“Oh?” Diane asked, feeling uncertain with everyone’s focus on her.
“The Professor stayed up most of the night searching for people who might be interested in coming here to help us out, to give you a hand in the labs with testing and medical care. We’ve managed to narrow it down to four possibilities. We’ll dig a little deeper to see if they’d be able to handle who and what we are without running for the hills,” Tah said, rising and coming toward her.
His gaze took her in from head to toe, and she realized just how much her outburst the day before must have worried him.
“We’ve been remiss in getting you more help. I’m sorry about that. We’ll do everything we can to get it taken care of as soon as possible. We can’t afford to lose you. No one knows us as well as you. We don’t want you to leave,” he finished, letting her know he knew what she’d told the Professor.
“I…” She wasn’t comfortable discussing what she had planned in front of everyone. “I promised Abby I would think about it.”
“And you promised to stay until after the baby was born, regardless,” the Professor reminded her.
He was angry with her, and she understood why. She’d been his first and only choice. He saw the possibility of her leaving as a betrayal.
She nodded. “I did.” Of course, if all went well, she’d be leaving for a little bit despite that promise.
“Best case scenario would be if Clara’s Uncle Thomas appeared,” the Professor grumbled. “He’s a self-trained physician for shifters. I’m betting he would be a fountain of wisdom for us all. Even better would be if I could persuade Orsai to stay.”
Tah sighed. “We can’t afford to send anyone off to search for Thomas right now, especially since we have no definitive direction to search in.”
“Not when we finally have our hands on some money to make upgrades with,” Vic said with glee in her voice. “Well, once Abby goes to Denver to sign for her portion of the inheritance from Professor Mueller’s untimely death.”
A rumble of displeasure sounded from Tah’s chest, and Diane knew he wasn’t happy about his mate going. Abby sighed.
“We’ll wait until after the baby is born,” she said. “That should give you plenty of time to plan whatever you need to in order to get me safely to Denver and back. We need this money.”
Abby was right. They did, especially since none of them had a source of income right now. They were dwindling through the money reserves they had put together with cost of living and upkeep on their vehicles. They needed more than just the money Abby was inheriting from the Professor’s feigned death—a precaution the Professor’s daughter Jess and her wolf mates had taken when the man’s life had been placed in jeopardy. They needed a viable business idea to generate some income for them.
“We’ll get it all figured out,” Reno assured, arms crossed over his chest as if daring anyone to contradict him.
“That we will,” Murphy agreed, rising and walking over to Diane. “How’s Finn doing this morning?”
Diane shook her head. “I haven’t seen him. I came straight here to talk to Tah when I woke up.”
“He’s in the lab by himself?” The Professor’s face showed the horror Diane was feeling at the thought of Finn unsupervised in the labs.
“I’ll head down,” Diane said and began to turn back toward the door.
“No need,” Murphy said, patting her on the shoulder. “I’ll go get him. Make sure he hasn’t caused any mischief for you. You came to talk to Tah. Besides, I’m pretty sure this meeting is over. Too much to do around here to be sitting on our asses talking about it all morning.”
Tah rumbled again, and Murphy laughed. It was good to see Murphy so happy. She remembered the look on his face when he’d brought Finn back so near death. Diane hadn’t believed Finn was going to make it at the time. But he had, thanks to the Professor and his research. Without it, Diane had no doubt that Finn would have died. It was one of the reasons Diane found it so easy to keep her lips sealed for the Professor.
“I’ll head down with you. I want to check on a few things. You can give some more blood while you’re down there,” the Professor told Murphy.
“You’ll be bleeding me dry at this rate,” Murphy bickered good-naturedly as he headed out the door.
“We’ll talk later,” the Professor said to Diane as he passed her. Would he be on her side? Would he back her on her wish to go after Zane? She wasn’t sure.
“That’s my cue, too,” Vic said as she rose to her feet. “I’ve got a wish list to prioritize.”