Page 23 of My Pucking Mate

“Only if she wants to,” he turns his eyes on me, “is that okay? I promise, I’ll be right here. She’s here to help.”

I whimper and nod. He so carefully lowers me onto the softest bed I’ve ever laid on. Another thing I wish I could enjoy right now. The doctor begins feeling my body in different places before breaking out her stethoscope.

Her evaluation seems to take forever, but no one speaks. The only sounds in the rooms are my grunts and whimpers, and I think Roman might have growled. I don’t even know anymore. My body has also calmed a bit since I laid down. I still don’t feel great, but I don’t feel like I’m burning alive.

“Well, honey, it looks like you’re going to be just fine,” she says, like everything is right as rain.

“Excuse me? H-how is this fine? What was that?” I screech, not even being able to enjoy that I’m feeling a little better every minute because this lady is obviously crazy.

Roman and Jeanine seem to share a silent conversation as she turns and leaves the room.

“Where is she going?!” I begin to panic again before he closes the door. “Wh-what are you doing?”

“Leera, we need to talk, and it’s going to sound crazy, but I beg you to just hear me out,” he says hesitantly, retaking his seat next to the bed and gathering my hands in his again as he continues to talk, “Has anything happened to you recently? Something out of the ordinary? Where did you grow up? How much family do you have?”

Not sure what else to do, I give him my entire life story, up until he knocked on my door.

He just stares at me for a minute and says, “Uh. Okay. We’ll figure the rest out later, but there’s no easy way for me to tell you this, and you’re probably not going to believe me,” he says calmly.

“Umm, okay, whatever it is, please just tell me.”

“It looks like you might not be human,” he says low and even.

I laugh so hard that I choke on my spit, which causes my whole body to hurt again. When I’ve finally finished coughing, he’s just looking at me. “Wait, you think you’re serious?” I ask with a nervous laugh.

His only response is a clipped nod.

“You say that like not being a human is even an option?!” I ask as the door opens and his teammates re-enter the room.

The last man to walk in the room is named Andrei, I think. Our eyes meet, his eyes go wide, and there's some kind of weird energy between us. It’s not like the feelings I get with Roman, but there’s some there.

Is this really happening? Could I be more than just an awkward orphan girl?

I’m lost in my thoughts when I hear Benny’s voice say, “Hey Leera, I know this is a lot, but we’re all here for you. We’ll always be here for you from now on. Roman has some crazy stuff to tell you, and we hope you’ll keep an open mind and trust us.” He’s so calm and kind that I just nod.

“I feel a little weird, but for some reason I do trust you. All of you. This is so weird. I know I shouldn't; I really do,” I say as I make eye contact with each of them. “All logic and stranger danger are pretty well out the window at this point . . . so okay . . . I'm listening,” I finish quietly.

The smile that lights up Roman’s face is worth it; no matter how weird this is, it makes me smile a little too.

“Okay, how would you like us to discuss this? With all of us, or just me?” Roman asks.

“I think I’m okay with all of you unless anyone has other things to do; I don’t want to keep anyone from their own stuff just because of me.”

“Nah, we’re good right here,” the twins say at the same time. They look much too excited about all of this.

“Okayyy . . . can you please just tell me what’s going on?” I ask looking around the room before my eyes lock onto Roman's.

The air gets a little thick with tension as I can see him physically working himself up to whatever it is he needs to tell me.

“Okay, I think it’s easiest to start with giving you the knowledge that almost all creatures you’ve read about in books, or seen in movies, are real.”

I wait for the punch line, but it never comes. They’re all still super serious. Not one smile was cracked. Maybe this really is just some crazy realistic dream, but I promised to listen, so whatever.

“Ha, I’ll just have to take your word for that one.”

Roman just nods before he continues, “For example, pretty much all professional athletes in the world aren’t entirely human.”

My eyes widen in realization of what he’s just said and when I look around the room this time, it’s a little more hesitant, and I lose my grasp on the nervous laugh I was trying to hold in. The twins are smiling even wider than usual, so instead of speaking I just nod.

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