Wyatt didn’t answer him; he just stood with his arms crossed staring stonily at the Cardiologist.
Aleah pulled her arm out of the man’s grip and vehemently spit out, “Don’t you ever fucking grab me again. Do you understand me, William? Or Wyatt is going to be the least of your worries. No one touches me without my permission, and it’d be in your best interest to remember that. And just what are you implying, William? What the fuck is your problem?”
William leaned his right hip against the conference table, his sneer growing uglier “What the fuck is my problem, Aleah? I can’t believe you’re going to stand there acting all innocent and ask me that question.
The Cardiologist stood quickly, stalking his way around the female shifter, “I know I’m not the only one who sees that Fate has put us together and you’re off fucking this? God, Aleah, he’s not even in the same species of animal as you are. At least I’m pretty close to being the same. What game are you playing at? How much harder do I have to try to get you to look at me? To see me? Don’t you understand how I feel about you?”
Wyatt continued to stare at William, letting Aleah handle him as she saw fit.
The female shifter stood her ground while the Cardiologist continued to stalk around her, trying to intimidate her, her voice growing colder as she answered his question, “How you feel about me? Damn it, William, how many different ways do I need to show you that I have no interest in you that way? I’ve tried to be nice, to let you down easy. To be your friend!”
Throwing her hands up in the air in frustration, Aleah’s mouth sneer turned into a cruel smile as her anger grew, “But maybe I should have been a bitch from the very beginning with you because I can’t seem to figure out any other way to get it through your thick head! You make my skin fucking crawl! I can’t stand being around you! You think you’re better than everyone else and your attitude just sucks. As for species of animal, that has no bearing in this conversation. You have no idea what type of shifter I am, any more than I do of your other form, so you can keep that opinion to yourself.”
She held her hand up as William started to speak, “I don’t care what you are anymore. All I care about now is that you keep your distance. That means no more showing up at my door to walk to work together, no more coffee runs to get on my good side. None of that. We have to work together because we are on this team, but from this moment on I want you to pretend that you don’t know me outside of this hospital. Am I clear?”
The Cardiologist looked from Aleah to her lover still leaning against the wall, “Crystal. But this isn’t over. Not by a long shot, Aleah.”
He pushed past the Endocrinologist and headed out the door, presumably to set up the room that the Director had instructed him to do.
Wyatt pushed off the wall and took Aleah into his arms, “Remind me never to get on your bad side, sweets.”
She stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the lips, “I don’t think that’s possible, lover.”
He crushed her closer to his body, “Still, I will be keeping an eye on him. Just so you know.”
Aleah shuddered in her lover’s arms, “That might not be a bad idea. And after today I might need to move.”
The two of them broke apart, looking at each other somberly. She moved to the conference room door and held it open.
“We had better catch up to Dr. Morgan before he gets angry with us. Suddenly I’m not too thrilled to be on this floor for a minute longer. Besides I’m really curious about this vampire we’re going to be studying.”
Chapter Five
Dr. Morgan was asking the vampire about his symptoms when Wyatt and Aleah joined the rest of the team in the ER, “Where did you say it was hurting?’
The vampire watched as Aleah came up to stand beside the Director then turned his attention back to the doctor asking questions, “My abdomen. But it’s not a sharp shooting pain; it’s more of a burning sensation.”
Dr. Morgan jotted some notes down on his clipboard, “A burning? Is there any way you can describe this burning, sir?”
The vampire looked back at Aleah, his gaze glued to her throat, “It’s a burning, doc. There really isn’t much more description than that. Do you know how your stomach feels when you haven’t eaten all day?”
When the doctor nodded, the patient continued, “Well it’s a lot like that. At first, I thought that was the problem, but I’ve eaten. I’ve eaten a lot, and the burning is still there.”
The Director wrote something else in his clipboard and closed it up before turning to his team, “Dr. Macleod and Dr. Masterson, so nice of you to finally join us. Team, it’s time to make sure we have everything we need.”
He turned back to their patient, “Mr. Crabtree, we’re going to be moving you to a private room and running some tests so we can fix you up and get you on your way. And I want to put your mind at ease as you have come to the right place for medical treatment. This is the best hospital for the supernatural community to come for any medical issues they are having."
The patient gave a sigh of relief and closed his eyes as the team followed their boss out of the examination room.
The Director stopped in the hallway and looked at each of his team members, “We’ve been preparing for this day a little over six months, so I’m sure each of you knows what you need to do. Doctors Devlin, Bates, and Barlow, I need the three of you to head on upstairs and make sure Dr. Wolfe has prepped that room for us. Doctors Macleod and Masterson, I’d like the two of you to accompany me to check on our equipment.”
The three specialists sent to check on the Cardiologist shared a look then moved to the elevators in unison.
Aleah’s sensitive hearing picked up Deanna’s whispered words to her companions as they boarded the elevator car, “See I told you she was the Director’s pet. What is it about Aleah Macleod that has Dr. Morgan disappearing with her on his tail all hours of the shift? And now Wyatt Masterson is in on it?”
Alfred turned to look at the Director and the two doctors standing with him, “You don’t think she’s sleeping with both of them, do you?”
The elevator doors closed before Aleah could hear anymore. She felt the tears burning in her eyes, but she refused to let them spill over. Aleah had known that the other team members were beginning to feel threatened by her, but she had no idea that they considered her to be Dr. Morgan’s pet. And now they thought she was sleeping with the Director and Wyatt. When she looked at the man, she was indeed sleeping with she could tell by the anger in his eyes that he had also overheard what the three specialists had been discussing. Turning her gaze to the Director she was surprised to see a matching anger brewing in his eyes. The Endocrinologist placed a hand on Aleah’s shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. She looked up at him and leaned back, making sure there was full body contact, needing to feel his strength if only for a few minutes.
Dr. Morgan cleared his throat and smiled at the two doctors standing beside him, though the smile did not quite reach his eyes, “Don’t let them get to you, Aleah. You know what we’re doing is to keep everyone in our community safe. The humans are still scared of us, and even though some of them are starting to come around, there will always be those fanatics that feel we shouldn’t be allowed to walk the same space as them. We need to make sure every single one of us is safe from any of those humans that mean us harm.”
Aleah nodded with tears still stinging her eyes and her heart heavy with the knowledge that her co-workers where never going to like her, “I know, Doctor, but don’t you think it’s time to bring in the rest of the team? Not just because they feel you are giving me special treatment or that they think we are sleeping together. I think they can help us figure out what makes us all so different. Rosa’s a vampire so she will be able to help us immensely, not only with our patient but also with the tests. And Alfred is a witch so what we can’t find out through science he can use magic to help us. And Deanna, well I’m not quite sure what Deanna is but I know she’s paranormal of some k
ind. Not to mention the fact you have three shifters on your team: myself, Wyatt, and William. Isn’t it about time that we used all of the members to their fullest advantage? And I’m not talking about their specialties in medicine but their natural abilities.”
The Director looked from Aleah to Wyatt standing so close behind her, taking mental note at how close the two of them seemed to have gotten within the six months they had been working together, “I understand that you’re upset, Aleah, but I’m not sure if the whole team will understand, much less appreciate, what we are trying to accomplish for our community. Things will settle down, and once the dust settles, they’ll see that you’re not so different from them and there has been absolutely no special treatment being dished out. Now, let’s go down to the lab, fill Dr. Masterson in on all the details and discuss this more without having the humans on this floor eavesdropping on our conversation and adding fuel to the fire.”
Aleah looked around and saw that her raised voice had indeed brought a few onlookers to their conversations. She nodded and began walking toward the elevators, not caring if either of the men were following her or not. Aleah suddenly needed to be away from everybody so that she could think.
Wyatt hurried to catch up to her, grabbing her arm once he was beside her, “Slow down, baby. What was that all about? I mean this is a whole other side of you that I’ve never seen before. First you put William on notice, and I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, and then you practically attack the Director because of a few words spoken by people who barely know you? You usually handle things with a lot more finesse than you have today.”
She pushed the down button and watched the numbers as they counted down to the first floor, fighting the frustration that was rising, “It’s nothing, Wyatt. Dr. Morgan will tell you everything that we’ve been working on for the good of our community and you’ll be in the know. You’re going to see how hard it has been for me to be doing all of this on my own. I just feel that we should include everyone on the team, including William, because secrets destroy everything that is good. Having everyone working on the plan will make things much easier, not to mention faster.”
The Endocrinologist nodded as the elevator dinged, signaling its arrival, “That makes sense, but I don’t think attacking the Director is going to get him to agree with you. Sweets, you need to ease into things like this with someone who is set in his ways.”
Aleah sighed, “You’re probably right. Look let’s just head down to the basement and meet Dr. Morgan. The way things were left back there I’m pretty sure we’re going to be picking up that conversation where it was left off anyway, so I’m just going to take a few deep breaths and regain my composure on the ride down. Maybe if I come at him logically instead of emotionally, he’ll start really thinking about what I’m saying.”
Wyatt nodded, “There’s the girl I fell in love with.”
She ducked her head as she felt the blush begin to climb up her cheeks. The two had been dating since the team was first brought together, but he could still cause her to blush and that was one of things she loved about him.
They both entered the elevator car, Wyatt pushing the button for the basement.
As the doors closed, Aleah asked, “Did you see where the Director went as I walked off?”
The Endocrinologist shrugged, “I wasn’t really watching Dr. Morgan, sweets. I was more worried about you. But if I had to guess, I would say that he was talking to the humans who were listening in on our conversation, trying to get them to understand why you were feeling so frustrated without them losing any faith in him or his experiments. I’m sure we’ll see him at the lab.”
Aleah watched the numbers count down as she nodded her acknowledgement, tapping her foot impatiently, “Yes, I’m sure that’s what he’s doing.”
Wyatt took her hand and gave it a small squeeze, “Things are going to work out the way they work out, sweets. But you need to know you will always have me at your side, no matter the outcome.”
He pulled her into an embrace and leaned down; grazing her mouth with his own as the elevator doors slid open.
Chapter Six
Dr. Morgan was already at the lab when the couple arrived, “Crisis averted with the human staff that overheard our little discussion earlier. That being said, the next time you have something to say to me, or would like to confront me on any matter, I think we should do it in a less public place.”
Aleah opened her mouth to speak, to apologize for how cross she had been when bringing up the matter of what her teammates thought of her but the Director held up his hand, quickly cutting her off in his haste to finish what he had to say, “I’m not done. I understand your frustration and I apologize for what your teammates think of you, but they aren’t ready to know about the experiments conducted down here. The only reason I agreed to allow you to bring Dr. Masterson in is because your iron levels are bordering anemic and I can’t have you getting sick. Now, you said that Dr. Masterson is a shifter, and I believe you, so here he is being brought into our lab and our research.”
Wyatt sat down at the microscope, taking a look at what was under it, “Whose blood is this?”
Aleah walked up behind him and ran her hand through his hair while watching the Director, “It’s mine. We haven’t had any volunteers come forward to join the study, so I’ve been providing blood and tissue samples for Dr. Morgan to study for his research. The humans haven’t given him much time to relax with all of their demands on the difference between supernatural and human.”
Dr. Morgan took the blood sample out from under the microscope and set it aside, “We need to provide them some answers within the week or they will shut the whole thing down. And now that we have gotten our first real patient, it would do more harm than good for us to lose our funding.”
Wyatt turned to look at the Director, “You’re trying to figure out what makes us so different from the humans and haven’t found any answers?”
The Director scowled at him, “I didn’t say that I haven’t found any answers, now did I? I just said that I hadn’t provided them with said answers.”
Wyatt looked from Dr. Morgan to Aleah, “You have answers and you’re sitting on them?”
Aleah took his hand, “It’s not like that at all, lover. We have answers as to why we’re so different from humans, but those answers also provide the humans with our weaknesses. What we’re trying to do right now is separate our weaknesses from our difference. Do you understand?”
Wyatt nodded, “Yes, I think so. If you give the humans the answers you have, right now, they would have the answer to hurt us; or at least some of us anyway. That makes sense and is a good plan actually.”
Dr. Morgan nodded, “You were right, Aleah, he is a quick study. I’m glad you talked me into including him on our team.”
The Director moved around the lab, gathering vials and needles, “I need you to draw some blood on Dr. Masterson, then head back up to the fifth floor and check on our patient. I want to run some tests on your honey before I join you.”
Aleah nodded, taking the offered vials and syringes, “Sure thing, Doctor. But what should I tell the team when I arrive upstairs?”
The Director was looking at his notes, “Hmm? What? Oh, tell them nothing. Take the patient’s blood and have it sent down here by a lab tech. Try to stay away from the other team members as best you can so there are no confrontations. I don’t want you to accidently say something because you’re angry.”
Wyatt watched as Aleah wrapped the elastic tubing around his upper arm, “I’ll be with her, Director, so there is no need to worry about her saying something you will regret later on down the road.”
“Pump your fist so I can find a vein, and I don’t need a babysitter,” Aleah snapped at both men as she prepped the syringe to draw Wyatt’s blood.
The Hematologist was getting really tired of everyone treating her like she was going to break at any moment and everything was going to fall apart because she was going to let somet
hing slip about the research that was being conducted by the Director and her.
Wyatt began pumping his right hand, wincing at the anger in his lover’s voice, “I never said I was babysitting. I merely said that I would be there with you.”
The female shifter inserted the needle on the syringe into the male shifter’s arm, attaching the vial after she made sure the vein was tapped, angrily stating, “Still sounds like you’re going to babysit me.”
She untied the elastic tubing and pulled it off his arm, replacing the first vial with a new one, frustration evident in her voice, “Let me tell you something, Wyatt. I don’t need anyone to keep me in check. For any reason. I know my job, I’m damn good at that job, and I’m not going to let my temper or hurt feelings jeopardize what we’re doing here, so you and the Director don’t have anything to worry about. I’m not going to do anything to cause anymore strife.”
Wyatt winced as Aleah moved the needle in his arm, “I know that sweets. You don’t have to sell your good intentions to me.”
He gave a subtle nod towards their boss who was at the microscope muttering under his breath, “He’s the one you need to worry about.”
Aleah smiled as she removed the needle and set the two vials of blood on the counter next to them, “Dr. Morgan is a good guy; he’s just set in his ways and takes his work seriously. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a good quality in a doctor but sometimes, I wish he would let some new blood take control once in a while.”
She disposed of the syringe in the sharps container above her lover’s head and placed a small cotton ball on Wyatt’s arm before she wrapped it with some tape bandage wrap, “You can take that off in about fifteen minutes. Give me five of those fifteen to get these samples to the Director and we’ll head upstairs to check on our patient.”
Wyatt nodded, “Go do what you have to do. I’ll be here when you get back.”
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