Page 176 of Omega's Heart

“It’s interesting,” Felix replied, rising gamely to the challenge.

The senator made the introductions—a board member from the Smithsonian and his date for the night, plus the chief physician of one of the city’s hospitals and her lawyer husband. Kaden had already met the senator’s wife briefly at the office and he settled into a seat between her and the chief physician. Felix took a chair next to the man from the museum and immediately fell into an animated conversation with the human, his natural friendliness standing both of them in good stead. Kaden doubted any of the humans sitting with them could tell just how nervous Felix was sitting there.

He was going to owe his mate big time for this. Though getting to see the play was a start on that debt.

The senator too. Coming so soon on the heels of that hotel room meeting, he had to have been the one pulling the strings on this.

“I understand that your brother is building a hospital on your pack lands,” the Chief Physician said.

“Yes, ma’am. Just inside the walls, down by the gate.” Her name was Angela, but she hadn’t given him permission to use it, so he stuck to the politically safe ma’am.

“But no staff. Do you have any experience in staffing a hospital down there?”

“Not much, ma’am. But we’ve got smart people, they’ll figure it out. It’s not like we can hire outside the enclave very easily.”

“You need to offer equivalent salaries, not whatever it is that you use within your borders.” She sounded irritated.

Kaden glanced at her gown, something in dark blue with a sheen on it. The cost of it would probably keep an entire family in Mercy Hills for half a year. Maybe longer. “Ma’am, we offer what the local community is paying, and we’re willing to go a bit higher. But you can’t get blood from a stone, and we’re struggling with the propaganda of the past hundred years. Medical care is a vulnerable position—emotions run high, people are in pain. We want good care, but the few people that will take the risk of working in the enclaves are either on their last legs professionally and can’t get work elsewhere, or they’re ill-informed and are determined to fix us. I’m not sure what they want —the wolf is in our DNA, you can’t take it out. Maybe they’d be better off going into genetic engineering.” He glanced out over the audience, then turned back to her. “What we need is a few people who don’t fall into either of those camps, to come blaze a trail. Mentor our people who are learning how to do this themselves, show the rest of the world that we’re no different from you. Prove that it can and should be done.”

“But you are different, aren’t you? Like you said, different DNA.”

He nodded, wary. Damn, but he was being led into a blind trap. “If I wasn’t wearing these—” He pointed to the tabs on his collar. “—would you know that I was a shifter?”

She started to answer—he was sure it was going to be something along the lines of yes or of course, because she hadn’t taken any time to think about it—but then she paused and her eyes slid away from him. Not avoidance, he thought from her scent. Thought.

“Yes, our DNA is different. Blending it with a human’s is less likely than crossing a lion and a tiger. It does make for some challenges in treatment—some things are harder, some easier. My doctor at the VA did call us sturdy, though.” He said the last in an off-hand tone, with an undercurrent of amusement, then continued with the serious negotiations. The clock was ticking down until the play would start. “Our biggest issue is local hospitals and physicians and sub-specialists refusing to treat us, which is why we want our own hospital so badly. And why we need someone to set that example. I don’t quite understand it—I’m just a simple soldier, after all—but our nurse practitioner says that they are bound first not to cause harm to their patients by their actions or inactions. Except it only seems to apply to humans, if our records are any indication. So if our local medical community is going to continue to cause harm by not acting, then we need to find some way to look after ourselves. We can do it, we have the funds and willing shifters to train. It’s time we’re short on now. To fill that gap, we need to be able to hire humans, but until someone proves it can be done, then we can’t get anywhere. And that brings us back to the starting point again.”

Then the lights went down and all talk had to cease.

Kaden didn’t even know what they’d come to see, but as the play progressed, he discovered it didn’t matter. He could see Felix from where he sat, his face dimly lit by the emergency lights scattered about the theater and the reflection of the lights on the stage. The pure, transparent joy on his mate’s face was enough for him, and he found more joy in watching his mate throughout the performance than in watching the humans prancing and caterwauling about the stage.

Until nine-thirty hit and he had to lean forward to tug at Felix’s arm to let him know they had to leave.

“Oh, is it time?” Felix cast a sad glance in the direction of the stage but otherwise didn’t make a fuss. “I’ll have to look on the Internet for the end,” he said.

“Are you leaving already?” the museum guy asked, startled. “You’ll miss the best part.”

“Yes.” Felix smiled warmly at the human. “We have to be home by ten or we’ll get locked out of the house and arrested for breaking curfew. I’m sorry we couldn’t stay, it was a wonderful play. It was also very nice to meet you—I’m looking forward to seeing the museum someday soon.”

“You know,” said the human, a thoughtful expression on his face. “We should do lunch. You’re in Washington for a while, yes?”

“Four months, I think?” Felix looked to Kaden, who nodded. This was interesting. But not terribly surprising, if what he’d guessed about Felix was true.

The human smiled widely. “We often strike small committees for different goals, but sometimes we have trouble filling them. If you have spare time, perhaps I could interest you in one. Unless you’re planning to look for a job while you’re here?”

Felix shook his head and laughed. “No. Looking after Kaden and our roommates is enough of a job. But I’d love to help with the museum if you have room for me. It sounds like fun.” He turned to Kaden, his eyes filled with excitement. “Unless that would be a problem?”

Like Kaden would deny Felix anything that put that expression on his face. “Would it make you happy?” Felix nodded. “Then I’d be a terrible mate to say no, wouldn’t I?” Kaden took Felix’s hand. “You should do what makes you happy.” He thought he did a credible job of keeping the worry off his face.

“Then I’d like to.” An uncertain expression crossed Felix’s face and he turned back to the human. “We have some trips planned, things to do with Kaden’s job. Full Moon celebrations back at Mercy Hills. Would I be able to work around that?”

Kaden squeezed the hand he was holding. “Hey, you don’t have to go with me for work stuff if you have things to do here.” The words almost stuck in his throat, like a bone that wouldn’t go down and wouldn’t come back up. Felix was perfectly capable of looking after himself, except he’d been raised omega all his life. And they were deep in human territory, with no other shifters to reach out to if things went bad. The thought of leaving his mate here alone in the middle of all these humans made him sick to his stomach.

Seeing the disappointment on his mate’s face, though, he reached for a compromise. “I can get someone from the pack to come stay while I’m gone. You are allowed to have a life outside of mine, you know.” He smiled to try to infuse some humor into his words, in hopes that the humans wouldn’t read this the wrong way. “It might work in around my schedule anyway.” He could always hope.

“Oh. Maybe I shouldn’t then…” The words trailed off and Felix took a breath in preparation for turning down what he obviously considered an offered treat.

“Kaden, is there a problem?” The senator, slipping easily into the conversation.