Page 55 of Legally Mated
“Tell him to check with our obstetrician,” Holland said. “And the surgeon I saw in California. They don’t have to be in-state,right?”
“There’s nothing in the paperwork that says they have to,” I told them. “Though we probably want someone local too, if we can find one. Hard to make judgments about someone else’sstate.”
“This is going to expand to other packs eventually, right?” Jasonasked.
“Yes.” I accepted a cup of coffee from Bax and reached for a cookie. “We’re his test case. If we handle this successfully, then Eva says he’ll make the same offer to another pack. I suspect we’ll have some input in which packs are approached in whatever order, but Eva couldn’tconfirmthat.”
Bax sat down again and wrapped his hands around his coffee mug. “Quin and Abel are putting together lists of board members for the other trusts, so we don’t need to worry about that. Bram was wondering, Cale, if you’d like to be the third packmember on the healthtrust.”
“Me?” Cale’s eyes went wide. “I just barely finished highschool.”
“He said you were asking him about college. Asking him how nursingschoolwas.”
Cale picked up his pen and began to play with it. “I was just…thinking.”
Holland bounced the baby some more, then got to his feet to sway back and forth in what seemed to me to be a futile attempt to get the pup to stop fussing. “This trust makes it possible, you know, if you want to go to school.” He paused and made a face. “Although, it would help if it was something the packneeds.”
Cale smiled wistfully. “Would medical school be something the packneeds?”
Holland dropped into his chair again with a thump. “Really?” His question was breathless, tight with surprised delight. “I didn’trealize…”
Cale shrugged and smiled shyly. “I realized it when I took the biology courses this year. And then I talked to Bram and asked him what nursing school was like. That’s all I was thinking about, but he said—” Cale took a deep breath and dropped his pen on the table. “He asked me why I didn’t go all the way. Said he couldn’t afford the time to do more than the nursing school, with the pups and being mated. I don’t have pups. Or a mate. Or a home to look after. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized I had an opportunity here. To be something more than an alpha’strophy.”
“You know I would never have allowed that to happen,” Hollandtoldhim.
“I know.” Cale’s smile broadened. “But what else was there to do, except find some little niche here at Mercy Hills. Iwant…more.”
“There’s our first grant of funding,” Bax announced, and grabbed for my pad of paper to make a note. “Cale, we need to know where you’re planning to go to school. I’m going to assume it’ll be here inthecity?”
Cale shook his head. “I hadn’t thought that far ahead. Where did that doctor that wantedyougo?”
I saw Bax twitch, and then his lips compressed. “Maine, I think. You want to transfer to the Jordan Bay pack to gothere?”
“No. I don’t know.” Cale propped his cheek on his hand. “Do I have to get you this informationrightaway?”
“No, no, no!” Bax exclaimed, and his cheeks went a bit pink. “I’m just excited. I know Abel wanted a doctor in the packbadly.”
“Just remember, it’s not like they wave a magic wand over you and poof! You’re a doctor.” Cale grinned and reached for the cookies. “So, you’re okay with this?” he asked, directing the question toHolland.
“Of course!” Holland stretched out a hand to squeeze Cale’s forearm. He smiled, but then his expression turned uncertain. “You…would be coming back here right? Just, we could use adoctor,and…”
Cale got out of his chair and went to hug his brother. “Yeah, I know. You’dmissme.”
Holland gave a laugh that sounded a bit like a sob to me. “Yeah, Iwould.”
A knock on the door separating the apartment from Quin’s office interrupted the conversation then, and Cale hastily took his seat again. I notice Holland discreetly wipe at the dampness beneath his eyes before he turned the sunniest of smiles toward the door and called, “Comein!”
The door opened and Quin poked his head through. “How’s the meetinggoing?”
“Good,” Holland told him, then stood to bounce the babyagain.
“Is he still fussing?” Quin pushed the door completely open and I could see Mac and Abel behind him, taking up the visitor chairs on the other side of Quin’s desk. “You want me totakehim?”
“Thought you guys were having your ownmeeting?”
Quin grinned. “We are, but I’m not the one getting up all through the night with a fussy baby.” He pulled Holland close and I turned my eyes politely away as Quin pressed a kiss to Holland’s mouth. Not that I was embarrassed, but it made me miss Laine. I hadn’t talked to him since before Mutch’s visit; the last time I’d called him, he’d said he was busy and would call me back, but then he never did, and I was busy enough and—to be honest—hurt enough at this distance that I hadn’t made that call myself. He said he wanted me, said he planned to spend his life with me, he could damn well be the onetocall.
Still pinchedthough.
