Page 15 of Clan and Crave

He diverted to an empty patient room so hecould deal with her and possibly the rest of his parents privately.As soon as the door shut behind him, he clicked the continuouslybuzzing device. “Hello, my mother.”

Lafec sighed loudly, as if she were ready todrop from relief. “Why did it take so long for you to answer,Conyod? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“I’m at work. You know my schedule.”

“Indeed, I do. It’s your lunch break.”

“My lunch break happens when I’m donetreating the patient I have just before it. Trauma doesn’t serve aclock.”

He heard his impatience, but it wasimpossible to rein it in. How many times had they been throughthis?

Lafec wasn’t a slave to her emotions…atleast, not when it came to anything except Conyod. She was as toughas any rancher on the plain, fit and capable when it came to thefamily’s kestarsh breeding business. Her firm hand had trained manyan animal, no matter how skittish or ill-natured.

She dropped the fussiness over her survivingchild abruptly, which told Conyod either Tuher or Sema were presentand had quietly…and no doubt diplomatically…told her to ease up.“How are you? It’s been a couple of weeks since we spoke.”

“Well.” He began to relax since there was noaccusation in her voice.

“Busy?”

“Internship means long hours, unfortunately.But the experience is invaluable. I’m learning so much they can’tcover in a lecture hall.” He was able to warm up, thanks to hiswork being a safe subject.

“I always knew you’d do well. Soon you’ll berunning the hospital.”

Her pride brought guilt that his firstinstinct was to keep her at a distance. He chuckled awkwardly. “Idoubt it but thank you. How are you and my fathers? Is everyone allright?”

“We’re well.” Dramok Tuher’s rough baritonewas affectionate. “Training the new colts. We wish you were here tohelp.”

A pang of homesickness struck Conyod. Heloved training the kestarsh, which were so vital to ranch life. “Iwish I were too. How’s Dresk?”

“The love of your life is fine. He’s full ofhimself these days, thanks to a dozen of his strong young offspringrunning around and impressing potential buyers,” Imdiko Semaanswered, laughter in his tone. No doubt he knew Conyod had beenhard pressed not to ask about his favorite mount before everyoneelse. Calling Dresk the love of his life hadn’t been far off themark.

“When will you visit next?” Lafec asked.

“This rotation won’t be up until summer. I’llhave a week, then I start the next…maybe I can come for a couple ofdays.” Reluctance and guilt for feeling unwilling to see hisparents often churned in his stomach. He quickly changed thesubject. “Is my father Vel there?”

“I am,” came the gruff voice of the Nobek.“You sound good, Conyod. I hope you’ll visit as soon aspossible.”

“Of course. Any other news?”

“We finally finished cleaning up after thebig storm. The new stables are built, and we’ve almost finishedrepairing the old barn. I’m sure we’ll be able to better withstandanother sudden blowup, should it occur.”

“We had a wild ronka herd tear through here acouple weeks ago,” Sema joined in. “They knocked down a few polesof the corral. It brought down the containment field, but Dreskkept the mares close to the stables. None of them panicked.”

“Dresk never gets flustered,” Conyod boasted.He’d trained the champion himself. Doing so had helped him get overhis dread of the mountains surrounding the ranch.

Except one.

“He doesn’t like the ghost,” Lafec muttered.“He makes a lot of noise and kicks the walls when it’s around.”

“Ghost?” Conyod’s heart forgot to beat for amoment.

“There’s no ghost,” Vel snorted. “Just drunkranch hands seeing things.”

“Nevip doesn’t drink, and he doesn’t bothermaking up tall tales,” Lafec said. “He saw the boy—”

“He got caught up in everyone else’s hysteriaand thought he saw something.” Tuher’s commanding tonequieted his clanmates. “We should let Conyod go to lunch. Nexttime, we’ll call in the evening after you’ve hopefully finished forthe day, my son.”

“That would be great,” Conyod said. “My loveto you all.”

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