Gordon cocked his head.“Did you give him a sedative?Anything?”
“No.”Maxim gestured.“Just the food.And it doesn’t look like he’s touched that.”
Gordon nodded.“I want to look at his eyes and his mouth.His fingers too.And then I’m taking some blood, saliva, and hair.”
Adler snorted.“Well, he’s already drooling.”
He was.Maxim commenced manhandling his captive into an upright position.I know how to control violent prisoners without having a weapon at my disposal, but he more so resembles a drunk.Maxim had to hold the shifter’s head up by the hair when he had him in a sitting position.Gordon approached and grabbed the stool by the metal board in the wall that served as a desk.
Adler was perhaps an inch away from Gordon, his gaze focused on the other werewolf.“He doesn’t look sober.Is it possible he had something on him and took that?”
Maxim shook his head.“Not without Bryan knowing.”
Gordon hummed.“So, for werewolves, to get these symptoms through either a drug or withdrawal, you have to use a lot of whichever drug you’re using.Like,a lota lot.It’s why you always have to have a specialist there if and when you need to administer any kind of anesthetic to one.”
Adler nodded.“If it’s nothing too serious, we usually just tough it out.”
Gordon made an incredulous voice.“Not on my watch you don’t.Anyway.Daniel, I’m going to shine a light in your eyes.”
They were back in the elevator, and out of the corner of his eye, Maxim watched Adler hold Gordon’s hand, his thumb caressing the doctor’s skin.It’s as if he needs to self-soothe by touching his mate.Maxim tried to remember whether he’d ever done the same and couldn’t think of a single time.I was so very right about them.I’m glad I brought them together.
“This isveryweird,” Gordon said for about the seventh time since they had left the basement.
“You handled it so well, sweetheart.I’m proud of you,” Adler said.
Gordon tsked.“Not that.I mean… How?”He looked at Maxim.“How do you get someone from normal to…whatever that is?Honestly, if it hadn’t been you two who brought him in, I’d order a CT under suspicion of police violence.”
Maxim crossed his arms.“I have never seen anything quite like this myself.But let’s—”
The elevator stopped.This wasn’t the penthouse, but Heath’s office floor.Maxim hadn’t wanted to risk Raven running into either Gordon or Adler without being prepared, without agreeing, and in this very moment, the fledge had more important things to focus on.May my dusty memories help him along.
“Where are we?”Adler asked, slightly suspicious, probably on account of his protective instinct still being in overdrive.
Maxim sighed as he stepped into the hallway.“This is where all the numbers go to make little spreadsheets and inform the tax authorities of what we do here.I suppose this is also where our employees get paid, so that’s a good thing.Come along.Heath’s office is right through there.”
“Wow, he has an office?”Gordon hurried his steps.“Does he have a board with red string and conspiracy theories?Or a really big wall of screens?”
“Not that the tax authorities know of.”
One of Heath’s office workers poked her head out of wherever she slaved over files and things, but disappeared right away when she saw Maxim and the others.Do I not come here often enough?He wouldn’t plot to overtake my collection floor, would he?
Adler, all observant beta, looked around and sniffed the air.“Nice.No stale coffee here.That’s the thing about the station, that smell is ineverything.”
Gordon winked at him.“My office is nicer, right?You like how it smells there, don’t you?”
Maxim watched with rising glee as Adler stumbled and almost fell right over before finding his footing.“Sweetheart…it smells of you.Of course I like it.”
Gordon pointed.“Can you believe this?I need to get stronger cookies.I was wondering whether it was just me or whether the interns were having less fun this term than they normally do.I can’t have them work at the morgue and not have fun.”
Maxim clicked his tongue.“I shall put in a word with Morgan from the restaurant.If she can make our donors bleed, she can certainly bake your weed.Do you take chocolate chips with your drugs?”
Gordon nodded while Adler tried and failed to hide his embarrassment.“All the interns like chocolate.At least I think so.”
“Morgan will be delighted to dive into narcotic cuisine.”
Maxim pulled open the door to Heath’s office, mildly surprised not to see his son clicking away at the keyboard or poring over files as arcane as the Rosetta Stone had been to humans before they’d deigned to find the right vampire to translate for them.My darling son is plotting.Poor Raven.His fortitude is being tested, but I believe in him.Maxim took a deep breath.I believe in his strength.I believe that he will be free from the rawness of the pain, if not the scar.
“So what do we do with a shifter who’s clearly had his marbles twisted around like that?”Adler asked as they sat down in Heath’s southeast-facing lounge area.
