by Juniper Hart
“How is everything going with Griffin?” she asked, applying some lip balm to her lips, which she then offered Kate. Kate shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.
“Honestly, I don’t really know,” she confessed. “Some days, I think he’s about to fire me. He sends me emails telling me how faulty my research is and how he can’t believe I graduated Stanford, let alone at the top of my class.”
“Oh, that’s harsh—and categorically untrue,” Lisette commented, flopping onto a chair before her. “So why doesn’t he just fire you if he thinks you’re that incompetent?”
“Well, that’s the thing. I’ll go into the lab and find he has engaged a method I had suggested, but he never thanks me. And still…”
Lisette shot her a sidelong look. “What?”
“Nothing. I’m probably imagining things,” Kate replied quickly.
“No, what?” The smaller woman sighed deeply.
“The odd time when we’re in the lab together, I’ll catch him staring at me.” Lisette’s generous mouth turned into a leer.
“Really?” she purred. “Well, how about that! Griffin wants to bang you!”
“See? I knew I shouldn’t have said anything to you!” Kate snapped, instantly regretful.
“Why not? And why are you so tight about sex? He’s a handsome, single doctor—a neurosurgeon surgeon, no less! He makes more money than Michael, what with all his research and publications. Why wouldn’t you entertain having a night of unadulterated monkey sex with him in the research lab?”
Kate had flushed so deeply, she was worried her scrubs would catch fire.
“Stop it,” she said. “He’s not married?” The question slipped out of her mouth as if someone else had asked it, but she knew it was one that she had been dying to ask since getting on Griffin’s service. Google could only tell her so much, and while there was no shortage of information online about the alpha neurosurgeon, his personal life was still very much a mystery to her.
Well, that’s not entirely true, either. He’s notorious as a Lothario, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have some unsuspecting wife and four kids locked away in his Aspen home or something.
Lisette hooted, but her pager stopped her from making any more crass comments. “Ah, dammit. I need to get to the hospital. Evans is paging.”
“You’re on pediatrics today?” Kate asked as Lisette started away.
“Yeah. She’s a pain in my rear end, man. I can’t wait to be off her service,” the tall blonde said, exhaling. “Why do you think I’ve been hiding out here all day?”
“And I thought you just loved basking in my aura around the apartment,” Kate replied. Lisette snorted, but before she could turn away, Kate remembered something. “Hey, Lis, have you seen the demon on the second floor?”
Lisette’s eyebrows shot up in shock. “Demon? Are you sure?”
Kate nodded. “He claims he’s been poisoned, but what can poison a demon?”
Lisette was silent for a long moment, her brow furrowing as she considered the question.
“Aranium,” she said slowly. “But how the hell would he come into contact with it?”
Tension spiked through Kate’s body. I’m not wrong about Anthony Lockhart. He doesn’t belong at the hospital. In truth, his presence had been weighing on her mind heavily all day.
“He was asking me a lot of questions about the lab,” she confessed, and Lisette’s eyes darkened.
“You need to tell someone,” she growled. “He could be a corporate spy.” Kate nodded quickly.
“I’ll tell Brummer,” she mumbled, but Lisette shook her shimmering blonde mane.
“No, you should tell Griffin.”
Kate swallowed the protest bubbling in her throat. The last thing she wanted to do was instigate a conversation with her surly boss. Why, then, did the idea fill her with a peculiar sense of excitement?
“Kate, did you hear me? If the demon makes off with trade secrets—”
“I know, you’re right,” she grumbled begrudgingly. She hated it when Lisette was the voice of reason. It was so… Twilight Zone.
“Why do you look so uncertain?”
“Because Griffin hates me.”
Did he, though? The first day she had met him in the lab, she had been certain that she was going to be fired. His demeanor had been nothing short of hostile when Kate had been so eager to meet him. Her intention had not been to bombard him with platitudes, but he had not even given her a chance to introduce herself properly without cutting her down in seconds. Her already fragile ego had suffered the blow quietly, but she had gone out of her way to avoid the head of the department at all costs. As he had requested, she kept all correspondences to a minimum, supplying him with the research he demanded via Dropbox but otherwise banking her hours and accepting her generous paychecks.
It is a means to an end. You won’t always be working for this pompous jerk, she reminded herself. One day, you’ll have your own lab, and you’ll be making your assistants uncomfortable.
But then, inexplicably, things got better. Griffin began to email her directly, without prompting. He was asking her to take on more responsibility, and Kate was beginning to feel like she had a hand in his new methods instead of being a glorified pencil-pusher.
He is starting to see my worth, she realized with happiness, but her joy was short-lived. What had seemed like a blessing at first turned into a nightmare.
Griffin had gotten hold of her on-call schedule, and on nights when she was off and had no intention of going into the lab, Griffin would text her on her personal phone with mundane tasks, things that could be done later or at least from the comfort of her own bed on her laptop, but he would insist she do it in the lab to “preserve the integrity of the research”. On her scheduled days off, she would be assured of receiving at least one text from him, and she would be expected to drop whatever she was doing to attend to his needs.
She was banking closer to forty hours a week than the twenty-five she had signed on for, and it was taking its toll on her during rounds. Yet Kate dared not complain to anyone, not even Lisette, who had her own hands full with Dr. Walter, anyway.
Who am I to complain? I have a hand in this cutting-edge development, and I am getting paid for the time I am putting in. My debts are being paid. What else could I want, really? Sleep and showering are for the weak.
Kate wondered why Griffin was doing such an about-face when she was sure he was determined to hate her at the start. She entertained the idea that he was attracted to her, but it was laughable. She had yet to see him smile, let alone look at her with any lust in his eyes.
Is that wishful thinking tickling the edge of my mind? she wondered, embarrassment flooding her. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t considered what it would be like to sleep with the brilliant and very sexy Dr. Griffin. Yep. That’s wishful thinking.
“I really have to go,” Lisette said, turning toward the door. “Make sure you tell someone about this demon. You don’t want to be the scapegoat if anything goes wrong, and gods know you will be. We’re dispensable, Kate, don’t forget that.”
The words made Kate’s heart hurt, but she dismissed them. Lisette’s fatalistic worldview wasn’t new, and for the first time, Kate was beginning to understand it.
After a five-minute shower and a carboard sandwich, Kate returned to the hospital for her shift at the lab. She cut through the intensive care unit, heading back toward the south elevators.
“Hi, Nurse Miller,” Kate offered brightly to the vampire medical worker. Miller didn’t even bother to look up when she passed, but Kate was well accustomed to the surly attitudes in which she was enshrouded by now. Continuing forward, she heard a familiar voice behind her, addressing the nurse.
“Lisbeth, can you tell me how Mr. Stein is doing? Mrs. Stein just got out of surgery, and she’s worried sick about her husband. I told her I’d come back right away with an update.”
Unable to stop herself, she turned and looked at Dr. Walter, who draped his
handsome form casually over the countertop to smile dashingly at Nurse Miller. As if the dark-haired physician had waved a magical wand of pleasantness, the nurse beamed widely and turned to her computer.
“Of course, Dr. Walter,” she cooed sweetly, forgetting Kate’s presence. As he waited, Dr. Walter turned to look at Kate, who remained staring at him.
“Hello, Kate,” he said. “Having a good night?”
Kate was temporarily stunned by the friendliness in his tone, and she stared at him uncomprehendingly. This was the first time he’d ever been moderately pleasant to her.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his brow furrowing in slight concern. He glanced at Lisbeth for help, but the nurse only smirked and shrugged, as if to indicate that Kate was mentally slow.
“Of course,” Kate breathed. “Yes, my night is going fine. Thank you.” Was it a trick? Was he trying to lull her into some false sense of security, or was he putting on a show for the night nurse?
“I heard you’re working in Griffin’s lab these days. How’s that going?” he asked innocently, but Kate’s sixth sense was on high gear.
Note to self: tell Lisette to stop talking about me with her lover. Lisbeth’s scowl returned, possibly mistaking Walter’s conversation for flirting. It’s not me he wants, Lisbeth. Calm down.
“It’s going very well,” Kate replied, wondering if she was lying to Michael’s face. Your guess is as good as mine as to how it’s going, she wanted to say, but of course, she didn’t. She was too busy trying to figure out what Walter wanted from her.
“He only hires the brightest and best to work with him, you know,” Michael told her. “That says a lot about you.”
“Well, both Lisette and I graduated Stanford with honors,” Kate offered. She wasn’t much of a braggart, but for some reason, she felt the need to prove herself to Walter. Prove both Lisette and myself to him. He sees a piece of ass, but we’re so much more than that.
Out of the corner of her eye, Kate could see Lisbeth turn purple with anger. Dr. Walter let out a low whistle.
“With honors? Both of you? I had no idea. Wow, beauty and brains. We didn’t have that luxury at John Hopkins,” he chuckled. “Our brainy girls were not anything to look at, I promise you that.” Kate tried not to grimace at his comment.
“Mr. Stein is stable but unchanged,” Lisbeth interrupted, and Walter nodded in acknowledgement, though he didn’t turn his attention away from Kate.
“Thanks, Lisbeth. Well, I have to get back to Mrs. Stein, Kate. I don’t know if Lisette mentioned this, but I often have parties on my yacht. I’m due for one soon, so rest assured, you and your lovely roommate will be on the guest list,” he told her, winking an eye at her before turning to bound off the way he came.
Did he just invite me to a party on his yacht? I really am in the Twilight Zone. What is it with the senior residents here? They start off as pricks and then suddenly do a one-eighty? Kate decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. If she and Michael Walter could be friends, it would make things a lot less stressful at the house when he came around. It would be one less thing to worry about.
She turned back toward the elevator, but not before Lisbeth called out to her.
“He’s married, you know,” the nurse muttered. Although Kate did not respond, she felt her heart sink slightly at the revelation. She wondered if Lisette knew that.
There was a very good chance her roommate did but simply didn’t care. Walter wouldn’t be the first married man she’d claimed. Still, Walter’s marital status had nothing to do with Kate, and she couldn’t help but hope she would be free whenever Michael Walter had his next party.
5
Dr. Walter strolled confidently out of Mrs. Stein’s room and into the adoring gaze of her family. He smiled reassuringly at them.
“She is doing very well,” he told the waiting group. The Steins had been in a terrible car accident, the senior Mr. Stein badly hurt and his wife escaping with moderate injuries.
“How is my dad?” Susan Stein asked worriedly, her hands fluttering toward her pearl necklace in a gesture of nervousness. Michael put his hand on her forearm comfortingly.
“I just got back from checking on him. He’s stable,” he said to the pinched-face brunette. “Recovery will be a steep road for him, but he is alive, and that is the most important thing.”
The entire Stein clan exhaled in relief.
“Yes, of course,” Susan breathed, giving him a grateful look. “Thank you so much for everything you’ve done, Dr. Walter.” He grinned at her, flashing his white, even teeth at her.
“I’m just doing my job,” he assured her, but Susan shook her head.
“No, you go over and above what any other doctor would have done,” she insisted, and her family nodded in agreement.
“It’s true,” her brother Roger piped up. “We have dealt with more doctors in our lives than we care to admit, and you have been so much more caring and attentive.”
Michael shook his head ruefully. “I’m sorry to hear that. Being a doctor is more than looking at charts and prescribing pills. It’s about nurturing—well, at least it is to me,” he said, marveling at the sincerity in his own voice. His contempt for the mortals was the worst-kept secret in the hospital, yet they never seemed to be the wiser. His bedside manner was second-to-none.
“From here onward, we will only come to this hospital for any of our parents’ care,” Roger declared, and Michael nodded solemnly.
“I’m glad to hear that, because your parents deserve only the best, and Carlingview only offers the best care.”
With tears in their eyes, they thanked him again, and he left them to stare after him in adulation.
Carlingview is going to have to start paying me a finder’s fee. This really is too easy, he thought as he ducked into an on-call room. I am going to be the best chief this hospital has ever seen.
Michael Walter had been at Carlingview for twelve years. He’d done his internship at a county hospital in Maryland, quickly earning himself a reputation as a kind, thorough physician before being offered a residency at the prestigious and private Carlingview. Michael had seized the opportunity, establishing himself in the same light as he had in Colesville. He became known as an earnest, dedicated doctor and family man who often boasted about his beautiful wife Karen and their two young boys. The fact that Michael was actually a jealous, philandering narcissist was kept well hidden from the general public, and he seamlessly climbed the ranks, hiding his affairs and affection for prescription narcotics easily with psychopathic charm.
No one ever suspected what Michael had done to achieve his goals. And no one ever will, he thought smugly, plopping onto a cot and sticking his legs up on the simply made bed, digging a Vicodin from his pocket and popping it into his mouth. Schwartz will be retiring next year, and soon this hospital will be mine, these idiots under my supervision.
The thought filled Michael with great satisfaction, and he closed his hazel eyes, thinking of the unlimited power that would be bestowed upon him. After all, it was all about the power, which had been denied to him within his pack when he had been overlooked as an alpha again. For centuries, Michael had tried to attain the upper hand among the ranks within the Enchanted, but there was just too much red tape, too many politics. It had taken him a long while, though ultimately, he figured out where the real power was: reigning over the mortals in the hospital. An Enchanted hospital, no less.
If I can rule here, I will have my foot in the door to overtaking the pack, and then, one day, to my spot on the Council of Seven. I can do a better job than Theo Veriday or any of those other fools any day.
When he took over Eli Schwartz’s long-time position as chief of surgery, changes would be made. He would have to see about getting rid of the incompetents on surgery and some of the older nurses. He would shift out all the mortals and replace them with his allies. The mortals were bringing down the reputation of the hospital.
Michael did not reconcile that his idea of
incompetence included those who openly defied his methods of practicing medicine. Or rejected him. It didn’t matter; the kingdom was at his fingertips if he played his cards right. He knew he was a shoo-in for the job, no matter what anyone else said.
Michael’s pager was buzzing, but he did not bother to open his eyes, rocking his crossed ankles as his mind wandered.
Schwartz would be a fool not to recommend me. I am charismatic with a stellar record. The staff adores me, the patients rave about me. Maybe I haven’t produced any ground-breaking research yet, but I will. Instantly, Michael’s sunny mood darkened as his thoughts fell onto his competition. Griffin doesn’t even want the chiefhood. He is too self-involved with his precious vein stints to care about what is happening in the hospital. He farms out all his surgeries, probably because he’s losing his touch. I’ve got nothing to worry about. The job of chief is mine.
His pager vibrated again, and Michael grunted silently. He glanced at the device and stifled a sigh. Mr. Stein was in a code blue—cardiac arrest. Michael wasn’t really surprised. He had been sure that the old man would perish after the extent of his injuries and was surprised he had lasted as long as he did. His visit to ICU had been more to satisfy his own morbid curiosity than it had been to appease Mrs. Stein.
But I’m glad I did go up there. It gave me an opportunity to work my magic on Kate Luthor. Admittedly, he hadn’t realized the gift that the pretty but meek fairy was until Lisette had casually mentioned her position with Griffin one night in bed. Suddenly, Michael knew what he needed to do.
For a third time, the pager went off, but he did not move. He was waiting for the inevitable page to tell him George Stein was dead. He didn’t feel like dealing with the overemotional Stein family again until it was necessary, and he was far too tired to pretend to give a rat’s ass about them. He had already wasted enough time catering to their caterwauling.
Michael closed his eyes again and felt himself drifting off almost immediately, feeling the effects of the narcotic seep into his bloodstream, a chaser to the oxycontin he had swallowed earlier that morning.