Page 59 of Ellie 3

“I’m listening now, Son. Next wanker that tries that shite, bring them to me and let me witness the diagnosis. I’d heard you were acting high and mighty but—you would never. I knew it was idle gossip, but I didn’t know they were stacking the deck against you.”

“Well, now you both know the truth,” my uncle said and clapped my da on the shoulder. “Speaking of decks, I’m ready to win some money off you Yanks. Fifty buy-in? We brought dollars so we didn’t have to convert from Euros.”

I nodded and was glad when Alan said he’d handle all of that as long as someone made him a large plate of the chicken wings he was smelling.

I realized I had more to say, but not everyone needed to hear it, so I went up to my da, holding up a hand to him when he opened his mouth. “You’re dealing with a lot still, so I just want to clear the air on this.” I waited until he nodded. “I’ve gone with members of the pack to doctor appointments when I couldn’t help them and they were nervous to see someone unknown, Da.”

He reached over and squeezed my shoulder. “Of all my kids, I never worry about you being egotistical, Hugo. Never. I’ve seen how you help the smallest nipper and always keep respect for the elders of the pack. It was always the gossips and—I ignored it because I knew it wasn’t true. I never, not once doubted you on that.”

That sounded like trying to open a can of worms on what hehaddoubted me on, but I understood what he was saying. No one was perfect and we all listened at times.

He just didn’t on that.

I was glad and thanked him for making sure things got better for me because I didn’t always want to spend full or new moons with the Atlanta pack after what happened. It had gotten better after Ellie and I had gone public, but some of the pack gave me nasty looks and made comments that I preferred a bloodsucker over a quality wolf.

I hadn’t dumped the Alpha’s daughter for Ellie. I’dbeenwith Ellie when the man had tried to force me into a mating.

I was the victim and so was his daughter. The last thing anyone should do was shit onEllieabout it all. But there were always jerks in any group that had to ruin things.

For the first thirty-minute card session, I actually sat at a table with my da, uncle, and cousin since they came. Sean joined us and it was nice that he genuinely liked my da and uncle, them liking Sean as well. My cousin and I kept sharing looks like we were watching old guys make friends, but honestly it was cute.

And the food was fucking fantastic. We had such an array that my wolf and I were very happy.

We got to talking about the heat and I couldn’t hold back how much I hated Southern weather after a few drinks.

“Yeah, there are many times I wish that ASH was built almost anywhere else,” Sean grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. “But my animal loves the heat, and my mate and damn kids are all—their natural animals originate from Africa. There’s no such thing as too much sun to them.”

I hadn’t known he wasn’t the same shifter type as his mate or children. That had to be frustrating as a parent since he couldn’t always help them with the issues that would come up for them.

“Fair, but it’s gonna be grand when you don’t have snow or our never-ending winter rains,” my cousin chipped in. “We’ll be freezing our fannies off and my wolf won’t even fucking run outside like that sometimes and you’ll be walking around in t-shirt and shorts.”

“Your wolf is a bit too prissy sometimes,” my uncle drawled. He cleared his throat when my cousin and I both looked at him like he needed a smack. “Right, sorry, forgot about when you were a kid.”

I hurried to change the topic but gave Sean a look that I’d fill him in later. It wasn’t that juicy of gossip. My uncle hadn’t been as attentive as he should have been when my cousin was a pup and my cousin had gotten lost deep into the pack’s lands… And almost froze to death.

So yeah, I was sure he and his wolf had a ridiculous aversion to freezing weather even if it was decades later.

“Anytime you want to get away from the cold, come visit,” I told him. “You work remote. No reason you can’t work remotely for a week from my guest room.

“I’ll take you up on that,” he accepted with a smile. “Last year about did me in, so it would be nice to take breaks.”

We took a break and then shuffled up the tables so it wasn’t all cliques and possible drama. The point was to make friends too and keep things easy. The next session, I was with a couple of cops and two attendings that I didn’t know well but was glad I’d invited. They weren’t drama and mostly wanted to talk shop with the changes my practice had made.

“Sorry, sorry,” one chuckled when he realized he’d monopolized the conversation. “It’s just difficult to picture what they want and that it’s for the best intentions. I don’t doubt Ms. Reed but…” He shook his head.

I gave a half shrug. “Change is difficult, and I’m sure there will be growing pains or speed bumps. I think it’s smart to getmore information. This was more how my previous hospitals worked, so it’s not that shocking to me. At least this part.”

I offered for him to talk to my staff—especially my office manager—and to come see it for himself on Saturday. He graciously accepted that and we got back to playing. He didn’t see the type to overstep or harass my staff like a few others did. I thought it was the right step for him and would help.

Hopefully. I’d gotten annoyed having to smack a few attendings who had overstepped or demanded more answers than they should have. A few had wanted to flex seniority or their age on me, but all I did was let my wolf show off and they backed down.

One practically ran with his tail between his legs because I was so much more powerful of a shifter than he was.

My staff was probably still laughing at what had happened and would for years.

Overall it was fun, even with the crashers. A few asked if we could do it every other week, but I explained I had to pay then… Any polite answer that I didn’t want to do this too often. I finally settled on saying maybe more in the winter when it wasn’t nice out.

Yeah, right. In Georgia?

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