“Any snow yet?” Eira asked the security officer, taking a peek through the sliding doors that led outside of Macconwood Memorial Hospital.
“Fifty-eight and not a flurry in sight,” the older man replied with a pleasant chuckle.
“Oh well, we’ve got another day,” she mumbled and waved goodbye.
The temperature was much too warm for the white Christmas Eira was wishing for despite it being December 23rd. Eira had just clocked in for her first ever double shift during the holidays in the breezy Jersey shore town she’d moved to in order to finish her residency. Excitement and nerves warred within her. Working in a hospital struck some as morbid, especially when she showed any enthusiasm for her chosen profession.
But Eira loved being a doctor, helping people, tackling injuries and disease, and beating the unholy piss out of the odds. A little violent, perhaps, but she was a Werewolf, not one of the nuns from St. Bernadine’s Catholic School where she’d attended through twelfth grade.
One more year, and Eira would be a board licensed Emergency Department doctor, specializing in sports medicine and diagnostics, and with any luck, she would be offered a position right there at Macconwood Memorial.
Eira had worked her butt off her last few years of medical school, trying desperately to earn a spot at the hospital where her Dr. Rayne Davis-Evangelos was acting Chief of Emergency Medicine. She had visited Eira’s graduating class and gave a seminar on what she did at the surprisingly busy New Jersey hospital. But that was not the only reason Eira wanted to work there.
Dr. Davis-Evangelos was a Werewolf, just like Eira. She’d sensed her supernatural side immediately, and after her talk, the prestigious female had approached Eira and encouraged her to apply. It was wildly flattering, and she made sure to tell her parents right away.
“Dad! Mom! You will never guess what happened to me at the lecture!”
Eira cringed at the memory of her excited shrieks after she had come home that day. She had been blessed with a caring and loving, if a little loud and large, family of Wolves. They’d been so proud of her after the news, but of course, her father had not been thrilled with her moving to, as he put it, “some mangy Wolf town”.
“Dad! Maccon City is the home of the Alpha, you know, our Alpha,” she reminded him.
“It’s still too far, Eira.”
“Dad, it’s like three hours. Hardly any distance at all.”
Her father was a little protective of his baby girl. No wonder, after having five strapping sons, her parents had finally given birth to a girl. First and last in the bunch.
Her family still lived there, in a brownstone in Brooklyn Heights. It was only a few hours away by car, but it had been so busy, Eira had not been back to visit since Thanksgiving.
“Doctor! We need you.” One of the Emergency Department nurses popped her head around the corner and motioned to Eira.
Here we go, she thought, focused and ready to attend to her next patient.