Page 58 of Wolf Bane
“Jesus,” I muttered, covering my nose with my shirt.“Seriously?Piss?”
“The instinct is there, even in humans, to mark territory and assert dominance.”
The man in my ruined office doorway was obviously council.A watch that cost more than my yearly mortgage, khakis, a polo shirt that were definitely not from Target, and shoes far too expensive to be standing that close to a puddle of rancid werewolf piss.
He gave me a small, polite smile.“Nelson Embry.A colleague of Tim Cullen’s.”
“Charmed,” I drawled, motioning for him to take a look around.
He remained in the doorway, keen gaze drifting over the desk, the puddle, all of the papers and files.My diplomas and the picture of Ethan and I that had been on my bookshelf.
The spray-painted slur.
“The local authorities are focusing on teenage vandalism,” he said after several quiet moments.“I assume you’re aware that’s bullshit.”
“Yes, I do have basic awareness.”
“Hm.Your office manager.She’s fully human.Is she…”
“She has no idea.At least not as far as I know.”
“Hm.”He finally took a step in, mindful of the puddle, fixated on the spray-paint.“It doesn’t have the same sting for you, I imagine, that it would for someone raised in a clan or pack.You lack the context.”
“Oh, I think I got it,” I bit out.“Why wouldn’t I?It’s clear what the intent is here, and I’m sure who did it.”
“Come now.”He sighed, and I wondered if everyone who worked at the council went through some weekend course on how to sound condescending or if that was just a hiring requirement.“If you’re going to tell me you think Garrow is behind this…”
“I just think it’s very weird that thisdiseasestarts to spread in some very specific populations, and I’m being targeted here after he escaped and, oh yeah, no one let us know.”Out in the front office, Gina Perrin and Reba had gone quiet.My voice had been too loud, I realized belatedly.Shit.Reba would have questions, but I’d need to try and spin that later.For now… “I’m curious as to how the council has been addressing, ornotaddressing, an obvious attack on some of the populations.”
“That’s a very bold accusation, Doctor Babin.Baseless, one might say.”
“One might be full of shit,” I seethed.“I’m not a puppet for y’all to yank around and make dance when you need something.Neither is Ethan.I agreed to this job because it was necessary.It was presented as something that would benefit the community and bring help to the clans and packs as well as the human contingent.I’m thinking now it was just a way to keep an eye on me and make sure I was staying out of y’all’s way while you dicked around with Garrow and let him and his besties get away with their fuckery again.”
Embry stared at me for a long moment, almost too long by human standards.Unblinking, his pale amber eyes were predatory.Too assessing, too intense.“Why would Garrow turn heel and decide you’re amongrel?”he asked, the weight on the slur heavy and pointed.“Why would he decide his life’s work was suddenly worthless?”
I shook my head.“I don’t know.Maybe he doesn’t.And it’s just me he’s after.”
“Maybe,” he said with a small, sharp smile, “it’s just you who’s paranoid.”
Embry gave me a little salute and turned back towards the front office, walking away without a backwards glance.
Fucker.
I followed at pace, catching up to him just a few yards down the hall.“What’s going to happen next,” I demanded.“You’re here.You see the damage.Now what?What do we do here?”
“You wait.You make house calls, I suppose,” he added with a raise of his brow.“See the ones you can.The t-shacks will be set up this evening, but it will be very basic.Any lab work needs to be sent directly to the approved facility.”
Reba staggered over, dodging broken things and slippery paper in her kitten heels.“We haven’t met.I’m Reba Summers, office manager.”
Embry’s hesitation was barely a flicker of an eyelash, but I noticed it.So did Gina Perrin.Reba, though, thankfully, did not.Embry shook her hand politely and started asking questions regarding the office space, making all the right commiserating noises that seemed to take the edge off Reba’s simmering panic.
By the time the rep left and Embry, after reminding us that the trailers would be set up that evening but not reallyreadyuntil Thursday—you do want furniture, don’t you Doctor Babin?Or do your patients prefer the floor?—it was nearly noon and Reba was back in a knot.
“This sort of thing just doesn’t happen, Landry.Not here.I mean, there was the time the Thompson girls set fire to the Micky D’s but that was an accident!”
I smiled tightly.“Wasn’t that the fire that started when Becky Thompson drove her car through the front window because her boyfriend was talking to her sister Nicole inside?”
“Yeah, but she didn’tmeanto start the fire!And no one died!”
