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“Last were-war,” Charles said with disgust from his post at the front desk.
I had just about everything done by the time our occupants arrived. Jorgen led them in, one by one.
Each of them looked more forlorn than the last—unwashed, shuffling men and women who said nothing and kept their eyes locked on the ground.
“Who are they, Jorgen?” They all looked homeless to me.
Jorgen waited awhile before speaking to me, as though he had to muster up the strength. “These are your attackers. Viktor’s mob. They attacked some of us too—only they didn’t get very far. ”
The women who’d attacked me had been well dressed and able to drive a car. The people Jorgen led in, whom we placed in rooms one by one, didn’t look like they could manage to take an escalator.
Gina emerged from the third room with her arms crossed. “Are they under custody?”
“Until we get some answers, yes,” Jorgen answered.
“They can’t stay here indefinitely just because you’re mad at them. None of them is sick. ”
“Humanity at large needs to be protected from them, and the moon is near. Do you want all these unmanaged new weres out on the streets?”
“So your pack’s assuming control of medical decisions for them? If something goes bad?”
“Sure. Why not?” Jorgen said with a shrug.
“I need to talk to Meaty. ” She walked back to the main floor while I stood in the hallway with Jorgen. As soon as she was out of earshot, he turned to me.
“Don’t you have any shame, girl?”
I blinked and stepped back, unsure what he was accusing me of, unsure what to say. We were interrupted by Meaty, who came back with Gina.
“I don’t like it any better than you, Gina. I’ll ask the Consortium in the morning. ” Meaty pierced Jorgen with a look. “Are there going to be any more surprises tonight?”
“Doubtful. ” Jorgen made a gesture to indicate all of us. “Good day, ladies. ”
Meaty snorted.
* * *
I helped Gina where I could. None of the new admits ever spoke. They’d go where you told them to go, sit, stand, lie, like obedient dogs, but they seemed as uninterested in living as Winter down the hall.
I assessed the first one while Gina sorted out the rest. I ran a blood pressure and took a temperature, and then realized I had no idea what the normal ranges were for weres anyhow. As the thermometer beeped, I nervously pulled the were’s mouth open, hoping he wouldn’t bite me.
He had fillings. He was brand-new, just like the weres that had attacked me.
Keeping a wary eye on him, I cataloged his belongings. Coat, shoes, no wallet or any other ID—and a vial of Lobos Luna in his pocket. I finished what I was doing as fast as I could and got out of the room.
“It’s creepy,” Gina said, meeting me outside.
“Where did they come from?”
“One of them had a voucher from the Armory,” Gina said with a shrug. “I should call a few shelters, figure out where they came from. It’s a raw deal to be homeless and then get forced into a pack. ”
The combination of the Armory and the Lobos Luna was all I needed to hear. “About that—I need to go call my brother,” I said.
Gina’s eyebrows rose. “I didn’t know that your brother—”
“Your mom, my brother, it’s the same sort of thing. ” I interrupted. At least for right now, the Shadows were still doing their job of keeping him safe.
“Sorry, Edie,” Gina said, with the empathy that only someone else trapped working on Y4 could properly express for my situation.
“Thanks,” I said and ran down the hall.
* * *
I made it into the locker room and dialed up Jake. He was tired when he answered but he still sounded like himself. “Hey, Sissy. You want me to move in today?”
“No—not yet—Jake—you need to stop selling that stuff. Right now. ”
I could hear him rearranging himself, fabric rustling in the background as he hunkered down wherever he was sleeping tonight, to talk more quietly to me.
“Is this about the cell phone? Because I realized I forgot the second I got on the bus—”
“It’s not. It’s not at all. ” I tried to think of things I could tell him that would warn him off. “There’s been some Lobos Luna poisonings at the hospital. That stuff is cut with something, Jake. ”
