Page 18 of Shifter's Homecoming

“Rise and shine, Fluffy,” Troy said from somewhere close by. Troy always had been a master at scenting if someone was awake.

Trent rolled onto his back on the cot. “I’m awake,” he said. He huffed out a breath. “Don’t stick me with any fucking needles.”

This was weird,so weird, talking to his brother with his mouth.Add in the fact that he was in another world and this wasn’t really his brother, but rather his brother’s alternate self—Trent put both hands on his head, determined not to give Troy any hint of what was spinning through his mind.

Troy was watching him closely though. “Yeah, about that,” he said darkly. “Bad news in the needle department. The vaccine will be here any minute.”

“For the Deaden Curse,” Trent said carefully, his eyes on the ceiling, his face held deadpan.

Troy didn’t say a word. Trent could almost feel him nod, ever alert and watchful.

“Why haven’t I gotten it already?” Trent asked as he stared at the ceiling, motionless. The question seemed like a safe one.

“You did, but it didn’t do anything, so we’re trying again now that you are awake.Herorders.”

Trent turned his head. Her orders? Theherhe was supposed to ‘get the vaccine from—get the full ingredients and instructions from’? His brother’s face gave away nothing.

Trent tested the pain in his leg. It was manageable. He bent the leg at the knee, feeling the thick bandage and the gauze wrapped all the way around. It would hold. He swung his legs over the side of the small bed and sat up. The sheet slid onto the floor. His brother grunted, grabbed a cotton robe from a stack nearby and threw it at him. Trent snatched it out of the air and pulled it on.

Trent tried to think of what he could say that would not make him sound crazy. Across the room, the human doctor worked at a desk.

Troy spoke. “If the vaccine works, she says you will shift right away.”

Trent was about to nod, when he heard his brother Troy—hisotherbrother Troy, the one in hisrealworld, speak inruhi, his voice sounding far away, worlds away, but none the less intense for it.

Grey, you useless piece of shit. Here I come for your ass.

The words, so clearly coming from another world, and the din in Troy’s head that followed, painted a picture in Trent’s mind. His brother was fighting Grey, that fucker, that betrayer of his own kind, that evil wolf, and Trent was not there to help rip him up. Trent gritted his teeth against the impotence raging through him.

Kick his ass, Troy,Trent projected hard to Troy across worlds, having no way of knowing if his brother could hear him.

The Troy right in front of him heard though. His forehead creased and he shook his head slowly, like he didn’t want to believe what he’d just heard. Trent silently ran through ideas of what he could say that wouldn’t make him sound like a complete moron. He had nothing.

Trent was saved by the door opening. Rocko came through it, a paper bag in his hand. He held it up and growled, “Who ordered a shot in the ass?”

The doctor grabbed the bag from Rocko and took it to a desk. He began to work, leaving Troy and Rocko to talk quietly in the corner, while Trent only stared.

Eventually, the doctor brought the needle to Trent, and stuck it in his arm without comment. Trent stared at his brother while it was happening.

The doctor stepped back and made himself scarce. Trent didn’t have his wolf and even he could scent how much the doctor wanted the vaccine to work and wanted him—them, out of there.

Trent sat still, knowing it wouldn’t work. Troy and Rocko both stared at him. Trent felt like a bug under a magnifying glass and it struck him as funny for no reason at all.

Hey Smokey,he joked in private ruhi.I got the vaccine, now what?

Smokey didn’t say shit. That cat was a pain in the ass.

“Shift,” Troy said to him, lifting his chin.

“Don’t you think if I could, I would have already?” Trent growled at him.

“Have you even tried?” Troy said.

Of course he hadn’t. He knew it wouldn’t work. But he tried anyway, knowing a shift never could work without a wolf to shift into, but he tried for his brother. He did not shift. He threw Troy a look.

His brother’s expression turned resigned. He nodded once at Rocko and Rocko went out the door without a word.

Troy turned to Trent. “Ok, she says you can come to her clinic. We leave tomorrow, first thing.”

---