Page 10 of Ellie 1

“This is why the poor maintenance staff is always cleaning up dead birds and animals in the parking lot, Dr. Tai,” I said as evenly as possible. “You give their animals this extra love forgetting they’re people too and when they shift, their animals hunt and leave youpresentsby your vehicle. And the poor staff has to handle it.”

“Hey, those deer last month were tasty,” she defended.

“Yes, fine, but not everyone can bring deer,” I drawled. “Normally, it’s just dead pigeons or gross for the staff.” It was seriously hard not to laugh—or throttle her—when she went back to absently scratching the cougar’s butt. “Joyce!”

“Sorry, sorry,” she sighed as she stood and moved away. “Hey, it’s good for the patients. Their animals need to feel the—”

“Yes, yes, I know. I fully understand and even how we forget since we’re not shifters,” I said gently. “But it’s also put you indanger, Joyce. I’m saying this as your friend, not your boss.” I gave the cougar a look of warning. “Take that as a massage of comfort and nothing else, because while we value our patients, I will protect—”

The man shifted back and was kind enough to use a folder to hide his groin. He was maybe mid-twenties and shy. “I apologize for overstepping, and I promise I won’t become a fanboy of Dr. Tai. I know she has many and—I needed the comfort. My cougar did—does. I didn’t notice it was butt scratches either. She was—it was my ears, but I just kinda plopped down and—”

“I understand, and I’m sorry I was so abrasive,” I cut in. “I’m sorry for whatever you’re going through. Have you reached out to one of the support groups?”

He sighed. Heavily. “Yes, but they seem to be more focused on mating me off than listening to what’s going on with me.Mating me off after getting dumped and my cougar misses his play friend and our—how does that help?”

“It doesn’t,” I agreed. “But your cougar could make a mistake and transfer feelings, especially if he’s upset over losing a lover.” I shot Joyce a look that I was no longer amused but going to throttle her before focusing on him again.

“I didn’t know it was a lover, just a cougar playmate,” Joyce defended.

The guy winced. “I didn’t want you to worry I was one of the creeper fanboys people talk about stalking you. I just know you helped a friend of mine, so I… This is the longest my cougar’s come out in over a month.”

“I’m sorry and that’s rough, but especially given you lost a female in your life, speaking to a male doctor for help is best,” I told him gently.

“Ms. Reed is right,” Joyce agreed. “And we actually have a shifting specialist coming on staff, Dr. Ha-joon Clark.”

The man’s eyes flashed shock. “He’s coming here? He’s impossible to get an appointment with unless you’re famous or have a few mil in the bank.”

Yeah, that was his reputation and part of why I had repeatedly overlooked him.

“That won’t be the case anymore,” I promised him. “Nothing is signed yet, but I promise that once he gets settled in his office, he will call you first for an appointment, okay?”

“Yeah, that’s—thanks.” He smiled at Joyce. “Thanks for the help. Really.”

I swallowed a sigh when he practically had hearts dancing around his head. Of course he did.

Joyce was adorable and too pretty for her own damn good. Seriously, she had so many fans that it was one of my reoccurring headaches.

I waited until the guy was gone before giving her the look she deserved. “A better friend would stop trying to see if I can become the first vampire with high blood pressure. Seriously.”

“You’re right,” she sighed, bobbing her head when I made it clear that I didn’t buy it. “And to prove I am a good friend, I will personally take on getting Dr. Clark acclimated and let him shadow me through our everything.”

I blinked at her for a full minute. “Okay, you’re forgiven.”

She stood and came over to me, rubbing my arm. “I am sorry, Ellie. I get lost in my head and—it’s comforting to me as much as them. It’s like I ache to comfort them and want the snuggles when they need it. I don’t—I zone out. I’m sorry it’s made problems.”

I hugged the smaller woman. “I get it, and I wish I could get comfort like that too. Just come hug me. Stop risking yourself with another stalker. Or stick to the head. No more damn butt scratches.”

“But the animals are so damn cute,” she playfully whined.

“Idiot.” I rubbed her back, feeling how tired she was. “And you’re just going to help because he’s hot.”

“No, that’s why I normally would run the other direction,” she drawled. “The hot ones are always more trouble than they’re worth. Plus, a connected loaded family? No, thank you. That means required polite events and expectations to be a pretty wife on his arm. I like being the star and men on my arm.”

Truer words had probably never been spoken.

We talked for a while and she promised to handle everything with Dr. James, so I was completely off the hook for all of it. Even getting the offices that had just been vacated cleaned and restaffed after the shakeup.

Which was to say we wanted to get a few more out the door. The doctor who left—meaning I practically booted his stupid ass out of here—took a couple of his toxic people with him.Butit lefta few toxic staff that we didn’t have proof were problems. So we temporarily reassigned them to other offices and were assessing them.

---