Chapter 3
Creed
I caught Aurora before she hit the ground, swinging her up in my arms and glancing around trying to figure out how to handle this… And not land in way too much hot water. Security came racing towards me and I said the only thing I could think of.
“It’s not my fault.”
The guy slowed down and nodded, his partner already radioing in. “We know, Creed. Ms. Reed—we knew to be on the lookout for Andrew Graves. Someone thought they got a glimpse of him but wasn’t sure—we know.”
Relief filled me. “He tried to abduct Aurora.” I swallowed loudly. “I need someone to handle this with my PO.”
Kindness filled his eyes which surprised me given how big of assholes most of the hospital had been to me.
“Ms. Reed will handle it. Really, don’t worry.
” He looked past me and narrowed his eyes.
“I’m not sure if that camera would have caught it all, so—we’ll take him into custody and sort it all out. ”
He went to take Aurora from me, but I took a step back which made them both go tense.
“She asked me to save her before she fainted,” I explained, fibbing but not really. “I don’t want her to wake scared and…” I shrugged.
“Fair enough,” he accepted after a moment.
Ms. Reed came racing down the hallway a moment later, rage filling her eyes when she locked in on Andrew on the ground. Then she met my gaze. “Damn, I’m jealous you got to hit the piece of shit.”
“He went to hit Aurora. I had reason.”
She snorted. “I wouldn’t have turned you in if you just slugged him because it’s a Tuesday.” She sighed and rubbed her hand over her face. “Okay, back to my office. We need to finish our conversation and—how did she end up here?”
“From what we saw on the cameras, she got turned around and was circling,” the security guard told her.
I nodded, knowing I’d picked up her scent that way. Normally, my lion was shit for tracking, but he knew Aurora’s scent well after weeks of lunch and… We were worried about her.
“Did you find her like this or—” Ms. Reed asked, and I quickly explained for all of them what I’d walked up on and had happened. “Okay, then let’s not make a scene on the way to my office. We can sneak over to security.”
She looked like she might take Aurora from me but then seemed to sense that I wasn’t going to let go and sighed, waving me to follow instead. I did, and then she was amused when we were in the large office with a ton of monitors and people watching them.
“Are you just going to hold her?” she asked.
I gave her a bored look. “She weighs like two pounds. She was scared. I don’t want her waking up in a strange setting and thinking she was ditched when she asked for help.” I swallowed loudly under her piercing gaze. “I know how much that sucks.”
“It does,” she agreed. “But this is about to get crazy, so how about setting her on the couch over there and staying by her. You’re going to want your hands free.” She snorted. “I do when the shit hits the fan.”
She was way more real than I would ever have thought.
I nodded and went to do that but then held her closer when someone came flying through the door and was vibrating with too much.
“This is Xavier, Aurora’s bodyguard,” Ms. Reed explained.
“Still?” I drawled as I eased down and set her on the sofa.
“I deserve that,” the man accepted, letting out a slow breath when he saw Aurora was safe. “But things are complicated.”
“Uncomplicate them,” Ms. Reed ordered, sounding not happy either.
The man sighed and rubbed his hand over his head. I felt bad for him when he explained. Basically, while he was waiting for Aurora, security alerted him that someone might have seen Andrew Graves and he wanted to take a look, so he was actually in the security office when everything started.
He confirmed it was Andrew and was trying to get in touch with Ms. Reed since she was with Aurora and… From there, the clusterfuck. Aurora had gotten confused in her upset and—ASH was a maze. I had worked there for months and still had to refer to the map on my phone at least twice a week.
Ms. Reed accepted that as well before looking at one of the higher-ups in security.
“I need what you have sent to Theresa Reed. She’s handling all of this.
Right now, we need to know if Andrew Graves was even allowed to be here legally.
That would give us the best chance to throw the book at him and help Aurora. ”
“We’re already looking into that,” he replied, wiggling his phone at her.
“Good, thank you.” She focused back on me and opened her mouth, but the door flew open again and my boss and a few doctors came through the door.
Including one of the attendings of the emergency department who had told me to live like I was dead and be grateful for the janitor job or he’d send me back to jail.
He looked amused like I was in trouble until he put the actual pieces together and Ms. Reed was upset with him… Then my death was in his eyes.
“As of this moment, you’re suspended, on unpaid leave while we investigate why employees we handpicked to be in the parole program to give a new life have been working in maintenance when trained to be EMTs and—”
“What?” another doctor bellowed. “How the fuck did that—”
“I just found out, Alan,” Ms. Reed sighed, rubbing her face. “Actually, Aurora did and brought it to my attention. So we need to figure this out and—”
“Wait, I’m not taking the fall for this,” the attending said. “Everyone knows it’s a bullshit program that—”
“The fuck it is when I fucking started it,” Alan reamed him, shocking the doctor.
“Yeah, it’s my program that I got approved in North America.
I went through hell to get it through Congress and a president to sign it.
All the time people threaten to kill it because felons shouldn’t be first responders or kick shifters out.
“But if they’re a shifter who fucking held it together through prison, then they can handle being a first responder and there are always, always exceptions to the rules.
We handpick them—completely dig into their pasts and validate why they deserve a new life and a real chance to rehabilitate! It’s not bullshit.”
“Forgive me, sir, but it has been the whole time I’ve been here,” he argued. “Fitz said it right in front of you when I was new here and—”
“No, we’re not playing the game of blaming everything on the guy who got in trouble and kicked out on an apology tour just because people think I won’t push back,” Ms. Reed cut in. “If you throw him being my former lover in my face next, I’ll—”
“I’m not that petty,” the guy sighed. “But I’m also not just throwing Fitz under the bus to—”
“You know she’s the head of the fucking hospital, right?” I cut in, rolling my eyes when the attending gave me a confused look. “You’re deferring to that other doctor with ‘sir’ and respect and she’s his boss. She’s everyone’s boss here. I’ve been here like two seconds and I know that.”
Rage filled his eyes. “I’m not taking shit from some fucking criminal, and now I plan on making a call to your PO about the shit you started—”
“Oh yeah, you’re so innocent in all of this,” Ms. Reed drawled, moving her hand to my chest and backing me up, even if I hadn’t stepped forward.
I glanced down at her hand and then met her gaze, clearly saying it wasn’t necessary. She studied me with a funny look on her face and shook her head before focusing back on the attending.
“Look, I know what conversation you’re referring to and trying to use as your bullshit,” Alan told the attending.
“It was that one guy Fitz had a problem with and he was clear about that. The asshole warlock was connected and basically bribed his way into the program under our noses. His whole resume was bullshit and Fitz was calling him on it.”
Ms. Reed frowned. “I remember that guy. We booted him and it was a huge problem with that coven.” Her eyes went bug wide. “Are you saying everyone from the program has been forced into maintenance since then?” She turned to my boss and he flinched. “How could you allow this?”
He sighed and shot me a look, but it wasn’t pissed, more confused, before focusing back on her.
“They were put under my hierarchy by HR, Ms. Reed. I’m sorry, but I wasn’t looped in on the original program or the inception.
The hospital attorney at the time said we had to employ them and that was it, but after someone made a mess of the program, it wasn’t worth the risk. ”
“He might actually have done it to help or meant for the moment and with other issues it fell through the cracks,” Alan grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. “We both didn’t like him, but he was a huge advocate for the program.”
“Right, his cousin was one of the first people to go through it,” Ms. Reed muttered. She rubbed her hands over her face. “What a fucking mess. Okay, let’s get a meeting with the ones getting screwed and get them on the right path. And clearly, we need new people overseeing it—”
“Forgive me, Ms. Reed, but the four of them in the program are by far my best workers,” my direct boss interjected.
“I’d need three people alone to make up for Creed.
” He nodded when everyone focused on him.
“He busts his ass. Always. Always on time, works hard, lunch break, back to work on time, and then gets more work done than anyone else.”
I gave a half shrug. “I’d offer to stay late, but my PO is a hardass. He looked for reasons to write us up, and getting back after time is his favorite kind.” I rolled my eyes. “‘No one gives overtime to ex-cons. You’re getting into trouble so don’t fucking lie.’”
“Okay, my next headache to handle,” Ms. Reed drawled.