Page 25 of Wolf Bane
“Justin, listen to me,” I demanded, ignoring Ethan and Tyler’s muttered argument about NyQuil and howDad had no fucking idea what he was doing, what do you mean you’re giving him that.“You went to lunch with an old friend from med school, yeah?”
“Uh, yeah,” he rasped.“Her and her friend from work.”
“Did you doanythingelse?Anything at all?Stop for a drink, get your oil changed… Decide to get a vaccine or something?”
The dead silence was a blanket.“What the fuck?”Tyler asked finally.“Who goes to lunch and decides to cap it off with a vaccine?Wow, this BLT was great, but you know what I’d love right now?An MMR booster.”
I glanced back at him and Ethan, finding near identical bemused, annoyed expressions staring back at me.“I may have found a link between the people who’re getting sick and something going on in the communities.”
“What do you mean?”Justin asked, struggling upright, pushing the blanket nest to one side.“I’m not part of a community.”
He sounded so plaintive, so… resigned, I suppose, that it stung.My own failings as a friend, as his former boss, and someone who should’ve been keeping an eye on him, were heavy, but I swallowed them down.This wasn’t about me.Not like that.It was much bigger than anypoor meI could drum up.“You kind of are, Justin.Maybe not one you’d have chosen on your own but?—”
“I’mnota were!”
“You’re like me and Mal.Whether you like it or not.And I think I’m starting to figure out what’s spreading this sickness.Everyone I can find who’s gotten sick, the communities reporting outbreaks?They’ve all had visits from this mobile clinic van.”
Tyler rocked back on his heels, arms curled over his midsection in an almost childlike expression of wariness.“Those things are a dime a dozen out in the rural areas.Hospitals, religious groups, hell, some corporate bullshit groups, they all send out those RV clinics so kids can get their eyes checked and physicals done before school starts.”
“This is different.That’s why I need to know, Justin.”I turned back to him before he could recoil into his nest.“Did you goanywhere?Anywhere at all that wasn’t to lunch, to the car, then home?”
He shook his head.“No.And the painkillers were from a sealed package.”
Shit.“Are you certain?They weren’t handed to you, already out of the bottle or blister pack?”
“No!They…” He stopped, color draining so fast from his face I reached for him, ready for him to slump over in a faint.“I don’t remember,” he whispered.“I don’t… I don’t remember!”
“It’s okay,” Tyler said quickly, pushing between us to crouch beside the sofa.“It’s okay.You’ve been sick and you need some rest.Here, drink some of this tea.It’s mint.”
Ethan took my arm and gently pulled me away, towards the entryway.“Don’t tell Tyler I’m saying this, but I’m pretty sure a big part of this malaise Justin’s experiencing is in his head.”
I peered around Ethan, back into the living room where Tyler was fussing over Justin and Justin was curled over his own knees, clutching the cup of tea Tyler had offered.
“Justin’s always been kind of skittish,” I allowed, “but I don’t know much about how he was outside of work before…”Before everything went to hell for him.
“I’m not saying he’s not sick with this.Just that I think whatever’s going on here,” Ethan tapped his temple, “is making it worse.Earlier, he and Tyler were arguing about something or other, some movie I think, and it was like he was a different person.He still had a cough, but he was sitting up, animated… But when the subject changed to something to do with the clan, he just wilted down like that.”
“Mental health issues can definitely cause physical symptoms, and if they’re concurrent with the sickness, I can see it.”
“You’re hot when you use words likeconcurrent.”
“Honey, I’m hot all the time.”
Ethan’s flicker of a smile was enough to warm me straight down to my toes.Goddamn, I missed him being home.
“Look, what I found earlier, it’s not definitive.It’s just a theory I’m working with.Do you know what a diagnosis of exclusion is?”
“Just what it sounds like?”he drawled, one brow lifting in challenge.“Occam’s Razor of diagnosing a patient?”
“Well, you don’t have to look so happy about taking the wind out of my sails,” I said, nudging his ribs with my elbow.“The thing is, whoever is doing this, they’re out there bringing these little pop-up clinics around.”
Ethan drew back, uneasy.“Landry.”
“Listen!I’m not saying it’s to do with the ICW.But they’re moving like the ICW, trying to get into the communities with these accessible clinics.And targeting were and shifter communities specifically.We need to talk to the pack leaders in these areas, the ones with the sick members.They won’t talk to me, but?—”
Ethan swore under his breath.“Landry, I can’t be part of this.If the council knew you were involving me?—”
“Then don’t,” I said, the words tumbling out before I could stop them.“Don’t.If it’s important to you to keep on the council’s good side… don’t.”
