Sometimes healing a patient didn’t happen by doling out medicine.
“Yes,” Bailey agreed, “let’s always remember the tits.”
“Very important.”
Doc’s hands fell away as Bailey pushed out of the room, and she breathed a happy sigh. Not even 9am and already kicking ass at her job. It was a good start to the day, and hopefully a sign of more good to come.
Maybe today she’d get that call she’d been waiting for. The one that would explain his absence. Or explain… something. Maybe today he’d even come home. Wouldn’t that make her cougar happy.
Too many days had gone by without any word.
Not that she expected any updates. That wasn’t part of their agreement. He was a grown-ass man, and he wasn’t truly hers no matter what their bodies had to say about it.
But as Bailey said, lots of things had changed around the Ouachitas. Maybe a certain panther’s heart had changed as well.
Yes, maybe today would be a good day.
And if it wasn’t? Well, there was a prescription for that.
***
“This isn’t our gig, man. My dogs don’t take out the garbage.” Rigor crossed his big arms over his chest and stared hard at the jaguar shifter in front of him. “That’s a cat’s job.”
Felix, leader of the Alley Cats and the baddest shifter in Memphis, tilted his head in the most feline way, chin jutting and eyes glowering.
“You have a yard full of junk as your business. You literally keep trash. I throw it out. So I really don’t accept your haughty attitude about this.”
Rigor narrowed his gaze. The junkyard wasn’t their business. It was just part of the job. The towing was their business, and it was the only noble part of their operations. It was the one clean thing his wolves had going for them. One late night call to pull a stranded mother off the road cancelled out a week’s worth of shit he did for Felix.
“What you’re asking us to do is too much.”
It wasn’t crossing any line Rigor hadn’t stepped over in the past. It was just that the people involved were innocent. A small clan tucked away in the fucking mountains. They ran a vacation lodge of all things. Real badasses to be sure. They probably didn’t even know what a monster they had living among them.
“We need to deal with Gash. He needs to make restitution for his betrayal and earn his way back into our clan.”
“He doesn’t want back in. He’s gone. Moved on. Can’t you just leave well enough alone? He’s your brother for fuck’s sake. Let him go.”
“That’s not how we work. You know that. You turn your back on your clan, you pay.”
“Fine. But this has nothing to do with my wolf pack. Your beef with your brother is your problem.”
Felix arched one black eyebrow, giving his silver gaze an eerie glow. “Is it? We’ve both got our hands in Bastian’s cookie jar. I’d say that makes my problems yours.”
Bastian. The fucking human who thought he owned Memphis. But Bastian’s dirty money paid the bills and gave the shifters a measure of freedom. They were untouchable, because there wasn’t a Memphis law enforcement officer not under Bastian’s thumb.
“That aside,” Felix said, smirking. “The Ouachita clan should interest you for other reasons.”
Rigor growled under his breath. He could feel his dogs getting antsy from their positions around the lot. They were far enough back they couldn’t hear, even with their shifter ears, but Felix had been strutting around wolf territory for longer than was tolerable.
“Can you get to the fucking point? Your time here is limited.”
The cat’s eyes flickered to those of his animal’s and then back to human between one blink and the next. “Gash’s new clan has connections to the hunters.”
Rigor went numb at the mention of the human monsters who took his female’s life. Shifter hunters with a single mission: kill them all, innocent or guilty.
And that’s exactly what they’d done. Eva was an innocent. She didn’t play the dirty games Rigor did. And she’d loved unconditionally. A trait that set her apart from so many others and elevated her to angel status in his eyes.
But how did a meek clan of cats from the mountains have a connection with the brutal shifter killers?
“Explain,” Rigor ground out.
A tight smile spread across Felix’s face. “See, you getting all bossy like that makes me want to claw your pretty face up. But alas…” He sighed. “It gives me pleasure to see you riled. And I need your help.”
“Damn it, cat. You’re pressing a nerve you don’t want to fuck with.”
Felix’s fossil eyes narrowed threateningly, and Rigor heard the low snarl of one of his wolves hidden behind an old rusted out Chevy hull.