Page 67 of Wolf Bane
She stared at me for a long, cool moment before returning her attention to her father.“He doesn’t have long, I don’t think,” she said quietly.“It’s so strange, watching someone die.Can he hear me, or is he already gone?”she asked, more to herself than anyone else.“They never tell us, you know.It’s all theory, isn’t it?”
“When I was in med school,” I said, “I did rounds in critical care and oncology for a bit.”I took a few steps towards her, my gaze slipping away from her calm, slightly confused expression to her father.He was still—still and gray-faced.The man I’d met only a handful of times wasn’t in there anymore.No lively quirk of the lips, no raspy chuckle or booming voice.No fluttering hands as he told a story.
A body.Breathing with the help of a machine.Hooked to more contraptions I didn’t recognize, things that must have been made especially for Garrow, especially for this.
“The nurses would tell the families to talk to their loved ones,” I continued, stopping just across the bed from Eliza.“They can hear you, even if they can’t respond.And maybe that’s something that will help you, after, knowing he could hear what you said.”
She hummed softly under her breath, a tuneless little thing that drifted between notes like a conversation held between her lips.
Behind me, Justin was still working, keys clicking in the silence.Tyler had gone quiet, too.
“Eliza, where are we?”
She shook her head once, birdlike, before reaching to touch the silvery stubble on her father’s jaw.“When I was very small, my grandmother told me we were special.Chosen, she’d said.Dad said she was tetched,” she said, making a motion towards her head.“She would take me to Papaw’s old hunting camp, outside of Ouachita.She was always waiting for something, it seemed like.Like she expected me to do something amazing and was always disappointed when it didn’t happen.”Her attention shifted to Justin.“How much longer?”
“Ah, I’m not sure.It’s—Ah!”
Daniel, at some signal from Eliza, had activated the shock collar.Justin clawed at his neck, gasping.body arching into the pain.Tyler let out a wordless growl and leapt.He landed on Daniel’s back with a heavy thump, taking them both down to the ground.Daniel laughed, breathless, and cranked up the collar another notch as Tyler tried to get purchase around his neck.“It’s not for puppies, Stone.This one’s made just for mongrels like him!”
“Tyler,” Justin gasped.“Stop!Tyler…”
Tyler roared in frustration, rolling to his feet.The female were rushed over, but Eliza waved her back with a flick of her wrist.“I’m sure Mr.Stone understands the rules now.Don’t you, Mr.Stone?”
Tyler, breath heaving, nodded once.“Justin?”A million questions were in those two syllables.Justin, who had gone to the floor in his distress, just nodded in return.
“Let me check him over,” I said, already moving towards Justin’s side.“Make sure he’s okay.”
“He’s not okay,” Tyler protested.“Did you not see what the fuck just happened?”
“Tyler,” Justin protested, his breath still hitching, a ghost of a cough in his voice.“It’s okay.I’m okay.”
No one stopped me when I dropped to my knees beside Justin.“Let me take a look, okay?”I murmured, and gently checked his neck for burns, for broken skin.His pulse was racing and he felt clammy, but his eyes were bright with excitement when I finally met his gaze.
“I got this,” he whispered.“I promise I got this.Trust me.”He grabbed my wrist when I moved to check his scalp for any sign of head injury.“It’s not Garrow,” he said, the words barely given breath.Less than a whisper, but clear as a shout.“It’s her.”
“Doctor Babin,” Eliza said, voice a calm and dulcet tenor.“If you’re done pawing the other mongrel, I have something for you.”
Justin gave me a small shove, getting to his feet.I followed suit, giving Tyler a hard look.Don’t do anything drastic, I said in a glare.He just rolled his eyes.
I prayed that meantokay.
Slowly, I stood, keeping my hands where everyone could see them.Eliza was still by her father’s bed but now on the side closest to us.She watched me with a birdlike curiosity that made me self-conscious in ways I never imagined before.
“Eliza, where are we?”
A small smile graced her features as she kept her eyes on her father.“I heard about you, back when I was in nursing school,” she said, gaze unfocused.“Grandma Robards told me about you.You were a rumor.A bad dream.A mistake.”
She shifted her gaze, piercing me through and holding me down with the strength of her glare.“She was furious, you know.When I couldn’t change.She said my father ruined the bloodline.Blamed him for the way we were all dying off.”
“You’re null,” Tyler said, low voice loud in the small space.“You can’t shift.”
Eliza’s fingers curled, leaving red tracks down her father’s cheeks.“Garrow was supposed to save us, you know?Heal us.”
The sharp slap of her hand across Robards’ face drew a surprised, angry growl from my chest.She smirked.
“I wondered,” she said softly, “what it would take?Why you’re like this, but the others died.I begged, you know?Begged dad to let me be part of the tests.”
“How did you even know?”
