The Wolves Catch Their Attorney(21)

“Yes, Sir.” The patient was genuinely respectful.

“Well, see you obey the nursing staff here, or I’ll handcuff you to the bed.”

Harry nodded and stomped out of the room. Cam glanced at the patient who was lying back in his bed, looking rather shocked, and slipped out of the room behind Harry.

“Thank you, Harry. I wish I had the aura of authority you’ve got.”

“They know you care about them. Me, they’re not so sure about.”

Cam laughed. “I appreciate it. I’m glad you came by here today.”

Harry groaned. “I’m trying to get better security for the clinic. Too many external doors open from the same key card. We only need one person to lose their card or have their wallet stolen and we’re in trouble. Oscar’s agreed to have only two doors remain on the general card. There’ll be the front door, where someone will be on the reception desk to see who’s coming in, and the back one out by the staff parking lot. I’ll add a bit of extra security there, likely a number pad where people have to punch in a code. That way a stolen or lost card won’t provide access.”

“Hey, that sounds good.”

“Yeah, well, we don’t know how far Oscar’s cousin is prepared to go to take control of the clinic. If he starts trying to infiltrate us or something we could be in big trouble.”

“Do you think that may happen? That George will try to burn the place down or something like that?” Cam had an uneasy feeling in his gut. With some of the patients not mobile, a fire would be a dreadful thing. It could be disastrous for those who couldn’t escape without help.

“I haven’t tracked him back to any links with a crime syndicate or anything like that, but he doesn’t sound like an upright citizen to me. I mean, no one wants their tax reassessed, but most people know when they’re asked to hand in their financial papers they have to do it. And it was the court asking, not the IRS.”

“That’s true.” Cam had heard all about the day in court. It was just another example of how clever Sierra was, of her ability to think outside the box to win her cases. But up until now he hadn’t truly understood that Oscar’s cousin George might actually be a threat to the clinic. It was just as well Harry was aware of such things.

“Thanks, Harry. I’m glad you’re here to help us all.”

“Not a problem, Cam. I’m happy to help out. I must get on and talk to Oscar now, though.”

Cam watched Harry walk away. Sierra would deal with the legal side of their problems and Harry with the security issues. But what if Oscar couldn’t keep the clinic? What if everything they’d worked for and built up here was taken away from them all? Cam felt a moment of panic. He’d spent so much of his life getting to this situation where he was now, a nurse of shape-shifters, healing shape-shifters. This was what he’d studied for, spent years aiming for.

If George took the clinic away from Oscar everything he’d achieved would be gone. Everything they’d all worked so hard to set up. Oscar would be devastated and homeless as well. All the staff would be out of work and they’d be back to the bad old days of shape-shifters attending human hospitals and not being treated correctly. That couldn’t happen. Surely one disgruntled man couldn’t turn back the clock against shape-shifters?

Sierra was certain the wills were true and that the clinic and land belonged to Oscar. She was so very smart she had to be right. She just had to. The alternative was too dreadful to even think about.



* * * *



Fergus was fully occupied caring for his patients during his shift. He had no time to take a meal break, and was grateful for the clinic kitchen where he could make himself a sandwich to eat while he sat at the nursing staff computer typing up his patient notes.

All the patients’ meals were brought in fresh each day by a catering company that knew how to provide nutritionally correct meals for ill and recuperating shape-shifters, but the clinic kitchen was equipped with a supply of ingredients that the staff used to make patient snacks or their own midshift meals.

What he wanted to think about, what was nagging away at the back of his mind, was the need for him to plan some time for Sierra, Cam, and himself to be together in a setting that would enable him to demonstrate to the other two that they had a true chance of an ongoing relationship. Oh, he hadn’t “fallen in love.” He wasn’t sixteen anymore. He was twice that, having recently turned thirty-two.

But because he was mature was exactly the reason he could sense the beginnings of a bond between the three of them. Something that had the potential to be real and ongoing, even permanent perhaps. There was a true melding of minds. They laughed at similar things, sparked thoughts off each other’s conversation, were able to talk together for hours without growing bored or finding the conversation came to an uncomfortable place where no one could think of anything to say.