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“You don’t want to be an afterthought.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I want to be someone’s first choice.”
“I don’t think that’s what you are to him. An afterthought.”
“I don’t know,” I said.
“Oh, I nearly forgot!” Elaine cried out, and the sudden shift in the atmosphere was jarring. “Guess who I have as a patient today?”
“Who?” I asked. Topic officially changed.
“Majora Rowe.” Elaine looked at me with large, sparkling eyes.
“Who?”
She frowned. “Come on, Dario’s wife?”
“Oh, really?” I hadn’t known his mom was still in the picture. I’d only been hearing Dario’s name. “Is that… a big deal? Her coming here?”
“Of course it’s a big deal! The Rowe family are only the wealthiest shifters in the city, aside from Bishop, of course. They’re practically royalty around here; they usually have their healthcare at home. The only person who really sees them in a friendship capacity is Bishop himself. You know, since he’s the alpha, there are no restrictions for him.”
I blinked at Elaine. “I didn’t realize Bishop and Turk’s family were that close.”
“No? I thought I mentioned something like that. Dario has his head so far up Bishop’s ass, it’s not even funny.”
I laughed, my mind going a mile a minute. If Turk’s family and Bishop really were that close, it made sense why Bishop had been suspicious of me trying to find him. What didn’t make sense was that, if Turk really was missing, there would be a bigger thing about it if they were so high up and important. And what about Turk coming to us?
Nothing made sense anymore. I’d thought Turk was just a regular wolf from a regular shifter community, moving to start fresh somewhere else.
“It’s such an honor to be trusted to treat her. I feel like getting this close to high-ranking pack members makes me special, too.”
I smiled at her. “You’re already great, you know.”
Elaine beamed at me. “I’m glad you came here. Work is so much more fun with you to talk to.”
I chuckled. I had to admit, I liked Elaine, too. I’d dreaded coming to work here, and the clinic needed a lot of attention to get to a point where I would feel we offered sufficient patient care, but Elaine was an unexpected point of light, a friend where I hadn’t expected to find anyone here to relate to.
“Okay, let’s get this show on the road,” Elaine said when we finished our coffees. She offered to throw away my cup when we stood, and after that, we started our rounds before I headed to the consultation rooms to see patients.
I went through the motions of doing business as usual, but my mind was all over the place with what I’d learned about Bishop and how he was different toward me, and what I’d learned about Turk’s family.
The more I found out about this place, the more I realized nothing was as it seemed.
11
BISHOP
“Bishop, it’s so good to see you,” Dario said when the butler led me to the bar area rather than his office. “Come, let’s have a drink together.”
“I hope you’re well,” I told Dario, shaking his hand before I took the glass of vodka he offered.
“Well enough. Eager to get this show on the road,” he said.
Right. Theshowhe was talking about was picking a mate for Turk so that we could complete our deal. I was just as eager as he was. I needed the extra power. I wanted to be sure we were protected, and this was the only way to make sure that nothing like what had happened before would happen again.
The meeting with Dario served as a distraction from what was going on with Rory, too. She pissed me off. I was irritated by her presence. No, scratch that—I was taken by her presence, and irritated with myself for feeling that way.
I was the alpha. I could have just run her out of town. It wasn’t like she had any say in my territory, and half the time she riled me up so badly, I just wanted her to get the fuck out. The thing was… I also wanted her to stay.
