Page 27 of Wolf Bane (Marked #3)

Chapter Eleven

T he majority of the people in the infirmary had been at the fair, it came about. I’d had time to kill while Waltrip bent heads with Benoit and pretended I wasn’t there for the time being, so I got to work.

I’d never been able to stay idle long, and now that my edge pieces were slipping together, the need to do something was almost overwhelming.

So, I got up. I triaged my interviewees into groups—most likely to talk, unlikely to talk, and can’t talk.

The room was so small, it made the number of beds feel huge, but it was really about twelve beds, ten occupied.

Which, really, was ten beds too many, all things considered.

Zero led me to each patient, neatly avoiding Fern’s rounds. Out of the ten down, three were grave. Two seemed to be on the mend, reporting a reduction in symptoms and an uptick in energy. The other five were somewhere in between.

“Daniel was about ready to throw himself into the river when we started getting sick,” Zero offered quietly.

“He felt guilty, makin’ us go to the fair and bein’ the one to take a few of us over to that damn clinic van.

He… he fancies himself the next leader, after Benoit’s time is up, one way or another.

And it hit Daniel hard when this started takin’ shape.

Blamed himself, sort of just collapsed in on himself for a bit until Benoit gave him a come-to-Jesus rough up about this shit.

Can’t be a leader if you’re gonna blame yourself for everything that goes wrong. ”

Zero motioned to the nearest row of patients.

“Daniel visits each one of ‘em a few times a day. Chit chat and shit, if they’re up for it. And he just tells ‘em he’s sorry, if they aren’t.

” They shrugged again. “Daniel’s been working part time for a, uh, friendly clinic over near Dallas a few days a week, you know?

Not really a hospital but bigger than a doctor’s office.

” Zero slid me a sideways glance, begging me to understand.

Things for weres and shifters were always on the edge of normal , acceptable.

A were-specialty clinic that masqueraded as a private hospital was just another one of the ways they could hide in plain sight.

I nodded. “It’s how we met,” I muttered dryly. “He picked up a patient of mine.”

“He was really into it at first. Real proud, said it was about damn time us hick-weres got some attention, had folks who gave a damn ‘bout us…” Zero shuddered, skin rippling and a weak, pained growl worked up in their chest. It took a long, long moment before they swallowed, seemingly coming back into themselves before continuing. “I guess a lot of why he feels so bad about all this is because he was so damn proud. He didn’t think twice about anyone getting help from those folks at the fair. Didn’t even hesitate.

Kinda made fun of a few of us when we tried to turn ‘em down.”

All of them had either been given a freebie booster of alleged vitamins or taken something by mouth given to them by a Monk and Hood representative. Mostly painkillers, but two had taken antacids.

The only one who hadn’t was a kid who’d come down with symptoms a few days before but shaken it off by day three of the apparent infection.

“Where are they now?”

Zero shrugged. “Home, I suppose. Most of the clan homeschools since we’re so rural and avoid human communities as much as possible.” They looked askance at Fern, motioning her closer.

“There were some incidents over the past few years,” Fern offered quietly.

“The area’s not heavily populated to start with but, well, we’re remote, you know?

We’re not exactly open about what we are but some folk around here know cuz there’s been weres out on this land for at least two hundred years, give or take.

Or they just hate us because they think we’re some of those awful bigots or some bullshit when all we want to do is be left alone. ”

“We used to mix in with the communities,” Zero added.

“My mother was fully human. So was Benoit’s grandfather.

The folks that came over from the Belmarais clan a few years back have ties here, either through distant kinfolk, or their partners or in-laws.

A few others of us here, too, have human family that know, but they live here in Lugaru and don’t want to see their loved ones hurt, so they don’t go telling stories. ”

“Most of us here aren’t blood related clan, either,” Fern added. “Lots of strays.”

“Strays,” I repeated, arching a brow. “Seriously?”

Zero’s lips twitched in a small smile. “We’re allowed to say that, you know.”

My face warm, I nodded, chuckling weakly. “Sorry, didn’t meant to come off as an asshole.”

Zero nudged my shoulder with theirs. “You’re learning. You’re… different. Benoit told us about you. And it’s not exactly a secret. We’re spread out, but weres like to gossip between clans and packs.”

“Then you know about Bluebonnet.”

“Because of Benoit,” Zero acknowledged, and Fern nodded. “Benoit worked security for them for a while. That’s how he knows Waltrip. He slipped Waltrip info about the operation, got the ball rolling.”

“Huh.” I sat back, frowning. “Kinda disappointed, not gonna lie. With the way Waltrip tip toes around things I was fully expecting some jilted lovers thing or, I don’t know, some deep cover bullshit.”

“Well, to be fair,” Fern smiled faintly, “Waltrip was flirting a bit with my man. Not that I minded,” she added with a laugh. “Get a few beers in Benoit and he’ll tell you all about it.”

Someone shifted on their cot and, with those ninja nurse instincts, Fern was on her feet and at their side before they could even start coughing, leaving me and Zero on our own.

“Benoit and Waltrip are all het up about something,” Zero murmured, pushing their lank blond hair back from their eyes. “Slidell said you’re heading out again as soon as your man gets here.”

“If my man doesn’t pop his lid, that’s the plan,” I admitted. “Ethan was less than thrilled about what’s going on.”

“More like he was scared about your disappearing like that,” Zero pointed out.

“Slidell’s protective too.” Their gaze drifted over to where Slidell was working on some bit of computer equipment, cursing under his breath in what seemed to be fluent local patois.

“He and I are pack,” Zero continued. “We met when we were in high school. Our own packs weren’t too fond of what we are.

I’m part human, we’re both queer…” They trailed off.

“Well. We’re pack, yeah? And Benoit brought us into his clan years ago. ”

Uneasiness flickered in my belly. “Did he… um. Scent mark?”

Zero made a gagging sort of expression. “That’s barbaric! No, he just brought us in. We make our own family, yeah? You know that well as I do, hm?”

The knowing look Zero gave me was enough to make me shift awkwardly, suddenly aware that maybe I wasn’t as private and mysterious as I liked to delude myself into believing.

“Yeah, I think I do. And that’s why I need to get back.

I have people depending on me. Not just friends but patients.

My clinic isn’t going to run itself—I have people who depend on me for their jobs. ”

“Then we should get started.” Zero smiled.

“What’s your plan, Doctor Babin? I’m not going to fight you about it like Benoit might.

Whatever vision he’s got in his head, it’s not realistic.

He heard there’s a hybrid doctor treating weres, heard it was you —one of Garrow’s survivors—and decided that meant you had insider knowledge.

After all…” They trailed off with a sigh.

“How else would you have survived if Garrow hadn’t favored you, hm? ”

“I wouldn’t call attempted murder favoring .”

Zero shrugged weakly. “Benoit sees what he wants to see sometimes. We all do.”

Something about the way Zero laid emphasis on that made me feel a spark of guilt; I’d definitely done that more than a time or two myself, and I thought—I knew—I’d been doing that to Ethan recently.

Justifying it as but he’s different, he’s acting like he can’t trust me and not he’s protecting me, he’s protecting his job.

I sighed and raked my own hair back out of my eyes.

“Here’s the thing. I don’t know how to fix this, but I have an idea where to start and that’s with some basic pathology.

There’s someone I know. A friend. He’s a pathologist. Used to work with me when I was in the medical examiner’s office.

” To be fair, Justin hadn’t returned any of my messages yet, but I was hoping this could be a case of easier to ask forgiveness than permission.

“He’s going to need a lot of blood work and… Well, I’m not sure what else.”

If he’d call me back, I’d have a better idea… Not even Tyler had returned my messages, which was… less than great.

Still, I swallowed the anxiety and offered Zero another small smile.

“Everything’s been just out of reach for the past few days.

The council isn’t giving me any information, never mind about enough , people are sick, I had a patient shift out of fucking nowhere after being human for damn near eighty-four years of his life…

” I blew out a breath. “It’s been like a thousand plates spinning at once, each one starting to wobble out of control.

But I think I might know how to at least figure out what the cause is, how some weres and shifters are getting sick but not others. ”

And it was one of those Occam’s Razor solutions, something so obvious and simple it couldn’t be anything else. But I would have to prove it before anything else could be done.

If anything else could be done.

“I need help, Zero. I need you to talk to the patients and see if I can take their blood. And I’m going to need samples from weres who aren’t sick. And some who were but got better and?—”

Zero’s eyes were wide, dark pools of excited uncertainty. “This calls for a label maker!”

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