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“No! No, I want to know… about my grandfather. He-he will… live?” she asked, her voice huskier as emotion threatened to choke her.

“Yes. Why don’t we go get something to eat? It’s been a long day and I would really love a cup of tea,” he said, motioning toward the end of the hallway.

She glanced back at the door. “My grandparents?—?”

“Annie will protect them. She may look small, but she is a badger-shifter. No one would mess with her,” he replied.

“As long as we are not gone long. I don’t want my grandmother to be… afraid if she wakes up and I’m not there,” she said.

“We won’t be gone long,” he promised.

She nodded and stepped beside him when he turned and began walking. Glancing around the hallway, she noticed that while the rooms looked similar to her grandparents’, they were empty. They passed the nurses’ station. A young shifter with dark brown hair looked up and smiled at them before returning her attention to whatever she was working on.

“Do shifters not get sick?” she asked when they stopped outside the metal box that moved. “The rooms… they are all empty.”

Ben looked at her with a confused expression. She waved at the row of rooms behind them. His expression cleared and he grinned.

“Oh, that. Yes, shifters get hurt and sick just the same as humans. This is a military hospital. It’s run a little differently from the civilian ones. This floor has been cleared, so only your grandparents are here. It will be available should any of your clan require medical assistance.”

She thought about what he said. “Military? Like the men who tried to attack us? Tracy didn’t know what type of shifter could kill and carry away so many predators. Do you know?”

Ben cleared his throat. “Whoever those men were are not quite the same as the men and women here. They may have been ex-military. Until the DNA tests come back, I really can’t comment. As far as any shifters strong enough to lift another, unless the shifter was a small child or person being carried, I really can’t think of any capable of doing that.”

“Then what could?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. Hopefully, there will be some additional evidence that will help us discover what happened. I’m just the doctor assigned to help your people. I’m not in the military myself.”

“Why did they bring you in? How do you know how to care for humans?”

The ping of the elevator distracted them. Ben stepped inside and waited for her. She didn’t like the box. It made her stomach feel funny when it went up and down. The flying bird had done the same thing.

She huffed out a breath, stepped forward, and turned. Ben pressed the button with a star on it and the doors closed. She clenched her fists and breathed through her nose when the box moved. Thankfully, it only took a few seconds before it reached the star floor and the doors opened.

She stepped out and looked around the lobby. There were more shifters here, even though it was in the middle of the night. She followed Ben, feeling out of place in her clothing compared to many of those walking around. She did like some of the clothing. The fabric had multiple colors that looked like the leaves and branches of the trees in the forest. If she wore something like what they had on during the summer, it would be difficult to see her.

Several shifters paused and did a double-take when they walked by her and Ben. She glared at them and they turned away. They entered a large room filled with tables. Most of the tables were empty. She noticed one shifter sitting in the corner with his head down on the table, obviously asleep. There were two other tables with shifters. Those shifters were quietly conversing, but fell silent when they noticed her.

“Ignore them. They’ll get bored soon enough,” Ben murmured.

“What are they?” she asked.

He looked back at the staff members on their break. “Mm, I’m not sure. If I had to guess, I’d say the one sleeping in the corner is a sloth. They can sleep just about anywhere. The two at the table over there to the right are a coyote and a water buffalo. The other two are a gazelle and a red panda.”

“Tracy said that one of the dead was a coyote shifter. They are mean?” she asked.

He frowned as he studied the shifter before he looked down at her. “Are all humans mean?”

She thought about what he said and shook her head. “No. Dennis was, but he is no longer with us.”

“What happened to him?”

She shrugged. “No one knows.”

“That isn’t good. Didn’t anyone from your clan try to find out what happened to him?” he asked.

“No. He was bad. He beat Janna. Why would we care what happened to him?” she said.

“Didn’t anyone try to stop him?” he asked in a shocked voice.