“Only when that damned Wolf is around,” she muttered.
She must have managed to catch Ely by surprise, because she could have sworn the doctor’s lips twitched with the beginning of a smile.
“I should have the blood and saliva tests completed soon.” Ely frowned. “I don’t expect a mating though.” She inhaled slowly. “There’s no scent of it, and no signs of it.”
“Don’t look so disappointed,” Mica chided her in relief. “Can you just imagine being mated to that Breed? He’d make me crazy, Ely.”
“They all make all of us crazy,” Ely assured her with a tentative smile. “But they’re just men, Mica. You should realize that by now. Or do you, like others, still believe that Breeds are all animals?”
“Give me a break, Ely.” She almost laughed at the comment. “After all these years do you actually believe I would even consider such a thing?”
It was utterly laughable. She’d practically lived at Haven since the day it had become the Wolf Breed settlement. Before that, she’d spent more time at Sanctuary than she spent at home some years.
Her father had helped Cassie’s father, Dash Sinclair, in many of the rescues of the more hidden labs that had created and imprisoned the Breeds.
“I don’t know, Mica. You’re twenty-five and you’ve never so much as gone to dinner with one of the male Breeds. Despite the invitations you’ve received since you moved from your father’s home.” Ely shrugged briefly, her expression less trusting than it had been before her life was threatened nearly a year before.
“So I’m automatically subconsciously prejudiced against the Breeds, and Breed males in particular?” Well, this was the last thing she had expected from the doctor. One who had known her almost as long as she had known Cassie.
“You’re attractive, heterosexual, and you date human males often. It was a natural conclusion to draw.” Ely wasn’t defending herself, but neither was she backing down.
“Yeah well, most men aren’t as arrogant as Breed males, and I don’t care much for being ordered around. Breeds like ordering people around, Ely, as you very well know. And think about this one.” She eased up on the gurney, swinging her legs over the side gingerly as irritation flared within her. “There are plenty of men in the military who have asked me out and I turn them down as well. Are you going to accuse me of being prejudiced against the military now?”
Ely’s chin lifted. There was that Breed arrogance in the other woman. Her nostrils flared as her expression became detached, her normally warm brown eyes emotionally remote.
“Perhaps Jonas’s research into your sexuality was faulty. Are you homosexual?” Then her eyes twitched as though on the verge of widening at some horrifying thought. “Are you and Cassie involved sexually rather than simply friends?”
Mica just stared back at Ely, uncertain whether she should be angry or amused.
“Ask Cassie.” Mica slid gingerly from the gurney and headed to the bathroom, where she had stored her clothing before donning the paper gown she had been given earlier to wear during the examination.
“Wolf Breeds are possessive, even when they aren’t in mating heat,” Ely warned her, following behind her slowly until Mica stepped into the dressing room. “Having any lover, even another woman, would be unacceptable to him.”
Mica rolled her eyes as she felt the instinctive distancing of her emotions. The subconscious knowledge that she was talking to a Breed with a heightened sense of smell. One created and trained for the science and the medicine she practiced. Mica was aware of the instinctive drawing back and the suppression of her emotions, which would make their scent much more subtle and harder to detect.
Cassie swore that the only time she could be certain of what Mica was feeling was when she slept, when those walls she’d built up over the years were thinner. Not dropped, but not as secure as they were while she was awake.
“Mica, ignoring me doesn’t alter the situation.” Ely’s voice hardened as Mica pulled her clothes on slowly, trying to ignore the pain in her ribs and the tenderness of her muscles as she dressed.
She should have known better than to come down here with Navarro. She should have known better than to come to Ely for the examination period. There was a reason she had always gone to her own human doctor. Because she didn’t have to worry about this incessant nosiness the Feline Breeds seemed to possess in much higher levels than Wolves. And Wolves were too damned nosy as far as she was concerned.
Still, she ignored Ely and finished dressing, wondering if there was any way to slip out of the dressing room and bypass the doctor completely.
Had she moved away from the door? Mica was almost too wary to open the door and check. There would be no playing it off if by chance Ely was still standing at the door. What excuse could she give her for simply peeking out and then closing the door firmly once again if she was still out there?
There wasn’t one.
She inhaled slowly before releasing the breath and opening the door.
Ely wasn’t standing there.
She was across the examination area that had been sectioned off, at one of the machines she used for whatever tests she ran. Vials and bottles of liquids sat at her elbow as she worked while she was recording something on a clipboard.
Ely’s head lifted, her expression thoughtful as Mica closed the dressing room door behind her.
“I’ll just be going now.” A bright smile and a wave over her shoulder toward the door, Mica indicated her intentions with breezy unconcern as she headed for the exit, intending to escape as quickly as possible.
“Not without an escort.” Ely’s tone was calm and unconcerned as Mica gripped the handle and tried to pull the door open quickly.
Smothering a curse and a twinge of pain, she turned back to stare across the room at the doctor’s back.
“I’m quite certain Phillip Brandenmore is contained now,” she said with little hope that it would do her any good.
“I’m sure he is, but those are Jonas’s orders, and I tend to try to follow them now.” The doctor’s voice was carefully calm, almost too controlled.
At times like this, Mica would have loved to have all those Breed senses without actually being a Breed.
“I sent my assistant to the examination room next door to collect blood, saliva and semen samples from Navarro when he’s finished with the vid-call from his alpha. I can have Lawe and Rule escort you up to the main house if you like. But just as a warning, unlike previous visits, you’ll be confined to the house unless a team can accompany you outside.”
Of course she would be. It didn’t matter that she had practically been raised at Sanctuary. The recent betrayals by their own kind had damaged the trust they had even in one another, let alone a human they had practically helped raise.
“Lawe and Rule will work fine,” she agreed.
Whatever it took to get the hell out of the examination room and away from Ely’s too perceptive gaze and probing questions.
Mica watched as Ely lifted her hand to her ear, her fingers obviously activating the communications earbud.
“Lawe, Ms. Toler is requesting an escort to her rooms if you’re still available,” Ely said. “I’m certain that won’t be a problem, but if it is, then he can come to me,” she stated a few moments later. She listened, then said, “I’ll let her know.” She turned her attention to Mica. “Two minutes.”
Okay, she might make it two more minutes.
“Lawe seems concerned that Navarro will be upset that you’ve left.” Ely crossed her arms over her breasts as she leaned against the counter and stared back at her.
Maybe she wouldn’t make it two more minutes before she became completely pissed off with the lot of them.
“Then Navarro can take it up with me,” Mica fumed. “He’s not my mate and no one sure as hell made him my boss.”