The Bear's Mate (6 page)

“Okay,
give me about twenty minutes and I’ll be there.”

****

Charlotte
was thankful for one thing. She’d actually found a coffee shop open at this
ungodly hour. She took a sip before getting out of her car and heading up the
path to the clinic. If it wasn’t for the caffeine making its way through her
system, she’d been dead to the world right now.

“Dr.
Delaney.”

A
man in his upper fifties with thinning hair and a pouch of a belly with a muffin
top held out his hand to her.

“Yes.
Are you Deputy Brenner?”

“Yes, ma’am and so sorry to call you out
at this hour of the morning.”

“No
problem. So what would you like me to do?”

“Could
you check if anything’s missing? Looks like the drug cabinet
was
opened so maybe you could start there.”

Charlotte
walked along the corridor noting that the lab door, that she distinctly
remembered closing before she left, was now wide open. However, she didn’t
think it was worth mentioning because it didn’t house anything that you could
sell or get you high. She walked down on the hallway to the drug storage
cupboard and straight away she could see that several bottles were missing.

“Yes,
looks like they broke in for some drugs,” said Charlotte the deputy standing
behind her.

“Yeah, the usual thing.
No alarm system
seems to deter them these days. We’ll give you a police report to give to the
insurance company. And if you want to have a quick look around and see if
anything else is missing, that would be appreciated. Some of them take stuff to
sell and use the money for more drugs.”

Charlotte
nodded. She walked back into the supply room and kitchen. A cold draft drifted
her way, and she could see whoever had robbed the clinic had smashed the store
room window. She looked around but couldn’t see anything else missing or maybe
it was, and she was just too tired to notice right now.

“No,
looks like they took just the drugs.”

He
nodded. “If you do come across anything else, here’s my card.”

She
took it and slipped it into her raincoat pocket.

“You
think you’ll catch them?” she asked.

He
shook his head. “Doubtful, but then again the person may not get so lucky at
the next clinic they hit.”

****

Aiden
whisked the eggs, while hearing Christopher finely moving around in the
bedroom. He’d decided to stop by and make him breakfast.

“Good
morning,” said Christopher putting both of his arms in the air and yawning.

His
hair was ruffled, and he looked like their grandparents used to when they’d
hibernate for the winter and crawl out after months of slumber.

“You
sleep okay?” asked Aiden setting three slices of bacon into the skillet.

“Yep,
like any good bear should,” he said. “My side’s still sore and my dick throbs
when I pee.”

He
sat down at the table and pulled the newspaper over to his side of the table.
“Did you get the vial of blood?”

Aiden
put two pieces of bread into the toaster and turned around to face his brother.
He wasn’t going to sugar coat anything.

“Nope,
I broke into the clinic, but it wasn’t there.”

“Shit,”
said Christopher running his hands through his hair. “What are we going to do?
What if the doctor’s already run the tests on it?”

Aiden
raised his hand. “If she’d done that I think we’d know about it now. I’m going
to have to ask her very casually where she took it and then break into another
lab.”

“You
broke into a lab?”

“Actually
a lab within the clinic,” said Aiden setting down a platter of bacon, eggs and
toast on the table. He sat and threw a napkin across his lap. He really
shouldn’t have much appetite with all this to worry about, but strangely he was
starving.

“At
least she’s very pretty,” said Christopher not wasting time with a plate or fork
and instead eating the bacon from his hands.

Beautiful would
have been a better term.

“So
I guess it’s no big deal if you have to sleep with her to get the information
out of her.”

“That’s
the last thing I think I’ll need to do.”

Although the thought had crossed his
mind, not once, not twice, but all night.
Not the bit about getting the
information from her, but the taking her to his bed part.
Strange
how it was a human that was stirring up his libido close to the mating season,
and not one of his own.

“Well,
if you need any help just let me know.”

Aiden
came back to earth with Christopher’s words.

“Don’t
worry. It will be a piece of cake.”

****

 
“I have a big favor to ask you.” Charlotte put
the vial of blood down on the lab countertop.

“You
want me to run that for you?” Maggie spun around on the stool.

“Would
you? I’d do it myself, but I overslept and I’m running late. There was a break
in at the clinic, and I was there until about 2:00 a.m. I drank so much coffee
before I got there that by the time I got back to bed I was climbing the walls.
I finally fell asleep around 6:00 a.m. and was so dead to the world I didn’t
even hear my alarm go off.”

“Shitty night by the sound of it.
Anything taken
from the clinic?” asked Maggie sliding her glasses from her face up onto the
top of her head.

“The
usual thing, drugs. So how long do you think before you can run that vial?”

“You
just want the usual CBC panel or what?”

Charlotte
lifted the vial. “I’m not quite sure yet. Anything look strange about this
sample?” She handed it to Maggie who then lifted it up to the light.

“Like
what?”

“Maybe
I was just tired, but yesterday it looked thicker than normal and had a blue
hue to it.”

Maggie
turned on one of the lighted magnifying glasses sitting on her lab countertop
and held the vial up to it.

“Looks
perfectly okay to me but you want me to run more tests than the usual panel?”

“Yeah,
let’s do that.”

“Okay,
give me a day and I’ll give you a call tomorrow with the results and then I can
e-mail or fax them to you. Oh, by the way, I hear there’s a job opening in the
cardiac department here…if you’re interested in coming back to work at a
hospital.”

“I’m
not sure about cardiology. I’m hoping to get back into genetic research, but I
guess until there’s more grant money it’s either cardiology or I stay at the
clinic.”

Maggie
nodded. “I’ll keep my ears about any other openings for you. How’s your father
doing?”

“He
seems to be doing okay. Still has his sense of humor, which is a good sign.”

Maggie
nodded and lifted up her crossed fingers. “I’m rooting for him. I was going to
ask if you’d like me to stop and visit with him. I know he’s never met me, but
I think you need a break and some social time off.”

“Funny
you should say that, my dad was saying I should take a night off. Do I really
look that bad?”

“Just
the opposite, but I think we have to find you a great date.”

An
image of Aiden Renner sprung to mind. She smiled which Maggie must have seen
and interrupted as I’ve already got someone in mind.

“You’ve
already met someone haven’t you?”

“Well,
not really, but…” said Charlotte. She knew she should be heading to work, but
after the night she’d had she deserved time to talk with a friend. “There was
this guy who brought his brother in…that’s who the blood sample belongs to.
He’d been stabbed, and a woman had bitten his dick.”

“
Shit, that
sounds like more interesting stuff than goes on
around here. So tell me more about the hunky guy.”

“He
works with wildlife management, great looking guy and tall, but I don’t know
there was something strange about him.”

“Strange
is sometimes good especially when you get them into bed,” said Maggie.

Charlotte
smacked her on the arm. “You are so bad at times.”

“So
is he single, have a girlfriend, or what?”

Charlotte
shook her head. “According to him he’s all by his lonesome.”

“He
told you that?”

“Yeah,
I asked him after he questioned me about my relationship status.”

“Charlotte,
that’s such a good sign. You should give him a call and ask him out.”

“If
he’s interested he’ll have to do the asking out bit.”

“You
are so twentieth century.”

“I
don’t even know if I’d want to go out with him. Like I said, there was
something weird about him.”

“Weird
isn’t always a bad thing. Although I do remember one guy who I thought was a
keeper, and the first time he slept over at my place he brought his own sheets
and pillowcase.”

“Yeah,
like I always say, when they seem too good to be true, they usually are.” Charlotte
looked at her watch. She could stand here talking about guys all day, but she
had a clinic to open and Maggie had
work
to do so she
could get to the blood sample.

“I
gotta go, but call me as soon as you’ve run that blood.”

* * * *

At least make it
look like you’re working.

Aiden
had some notes to type up about a recent call he’d gone out on regarding a lady
who thought she’d seen an alligator in her backyard pond. He’d chosen the job
specifically so he could keep tabs on any unusual sightings in the area that
might be shifters who were out on their own and needed sanctuary. Also, it came
in handy when one got trapped or darted and had to be sent free. He loved the
job, but today he just couldn’t concentrate on his work. He sorted through some
files on his desk, unable to take his mind off Dr. Delaney and, yes, the blood
sample too. He had to find out what lab she used. When he did, he’d need to
intercept the vial before they did anything with it. Best way to do that was to
ask her outright. Okay, not outright, but pry the info out of her. He’d invite
her to lunch, sort of a thank you for taking such good care of Christopher like
she had.

He
dug his cell phone out of his pant pocket was about to dial the clinic number
when he had second thoughts and instead set it down on his desk. If he saw her
again, took her out for a meal, he’d be tempted just like he had been at the
clinic. Getting close to someone outside the group would be walking a fine line,
especially with mating season on the horizon.

He
tapped a pen on his desk. Oh, how he wished she was the ugliest woman in the world.
Grabbing the phone, this time he didn’t give it another thought and plugged at
the numbers.

“Flathead
Free Clinic, how may I help you?”

“I’d
like to speak with Dr. Delaney, please?”

“Can
I ask
who’s
calling?”

“Sure,
it’s Aiden Renner.”

“One
minute and I’ll see if she’s available.”

Some
country music drifted over the line as Aiden doodled and sketched an alligator
on the notepad in front of him. If the lady had seen one, it definitely wasn’t
a shifter.

 
He finished the sketch. It seemed like he’d
been holding forever. The longer it dragged on the more he lost his nerve and
was tempted to just put the phone down. However, he was sure whoever had
answered the phone had probably already given his name to Charlotte.

He
tapped the pen again, this time in a steady beat similar to the song he’d heard
on his car radio when he’d driven to work earlier that day. Maybe she didn’t
want to speak with him, and that’s why she was taking her time.
Maybe thinking up some excuse not to talk to him after the kiss and
his abrupt departure.
However, maybe she thought he was calling about
Christopher and that something was wrong with him.

“She’s
just finishing with a patient and will be right with you,” said the
receptionist.

Hearing that made his heart flutter in
his chest.
He swallowed, hoping not to be tongue tied when he finally heard her voice
again.

“Hi
Aiden, this is Dr. Delaney.”

“Good
morning. I just wanted to thank you for taking such good care of my brother
yesterday.”

“Like
I said, it’s what I do. So how’s he feeling today?”

“Good,
and yes, he’s taking his antibiotics.”

Shit,
another lie, but he could hardly tell her they were a waste of time for them.
Medication like that didn’t work on shifters. They had to leave it all to their
own bodies to work some magic.

“I’m
glad to hear that.”

Here goes…