Page 55 of Wolf Bane
Tyler nodded.“The Rayfords, back when we were in middle school.Their older daughter married that guy then suddenly went off to Tulsa or something.”
“Clans stick together so long as you don’t buck the system?”I interjected, just a tiny bit bitter.“What about the ones that leave, or have to leave?Are they just expected to suddenly be without support after a lifetime of the clan around them?”
Ethan and Tyler exchanged uncomfortable, speaking looks.“If I were forced to leave the clan,” Ethan said after a long, long moment, “I don’t know what I’d do, I may not be as involved in leadership as our father would’ve liked, but I’m still clan.There's upstart packs forming in the bigger cities.Hell, some rural communities, too.Not just weres hanging out with weres butpacks…”
Tyler let out a low whistle.“Makes sense.Rejected members forming their own packs.That’s not unheard of.Usually, it’s folks kicked out for breaking clan laws, doing harm to others…”
Ethan made a strangled, disgruntled sound low in his throat.Not quite a growl but close.“If there’s renegade packs made up of rejected clan members, that can only bite us on the ass later.In the meantime, we’re having to deal with this giant ball of shit.And that’s gonna take precedence.”
I nodded shakily.“We need to find out which of these affected individuals are were, even just a small percentage.And which are fully human.”
Justin straightened, interest spreading over his features.“You want to do an analysis comparing were to human genetic material, healthy samples to infected samples?That’s a huge ask,” he said, mirroring Tyler’s comment.“I’d need a full lab.Assistants.I’d needtime.I don’t know what we’re looking for here, and DNA analysis is insanely fussy.”Leaning back, he groaned, scrubbing his hands over his face.I thought maybe… he might also be a tiny bit excited at the prospect.
“We just need to check markers.Something that differentiates human from were.
“Let me talk to Cullen,” Ethan said.“He’s our in with the council.If anyone has pre-existing info, it’s them.”
Justin was practically beaming.Well, okay, it was a tiny smile, but for him?After all these months?I was gonna count it as a full wattage beam.His breath still rasped, his hands shook, but he was engaged.Excited, even.
“No, no, no… Look, Landry, you’re a great forensic pathologist.But you’re not a cytopathologist.What you’re looking for isn’t DNA analysis.You’re looking for infection.”
“Thank you.I’m flattered and I really appreciate it.”I flashed him a bright smile.It really was nice hearing that someone appreciated my work in my first, beloved field of medicine.Not that being a GP wasn’t okay.It just wasn’t pathology.
I’m sure it said something about my psyche that I preferred working with the dead, but I didn’t want to examine that too closely at the moment.
“I need to find out if the council has any information on the disease,” Justin said, getting to his feet.Tyler startled, half-rising to follow him but Ethan motioned him down.He sank, reluctantly, as Justin started to pace.“It’ll be easier than doing a whole damn analysis.I need to see what they already have but, in the meantime, I can look at the samples, compare them to uninfected samples…” He trailed off, spinning to face us.“How do we know who isn’t infected though?What if we’re all carriers but only some of us are symptomatic?Shit.I need alab!”
Tyler smiled slowly, finally getting to his feet.“I can help you with that.”
ChapterFourteen
“I’m just saying, it might not be the best idea to trust Tyler’s whole stealing a lab thing,” I muttered.Tyler had locked himself in my office tomake some callsand hadn’t come out for over an hour.Justin, excited beyond belief, had worked himself into a coughing fit, collapsing in the guest room for a nap.
That left Gina Perrin, Mal, Ethan, and me to finish organizing.
Mal checked on Mariska, who’d come ‘round and was sleepily flipping through my streaming services to find her unicorn warrior princess show.“It’s s’posed to be a crossover withAlien Unicorn Space Fighter,” she explained sleepily, her voice rough with a sore throat.“They’re gonna go to the planet Sparkletopia an’ fight the evil unicorns, who’ve got ugly horns.”
“Maybe they’re feeling bad about themselves and don’t like being told their horns are ugly,” Mal said gently, urging her to lie back down.“Maybe the sparkle princess unicorns need to show them some compassion.”
“Dad.”She sighed.“It’s just a cartoon.”
Gina Perrin smiled, laughing softly.“She’s precocious, huh?I haven’t met many shifters, much less young ones like her.”
“She’s hell on wheels,” I said.“Until late last year, I didn’t know there were any other survivors of Garrow’s experiments, much less any second gens.Mal and I are it for first gens.Mariska’s the only second.”
Gina Perrin watched Mal getting Mariska settled, fussing over her as she feigned annoyance but still snuggled against him when he leaned in for a hug.“There’s not a lot of kids, you know?We’re a small group to start with, all things told.But it’s rare for weres to have huge families.A disease like this one?If it’s uncontrolled, it could decimate us.”
“Who’d benefit from that?”I asked her quietly.“Or, if my theory is correct, who’d benefit from the lack of human-were offspring?”
It was something I was dwelling on hours later, after Gina Perrin left, after Tyler and Justin huddled together in my office and Ethan left me kicking my heels while he made calls in the bedroom.Mal kept me company in the kitchen for a while, letting Mariska finish her nap.“She really does seem better,” I offered quietly.“How’s her fever?”
“Longer gaps between spikes,” he said, barely able to hold back a yawn.“She’s had one other unintentional shift, but it wasn’t a violent one.She said she felt it coming on this time, and it was a full shift.Not just the prickles, like she called it before.”The yawn he’d been battling broke through, a wide and jaw cracking one that made me follow suit.
“Jesus.”He sighed.“I feel like I’ll never get sleep again.Icould,” he said, cutting me off, “but I’m afraid to.Especially while she’s sick.”He hesitated, then added, “And knowing Garrow’s out.”
“About that…”
“You’re going to ask me about Waltrip.”
