I can’t speak. Can’t breathe. Can’t do anything but stare at the impossible thing happening right in front of me.
Then, just as quickly as it started, the change reverses. The fur recedes, the claws shrink back into ordinary fingernails, and within seconds, his hand looks completely normal again. Like nothing happened at all.
“Shifters are real.” He gestures at himself. “I’m one of them. So is Ruby, and Patricia, and most of the people you’ve met since you got here.”
My mind races through the past few days, trying to reconcile what he’s saying with everything I’ve observed. The strange language my patients use. The way people talk about the pack like it’s more than just a figure of speech. Skylar’s panic when I asked about town lore. Ruby’s slip on my first day when she said “pack.”
“This is crazy,” I say with a shaking voice. “You’re telling me I’ve been living in a town full of werewolves for three days and nobody thought to mention it?”
“Patricia was supposed to tell you before you started. I don’t know why she didn’t.” Connor’s jaw tightens briefly. “Maybe she assumed you already knew, or maybe she was waiting for the right moment. Either way, you deserved to know from the beginning. I’m sorry you had to find out like this.”
I stand up so fast I nearly knock into him. My heart is pounding, and my thoughts are a jumbled mess of denial and disbelief and something that feels uncomfortably close to fear. Everything I thought I knew about this place, about thesepeople, about the patients I’ve been treating… All of it is crumbling.
“I need air,” I manage. “I need to think.”
“Fern—”
But I’m already walking away, leaving Connor standing alone in the garden while my entire understanding of reality shatters into a thousand jagged pieces.
Chapter 6 - Connor
Nic’s call comes before I’ve finished my first cup of coffee.
“How’s our guest settling in?” he asks.
I set down my mug and lean against the kitchen counter. “There’s been a development. She found out. About us.”
A pause. “Found out how?”
“Her patients were talking about wolves and shifting. She started asking questions and cornered Skylar in the break room. I had to tell her the truth before she decided the whole town was delusional.”
Nic exhales slowly. I can picture him pinching the bridge of his nose the way he does when he’s frustrated. “You told a human about the pack without consulting me first.”
“There wasn’t time. She was already piecing things together on her own. Would you rather she thought we were all suffering from some kind of mass psychosis? That wouldn’t exactly inspire confidence in her new employer.”
“How did she take it?”
“She said she needed air and walked away. I let her go.”
“And you haven’t spoken to her since?”
“Not yet. I was planning to check on her this morning.”
Another pause, longer this time. Through the phone, I can hear Luna’s voice in the background, though I can’t make out the words. Nic mumbles something back to her before returning his attention to me.
“Feel her out,” he instructs. “See where her head’s at. We need to know if this is going to be a problem.”
“She’s not going to be a problem.”
“You sound confident about that.”
I am confident, though I can’t fully explain why. Something about the way Fern looked at me yesterday, even as her world was crumbling. She wasn’t hostile. Scared and confused, yes. Overwhelmed, definitely. But there was no anger in her eyes, no disgust. Just a woman trying to process something impossible.
“She’s a good person,” I state. “She came here running from something bad, and she’s been nothing but professional since she arrived. Finding out her patients are werewolves doesn’t change who she is.”
“Let’s hope you’re right. The lottery is tonight. I don’t need any complications.”
The reminder sends a jolt through my gut. Tonight. In a few hours, I’ll be standing in the Hollow, waiting to hear which woman fate has chosen for me. The thought makes my coffee taste like ash.
