Read Shapeshifted for Free Online Page B

medical advice.
    I touched the skin on my shoulder where his coat had scratched against it. Hard to believe that the man who’d been dismissing me so analytically this morning was that passionate about saving his patients. And yet— There was a cough from the hallway outside that let me know I’d been caught snooping.
    “Sorry. I’m naturally curious.” I stepped back around the desk as Dr. Tovar came in. “What was all that about?” I asked, making guns with my thumbs and forefingers, and shooting them at the wall.
    “Turf wars.” He looked like he didn’t know how to explain it to me. He was angry still, but holding it in. I could almost see it surge underneath his skin. If he’d been a were, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see him change. He sat down, exterior calm, and I did the same. “It’s an election year. The current mayor’s cracking down on crime at the edges of our side of town. Less space, more pressure. It’s like putting the lid on a boiling pot.”
    “Do people come here like that often?” I turned one of my imaginary handguns to shoot my own shoulder.
    “Often enough.”
    “And you don’t call for outside help?” Might as well be fearless about questions; I’d already been unhired for the day.
    “There’s a reason they don’t call nine-one-one, you know.” The anger in his face relaxed to make his dark eyes look weary instead.
    “What if that’d been worse?”
    “Then I’d call. We’re a clinic, not an emergency department. I wouldn’t let him die over his or my pride.” He shrugged. “Do you bring gloves everywhere you go?”
    I nodded. “Hand sanitizer too. The world’s a disgusting place.”
    He agreed with a snort, and appeared to be studying the top of his desk, thinking hard.
    “Who is Maldonado?” I asked him.
    The question made him glance up at me. He began shaking his head, frowning deeply. “You saw things you shouldn’t have today, Nurse Spence.”
    While I might not have heard that particular line before, boy, had I heard others just like it. I held my breath.
    “I suppose you think I have to hire you now. Or you’ll tell people how I run things down here.”
    While I might not have been above blackmail for a good reason, getting a job was not one of them. “No. I don’t think that at all. I’m not judging you in the least.” His eyes narrowed as I went on. “I’ve had to work at some … interesting places before. Ones I couldn’t really put on my résumé.”
    His eyebrows rose. “Being a witness to attempted murder doesn’t put you off?”
    If he only knew the kinds of secrets I’d had to keep. “Without going into details—trust me. I’ve seen worse.”
    He tilted his head forward. “That’s funny. You look like the kind of person who goes talking to police.”
    “I’m confused—do you want me to be incredibly honorable and report you to authorities and not get hired? Or do you want me to be useful, morally hazy, and gainfully employed? Because personally I like the one where I wind up with a job.”
    At my protest, his face had the smallest flicker of a smile. “You do seem to understand some of our natural expediencies, and actually have basic nursing skills. Those things might be more valuable to me than you speaking Spanish, the way our summer’s going so far.”
    I squinted at him. “Are you offering to hire me?”
    “Yes. If you want it, against my better judgment, the job’s yours.”
    This was what I’d wanted, right? But now—like so many other times before—it wasn’t how I’d wanted it. Still, this place was my only link to Santa Muerte, whoever or whatever she may be.
    “Oh, so now you’re wise enough to be scared?” he asked, sounding smug.
    How could I even answer that? “I want the job.”
    “See you tomorrow then. At eight A.M. ,” he said, and pointed toward the door.
    I nodded. I was halfway down the hall when I realized he’d never given me an answer about Maldonado.
    *   *   *
    The