Tangle of Need

I’m open to anything that might help her. Sascha—I’ll give you a call and we’ll arrange a time for you to drive up. It might be better to wait till we can see if Ashaya and Amara’s formula is having any effect.

One of the senior techs has been in this week and recalibrated the equipment we’re using to monitor the patient, so we’ll see even the slightest blip of consciousness.


FROM: Tammy<[email protected]>

TO: Lara<[email protected]>

DATE: Sep 3, 2081 at 2.02 p.m.

SUBJECT: Life

I didn’t get a chance to talk to you about this while I was at the den, but I hope you’re not letting this situation with Patient A consume you, Lara. I know how hard it is not to get emotionally invested—most of the time pack healers have no choice—but we both know that’s not healthy, especially with this patient, given her prognosis.

I’m worried about you. Call me.


FROM: Lara<[email protected]>

TO: Tammy<[email protected]>

DATE: Sep 3, 2081 at 3.15 p.m.

SUBJECT: re: Life

I just tried to call, but your phone went to voice mail. I think you must be at the boys’ hockey practice. (Lord, how adorable do they look in those miniature uniforms?! I don’t know how you bear it.)

I’m okay, really. Walker and the kids keep me grounded, and Walker’s so protective, he literally carries me out of the infirmary if I’m being stubborn about resting. I’m not joking—he threw me over his shoulder the other night! Said I’d already gotten my warning.

I have to admit I might have snarled (okay, yes, I did), but I figure that’s healthy when my rational Psy mate suddenly turns into a caveman. And here I thought I’d have it easier than all of you mated to dominant changelings. Shows what I know.

Lara

p.s. The snarling didn’t last long. I have no willpower when he goes all strong, silent, and possessive. Just call me Woman of Goo.


FROM: Tammy<[email protected]>

TO: Lara<[email protected]>

DATE: Sep 3, 2081 at 3.27 p.m.

SUBJECT: re: re: Life

You are so crazy for your Psy, I can see the silly smile on your face right now. :-)

Nate mentioned to me the other day how he and Walker agree completely when it comes to “taking care of” their healers, even if we’re “totally unreasonable” about it, and—when I got over the urge to smack him—I decided to kiss him instead. We lucked out, babe.

Apparently they’re bonding. Nate dropped by the practice to see the boys, and I’ve been informed we’re all having dinner tomorrow night. I’m not sure if we should be scared about this development, but I can’t wait to see you so we can talk properly.

Here’s hoping Patient A responds to Sascha’s attempt.

Tammy

p.s. Attaching photos of my gorgeous little troublemakers from their game this weekend. Jules only got sent to the penalty box once, and Rome actually stayed in the game rather than coming off in solidarity. I’m happy to say that tightly knit as they are, they’re also turning into fierce little independent men.



<sent via mobile datacomm>





Chapter 24


HAWKE LOOKED AT the document BlackSea had sent through a few minutes ago and tapped Riaz for a consult, since the lieutenant had had multiple face-to-face contacts with members of the unusual “pack” while he’d been in Europe. He caught Riaz on his way down from the higher elevations, had to wait forty-five minutes for him to arrive.

“Had lunch?” he asked when the other man walked into his office. It was half past three, but he hadn’t had a chance to eat.

Riaz sprawled into the chair in front of Hawke’s desk. “No, but I won’t fade away.”

“I might.” Putting through a call to the main kitchen, he asked one of the kids on after-school kitchen duty to bring over two plates. “Pasta okay with you?”

At Riaz’s nod, he added in a request for dessert and grinned at the pert response of the head cook, Aisha, when the juvenile on the phone conveyed the request. Hanging up, he handed Riaz a copy of the BlackSea docs. “What do you think about this?”

Unlike most changeling groups, BlackSea wasn’t composed of one particular species of changeling, but was a conglomerate of all water-based changelings. Several worked on Alaris, the deep-sea station located in the Pacific Ocean, not far from the Mariana Trench, though the station personnel were by no means solely changeling.

A large number of BlackSea’s people had normal occupations—in cities located by the sea or near large bodies of fresh water, depending on their individual species. There weren’t, however, any water-based changelings in the greater Bay Area, or along the California coastline. Given SnowDancer and DarkRiver’s heavy dominance in the region, BlackSea’s people had given it a wide berth, not wanting to inadvertently cause a territorial skirmish.