***
“I do realize that you’re the Packmaster, but every patient I treat receives my absolute confidence,” the Relic told Austin in his proper British accent.
Austin was a tad jealous because, as it turned out, the Relic who had delivered Izzy’s babies had sent her partner, Edward, in her stead. Shifters don’t have much need for Relics since we don’t catch diseases and heal through shifting. They were only necessary if one of the kids got hurt or something didn’t heal right. Austin wasn’t thrilled to have a man giving me a medical exam, and maybe part of that was because Edward was rather dashing in a BBC Masterpiece kind of way. Dirty-blond hair with a stubborn kink, small eyes beneath brows sloped down as if he was deep in thought. His Grecian nose gave him character and made up for his thin lips, which were slightly angled. He also didn’t look older than thirty, so that didn’t instill confidence in my mate.
“Austin, it’s fine. Just let him do his thing,” I said from my seat on the bed.
Austin lingered in the doorway, staring Edward down. “I’ll be right outside the door. If I so much as hear one whimper—”
“I assure you, she’s in capable hands.” Edward swung the door shut in Austin’s face and whirled around. “Firstly, I would appreciate if you addressed me by my full name or surname, whichever you prefer. I never did care for Ed. Secondly, how long ago did you have your first spell?”
I scooted up while he dragged a chair to the edge of the bed and sat down, crossing his legs. “Two weeks ago.”
Without asking, he took my wrist and held two fingers over my pulse. “And you never had anything like this happen before?”
“No. I didn’t even faint the first time Austin did the dishes.” When Edward didn’t laugh, I said, “That was a joke.”
“Yes,” he replied, staring at his watch. Then he let go of my wrist and lifted each of my eyelids, shining a light back and forth in front of my pupils. “Any other unusual symptoms?”
“None that I can think of. What’s your last name?”
“Graves.”
“That’s not very inspiring for a Relic.”
He opened a black bag and took out a needle kit. “Back to your symptoms. When I ask if you’ve noticed anything unusual, I don’t mean in human terms. My partner has made me aware of your history growing up human, so I need you to think like a Shifter. Have you experienced any peculiar… behavior? Anything out of the ordinary. Let me assure you that anything you disclose will remain private.”
All I kept staring at was the giant needle he was prepping. After a moment, he placed it on a cloth and tied a strip of rubber around my upper arm. I winced, focusing on his question to avoid tossing the needle across the room.
“I don’t know. I’ve felt nervous lately, but there’s a lot of stuff going on right now in the house that could be the cause. I spent hours baking this morning, and I guess it wore me out.”
Edward slapped my arm and squinted, sliding the needle in. “You have beautiful veins.”
“I hear that a lot.”
He cleared his throat, focusing on the task at hand.
Hmm. Edward didn’t have much of a sense of humor. But he wasn’t unpleasant and kept a professional bedside manner.
Once my blood filled the vial, he removed the tube and expertly pulled out the needle. He replaced it with a cotton ball and bent my arm. I watched with curiosity as he cleared off the table next to me and placed three small bottles of clear liquid on the felt cloth. Then he opened a case and set a rectangular glass plate down, smearing a sample of my blood in three rows. Edward carefully removed the caps from each bottle, one at a time, and replaced them with a top that allowed him to squeeze a drop onto each blood smear. He watched it for a moment and then began humming.
“Are you new?” I asked.
He gave a lackluster reply. “I’ve been in practice for thirteen years.”
“Why did you come here?”
“Hard to find clientele in England. There are more Relics than you can imagine, and we tend to hand down clients through the family.”
“So you left all your clients behind?”
“Actually, my parents spent a great deal of time procreating, so after they retired, my older siblings took all their clients. Sometimes it’s not advantageous to be the youngest in a large family of Relics. That left me with plenty of opportunities,” he said, adding something blue to my vial of blood and then giving it a shake.
I’d never really given it much thought. Relics inherit knowledge from their ancestors who often specialize in different Breeds, but without clients, their skills go to waste. They worked as doctors, therapists, and even advisors. Immortals and other Breeds liked to keep their secrets within the same family, so they usually formed a close relationship with only one.