The man grinned.“Of course.My name’s Jimmy.”
Thomas blinked, unsure why Jimmy was telling him that.“All right, Jimmy.Well, we’ll take care of the bird, so you don’t have to worry about anything.”
Jimmy looked around the room.“This is what this place does, right?Takes care of wounded animals and stuff?”
“It is.We’re an animal sanctuary.”
“So you have animals living here?”
“Some animals do live with us permanently.We try to rehabilitate them and release them into the wild as much as we can, though.”
“And what kind of animals do you have here?”
“We welcome everyone.”Thanks to Chance’s generosity.The pack alpha funded the sanctuary, so they didn’t have to make it profitable.
Jimmy nodded.“That’s cool.How long have you worked here?”
Thomas had no idea what was going on.Usually, the people who dropped off an animal were either out of there as quickly as possible or focused on finding out what would happen to the animal they’d brought in.They didn’t ask about Thomas’s personal life.They didn’t care how long he’d worked here or why.Why would they?
“Everything okay here?”Rowan asked from behind Thomas.
Thomas was relieved.He wasn’t sure what to think of Jimmy, but he wasn’t about to give the man any personal information.
“We just got an injured pigeon.We should take it to the vet.”
Rowan nodded and peeked into the box.“I already warned Dr.Reeves that we were coming.She’s waiting for us.”
“Good.”Thomas turned toward Jimmy.“Again, thank you for bringing the bird in.We’ll do everything we can to release it in the wild as soon as possible.”
Jimmy looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but Thomas turned away.He wouldn’t say that the man was creeping him out, but hewasweird, and he didn’t like it.Besides, he had other things to do.He needed to take the bird to Dr.Reeves.The sooner he did that, the better the chances that the bird would be okay were.In the end, that was all that mattered, and it was the reason Thomas was here.He wanted to make sure that these animals had a fighting chance.Maybe it was because he was a shifter and his life had been hard, but if there was anything he could do to help innocent animals, he’d do it.He could give this pigeon the love and care he himself had been missing for so long.
* * * *
ROWAN GLANCED AT THEclock on the break room wall and realized it was almost lunchtime.His stomach rumbled, reminding him that breakfast had been hours ago.He’d been so focused on learning the routines and helping with the animals that the morning had flown by.But now that he thought about it, he was starving.
He grabbed the last of the clean food bowls from the drying rack and stacked them with the others, then wiped his hands on a towel.As he turned toward the door, he caught sight of Thomas through the window that looked into the medical supply room.He was hunched over the counter, squinting at a bottle in his hand.
Rowan frowned.He’d noticed that Thomas looked tired this morning—hell, he’d practically bitten his head off earlier just for making too much noise—but seeing him in the fluorescent light of the supply room, Rowan could see just how exhausted he really was.There were dark circles under Thomas’s eyes, his shoulders were slumped, and his movements were slow, like he was fighting just to stay upright.It wasn’t the first time he looked tired, but Rowan didn’t think he’d ever looked like he was about to keel over the way he did now.
Rowan hesitated.He didn’t want to hover or make Thomas feel like he was being watched, but something about the situation made his instincts prickle with worry.He walked to the open door of the supply room and leaned against the frame, crossing his arms over his chest.
“You okay in here?”
Thomas didn’t look up.“I’m fine.”
His voice was steady, but Rowan didn’t miss the way his hand trembled slightly as he set the bottle down and reached for a syringe.Thomas was preparing medication for one of the animals, something Rowan had seen him do a few times before.He watched as Thomas drew up the liquid, his brow furrowed in concentration.
That was when Rowan saw it.
The measurement on the syringe was wrong.Thomas had drawn up more medication than he should have.Rowan was sure of it because he’d watched Thomas do this yesterday, and he was certain the dose was supposed to be much smaller.His heart sank, and before he could think better of it, he stepped forward and reached out.
“Wait.”
Thomas froze, his hand hovering over the bottle.He turned to look at Rowan, his expression wary.“What?”
Rowan gestured toward the syringe.“I think that might be too much.I’m pretty sure the dosage was smaller yesterday.”
Thomas’s eyes dropped to the syringe, and Rowan saw the moment realization hit.The color drained from Thomas’s face, and his jaw tightened.He set the syringe down carefully on the counter, like he was afraid he might drop it if he wasn’t careful.
