Page 7 of Tempest

“Something is preventing him from healing,” she said, glancing back at the eagle. “Something I’ve never seen before.”

“Okay. What does that mean for him?” Liam asked, crossing his arms over his wide chest.

Cash unconsciously mimicked his stance, watching the witch as she rubbed at her face.

“I don’t know. He’s definitely been dosed with something,” she said, her tone a little frustrated, though not with them. She didn’t like not knowing the answers to problems. Her scent was thick with worry too, and that made Cash’s apprehension grow.“Whatever it is, it’s not wolfsbane because it’s not reacting at all to the antidote. Even if it was some strain we hadn’t seen before, the generic antidote would have some effect. So it’s something else, something that has… invaded his body and is suppressing his healing or stopping it from kicking in somehow.”

“Will he wake up?” Liam asked.

Cash’s heart jumped into his throat.

Fern shrugged. “We’re not sure. If we can figure out something to help his body fight it, it might be enough of a boost that his healing will be able to overcome whatever it is. But we need more answers.”

Pops shuffled over behind her. “I can run some tests on his blood here, but a proper lab will be able to tell more.”

Liam nodded. “Do what you need to do to try and keep him alive and get him feeling better.”

They both nodded and moved back over toward the table, Fern telling Pops she was going to call in some more coven members to come and help. Pops pulled out his phone to call a friend who worked in a lab. Liam clasped his shoulder briefly, and then he headed out the door, telling Cash to update him frequently.

Cash’s eyes stayed on the profile of the eagle, his feet unwilling to move from their spot of vigil.

Where could he have come into contact with something neither Fern nor Pops had ever seen before? Something that was preventing his parahuman healing from kicking in and fighting off the infection? He wasn’t sure, and he didn’t like that.

“Is it contagious?” he asked once Fern and Pops finished their calls.

Fern looked over at him and shook her head. “I doubt it. I think it was done on purpose to hurt him specifically.”

Cash’s fists clenched at his sides. “To kill him,” he clarified.

“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “To kill him.”

Chapter 3

Ore

Lavender…

There was something…

Safe… He was… safe now…

Lavender… The lavender was safe…

He had to remember… He needed to tell someone…

Goddess, he hurt…

Ore struggled to focus, his body burning from the inside out. There were voices around him, some close, some farther away, but he couldn’t understand what they were saying. Fear began to build inside him, his limbs too heavy to move, and then it shot up to terror when a hand grabbed his shoulder.

He screamed inside his head, wanting to fly as fast and as far as he could to get away. He was in danger. He needed to get help. He needed?—

Lavender.

He tried to turn his head toward the scent, but he couldn’t move. Not at all. But it permeated through his nose and into hisbrain, seeping all the way through his body and calming him. It was so strange. He had never been ruled by scent before. Birds weren’t. Their sense of scent wasn’t as strong as canine and feline shifters. It was their eyes that were most advanced. But just having the smell of lavender surrounding him wherever he was eased his panic and fear back down to a manageable level.

A low, husky voice said, “You’re all right. I’ve got you.”

When that hand on his shoulder squeezed, it felt so big, like with just that one hand, Ore could be scooped up and held high up into the sky. It made him feel safe, just like that lavender scent. He wanted it closer. He wanted it coating all of him. He knew that he could trust whoever belonged to that scent. His eagle knew it, and he always trusted his eagle.

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