Visionary Wolf. Linda O. Johnston

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СКАЧАТЬ wonderful veterinarians.”

      Carleen’s sister—a sort of sister-in-law to Liam. That made Rosa feel somewhat better, although since they weren’t related by blood that connection wouldn’t keep Liam from getting into a relationship with her.

      But that wasn’t Rosa’s business, though he hadn’t appeared to care about Valerie in that way.

      Valerie resembled Carleen. Her silvery blond hair was shorter, though, and loose. She had deep brown eyes like her sister.

      “Welcome to town,” Rosa said, to be polite. “Do you work here, too?” She gestured around the restaurant.

      “I do right now,” the other woman said. “Look, you go ahead and place your orders, and then we can talk.”

      She must have said that because Liam and Rosa had finally reached the front of their line. But Rosa didn’t want to take the time to talk to Valerie, and hoped Liam felt the same way.

      Fortunately, Valerie disappeared, heading back into the kitchen—but then reappeared behind the counter, next to the guy who’d begun taking their order. She was the one to start entering things on the computer, and her counterpart, a twentysomething guy with a scruffy beard, didn’t look exactly thrilled about the help.

      Rosa wasn’t surprised that Liam’s order consisted of a double burger, rare—lots of red meat. She asked for several sandwiches, including burgers and a couple containing chicken. The one with the most beef she intended to provide to Drew in his canine form.

      When they were done ordering, Rosa immediately handed her credit card to Valerie over the counter. She’d already gotten it out and didn’t want to argue with Liam about it. She didn’t even look at him and was glad when Valerie took it from her and began to ring up their order.

      “I’ll pay you back,” Liam growled from beside her. She just waved in a neutral gesture. This was another thing not to get into a discussion about here.

      Valerie soon handed them the plastic bags containing their food. “Come back anytime, Rosa,” she said. “Bye, Chase. And Liam—when are we all getting together again? You know I’m only planning on being here for a fairly short while, so I’d really like us to see each other as often as possible while I’m in town.”

      “I’ll talk to Chuck about it,” Liam said.

      “Talk to Chuck about what?” said a voice from behind Rosa. Liam’s brother was there, maybe to say goodbye.

      “Having a family get-together,” Valerie replied. “Soon, I hope.”

      “Sounds good to me,” Chuck responded. “We’ll invite you over to our condo soon, bro. You, too, Rosa.”

      She couldn’t help but cast a sideways glance toward Valerie to see what she thought about that invitation. Carleen’s sister remained smiling, and it didn’t appear forced.

      Maybe Rosa was wrong about this woman flirting with her kind-of brother-in-law. Maybe she just intended to keep the family in contact as long as she did stay in town.

      “Thanks,” Rosa said, not committing to anything.

      But somehow the idea of spending more friendly time with Liam, not related to veterinary or Alpha Force issues, sounded good.

      For now, though, she was glad when Liam said goodbye to Chuck, then Carleen, who also joined them, and waved to Valerie behind the counter.

      Time for them to get busy with everything they each needed to do for the rest of the day.

      Liam refused to feel embarrassed or uncomfortable about the attention Valerie had leveled on him. The woman was attractive, sure. She was also a shifter, like her sister. She’d made it seem that flirting with him was second nature to her, though he had never encouraged it.

      But he always remained friendly toward her. She was, after all, a member of his family.

      “Nice people,” Rosa said from beside him in the car. Behind them, Chase shifted in his seat, clearly wanting to get into the bags of food that sat on the floor near Rosa’s feet.

      “Of course they are,” Liam said. “They’re family.”

      “Like Chase?” Rosa wasn’t exactly jesting. She’d told him she considered pet dogs to be family, and she assumed the relationship between a shifter and his cover dog had to be strong.

      “Yeah, kind of. Chase and I are pretty damn close these days.” Hearing his name, Chase sat back on the seat and made a low sound that made Liam laugh. “Glad you agree,” he said.

      As they continued on, Liam thought a bit about his brief discussion with Chuck. Yes, both he and Carleen had loved the way their shift went. Yes, the Alpha Force person who’d acted as their aide for the night had been just great: Sergeant Kristine Parran. The elixir had been amazing. As far as he knew, all had gone well from Alpha Force’s perspective. And, yes, both Carleen and he would love to do it again. Soon.

      Almost as if she read his thoughts, Rosa asked, “Are your brother and sister-in-law shifters, too?”

      “Yes,” he acknowledged.

      “Do they get to use your elixir?”

      Good and appropriate question, he thought. Without saying too much, he told her they were involved in an experiment being conducted by Alpha Force, in which they could be given occasional doses of the elixir on nights of a full moon.

      He was glad that Rosa and he had reached the vet clinic, since he didn’t want to answer any further questions she might have. Liam parked along the street. He intended not to just let Rosa out of the car. He planned to go inside and check with Denny about how things were going. And most especially, he wanted to see for himself how Drew was doing.

      He opened his car door at the same time Rosa opened hers. Her expression seemed to register surprise as she turned back to look at him. “I thought you were just dropping me off so you could get to work.”

      “Not till I check on Drew. Besides, we can wolf down our sandwiches together.” He grinned at his own pun, and she laughed.

      “Fair enough.” She bent down to get the bags as Liam got out to leash Chase and let him out of the back seat.

      As Rosa headed toward the clinic’s rear door, bags in hand, Liam let his dog sniff the curb and driveway, and when he was ready, hurried him to the entrance.

      The street had been fairly well lined with cars, so Liam wasn’t surprised, as he entered the waiting room, to see a lot of people there with their pets—everything from an English sheepdog to a couple mewing kittens in carriers.

      They all carried scents of their own.

      Since he didn’t see Rosa there, he figured he’d better let the receptionist behind the desk know he needed to catch up with the vet. But Susie, whom he’d met before, smiled and motioned Chase and him through the inner door.

      Rosa approached him from down the hall. “I just put our food in the break room, but let’s go check on Drew.”

      “Great.” Liam followed her to the room where he had last seen his superior officer. СКАЧАТЬ