Page 50 of Cats Never Fly

ThenSimonturned his attention to the road and guided the vehicle back on to the street again.Iknew the hellhound was right to ask to have my bump checked out, butIdidn’t enjoy the interruption.Andnow thatSimonwas becoming more comfortable with being affectionate,Iregretted it even more.

Soon, though,Iwas going to get him alone and show him how muchIliked the idea that he could be my mate.

Insteadof driving us to a clinic,Simonentered a residential neighborhood.Thehellhound was waiting outside a stereotypical new build house with an ugly attached garage and concrete driveway in the front.Althoughperhaps it wasn’t entirely stereotypical… the house was a lovely terracotta color, which clashed with the peacock teal house to one side and the flamingo pink one on the other.I’dnever seen a neighborhood with such vibrant colors before.Iloved it.

Thehellhound waved us into the empty garage.Assoon asSimonshut off the ignition, the door rolled down, enclosing us inside.I’dnever had much to do with doctors—as a dragon, my body was tough—butI’dseen enough movies andTVshows to know this doctor’s visit wasn’t like anything in the human world.

“Doc?We’rehere,”Vancalled out as he knocked on the door connecting the garage to the house.Heducked his head inside. “Doc?Youhere?”

“Takethem intoTwo,” came the reply from somewhere deeper in the house.

Vanguided us down a narrow corridor to the right room.Heknew this place well.Didhe live here?Idoubted it.Notwith the way he knocked and called out to the doctor.Buthe moved through the place with a familiarity that suggested he spent a fair bit of time here.

We’djust settled into a small exam room—houses didn’t normally have rooms like this, so the whole set up struck me as odd—when a man came in.Withfour men, the compact room was full.Toofull.

Thedoctor’s hair was a mess of untamed curls.Hishair wasn’t long enough to seem intentionally long, butmore like he forgot to get it cut regularly.Hereminded me of whenIowned a lounge close to a university a few decades ago.Hehad the grad-student-who-survives-on-no-sleep-and-buckets-of-caffeine appearance, although the doctor was obviously well past his grad student era…Hejust hadn’t moved on with his personal aesthetic.Butthe smile on his face when he spiedVanmade him almost handsome—if you were into the slightly unkempt type.Basedon the mirroring smile onVan’sface, that was exactly the hellhound’s type.

“Whydon’t you takeSimonand go to the waiting room?”Thedoctor set his hand onVan’sforearm in an easy gesture that suggested he was used to touching the hellhound.Although,Idoubted these two were lovers—and after watching people in my job for… well, forever…Ihad a pretty good sense of these things.

VanandSimonboth looked at me.WhenIdidn’t protest, they shuffled out of the room.

“Hi.Myname isXanderRoberts.Pleasecall meXander.IknowVanalways gets so formal about these things, but meh…”Hewaved his hand through the air. “Andyou’reOgdenWalsh, correct?”

“Yes.”Iheld up my arm and pointed at the bump. “OfficerHellhoundthought you should look at this.”

Xander’sface lit up at my nickname forVan, but when he spotted the bump, his focus zeroed in on my arm. “Oh, how interesting…Canyou tell me how you came to get this?”

Itold him whatIknew, which wasn’t much.

Henodded and made curious noises asIspoke.WhenIfinished, he scratched his chin.Hisassessing gaze was intense.

“Andhow are you feeling after the summoning?”

Thequestion made me squirm.Iglanced at the door as a sudden urge to leave swept over me.Ididn’t think anyone here would use the information against me, but talking about my vulnerabilities with a strange supe was unsettling.ButVanwouldn’t have brought me here if he didn’t trust this doctor.AndSimondid too.

“Weak,”Iwhispered. “Ican shift, but nothing else.Ican’t access my fire or my electricity.I’mphysically weaker than normal.”

“Hmm…”Xandernodded. “Ithink we should do a full exam.Bloodsamples, the works.Itis likely too late to identify what was used to incapacitate you—Vanshould have brought you here immediately—but we should try.Ialso think we should make sure you have nothing else wrong with you.Somethingthat you might not have noticed yet.”

Iblinked at him.Iglanced at the bump on my arm.That’sallI’dexpected the doctor to care about because we were supes.Supesrarely became ill. “Isthat necessary?”

“Necessary?Perhapsnot.Butwouldn’t you rather be sure?”Hespoke gently and quietly. “Yousaid it yourself.Youcan’t be sure what happened while you were unconscious.”

Hewas right, and now that the question had been asked,Ineeded to know the answer.

Anhour later,Xanderlet me know my results were as they should be.Nolingering drugs or magic.Noother obvious violations.Noother bumps.

“Butdon’t push too hard to access your magic,”Xanderwarned. “Shiftingshouldn’t do any damage, but don’t strain yourself by trying to do more.Letyourself heal naturally.You’llbe stronger for it.”

Ifrowned.Sure,Iwas happy he thought this was temporary, but sitting back and doing nothing didn’t sound appealing.

“Now, let’s look at this,”Xandersaid as he examined the bump. “Yes.Hmm…Interesting…”

“Doc?”

“Doyou want something for the pain?”

“Whatpain?”