Kari stood, cell phone in hand. "I will give her a call. She is an early riser so I know she will be awake." She left the dining room, walking toward the antechamber. Grant ate his toast with one hand while keeping an eye on Benji. He looked up and caught Adriel watching him closely.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing, you look very natural doing that."
Grant shrugged and handed Benji his little sippy cup from the baby bag.
Declan chuckled. "Are you going to do patrols with him?"
Grant nodded. "His foster mom needs a break. It's not like he's hard to care for; he's a good baby."
Meryn chuckled wickedly. "Those sound like famous last words."
*****
Ellie wiped her hands down her slacks nervously. Her palms were sweaty and her heart was beating out of control. It wasn't often that she was called into her boss' office. He mostly left her alone to treat her patients and do her research. Almost all of the executives at the hospital were paranormals. Vampires, shifters, and witches worked together to help human children fight their illnesses and diseases. To her, it was unfair that humans were so fragile and their children even more so. It seemed like every disease could kill them so quickly. She was surprised they had grown to the numbers they had. She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.
"Enter," the haughty male voice called out.
She turned the doorknob and stepped into the room. "Mr. Redly, you wanted to see me?" she asked.
The slightly balding, pudgy man nodded and pointed to the chair in front of his desk. After she sat down, he continued to flip through his papers. "Eleanor, I'm going to be honest and make this quick. We're going to have you stay home for tonight's meeting."
She blinked. "Excuse me?" she asked. The presentation at tonight's fundraiser was to go over the project she was responsible for. They were hoping to raise enough money to continue her research. So far, she had funded it herself, but if they wanted to continue it further, she was going to need help. "But sir," she protested. "This is my project. I'm the one doing the presentation. I have to be there."
His beady eyes narrowed. "We have asked Megan to do the presentation." Ellie's mouth dropped. "You must be joking. She's an intern!"
"It will be good experience for her," her boss countered.
"She knows nothing about the project. A lot of sick children will benefit from this research. Megan won't be able to answer any questions about the formulas or components."
"Megan emanates the type of image that this hospital wants to maintain," Redly replied.
Ellie's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean image?"
Redly sighed and gave her a deprecating look. "Eleanor, even you have to admit that you look sloppy. Maybe if you lost some weight, though being an elephant shifter, I'm not sure that's possible." He shrugged.
Ellie couldn't believe he was trying to talk to her about weight loss; he could stand to lose more weight than her. "You're telling me that, because you think I need to lose weight, I'm not going be able to do the presentation on the project I've been working on for the past six years?"
"It's not that you need to lose weight exactly. We, the Board of Directors and I, don't feel as though you put forward a polished image."
Ellie's insides were shaking. She was afraid that if she opened her mouth, she was going to burst into tears. She'd never been so humiliated and angry in her life. She was used to being treated shoddily, but this was the first time someone had treated her differently at work. Usually, the insults were small things she'd learned to deal with throughout her life, like men never holding the door open for her, the horrible sidelong judgmental glances she received at restaurants when she ordered dessert, or the hateful and snide remarks she couldn't help but overhear from other women she passed on the street.
Gathering her strength around her she stood. "I quit." She swallowed repeatedly to keep from crying.
His eyes widened in surprise. "You can't do that."
"Oh yes I can, and I'm taking my research with me."
His face mottled red with anger as he stood. "You can't take that research; we own it!"
She shook her head, taking a step back from his anger. "No, you don't. All of the experiments, all the equipment, all of the time spent working on it was done in my own personal lab. True, I do work here, but the project was done on my own time. I own every single patent. If you continue with tonight's presentation without my support I'll... I'll... I'll sue!"
Well, her gram would sue; she'd faint at the idea of going to a lawyer.
"You can't do this!" he screamed.
"Watch me," she challenged. She quickly opened the door and walked out. Luckily, since most of her research and work had been done in her own home, there wasn't much to pack at the hospital. She hung her hospital coat with badge in her locker, grabbed her purse, and walked out through the main entrance's sliding glass doors. She would miss her patients but she knew her time at the hospital was over.