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“Bad. Baaaaad,” he said, writhing in bed to illustrate it. “I got shot, lady. ” He flipped the covers back to show me his bandaged leg.

“Didn’t you get vampire blood this morning?”

He laughed at his own lame joke. “Aw, lady, you caught me. But how many times can I get morphine for free?”

“Why would you want morphine, if you can get vampire blood?”

“You think I get vampire blood for free?” He rolled his eyes and flipped his covers back.

I prepped a saline flush in the room, and gave him all of the morphine. He wasn’t going to die tonight, and I didn’t want to hear from him again.

* * *

I finished all of the charting on my weird patients by the end of the night. Report was minimal, since none of them had done anything. I was on my way to the elevator when Gina caught me.

“Hey, where’d Charles go?”

“Food poisoning,” I lied, and felt awful for it.

Gina made a face. “That’s what he gets for eating all those Hot Pockets. ”

* * *

I wondered who would guard me safely home this morning—and how everything would go down tonight. Just as I made it to the lobby, Helen and a twenty-person entourage were coming in. She smiled at the sight of me, and separated herself from her group.

“Go on ahead, everyone,” she said, gesturing them onward. “You too, Fenris. ” She shooed her son, who’d tried staying behind. He gave me a quick wave, behind her back. “There’ll be a lot of visitors today. Many want to pay their last respects to their leader. ”

I was sure Winter’s day-shift nurse would love that. I couldn’t blame them, though; this might be their last chance to see him alive, if his current condition could even be called that. Helen’s guests walked around us, all in different shades of black. I was very glad Lucas wasn’t in their number.

“You called it off with him, I assume?” She smiled at me indulgently once we were alone.

“There was never anything to call off, really. ”

“Says you. Wolves can be surprisingly sentimental. Still, it was for the best. He’s going to be a pack leader—it’s a complicated life. ”

“No one would know that better than you,” I said without thinking. She tilted her head at me as though I’d spoken words in a foreign tongue. “I’ve heard,” I added.

“Well, I can’t speak to what you’ve heard. But things will be over tonight. ” She reached out to take my hand. “If he doesn’t get better when the moon comes, we’ll—” she began, and paused.

“Withdraw care,” I filled in for her, because it sounded less callous than pull the plug.

She nodded, her face grim. “Yes. I’ll be signing some paperwork to that effect this afternoon, and then staying until the end. Moonrise is at five fifteen tonight. The rest of my pack will have to be afield with Lucas, ringing his time in. Even little Fenris will be gone. My father’s death will be my burden alone. ” Her hand squeezed mine a little tighter. “Would you like to be there? You were at the beginning, it’s only fitting you would be at the end, too. ”

I really didn’t want to—but I didn’t know how I

could tell her no. My ride to Anna’s ascension wouldn’t come until eleven at night. Still, though—

“It would mean the world to me, not to have to be alone. ”

I swallowed my refusal. No one should have to be alone and in pain when they didn’t want to be. “Okay. ” I gave her a weak smile. “I just need to go home and sleep some now, then. ”

“Thank you, Edie. Thank you a lot. ” She reached out and patted a flyaway of hair from my ponytail down in a maternal fashion before going on down the hall.

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

I wonder what the person in the black foreign car following me thought I was doing, cruising the alleyways and homeless shelters of downtown that morning. I’d left a message on Asher’s phone, and on Jake’s, and neither one of them had gotten back to me yet. I didn’t know where else to check. I’d hit all the big shelters I’d heard of, and I didn’t know all the smaller ones. The people inside them were all nice, letting me look—my wearing scrubs and the slight tone of panic in my voice helped. Maybe they thought I was looking to make good on a New Year’s resolution, one day early.

Exhausted and beaten, I went home. The car parked nearby in my parking lot, but no one got out. I went into my apartment and stared disconsolately at my phone. I took a shower so I wouldn’t have to take one tonight, and crawled into bed after setting a four thirty P. M. alarm. I was almost asleep when a text buzzed my phone.

All’s well. From Asher.

Thank u, thank u, thank u, I texted back. One weight of many lifted, I fell asleep.

* * *

Four thirty came earlier than I’d have liked. I put scrubs back on, then pulled my car out onto the freeway. It being New Year’s Eve, there was some traffic, but no one was driving drunk yet. The weather wasn’t cooperating, the sky was full of ominous clouds, and the morning’s gentle snow had turned into freezing sleet.

When I parked in the hospital lot, the black car parked behind me.