realized she must have looked worried to Melanie, or maybe her boss was just curious—or wanted to see her shifted husband. But from behind her she heard, also in a soft voice, “What’s going on? Why are you both out here?”
She didn’t want to alarm Melanie—or give her false hope that they were about to find any answers. Turning, she said, “I just need a little advice about Drew’s blood test. And Liam checked and found that some of the guys out at the base might be able to help. Unless you’d rather I didn’t do it...”
“No, I’d rather you do it. How is Drew?”
“Sleeping,” Liam said. “But I think we need to wake him up, at least briefly. My contact said to bring the samples you already have, Rosa, but also another one that hasn’t been separated or analyzed at all.”
“Fine,” Melanie said. “I’ll go in with you while you draw that sample and wait with Drew till Noel arrives.” She looked pale, but the expression on her face appeared...well, a little hopeful, if Rosa was reading it right.
“Good,” she said. “And I’m going to the base, too, to talk to your guys there.” She looked at Liam, half expecting him to object.
“That’ll work,” he said. In fact, was that a touch of relief on his face? Admiration? Or was she reading too much into it? “You can tell them what you found and your take on it, and they can do their own kind of analysis.”
“Good,” she said again. “Now, let’s go get that other sample.”
Liam wanted more information about blood tests in general, and this one in particular.
At least that was the reason he gave himself, and Rosa, as he told her he would drive her to the base and back.
He had no other reason to be alone in this smart vet’s presence for the twenty minute trip to Ft. Lukman, or the return trip. She could drive herself, of course.
But she seemed okay with the idea of riding in his black military-issued sedan. Maybe she wanted to talk more about the blood test. Or maybe she felt uncomfortable with the idea of appearing by herself at the military facility.
Or maybe he was reading things into her attitude.
They were on their way now, just exiting the town of Mary Glen on the way to Ft. Lukman. The distance was only about five miles, but it always felt longer, thanks to the two-lane roads lined by tall trees of the surrounding woods.
Liam figured the site of the military base, with its particularly covert unit, had been chosen because of the obscure location.
“So you said you’re not a shifter,” he began, aiming a brief glance at her in the passenger seat, a box containing the carefully wrapped blood samples on her lap. That statement didn’t address the blood tests—but he’d get there. He had other questions he hoped to get answered first.
Their eyes met for an instant before he looked back toward the road. The grin on her face looked wary. Even so, she was still one pretty lady.
“No,” she said, “I’m not. But where I grew up in Michigan there were quite a few wolves, and I learned early on that a few of my school friends and their families happened to be shifters. The existence of real wolves in that area gave them a bit of cover.”
“Makes sense. My family lived in Minnesota for the same reason. But not being a shifter yourself, how did you end up learning that your friends were?” All the shifters he knew were taught from a young age to keep that critical fact to themselves.
“Well, I always wanted to become a veterinarian. I love animals. I always had a dog or two, visited the nearest zoo a lot and—well, I realized at a fairly young age that I heard more wolf howls in the distance on nights of the full moon than otherwise.” She leaned toward him a little. “Did you howl then as you were growing up? Turned out my friends did. One of them, a guy I guess I had a crush on in seventh grade, hinted to me about where to show up at sundown on one of those special nights. He knew I was there, hiding behind a tree, when his family and a couple of others went out into the forest together. It was really amazing to watch when the four of them went from being a regular human family to a small pack of wolves. I never forgot it, of course, though that guy stopped talking to me. Guess his family caught my scent and bawled him out.”
“But you knew then,” Liam stated. He couldn’t help smiling. It must have been quite an experience for a young non-shifter.
“I knew then,” she confirmed. “I hardly ever talked about it—but I just happened to snoop around on more nights of the full moon and saw that a few other friends shared that characteristic.”
“And did they stop talking to you, too?”
“I tried to be a lot more careful. If they knew about me, they never said so, and I never said anything to them, either.”
“But you still wanted to help them as a vet?”
“Sure. When I went to veterinary school I made sure to learn about all canine anatomy as well as volunteering to help the vets who worked with the local zoo. And then, as I learned enough to help, I visited that first guy’s mother one day—he was off at a different college by then—and told her what I knew about them, and how I was learning a lot about working with feral creatures like wolves, in case anyone needed medical help while shifted. She pretended not to know what I was talking about, but—”
“But sometime near then she called on you in her wolf form to come help another shifter who needed medical help that night, right?”
“Exactly.”
Liam could hear her big smile in the tone of her voice. He looked over and grinned back at her. “And from then on they knew you were there to help.”
“Yes, I was. I helped them and myself, and they were the ones to give recommendations about me to Melanie when she put word out—very discreetly, I might add—about how she was a regular veterinarian with...interesting contacts who sometimes needed medical assistance. Since the shifters around me made a point of not admitting their true nature, I thought that the type of organization Melanie hinted about—the US military, of all things—might be a fascinating group of potential patients.”
As he was growing up, Liam had known a couple local people who seemed to recognize what he, his family members and others in the area were, but although they were mostly polite, they didn’t attempt to get to know any shifters better.
He was impressed with this lovely lady who not only accepted the idea of shifters in her life, but actually seemed to appreciate them. Worry about them. Want to heal them.
“I’m sure Melanie is really glad to have your help,” he told her, then shared a brief smile with her before he made another turn on the twisty road.
“And I’m really glad to help her. And the others.” A tone he didn’t quite recognize modified Rosa’s voice.
“Especially Drew,” Liam guessed.
“Especially Drew,” she agreed. “But...I just hope we really can help him.”
“We will,” Liam asserted—hoping it was true.
