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Then there was Lieutenant Seth Ambers, also a doctor, Staff Sergeant Jason Connell, who was Drew’s cousin as well as a member of Alpha Force, aides including Staff Sergeants Ruby Belmont, Piers Janus, and more. Rosa hoped she would remember names, but even if she didn’t right away, she would try to have as good a relationship as possible with all of them, easiest if a solution was found quickly for Drew’s problem.
When he was done with the introductions, Liam told Rosa to join him standing behind Drew’s desk facing the group. “Rosa has come here to give a rundown, especially to everyone who’s a medical doctor, regarding what she found when she conducted Drew’s blood test. I’ve mentioned that to some of you.” He gestured toward the box they’d brought, which now rested on Drew’s desk.
Rosa wondered if the entire group needed to hear this, since she figured only a few would know anything about blood and blood tests and the different blood types of regular people and shifters and all. But considering the fascinated and concerned way they stared at her, she assumed they were all highly worried about their commanding officer and what was going on with him. They wanted him back, as normal for his type as he’d been before.
Plus some of them were shifters, too, and would want to ensure, if possible, that the same thing didn’t happen with them. And fellow Alpha Force members who were aides would need to know how to help the shifters they worked for.
So, yes, for their own reasons they all needed to be there.
She first described how she had been put in charge of Major Connell by the head veterinarian at the clinic—his wife. “Melanie did her own exam first, of course, and I’ve been keeping her up-to-date. But I’m sure it was hard on her to have to check out poor Drew in this situation.”
Rosa then talked about how she had examined Drew, had kept him under her care, had looked for any abnormalities in his canine form—and had, of course, taken a blood test.
“I don’t know that I need to get into much detail here,” she told the group. “I did find what appears to be some irregularity in the consistency and color of the fluid and, not being a chemist beyond the skills needed to be a damn good veterinarian—” she smiled a bit sadly at that, realizing that her own fears of inadequacy were showing in her irony “—I wanted to see if anyone here could help analyze Drew’s blood and determine if it’s the cause, or an indication, of what’s going on with him.”
“We’ll take a look.” Patrick was the first to stand, then Jonas did. “Come into the lab area with us, Rosa, and we’ll start checking things out, okay?”
“Of course.”
She glanced toward Liam, who nodded. He apparently wasn’t joining them, but he was her ride back to town. She suspected she’d be able to find another one, though, if necessary.
Patrick picked up the box. She wasn’t surprised when Seth joined them. It wouldn’t hurt to have all the doctors who knew human patients’ traits getting involved, or at least that’s what she surmised.
Patrick led Rosa next door to the lab areas, where he asked Seth to start the analysis process, getting slides ready for the microscope and more.
“We really appreciate this,” Patrick said, standing with Rosa in the middle of the main room, which was lined with shiny metal cabinets with glass doors. Some had equipment on top—a lot of microscopes, for one thing.
Patrick was a tall guy, dressed in camos like all the people around here but Rosa. His hair was light and short, his face long and nice looking, with a cleft in his chin.
He didn’t resemble Liam except for his height and outfit—and for an instant Rosa missed Liam’s presence. Ridiculous.
“I appreciate it, too,” she said to Patrick. “I just hope you can figure this out.”
“I’m sure you know we want to,” he replied. Seth was already removing the various vials of blood from the padding in the box. Rosa had labeled them with the time collected and whether she had done anything to attempt to examine each particular sample, so she figured they at least wouldn’t have any questions about that.
But what they all really needed was answers.
She hung out in the lab for a while, mostly watching the others, listening to them discuss what to do next. Then Patrick said, “You know, Rosa, this is going to take a while. Why don’t you go back to your clinic, and we’ll let you know what we find, okay?”
In other words, her staring wasn’t making them go faster, but might be causing them some discomfort.
She didn’t want that. Besides, back at the clinic she’d be able to bring Melanie up-to-date, such as it was with no answers so far, and maybe do something helpful there before the day ended. “Sounds good,” she said.
She just hoped that Liam was ready to leave.
Liam was champing at the bit.
He had gone to his own office, upstairs in another part of the building, but only briefly to check on how Denny was doing.
He’d promised to return Rosa to town, and though he figured he could get someone else to do it, he wanted to be the one.
He also wanted to get on his own computer and get busy doing his own thing to start fixing all the absurd and detrimental rumors.
“Here’s what I’ve done,” Denny had told him, and good guy that he was, Liam’s aide had followed his prior instructions and started with one of the social media sites where the posts were among the most awful and accusatory against shapeshifters the night before, including an unnamed military group containing shifters. Oddly, as Liam had previously noted, a few had signed their posts with the names of Greek or Roman gods, like Zeus, Hera, Orion, Diana and Poseidon, and even Cerberus, the three-headed dog. They could be a group of anti-shifters, or just one person pretending to be a bunch. Which frustrated Liam. He hadn’t had the time to start figuring that out yet.
Still, Denny had used one of his own fake identities to make fun of the stupid stuff. That needed to be started even before they attempted to figure out the sources of those posts.
“Good job,” Liam had told him, making his short, young helper grin widely.
“Thanks. You want to take over?”
“Soon,” Liam assured him. “Meantime, keep up the good work.”
He returned to Drew’s office, where some of his fellow Alpha Forcers remained. Could he text Rosa to see how much longer she’d be? He felt a duty to do as he’d promised her.
He also felt eager to see her again, and not entirely to get her update on what the others were doing to assess Drew’s weird blood.
He was delighted when she came back almost immediately after his reappearance. “They’re working on it now,” she told Liam and the others in the room. “Not much I can do to help, so do you think...” She looked at Liam, who just nodded, reading the question in her eyes.
“Yep,” he said. “I’ll take you back to the clinic now. Right?”
“Thanks.” She smiled at him.
He got a promise from the clearly worried Jason that he’d keep Liam informed about anything the doctors found and revealed about his cousin Drew’s bad blood. Then he told Rosa, “I’ve a stop to make before we leave.”
“Oh. Okay.” The way she looked at him, he assumed she thought he meant the restroom.
“Pit stop first is fine,” he agreed, “but that’s not what I meant.”
In a few minutes, he met her to go upstairs. Instead of heading for the door out of the building, he turned and said, “Time for some cover dog attention.”
“Really?” She sounded delighted. “Then you’re going to get yours?”
“Yep, that’s my Chase.”
“Is Spike there, too?”
He knew that was Seth’s dog. “Sure. That’s right—you took care of his wound, didn’t you? I’ve heard a lot about it.”
“He’s still okay, isn’t he?”
“He sure is.”
They’d reached the door to the large room where the cover dogs were in enclosures. For fun, Liam let out a brief howl as if he was shifted, and several of those inside responded in kind. He grinned at Rosa’s pleased smile.
“Gee, these guys sound a lot like wolves,” she said, “and so do you.”
“I wonder why.”
He asked her to wait outside while he went in for Chase. She agreed, but asked to peek in the door and see all the canines hanging out there behind the low fences.
When he returned with Chase, her smile was even broader.
“So this is how you look when you shift?” she asked.
“Yep, that’s me—or close enough to me for now.” He asked what she knew about cover animals. From what she told him, Rosa had already learned from Melanie that the shifters in Alpha Force all had cover animals who resembled them when they were shifted. That way, if a non-shifter happened to see them while they were in shifted form and claim they must be werewolves or whatever, they could later bring out their cover animal—mostly wolves here at Ft. Lukman these days—show the non-shifter, and tell them they’d simply seen the Alpha Force member’s pet. That seemed to work well, Liam thought, since Alpha Force members didn’t need to wait till a full moon to shift.
Now Rosa and Liam walked outside toward his car, then into the warmth of the midday air, and he soon tethered Chase in the back seat. His look-alike cover dog-wolf sat up and looked around expectantly. Chase always enjoyed attention and was probably eager to see what the rest of the day held in store for him.
There’d be one stop he might enjoy. After they dropped Rosa off at the vet clinic, Liam had promised a visit to his family in town—his brother, Chuck, and sister-in-law, Carleen. They had moved from Minnesota to Mary Glen just a few months ago and bought an existing restaurant that was a franchise for the Fastest Foods chain, planning to stay here a while.
That was the result of Liam learning about a possible experiment that would involve allowing limited individuals related to Alpha Force team members to occasionally use the elixir on nights of a full moon, with results to be examined by the unit. Those people had to be shifters, close in both relationship and distance, although if all went well, the program might be expanded.
Liam’s family were shifters like him, and were eager to have more access to the elixir. That’s why they had considered their move here worth it, even if they wound up only being closer to Liam. But of course they hoped things went better than that—and they had, at least somewhat. His family members had been allowed to use the elixir once now, during this most recent full moon, as part of the experiment. And more? That remained to be seen, but the ongoing experiment might help.
Liam had received a text message from Chuck a short while ago, as he waited for Rosa. He hadn’t seen his family since their shift last night, nor had he had a chance to speak with the Alpha Force member who’d acted as their temporary aide for the occasion, Sergeant Kristine Parran. Though he’d talked to them briefly on his way downtown before, and they’d sounded thrilled, he wanted to know more about how it all went, and apparently they wanted to talk to him, too. But he couldn’t stay long at the restaurant.
So first he’d take Rosa back to the veterinary hospital and dash in with her to see how Drew was doing. Then he’d stop to see family—quickly.
And finally, he would fulfill his obligation—and do what he really wanted to. He’d hurry back here to get on the computer at last.
As Liam pulled his car past the base’s front gate and onto the road secluded by trees, Rosa took her phone from her purse and looked at it. “I was hoping to get a call right away saying they’d figured out how to help Drew.”
“That would be a nice thing.” He looked at her briefly and nodded. And had an idea.
He could easily drive past the restaurant on the way to the clinic. That would give him a great excuse to keep his visit quick. He trusted Denny, but the aide was too new at this to fully accomplish what Liam needed to do. If he stopped with Rosa to buy a fast-food burger and coffee—and ask in more detail how his family had enjoyed last night—he could leave quickly to return Rosa to her clinic.
Besides, he would get to stay in her presence just a little longer. That wasn’t important, of course—no matter how much he knew he’d enjoy it. But the idea seemed to work well in all ways.
“I’d like to stop to pick up a meal to go, from the Fastest Foods shop,” he told Rosa. “My treat, if you’d like anything.”
The look she shot at him was one of surprise. “Good idea,” she said. “You don’t have to treat, but I’ll pick up a few things for the clinic staff...and also get Drew a burger to help keep his spirits up.”
“Good idea,” he said in turn. “We’ll be there soon.” Then he had to ask. “Did you get a sense that my superior officers knew what they were doing when it came to analyzing Drew’s blood and determining if that had anything to do with his non-shifting?”
“I liked those guys,” she hedged. “And I’m hopeful...but not sure. I just wish there was more I could do.”
He hated to hear the sad tone in her voice, and to see the dejection in her expression when he managed another glance toward her.
“I’ve got a feeling,” he said to cheer her up, “that there is more you can do, and you’ll figure it out.”
He looked at her again briefly as she shifted in her seat. “Really? I can’t make any promises, but I sure hope you’re right.”
Me, too, he thought, then made the turn from the woodsy road into town.
And if she figured it out—well, that would give him a good excuse to kiss those now happily smiling lips of hers in thanks.
Chapter 5 (#ub6ef44f9-2381-5259-ac8c-d2684b9e78b3)
“There we are.” From the driver’s seat beside Rosa, Liam pointed just ahead along one of the town’s main streets. Sure enough, a familiar large neon sign that resembled those in lots of other locations jutted over the sidewalk: Fastest Foods.
“Yes,” Rosa agreed, trying to sound excited. And to her surprise, she was—a little.
A stop for a meal?
After all that had gone on today, Rosa wasn’t really hungry, but the stop would give her a little more time in Liam’s presence. Despite being in the same places a lot that day, they really hadn’t spent much time together.
On the other hand, she barely knew the guy. Plus he happened to be a shifter. Not that she disliked shifters.
Quite the contrary...but she certainly couldn’t be attracted to one, no matter how caring and sympathetic he happened to be about his commanding officer’s medical—or whatever—problem.
The restaurant stood alone in the middle of a sizable parking lot that also had a drive-through line. “Are we going to go through there?” Rosa pointed toward the stream of cars slowly inching forward.
“No, we’ll go inside, though we’ll order takeout.”
He fortunately found a parking spot right away in the busy lot and opened his door. Rosa opened hers, too, and hopped out. “I assume you’ll roll down the back windows a bit for Chase,” she said, looking into the back seat at the wolflike dog, who was now sitting up, panting a bit. Fortunately, the outside air was cool.
“No need,” Liam said. “He’ll come in with us.”
“Into the restaurant? Is that allowed?”
“Of course. He’s a soldier dog—and he’s also kind of my service dog.” Liam’s grin, as he stood beside her near the car on the black paved surface of the lot, seemed proud.
“Oh. Okay.” Rosa loved dogs, and other animals, enough that she wished they were all allowed into all restaurants and other places that served people.
Of course, shapeshifters were allowed anywhere—as long as they were in human form, as Liam was now.
And Rosa realized it was okay to bring Chase, too, when they walked in the door of the crowded, noisy restaurant and Liam was greeted right away by the people who seemed in charge.
A guy who’d been behind the service counter came out the door beside it and hustled toward Liam. They shook hands, then hugged each other. Was he a relative? The guy was about Liam’s height, with similarly dark hair and angular features. He wasn’t in a camo uniform, of course, but a blue denim shirt and jeans, with a white apron on top.
He looked down then and grinned at Chase, leashed beside Liam. “Can’t pet him, bro, though I know he’s family. You know that’s why we keep our Louper out back, too, when he’s here.”
“Right. Not sanitary when you’re on duty. But let me introduce you to someone.” Liam turned toward Rosa and gestured for her to join them.
As she did, a woman who’d been cleaning tables in the busy place dashed over. She was dressed similarly to the man who’d hugged Liam. She was slender, with long, silver-blond hair pulled into a clip at the back of her head, a very attractive woman—who also hugged Liam.
Rosa knew she shouldn’t feel jealous about that—especially when she looked down and saw a ring on the woman’s finger.
“So good to see you, Liam,” the woman said.
“I’ll say,” said the man.
Liam once more looked at Rosa. “I want to introduce you both to someone I’ll bet you’ll be very happy to know one of these days. This is Dr. Rosa Jontay, one of the town’s veterinarians. Rosa, this is my brother, Chuck, and his wife, Carleen. They own this place now—and they’re also owned by Louper, a dog who stays either in the enclosed backyard behind this place, or at home. He’s home today with a dog walker visiting him. Louper resembles Chase.”
Liam looked at her and grinned, and she read in his look the fact that these two people were also shifters who happened to have a cover dog, even though they weren’t military.
“Very nice to meet you.” She shook hands first with Carleen, then Chuck. “And I would be delighted to meet your dog sometime when he’s here or otherwise, though I hope he has no need of a vet.”
