Page 12 of Forget Me Not

But they had not said a word about him to Ray. Neither had Meyers. Not even the sort of “How’s the wife?” crap that some of the gay humans put up with.

The doctor had only made a notation with a question mark after it, then insisted Ray needed to rest.

Callalily himself, despite his claims, was not here with Ray or outside in the corridor.

Ray was not supposed to have a… was not supposed to have anyone. He had never expected to. That it would be a flighty fairy, sweet-smelling and sad, was a surprise Ray could not seem to process in a sterile hospital room. But he could imagine how it was based on this alone. Ray did not have what Penn or Benny thought he had. Ray had a Callalily, who cared for him and apparently slept with him—but the fairy was not Ray’s. Not in the way a were wanted.

Maybe the others were being polite by avoiding the subject. Maybe the spell in the alley had been someone’s idea of a gift.

But that wasn’t something anyone in the village would think. That was something a lot of humans would say, on talk shows or in asides at a bar, with a wink when they told stories about visiting strip clubs. Fairies were for fucking, nothing else.

“Didn’t think anything could hurt him.”

Ray lifted his head to better listen to the voices down the hall. The officer speaking had said that before, after watching Ray and the doctor pass. Ray didn’t understand why she was there, why any of them were there for this long. This was not a situation where someone had been seriously hurt. Ray didn’t need the protection and he doubted they were offering any with the way they spoke of him.

“Nothing did,” one of the others answered, husky-voiced and tired. “He’s fine. All they did was remove something, like a mole.”

There were several comments offered at once. Ray was not certain all of them were said by the officers lingering near a row of chairs, but he assumed so.

“Shows you how wrong shit on TV always is.”

“I thought he’d go Cujo on us for sure. That’s what they say.”

“Right? I thought they’d have to put him down.”

“Now, I wouldn’t mind it being attached to me for a while—by the mouth.”That, apparently, wasadded, in case anyone misunderstood.

“Yeah,”someone else agreed, “but you don’t take it home.”

“Guys,”one of them spoke up, someone who had been mostly quiet this whole time, “some of you worked with his dad. Come on.”

The mild objection was readily dismissed. “Yeah yeah.Buthewasn’t such a smart ass.”

“He made the same mistake. Though at leasthisfairy knew when to fuck off.”

Ray turned away from the door as if that would help. The kid in the next room was giggling, oblivious to the doctors’ concern. Ray’s doctor was talking to someone else down at the nurse’s station where Ray wouldn’t have been able to hear him if Ray hadn’t been stretched thin, listening for a sound that wasn’t there.

“I don’t know. Weres don’t usually have problems for us to solve. There’s no sign of damage in his x-rays. His pupils look fine, you know, considering. The headache, the claimed memory loss, might be psychological. I mean, he should be going nuts right now. I would be. But other than a little instability in his shifting—”

“So you have no idea,”her colleague summed up.“Not that I expected a soap opera to be factual, but it’s disappointing to find out a werewolf is fine after losing their mate.”

Ray looked up, blinking, as the door opened and suddenly Penn was in front of him, snapping words that sounded vicious while she tore open drawers until she found packs of bandages. She opened several of them before wiping at the bloody mess Ray had made of his palms.

His claws had come out. His hands had been clenched.

He hadn’t noticed.

“They’ll heal,” Ray assured Penn quietly, pulling back and taking over the task of mopping up blood. “Sorry. I don’t… I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

But he could guess now. If what everyone thought, and what Ray’s instincts said, was true, than Rayhadsuffered a loss. Just not the one people had expected. Because he’d never really had Callalily. That wasn’t supposed to be possible, either, but what did Ray know? The only weres he’d been around while growing up had been his small family in a human suburb, and Ray was, as Callalily had pointed out, the only were in Los Cerros.

Penn glared up at him, her eyes wet, then huffed and turned away. She’d dropped two candy bars on the floor to come tend to him, but she picked them up now and tossed them onto the bed.

Ray cleaned up and swept the bandages and wrappers out of sight before facing her again. It was more obvious now that she was worried. He handed her one of the candy bars, which she took with a sigh and then opened it. He reached for his shirt and was tucking it in by the time she finished her chocolate.

He hesitated over the necktie, finally stowing it in a pocket.

“We’ll visit a hand-washing station or something on the way out.” Penn broke the silence, calm once more. “But when we’re around the others, try to hide the blood on your shirt.”

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