Free Broken: Hidden Book Two by Colleen Vanderlinden Page A

exiled gods, too.”
    “Christ.”
    “Probably not that one.”
    He snorted, shook his head. He was about to say something when the buzzer went off. “Probably your next appointment. Representative from the Grosse Pointe shifters, coming to pay respects, offer their loyalty. The usual. Word got around about what you did to Branford. Expect the ass-kissing to increase.”
    I nodded. He got up and answered the door. I took a deep breath, tried to put my calm, polite mask back on. I’d played cool with Brennan. I was terrified of what would happen when the gate opened, and I was tired of dealing with the turf wars happening among the supernaturals. I felt like I was failing in every possible way. God, my ass.
    I could feel when the shifter entered the loft. Powerful, as far as shifters went. Not as powerful as Brennan, but he was easily the most powerful one I’d ever met, and no one else was even close.
    I looked up, slightly surprised to see a woman entering my office. Shifter packs, while generally pretty egalitarian, usually sent males to do things like this. I’d just gotten used to it. I studied her as she walked in. Tall, blond, and leggy. Gorgeous. And she was clearly torn between paying attention to me as Brennan introduced us, and staring at Brennan. I took a breath.
    Brennan looked at me. “Angel, this is Anastasia Ryan, of the Grosse Pointe shifters. Miss Ryan, the Angel.” With that, he left and closed the door behind him. Anastasia walked over and shook my hand.
    “It’s so nice to finally meet you. Thank you for seeing me,” she said, and it was clear that she actually respected me. A bit of awe, nervousness.
    “Nice to meet you, too. Please, have a seat,” I said. She did, crossed her legs and sat there patiently. I felt like a toad sitting in the same room as her.
    “I am here at the behest of my father, who is the leader of our pack,” she began. “He would have come himself, but my mother has been ill, and he thought it better to send me than to delay visiting you.”
    “I am sorry to hear about your mother. Is there anything I can do to help?”
    She stared at me. “Um. Actually…” she looked away, and I sensed nervousness in her.
    “What is it?”
    “She has not yet seen a doctor, because Normal doctors are useless with our physiology. There is a doctor who specializes in shifters, but he’s out of Toronto, but his schedule is insane. I think we’ll lose her before she even made it to her appointment with him.” She paused. “My father does not know I told you about this. I was not supposed to. I was supposed to come here to pledge our loyalty. Which I am!” she said, looking up at me. “You can call on us, any time, and we will be honored to assist you, no matter what. But I’m asking this as a daughter. Is there any way you can help my mother?” she finished.
    Damn it. I’d wanted to dislike the shifter when I’d seen her look at Brennan that way (something I didn’t want to think about too deeply, actually.) But she was sincere, and honest.
    “Do you have the doctor’s name and contact information?”
    She nodded, pulled her phone out of her bag. She scrolled for a couple of seconds, then handed the phone over to me. “That’s him.”
    I nodded, picked up my phone, dialed. A receptionist answered first, and I asked to speak to the doctor. Got the usual, “he’s not available right now” that I knew I would.
    “I really do need to speak with him. Can you tell him the Angel, from Detroit, is on the line, please?”
    “I really don’t–”
    “Just tell him. I’ll hold.”
    A sigh at the other end of the line. “One moment, please.”
    I sat, holding the phone against my ear. Anastasia watched me, nervous, hopeful. “Don’t get your hopes up,” I said. “This might not help at all.”
    “It’s better than we’ve done so far,” she said. “We couldn’t even get him on the phone.”
    “Doctor Hylar,” a deep voice said on the line.
    “Dr. Hylar, this