Page 24 of Wolf Bane
Nothing like being chastised to make me feel like I was a nine-year-old all over again, getting chewed out by Mrs.Abbington after my single Cub Scout meeting for being weird and off putting, scaring the other boys.Face too hot to be comfortable, I pushed down the urge to mumble an apology and hang up.
“All I ask is that I am on the same page, Cullen.I know I’m not exactly well liked by either community, but if you expect me to beuseful, then I need information.Especially when it comes to the clinic.Especially when it comes to my patients.”
Cullen was quiet again, but it was a busy sort of quiet.Thinking so hard I could practically hear the squeak of his mental gears.Finally, he huffed a small sigh.“Gina Perrin is a psychiatrist.She’s worked in our clinic here in Chicago for a few years, but as we’re working towards setting up more clinics like yours, it was decided she needs more hands-on training with the communities she’d be serving.It was noted by… certain people… that there’s a lack of mental health support for those like us.”
“Certain people… If I guess Ethan, do I get a prize?”I did feel a little pang of pride at that.He’d talked about it for a while now, how he thought that some clan members really need the support of a therapist or at least access to mental health education, and likely more than one or two could use a more medical based approach to therapy.
Also, like a dozen were kids I’d met were ADHD as hell, and it was my non-professional opinion they needed whatever the were equivalent of Ritalin was.
Cullen sucked his teeth, his go-to tic for when he wanted to call me everything but my name and sighed.“Ethan’s more of an asset to the council than they realize.And they already value his input highly.There are things I cannot divulge, Landry, and pretending otherwise does both of us a disservice.”There was the sound of movement, then a door closing and a soft beep on the line.“We have a few minutes before this call is flagged and the security measure is pulled, so listen carefully and keep your mouth shut.This is a shit show, Landry.The virus, disease, whatever this is, it’s more widely spread than they are willing to acknowledge.A large part of that is down to snobbery, if I may be frank.”He paused.When I didn’t say anything, he snorted softly.“Well, well, well.He can be taught.”
“I thought we were on a tight timeline here,” I ground out.“Keeping my mouth shut, remember?”
His chuckle rankled every nerve in my body.“There’s something messy going on, and I cannot dig deep enough to uncover it on my own.And while I may not be able to peel back any layers and find a definitive answer to our questions, I can say that I think you might be the focus of some interest.And not necessarily in a positive way.Your patient, Mr.Robards, is on his way to the Lobo Medical Research facility, correct?”He paused, then added with a definite smirk in his tone, “You can talk now.”
“Unfortunately,” I muttered.“His wife wasn’t answering calls this afternoon.I’m considering asking the sheriff to do a well check.I…”
“You don’t know if the were who hurt him possibly hurt her?”Cullen suggested with an air of understanding that felt weird coming from him.“Or if he hurt his wife and didn’t realize it.”
Yeah.Definitely weird.Correct, but weird.
“I’m going out on a limb here, but experiencing a first shift this late in life has to be unheard of.”
Cullen hummed thoughtfully.“As far as we know, yes.But the council is relatively new in the grand scheme of things.Clans, as I am sure you’ve discovered long before now, are, well, clannish.Lore, history, whatever you want to call it, has been kept tightly locked up by individual clans, packs, and families over the centuries.The council has only begun truly codifying werewolf growth and development over the past thirty years.Some of it is well known and obvious—we don’t become weres through biting, for example.”
“So whatever caused Mr.Robards to change like that wasn’t because of the bite alone.”
“Just so.Unless the were that bit him—if it was, indeed, a were—has some mutation that makes it possible.Which, while unlikely to the point of being improbable, still has an infinitesimal chance of occurring.Though it’s more likely you’ll stop dressing like a burn out stoner before that happens.”
There was a very smallclickand the distant sound of a beep, like one of those hearing test booths back in elementary school.Cullen’s brisk heel-turn was whiplash inducing.“I’m afraid Doctor Perrin is not yours to fire, Doctor Babin.She’s to remain at the clinic until such a time as the council deems she may leave.”
“Uh.No?”I shook my head, Cullen’s disappointment radiating down the line.“I mean, no, this is unacceptable.You can’t just fuck with the way I run the clinic.”
“It’s notyours, Doctor Babin.You’ll do well to remember that when it comes to dealing with the council.”
He hung up, leaving me off-balance for a moment.“What the fuck,” I muttered, closing my eyes against the dull thrum of a stress headache.It was only 6 p.m., and if Ethan stayed true to previous visits, he’d be with Tyler for another hour or two at least.I eyed the phone—I should call the Clemenses, I should call Mrs.Robards—but instead I shoved it onto the charger and padded back to the small guest room I’d set up as a home office last summer.I didn’t have Tyler’s way with research, but I wasn’t a slouch, and contrary to what the council liked to believe, they weren’t as subtle as all that.It just took the right combination of keywords and paranoia to find traces of what I was looking for.
By eight, my stomach was making ungodly noises, the house was dark, and I was seriously debating between just going to bed till Ethan got back or reheating leftovers if they hadn’t gained sentience.But the idea of taking a break to do something as basic as eating dinner felt wrong when I was starting to see a pattern, starting to notice little signs in these tiny blurbs, these single line notices in the online news sources and community threads in the areas where Cullen had indicated these viral outbreaks.Eyeing the clock on my desk, I debated another phone call but, damn my soft squishy romantic heart that missed my man, I decided to do this in person instead.A quick text told me he was exactly where I thought he’d be, so I grabbed my keys and headed to Tyler’s.
ChapterSix
Ethan answered the door, his tired expression morphing to pleasure when he saw the bags I was holding.
“Taco Mary’s,” I announced, even though the name was on the bag.He stood aside and let me past, trailing after me to the kitchen.“Got you your usual order of chicken flautas with all the sides, plus an extra serving of guacamole, got Justin the soft tacos and a thingy of pozole because that stuff is a miracle cure.”
I started unpacking the food onto the counter, doing my best to ignore Ethan’s tired silence and pretend like everything was okay just for a few minutes at least.
“And you know I’m a slut for their chili rellenos, so I got too much of that.And Tyler seemed to like their tostadas compuestas, so I got him that.”
Ethan sighed, reaching out to stop my fussing hands with one of his own.“Justin isn’t doing great.He’s running a fever again.”
He motioned for me to follow him into the living room, where Justin was tucked up on the sofa.Tyler was standing over him with a bottle of liquid Tylenol and a distinctly harassed expression on his face.
“Justin!Have you been drinking plenty of fluids?Tyler, did you try getting him in a tepid bath or using compresses?I can phone in a prescription for some heavy-duty cough meds, but I’m not sure… How do y’all react to over-the-counter meds?Do you burn through them faster?Do you need a lower dose?A higher one?Do?—”
“I’ve been dosing him with NyQuil, like my dad used to give us,” Tyler interrupted.“And yes, he’s taken a tepid bath.The fever just keeps coming back.Not as high as before though.”
Justin made a face, waving us both off.“I’m just… Here, okay?Just let me rest.I just want to be alone, alright?”
