Page 78 of As The Shifter World Turns

“Don’t know.” I curled up wanting to put the covers over my head and pretend the world didn’t exist.

Micah felt my brow. “No fever.” But I elbowed him out of the way as a wave of nausea took hold of me. I gulped and with a hand over my mouth, made it to the bathroom and emptied the contents of my stomach into the toilet.

Sick. My wolf wanted nothing to do with human illness.

My unicorn shifter helped me off my knees and sat me on a stool. After he flushed the toilet, he offered me mouthwash and then wiped my face with a cloth. “You have to call in sick. No way can you go to work like this.”

“Have to. My boss has regional bigwigs in the office today. I have to be there tap dancing in the background.”

He placed his lips on my brow. “I’d love to see you tap dance and wriggle that cute butt.”

Normally, when he made adorable comments, I’d kiss him back and thenone of us would fondle the other and that would lead to sex. Not today. “Help me up, babe.”

Micah led me to the shower, put me under the water, soaped me up and washed my hair. Half way through, I needed to sit, and he put me on the stool. After studying my face, he raced into the kitchen and grabbed a bowl.

The rest of getting ready was a blur of him drying me off, putting me into my clothes and grabbing my messenger bag. He even took Patch and all his puppy paraphernalia to Mrs. Ferguson in the building next door who looked after him while I was at work.

“I’m driving you to the office. You’ll fall off your bike and have an accident if you try and cycle.”

I didn’t argue. Couldn’t. I was trying to conserve my energy for all the tap dancing. Micah handed me a pack of plain crackers as I got out of the car. “Call me when you’re ready to come home. I’m working in the apartment most of the day.”

“I will.” I leaned against the car, willing myself to go into the building. “See you later.”

All the preparation was done for the higher ups visit. And while I waited for them to arrive, I made myself tea, with plenty of sugar and nibbled on the crackers. The nausea faded but not the exhaustion. I was going to need more than tea and crackers to get me through the day.

I must have checked my watch every minute throughout the morning, and the only good part was that I wasn’t expected to go to lunch with my boss and his bosses. Me projectile vomiting on them or sliding under the table would do nothing for my career.

Once they’d left and I’d said my goodbyes—they were all visiting an affiliate office across town this afternoon—I went into an empty office. One of our managers had been transferred and we hadn’t found a suitable replacement. I locked the door and curled up on the couch but not before putting the phone by my ear and turning the volume up.

But I’d just closed my eyes, when it beeped. My boss. Take the rest of the day off. Everything went well and they were very impressed. Enjoy the weekend.

I slumped into the passenger seat when Micah collected me and didn’t have the energy to play with Patch when we got to Sunshine Manor, just gave him a few pats.

“Sleep. I’ll take the dog to the park.”

I raised my head. “Neil might do it if he’s free.”

While I couldn’t see his face, his voice had a resigned air. “As Patch is in my life, I should do my part in looking after him. Just remember…”

“I know. No dog do do. Got it.”

When I opened my eyes, I lay staring out the window, trying to work out the time. The sun wasn’t in the right position for late afternoon.

“You’re awake, finally.”

“Howlong did I sleep?”

“Fifteen hours. It’s almost lunch time.”

“No!” I had a shift at the animal shelter this afternoon. “I’m much better. Whatever it was, had passed. Something I ate, perhaps.” I giggled and peered at Micah’s crotch.

“Very funny.”

Patch came bounding in and interrupted us and I sat on the floor with him while he did his best to destroy a chew toy.

A session at the shelter was always tiring but no more than usual and when I got home, I changed into jogging gear. Running around after Patch showed me how unfit I was. I’d been relying on cycling as exercise but had decided to change things up.

A gentle jog with Patch on a leash would be a good way to start. “Wanna go for a run?”

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