Not yet, at least.
Right now, Drew didn’t even look at her, let alone attempt to communicate something he wanted her to do. Jonas didn’t offer any suggestions, either.
“Would you like some water?” she asked Drew.
He looked at her and nodded, so she removed a clean metal bowl from the sink, filled it partway and placed it on the table in front of him. He lapped up maybe half of it.
A knock sounded on the exam room door.
Rosa glanced at Drew, who was once more lying on the towel-covered table, head between his paws in a fully canine position, the bowl off to his side.
“Come in,” she called.
The door opened and Susie popped her head in. “There’s a guy here from Ft. Lukman who says he’s come to help out.”
To take over for Jonas, Rosa assumed, from what Melanie had said before.
She figured that Susie and the others who worked here had some knowledge of the ties Melanie and her husband had to Ft. Lukman, and probably even knew there were shapeshifters there—and possibly that Drew was one of them.
But they’d also been instructed to remain totally discreet, even among themselves. To Rosa’s knowledge, they never talked about it—or at least they’d never done so around her.
“Thanks, Susie. Let him in.”
In a moment, a tall guy dressed in a camouflage shirt and slacks like Jonas entered the room, and Susie shut the door behind him.
Jonas rose again. “Liam,” he said. “Glad you’re here.” He turned to Rosa. “This is Dr. Jontay, one of the vets here. Rosa, that’s Lieutenant Liam Corland.”
“Hi, Dr. Jontay,” the guy said in a deep, masculine voice. He held out his hand and gave hers a quick, substantial shake. The contact made her feel fully aware of this man’s presence. He was wide shouldered, and his face was angular—and gorgeous. His hair was black and military short. Dark brown eyes looked straight into hers, but only for a moment.
“Hello, Lieutenant Corland,” she said as matter-of-factly as she could manage, considering how oddly her mind was reacting to this guy.
“Liam,” he gently corrected, making Rosa regret she hadn’t done the same. He turned to Jonas. “I’m assigned to relieve you here.”
“Got it. Thanks. I’ll run now, and keep you informed about how things go at the base.” Jonas bent toward Drew, who was sitting up once more on the table, and said something into his ear, which twitched canine style. Then he exited the room.
“Well,” Rosa said, not exactly sure how to handle this. What was this Liam going to do here?
As if she had spoken aloud, he looked her directly in the eyes once more. “Do you know and understand the full situation?” His tone was demanding. She didn’t like it, but she did understand.
“Yes, I think so,” she said. Then, more brazenly, “Do you?”
“Of course. I’m a member of Alpha Force, too. One of its...special members.” Again, he caught her gaze, as if attempting to ensure she knew what that meant.
“Then you’re like...” She tilted her head toward the table, where the canine Drew remained seated, clearly watching them and presumably understanding. “Like Drew,” she finished.
“That’s right. I’m here to help Drew out as much as possible from the...from the military angle. Watch over him while members of our unit try to figure out how to help him in their way.” Something to do with that elixir that helped shifters? Something else? Maybe she would find out more. “And discuss if you think there’s any veterinary way to help him...help him get over his current condition.”
“I see.” This seemed so odd—and yet, since Rosa had grown up with both real wolves and shifters in her area, she could deal with it. Right?
Of course. But the part of all this that made her somehow feel worse at this moment was that she couldn’t help focusing on how this Liam had admitted to her right away what he was.
And she felt terrible to think that this gorgeous hunk of a military man was also a shapeshifter.
“Hi, Drew,” Liam finally said.
There his commanding officer was, in canine form, sitting on a bunch of towels on a lowered table in the middle of this veterinary examination room. Watching them. And now he nodded his head as if in greeting.
Liam turned back to Dr. Jontay. Rosa. This vet was fairly special, from what he had been told before he left Ft. Lukman. She had apparently been found after a long hunt for a good, smart backup by Melanie Connell, who’d been seeking a vet who knew about shifters, had provided medical care to them in the past and would keep her mouth shut about working with more in the future.
Rosa was one pretty, hot woman, to boot.
But checking her out wasn’t why Liam was there.
Seeing, taking care of his friend, his mentor, his superior officer—that was his reason for coming to this clinic.
Sure, he’d told his fellow Alpha Force members at Ft. Lukman about the accusations he’d found online. That was important, of course. But not as important as ensuring that Drew returned to normal. Fast.
And when the topic of needing Jonas to get back to the base to help find a solution arose, Liam volunteered to hang out with Drew here for as long as it took to get him cured.
The rest of the team had argued, since the idea of having so much garbage out there online about shifters and Alpha Force was horrendous, and Liam was the best tool they had for countering it. But he’d told them he had taught Denny how to start his critical counter–social media games. Plus, he would work on it himself as Drew’s condition here permitted.
They’d finally agreed, since most of those at the base would be focused on how to deal with what had happened to Drew, and keeping one of their own with him was critical, too. But if what Denny accomplished, with Liam’s backup, wasn’t enough, they would send Denny to trade places with him so Liam could focus on his job—which was now ridiculing all the ridiculous, and not so ridiculous, claims that had appeared on the internet.
So Liam’s giving a damn about his mentor and wanting to do something about it had worked out—at least for now.
“Okay if we sit down?” Liam asked Rosa. “I’ve got a few things to update for Drew.” Assuming that the elixir Drew had first developed, and had worked with over the years of Alpha Force’s existence, still allowed him to keep his mental acuity—his human mental acuity—hours after he should have shifted back. And his nod before had indicated that, at least, hadn’t been affected.
“Would you like a cup of coffee before we talk?” Rosa asked Liam.
Nice lady, or at least polite.
Or
