Read Desert Bound (Cambio Springs) for Free Online Page A

heard it.
    Alex had loved watching her shift from a cougar back to her human form. Turned him on like a switch. She got up and stalked toward the door, shoving it closed with her nose, but not before she felt the quick slip of Alex’s finger along her back.
    She didn’t shiver. That was just a residual twitch from the shift.
    A few seconds later, she was pulling on clothes and listening to the two men muttering in the small exam room.
    “Not that bad.”
    “—file a workman’s comp claim.”
    “What am I going to tell them? ‘Healed instantly after turning into a king snake?’”
    “If it heals instantly.”
    Ted shoved open the door. “It will probably heal instantly. Let’s just get it set so—oh, whoa!” Her face lit with a smile. “That really is at a right angle!”
    Marcus said, “Try not to sound so excited, Ted.”
    “I just rarely see any of us get really hurt! Usually, it’s the humans and little kids.” She pulled on a pair of gloves and nudged his shoulder so he was sitting on the table. She gingerly lifted the arm, holding onto the wrist and elbow. Marcus didn’t even wince. “What did you do to it?”
    Shifter bones were strong. For one to break like that…
    “One of the guys pulled an engine out with a forklift and dropped it. Caught my arm in the fall.”
    She made a face. “That’ll do it.”
    Alex said, “I want to know why the engine on that scraper was out to begin with.”
    “Sid’s a whiz with engines, Alex. No need to hire someone off site when he can just take a look.”
    “And drop engines on your arm.”
    “No big deal.”
    Ted interjected. “Well, it would be a big deal if it had shattered. Luckily, it looks like a clean break. It’s swollen, but I don’t think you severed anything. Any numbness?”
    “I wish.”
    She felt the skin, but it wasn’t overly cool. 
    “All right. My best guess is the two bones snapped. Nothing is poking through. Doesn’t look like excessive internal bleeding or swelling. If you want to make sure, I can take x-rays—”
    “Oh, come on,” Marcus said. “Really?”
    Alex stepped closer from his stance in the corner. “Hey! If she says you need x-rays, you need x-rays.”
    “Or, I’ll pull your arm and wrap it. Once it’s splinted, then you can shift.”
    “See?” Marcus looked triumphant. “Knew I liked her.”
    Shifting when you were hurt could be tricky. If it was a cut or open wound, shifting would sometimes make it worse. Luckily, bones were a bit easier. As long as the bone was in alignment, shifting to your natural form would heal the break when you shifted back. Ted had always theorized it was because their bodies were able to remake their skeletons switching from human to animal.
    “I’m warning you, if there’s any kind of wonky alignment when you shift back, you’re gonna know. I’ll have to re-break it and you’ll need x-rays to see what the problem is. But if you want to take the chance, you can. It’ll be quicker, but it’s up to you.”
    “Actually,” Alex said, “I think it’s up to me. Since he was injured at work.”
    “Bull. Shit,” Marcus said. “I’m fine. You know you’re not filing a claim on this. It was my own stupidity.”
    Ted watched them argue. She was putting her money on Marcus, just because Alex looked green every time he caught a glimpse of that broken arm. It really was a miracle the bones hadn’t broken through the skin. 
    “Okay!” Alex relented, throwing up his hands. “You want to risk it, it’s your own arm.”
    “Good. Hit me, doc.”
    “Alex, hold his shoulders.” Ted walked in front of Marcus, grabbing his wrist with both of hers. “We doing this the old fashioned way?”
    He nodded, so she pulled through Marcus’s grunt, bracing herself to straighten the man’s heavily muscled arm. She couldn’t hear it, but she knew when the bones snapped back into alignment. Sweat broke out on his forehead, but the tight clench of his jaw eased.
    “Awesome,” he said.