Page 22 of Wolf Bane
“That’s not—” Ethan clamped his teeth shut on that.
“Um, you guys?”Gina Perrin hedged in.“Maybe take this inside?”She nodded towards the small cluster of people still lingering across the street.“Doctor Babin, your phone is ringing.”
I glanced down, staring at my lab coat pocket like it was new to me.My phone was definitely trilling softly inside.“Probably Doctor Norris, huh?”I sighed, suddenly exhausted.“Yeah, Ethan.We need to talk.At home.I’ll see you there.Unless you have another meeting to get to?Some secret thing I can’t know about?Another virus maybe?”
“Landry, you’re not being fair!”
I held up a finger to silence him.“At home.Gina Perrin?—”
“Uh, you can just go with Gina.Or Perrin if you’re one of those guys that plays too muchCall of Dutyand likes to call people by their last name.”
“Gina Perrin, where are you staying?”
“Belmarais.I have a rental for the next few months.It’s?—”
“Okay.Give me your number.”I fumbled for something to write it on but she waved me off.
“It's on Reba's desk.I wasn't going to stick around this morning until all hell broke loose.Before,” she gestured to encompass the fuckery that was the day, “everything, I gave Reba my card.”
My phone shrilled again, making us both wince.“Got it.I'll...”
She nodded, turning to go.“I'll be waiting.”.
* * *
“I called you fifteen minutes ago,”Norris grumbled.“I have a busy schedule, Doctor Babin, and placating you isn’t on my to-do list.”
“Having a human patient experience a shift then get kidnapped by your minions wasn’t on mine.But here we are.”
Norris made a sound that might have been a laugh, might have been a scoff.Or maybe a delightful combination of both.“I’m familiar with your history?—”
“You think so, huh?”
“In as much as ICW will provide it.And you should know better than anyone there is no possible way for a human without were genetics to experience a shift, and a human of such advanced years who never shifted before doing it?That’s impossible.”
I closed my eyes, held my breath, and counted to thirty.Then forty.Norris made an annoyed sound down the line when I let everything out in a whoosh at forty-five.“Are you calling me a liar?”
“I’m saying you’re laboring under a misunderstanding of the situation,” he said with thick, false kindness.“Mr.Robards will be at our facility soon and we’ll begin our examination.In the meantime, I suggest you direct his partner or family’s calls to us rather than ham-fist your way through this.”
The urge to hurl my desk phone through the window was strong.Instead, I pushed it away after I hung up on the smug-voiced twatwaffle and dropped my head to rest on my folded arms.
“Hey.”
“Jesus.”I groaned against my wrist.“How did you get in?Whydid you get in?Didn’t you go home already?”
Gina Perrin slipped into my office, carefully perching on the patient chair in front of my desk.“I started to, but I got to thinking… And I need your number so that next time I need to talk to you, I don’t have to corner you in your office when I’d rather be back at my little rental house with my shoes off and a glass of sweet tea.Anyway, you left the back employee door open.You should be more careful, especially after everything that’s happened.”
“Fuck’s sake, what am I?The urban legend for werewolves all of a sudden?Are y’all making a soap opera about my life?”
“No, but the year’s not over yet.”
Damn it, I did appreciate a good snark, and I didn’t want to like her even a little.“What are you doing here, Gina Perrin?”
“Seriously, one or the other.Or Doctor Perrin, if you’re feeling formal.”
“I like the way the double-barreled name rolls off my tongue,” I said, leaning back in my chair.“Why didn’t Cullen tell me you were coming?And what the hell are we supposed to do with you here?”
“Allegedly?I’m here because part of the ICW’s goals regarding were and shifter health include mental health services.I’m a were, I have all kinds of fancy papers with my name on them, and you’re running a clinic that serves a mixed were and human community.”
