2

“I need to leave. Next week. For a little while.”

“To look for her?”

Damn, he really was on the button today.

“Yeah.”

“So it’s about her. Not anything else?”

“No Armi, and that’s the truth. It’s all about her. Everyday is a fucking struggle and I made Delta a promise that if we hadn’t found her by this full moon we would spend a little while looking. Even if she isn’t close by, at least if I look he might get off my back.”

“I get that. Ozzy is fucking obnoxious as well. I’ve been thinking about doing something like that as well. An informal visit to the surrounding packs to revisit any contracts and such but also see if my mate’s there.”

“It’s exhausting isn’t it?”

For a moment, I actually see my brother falter. The man who carries himself with a stone expression, an infallible exterior as he must have in his position. I haven’t seen a crack in his exterior since we were teenagers. But standing before me now, I can see that he really is as worn down and miserable as I am. We just have different ways of dealing with it.

“Exhausting doens’t even begin to cover it.”

His head is down and he whispers it but I hear him loud and clear.

“I know.”

The silence fills the room, but its comfortable and I realize that I may have given him less credit than he deserves.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what was up.”

“You know you can tell me anything right? We are brothers. And of all people, believe me, I get it. All of it.”

“I know, and likewise.”

The door swings open and in walks an irritated Clarice who is talking before she even steps in.

“Mr. Jones is here with his son, who once again was tree climbing, they just want to make sure it healed proper, Doctor.” the way she said Doctor could have frozen the hearts of most men. Clearly she wasn’t happy with my rejection earlier. But she had walked in without knocking and walked straight to my desk to drop the folder on it without realizing Armi was in the room. She shot me a look that made me raise my eyebrows at the pure hatred and disrespect but as she turned to leave her eyes met Armi’s.

“Oh, Alpha!” her hand went to her heart and she looked like a kid with her hand in the cookie jar, caught in the act. “I didn’t see you there, I was just.. um.. bringing the files to Doctor Remington for the new patient… and,  uh I should get back there with them.” With that she practically ran from the office and once the door closed we both burst out laughing.

“Sweet apples and pie you REALLY pissed her off.” Armi says with a chuckle.

“She called me by my full name, as if that would appear innocent.”

We both laugh for a bit and then Armi comes over and extends his hand which I meet with my own.

“Leave tomorrow. I’ll find someone to fill in.”

I look closer to see if he is serous and everything in his eyes tells me he is.

“I will. Thank you Armi.”

“Anytime Remi, I know you’d do the same for me.”

With that, he walked out of the office and Delta began howling in my mind. But before we could leave, we had to go deal with the Jones kid and his 12th broken arm this year from his mission to climb to the very top of the tallest tree in the forest.

-3 months later-

“Is there anything else you may need for the new wing? You’re sure this is everything?”

I purposely allow a sigh to slip past my lips and sit in the air between us as Armi reaches my last nerve. He finally looks over to me and I give him my best bored look I can muster.

“Fine, I’ll leave you alone. I just want this to be perfect,” he says, throwing his hands in the air and shaking his head.

It’s been three months since the first trip I took to try to find my mate. I couldn’t up and leave the clinic because as it turns out, Armi couldn’t just find someone to fill in for me. So I was leaving for long weekends at a time. It would take me longer, but at least I was looking. I’d take what I could get, even if Delta was still being an impatient asshole.

Last month Armi approached me about  adding to the hospital. He had gained the funding for it, and wanted to ask my opinion. It was desperately needed so I agreed, but it meant I hadn’t traveled in a few weekends. I was trying my hardest to give him 100% of my attention and effort but he was a bit much lately.

“Alright princess, relax. It’s going to be great. I already have all the supplies lined up for delivery this week, some of which already arrived. The beds are here, the new desk is being finished tomorrow. And I have interviews lined up with two new nurses and a pediatrician. All of whom come recommended from G-pop himself.”

“Good, I trust his judgement.” Armi nods.

pop was an older dude. A reliable source of information for us about other packs and the human villages. He was a werewolf and technically wasn’t a part of any pack, but somehow was apart of all of them. He was peaceful, lived in a cabin in no man’s land near the human village and in return for all the packs allowing that, he became the source of information for us on the humans as well as harmless information between packs, like which of the others may have nurses I can hire who can move here.

“No need to worry brother, it is handled. Why do you seem so… tense?” I looked him up and down and despite having spent most of the day with him this was the first time I saw how disheveled he was. “Are you wearing the same clothes as yesterday?”

His eyes widen. Geez, I should have known.

“Do I even want to know who she is?”

“You don’t know her. She was human. But it was weird man.”

“I do not want details about your sexual escapades.” I interrupt with my hands held up between us.

“Nah, not that. I have a bit of a system, don’t judge, for the morning after. A spiel, if you will, that I tell them. It lets them down easy, gets them on their way, things like that.”

“Unbelievable.”

“Anyway, but I was at her place last night, so this morning I wake up, see her come out of the bathroom fully dressed, and I begin the spiel but the edition that doesn’t  involve the “Get out of my house part” since I’m in hers. I get through it all and she just nods her head and says ‘k, I’m gonna make some eggs, want some?’ and then walks to the kitchen and makes breakfast. I get dressed, come down, she hands me a plate and a coffee and sits down at the table. We sat there and talked, as if none of the night before or the spiel happened. After we eat, she stands up, tells me she has a busy day so I can see myself out, and then walks back to her room and leaves me there.”

“So you’re upset because…”

“I’m not upset. I’ve just never had a girl tell me to see myself out. I’ve never had someone not want more from me. I’ve never had a girl make me fucking eggs after I told her I didn’t want anything more from her. It was just, flustering… for lack of a better word.”

“Maybe she didn’t want anything more from you. So she wasn’t bothered by your spiel.” I counter.

“hmm.”

“Do you ever want to see her again?”

“Oh hell no, it wasn’t that kind of a thing.”

“Then let it go, what does it even matter. Find a new one tonight.” I can’t believe I actually said that, but lets be real, whether I advise for it or against it, he is going to find another one tonight.

“Yeah, I wish more girls took it like her though. I mean, its nice when they are a big upset they can’t stay with me, but it’d also be nice if they all knew I didn’t want anything serious.”

“Can we continue this later? I have interviews with the nurses and I need to get the office set up.” Actually I desperately just wanted out of this conversation but I did have interviews. They just weren’t till later.

“Yes of course, let me know if you think of anything else you need for the new wing.”

I turn and head back down the hall towards the new wing. Construction finished last weekend and now was just the final touches. I busied myself organizing the new storage room for all our non-medicinal necessities while I waited for the time to tick down until the interviews. Once I finished that, I headed over the new receptionist counter. I had thought about making Clarice the receptionist, but technically that would be a demotion and she was a good nurse so I needed to hire a receptionist as well. One more thing, I thought.

I was alphabetizing the records when the devil herself appeared.

“Doctor, one of the nurses is here for her interview.”

“Thank you Clarice,” I said without turning around. I finished the folder in my hand, sliding it into the P’s and then facing them. Much to my pleasure, Clarice had made herself scarce and there was only a woman I didn’t know standing there.

“Hi, my name is Cora.”

“Hi there, I’m Doctor Remington, but you can call me Doctor Remi.”

Cora was in fact a wolf, and she was probably in her 60’s. She was aging like a wolf though, so she still looked 35. I had memorized her resume and knew her background. She was mated, had three kids that were full grown with families of their own. She had been a labor and delivery nurse which is what interested me the most, as our pack grows we have more and more births here each year. And she has nothing but positive references.

“Nice to meet you Doctor.”

“If you don’t mind, the hospital is empty at this wing as its the new one and I thought we could just sit here at the reception and talk.”

“Oh of course, that’s perfectly fine with me.” she says waving her hand and bringing a stray chair over be across from mine.

We chatted for nearly an hour, but I knew within the first 7 minutes I was going to hire her. She lived up to her resume, plus she had a personality we desperately needed here. Happy, charismatic, mothering.

“Well Cora, if you can start next week, we would love to have you. Is it commutable though for you? Or would you need to move packs?”

“I think that the most reasonable way would be to move. I’ve already spoken with my Alpha and he was very understanding about it and the opportunity. We have a daughter who mated to a wolf in this pack, so we visit quite often anyway and would be with family.”

“Oh wonderful! Alright, well Alpha Armani is available to meet up tomorrow, so if you want to head home and tell your Alpha and mate about it, then we can get the paperwork and oaths started right away.”

“Thank you so much Doctor.”

“My pleasure Cora, I look forward to working with you.”

I shook her hand and she turned with a sweet smile on her face and walked back out the way she came. I smiled out of nothing but relief. One down, two positions left to fill. Cora was going to be Head Nurse though, despite how much that would piss off her devil-ness. Cora has the experience and the finesse that Clarice was still missing and wouldn’t get through anything but more years. Cora was best suited and with her I would be able to leave more because I could leave the hospital in her capable hands.

“Excuse me, the lady at the front sent me back here to find the Doctor?”  

I was buried under the desk right when the voice spoke and I mumbled under my breath at the timing. I brought my head out but before I could speak I made eye contact with the face of the woman who was leaning over the desk, her weight supported by it as she peered over to see me. She had a soft smile on her face but it was her eyes that made my voice catch in my throat.

Solar eclipses.