Chapter 81


    “Did you figure it out, Adam?”


    He’s quiet and standing at the bank ofputers in a different room in the medical facility. Everything


    is wh ite and ss and the space resembles something out of a pharmaceuticalmercial.


    I’m perched on a stool, watching him.


    “The results regarding your ca ncer aren’t avable yet. But I do think we’ll see a positive effect from


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    the ceremony.”


    “Is that your Doctor of Medicine degree talking, or just my friend being optimistic for me?”


    His smile is crooked, and I see that it doesn’t reach his eyes. So


    he wants to believe. But he isn’t sure either.


    “We can bring you back into my hospital in town and run


    additional scans.”


    “Not yet,” I say absently. I spin a test tube on theb table like it’s some kind of fidget toy. “And, Adam,


    when I asked if you ‘figured it out yet’ I wasn’t talking about the ca ncer.”


    His light eyes slowly raise to mine.


    I hold his gaze. “You know what I mean.”


    He looks away.


    I pause the spinning tube and set it back into the rack. “Why


    am I not a wolf, Adam? What’s wrong with me?”


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    “Would you quit staring at that screen and zooming in? It’s daytime and thermal imaging works, but not


    that great.”


    James is annoyed.


    Wolves run hot. And this is Montana not Florida. They’re way


    hotter than the external environment. But then…Leah is not a


    wolf.


    AARON


    “Get the drones back in position,” I say to James. “And I won’t have to mess with your optics.”


    I’ve been glued to this surveince system for thest two


    days. I can trace Leah’s movements through the house and


    within her room. She doesn’t spend a ton of time outside. She frequents one building on the west side


    of the main pack house. A medical facility if our schematics are correct.


    On the one hand, her limited exploration of Roberts’nds is good because I’m not real keen on her


    interfacing with her pack without a security detail around her. But on the other hand, it’s not a good look


    for her.


    It keeps her brother in his position of power and relegates her to the background.


    “What are you going to do about my sister?” James asks


    quietly.


    I think about that for a minute. We’re overdue to talk about


    the past. I’ve been selfish where Jessica is concerned. Keeping her close but not engaging her in a real


    rtionship. Thesest few years, she’s basically served to make Leah jealous.


    I’ve been a real di ck as far as she’s concerned.


    “I’m sorry,” I tell James.


    One brow wings up. “You owe that to Jess. Not to me.”


    Fair enough.


    James chokes on augh. “And would you look at that, she’s


    headed in.”


    I nce behind me. He’s right.