clearly already headed to get the van ready. He had no idea the connections that family had, but he was immensely grateful for it all; he was sure they had managed to forestall quite a few catastrophes.

By the time he returned with five bags of fresh, organic foods, Jenna was just taking off her barista apron and name badge. She stared at him with mouth agape. “How many people are you cooking for?” She asked in shock.

“Well, these are all the ingredients to make a stew that would warm her up and strengthen her to fight this pneumonia. I want to make enough for her to last for a few days, at least.” He grinned proudly.

Jenna’s expression melted into something between adoration and extreme sadness. But she nodded, clearing her throat and attempting to paste a happy face on. “That’s really sweet of you. Come on, it’s not too far from here. Are you following me in your car?”

“Oh, I don’t have a car. I returned the rental when I met Xyla.”

“You’ve been walking everywhere?”

“It’s much faster than driving in this city; it seems every second street has some kind of traffic jam.”

“I mean, you’re not wrong…but I’m not sure if you’ll fit in my car with all your bags…but let’s see.”

He followed her to a tiny hatchback. Luckily, all the food fit in the back. But he had to put the front seat all the way to the last setting and still sat squeezed in slightly sideways, so Jenna could get to her gears. She was cracking up at how uncomfortable he was sitting, but he would take anything to get to his mate.

“It looks like I’m trying to push a Ken doll into a matchbox car…” She giggled, while she drove.

“Your car is very small.” He affirmed with an amused grin; he could only imagine what it looked like, since some people were staring at them from the sidewalks and other cars.

“I didn’t think they made guys in size XXXL anymore.” She laughed as she drove into an underground parking lot in an apartment block. He was breathing a sigh of relief, he was feeling very caged in this little car, and he was grateful that she didn’t live too far.