Every Were Gets A Mate

Chapter 31

Cade laughed, which angered me, but it faded when he wrapped his arms around me, giving me his full attention. "I'm sorry, Jess. I'm a stay-on-task kind of person. You are clearly better at multitasking. I think we complement each other. Together, we can do both."

My irritation was gone, and I smiled. "I agree, but I still really want to know the rest of the story. Who killed those three weres?"

"A male who had been banished from a Colorado pack to the south for attacking members of his own pack for seemingly no reason."

That made no sense. "What was wrong with him?"

Cade shook his head. "Mental problem, I suppose. You know we have our occasional psychopaths, just like humans."

I knew this too well. "What happened to him?"

"He attacked us when we got close to his campsite and was killed in the confrontation. We never got to ask him questions. But he was crazed, way too aggressive. He rushed at us, a large group he had no chance against. He didn't care about living, just wanted to do as much damage as he could to at least one of us before he went out."

"Was anyone hurt?"

"No, several shots reached him before he got close enough."

I frowned, wishing they had found out more about how the man got into that state.

Cade rushed to explain. "We knew just from looking at him that he'd have to be put down, for everyone's safety. This way, he got to go out the way he wanted."

I gave him a little smile. "I know. I was just thinking it would have been great to study him, to figure out what made him that way. Humans have MRI machines and psychologists we don't have." I realized I wasn't sure about that. Traveler was so different from Fury. "You don't have those, do you?"

"No, but you're right. I wish we did." Cade thought about it. "I don't know if anyone has considered it before. It's not the first time we've dealt with this sort of thing."

"You have healers, right?"

"Yeah, but no equipment to study brain function."

"Are there any were psychologists?"

"Not that I know of. Some go to college. A few healers have gone through medical school in recent years, but I don't think any concentrated in psychiatry."

College had never been an option for me. I didn't think any were could go. "How could they go to college? Isn't that dangerous? How did they keep the humans around them from noticing they were different?"

Cade shrugged. "They just have to be really careful."

This was hard to accept. "Don't medical students study each other?"

"I don't know. Why?" He smiled. "Are you interested in going?"

"Don't be silly. I didn't even finish high school."

"But you could."

He sounded excited by the idea, which just confused me. There was no reason to even think about it. I shook my head.

Cade gripped me tighter, serious and insistent. "You could go to college, Jess. If this is something you're really interested in, you could major in psychology, even go to medical school and become a psychiatrist."

I shook my head again. "Forget it. I was talking about someone else doing it."

"Why?"

"Because I couldn't—"