Page 41 of The Coyote's Veterinarian Omega

She tipped her head. “Well, earlier than the twin terrors.”

Karla laughed. “We’ll see them at one.”

Caroline shook her head. “And after all this work,” shemuttered, rolling her eyes. Then her expression sobered. “Wyatt, honey, you don’t look so good.”

“No?” Wyatt asked, his voice small and sheepish. I whipped around to look at him and found him pale. Well. Paler than usual.

Caroline pressed her lips together. Wyatt glanced at her, then said, “Didn’t sleep super well.”

Caroline’s frown deepened, but Karla snorted. “How could you? You look like you got mauled by a bear.” She pointed at his neck.

Oh hell. That looked a lot worse in the morning light—there were bruises everywhere, mixed with dried blood, as well as two little puncture marks. It looked utterly pathetic.

“Cameron,” Caroline huffed, “did you try to mark this poor boy?”

“I, uh … yeah?”

Karla snorted. “Did a shit job.”

Caroline shook her head as she sat down. “Didn’t anybody teach you …”

Her words faded, and the silence soured. “No,” I said finally, “nobody taught me.”

She looked pained. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“Whatever,” I muttered, grabbing an empty plate and dragging the stack of pancakes toward me.

Karla went to the counter and got the coffee carafe. She poured liberally into the mugs without a word.

“Where’s Cal?” I asked.

“Barn,” Caroline said softly.

Karla sloshed coffee into Wyatt’s mug. Wyatt drew a deep breath, then said, “Excuse me.” He stumbled against the chair, then walked—very quickly—out of the room.

I lifted a brow. Caroline set her mug down and said, “’Course he’s off. A claim is no small thing, Cameron.”

“You should have waited,” Karla said as she resumed her seat. “Or at least asked someone how to do it right.”

I fought the blush in my cheeks. “He wanted it,” I argued.

Caroline quirked a brow, and I sank lower in my chair. “I just … It felt right. At the time.”

Caroline sighed and shared a look with Karla. “No help for it now,” she murmured. “So I guess we’ll tell you how to do it right so you can get this fixed for him.”

Wyatt

Ithrew up. then i stared blankly at the wall for a while, clutching my still-rebelling stomach. slowly, i swallowed more bile.

Was I sick? Had I contracted some kind of … shifter flu bug? Or maybe Caroline and Karla had brought something in with them? Cam had indicated that they’d traveled on a plane or a bus or something.

Or maybe I’d picked up something weird out in the fields. Oh, God, I hoped it wasn’t anything zoonotic. Fuck, I didn’t want to be patient zero for some new swine flu or bird flu or something.

I took a deep breath to steady myself, then let my eyes slip shut. My mind drifted back to the wolf, and I felt even more queasy.

Where had he come from? Was hefollowingme?

I gritted my teeth as I realized I was crying. Hot tears slipped down my face, and I lifted a hand to wipe them away.