Shit.
“Whadja forget,Kath?”
A man in a white lab coat emerged from the back room. He was short and slight, with dark hair and enormous blue eyes, like an angel, or one of those creepy little figurines a grandma might collect—though I couldn’t say for sure, since my grandmother had preferred collectinghusbands, at least after my grandfatherdied.
He’d stared at me for a second in silence, no doubt taking in the fact that I was several inches taller than him, half again as heavy, and covered in blood, but I’d give the kid this much, he didn’t hesitate to walk forward, his eyes on the bundle in myarms.
“What’s going on?” hedemanded.
“Abe at the Imperial said you’re the vet?” I was desperately hoping that hewasn’t, that he was some vet trainee and there was an older, more competent person who’d come out and save theday.
“Yes,” he said, killing that hope. “I’m Julian Ross. Is that a Saw-whetowl?”
I blinked. “I have no idea what kind of owl it is. I found it in the woods. Is it… canyou…”
The man—Julian—looked up at me, and those blue eyes were absolutely resolute. “Bring it into the examroom.”
He didn’t hesitate. While I brought the bird in and laid it on the exam table, he’d gathered a bunch of equipment and gotten to work, talking to me the wholetime.
“It’s called a saw-whet owl because apparently it sounds like a saw being whetted,” he said. “Which is amusing, really, because I’m way more familiar with the sound this bird makes than I am with the sound of someone sharpening a saw, but things keep their names long after the names are useful,huh?”
“I… yes, Iguess.”
“Hmm. It’s a female. Poor thing. Any idea what happened toit?”
“A bunch of birds, crows I think, were pecking her to death.” I sounded outraged, because I was. Still. Ridiculouslyso.
He shook his head sadly. “Did you know a group of crows is called a murder? Another name that people don’t understand much anymore. Crows can be a bunch of thugs. They’ll gang up on another bird, like this owl, even though owls don’t usually prey onthem.”
“They do it for no reason?” I asked. “I thought everything in nature had areason.”
“Eh. You watch too much television,” Julian said, giving me a smile that softened his teasing words. “Or maybe thereisa reason, but scientists don’t know it yet. I could come up with sometheories…”
I was distracted, completely. I’d never met a human like Julian Ross before. He had no idea who I was—not my name, or the balance in my bank account, not what I’d done for a living, or any part of my ridiculous history. He didn’t even know whether I could fuckingpay him. And yet he was working on this bird—this wild animal—like it was the most important thing he’d ever done in hislife.
He kept up the soothing patter of conversation for what felt like hours. It was fascinating shit—like if an episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Nature Planet had a baby—and I learned a lot, though I didn’t really retain much, but I don’t think he expected me to. It was his presence I foundsoothing.
I fell asleep in the hard, plastic chair in the exam room, and only woke when he shook myshoulder.
“Hey! Everything’s fine. She’s okay,” he said, when I blinked at him blearily. “It’s a little after eleven, and she’s resting right now.” He winked. “No visitors yet. You can bring her flowerstomorrow.”
“She’s okay?” I repeated, focusing on theessentials.
His eyes softened. “Yeah, she’s gonna be fine… Uh.” He tilted his head to the side. “You know, I don’t even know yourname.”
“Daniel,” I said. “Michaelson.”
“Nice to meet you, Daniel Michaelson.” He smiled, and… shit, he was handsome. Like a sunrise at eleven o’clock at night, his smile was that warm, that bright, thatunexpected.
If I were into guys, I mean. Which I wasn’t. Atall.
“Listen, I’m going upstairs to my apartment to change my clothes and make some coffee. Come up have a cup before you drive home? Driving while half asleep isn’t a greatidea.”
I frowned. “But what about… thebird?”
“I’ve got her,” he said simply. “I’ll check on her. I’m used toit.”
“Okay.” I nodded and pushed to myfeet.
