Page 79 of Shifter's Homecoming

Trent ignored Troy.I need Remington out here with a sample of the vaccine. My mate is trying to neutralize the poison and she needs to analyze our vaccine.

Hold on,Trevor said.

Trent’s mind was silent while he waited for Trevor. He watched the reservoir, feeling like he was in the calm before the storm, or in the eye of the hurricane. Something big was coming, something he knew they were not ready for.

He turned around and watched his mate work for a few more minutes. She looked so beautiful and vulnerable. If only he knew what her power was, it might make him feel better about what they were all about to face.

Trevor came back.Ok, I’ve got Remington headed to you with a vaccine sample as soon as he can get away, and he’s going to stay there as long as you want him. He’s pretty fussy about actually fighting, but I imagine he’ll do in a pinch. Other than that, I have no one right now. I’m scrambling teams so that I can get Graeme up there for a flyover. We need him, but so do you.

Didn’t you say you had a Khain sighting?

We did, but he seems to have come and gone. For now.

It will have to do.

Rowan came out of the laboratory, right past them, heading to the pool of poison, a large glass beaker in each hand.

Got it. Stay available.

Trevor’s mental voice was hard.You stay available.

Will do. Trent out.

Trent ran to catch up with his mate. He took one of the beakers from her, then opened the gates so she could get in, then helped her collect some water. He kissed her and tried to talk to her, but she was distracted. He scented a nervous desperation on her that he would do anything to soothe, but he could not. Only an actual neutralizer or antidote to the poison would do that.

Trent followed Rowan inside, carrying her beakers for her. Rowan had several numbered samples lined up on the counter in front of her. She had notebooks open and stacked just-so for easy access, and she also had two laptops next to each other and actively running numbers down the screen at regular intervals.

He noticed Reed on the couch. She was holding her head and her eyes were closed. She didn’t look good.

“You ok?” he called to her.

Her hands still on her head, she tried to look at him, but she didn’t seem well, and maybe she was in pain. “My head,” she said, and then frowned. She tilted her head and smacked herself on the top of it with the flat of her hand. “The forest,” she said. “It’s… burning somewhere. It hurts.” She leaned forward and put her head in her hands, then she shook it, hard, then frowned at him. “If I concentrate I can block it out, but that doesn’t seem… right somehow.”

Trent didn’t know what to tell her, so he called her mate.How long till you come back?

I’m on my way now, almost there. The end cap is fine, too. I can’t even get the cover open. There’s no scent offoxenanywhere.

Get back here quick, your mate needs you. I’m going to bring her out to the porch.

Trent went to Reed. He grasped her elbow and gently pulled her up off the couch, then he led her out the door and put her right in Troy’s arms.

“Don’t take your eyes off the reservoir,” he told Troy.

Troy folded his arms around his female and held her close, kissing her forehead, but with his attention out over the water. Trent went back inside to his own mate.

“It’s no good,” Rowan said, dropping her pen on the table. She pulled her hair tie out of her hair, smoothed her hair back, then tied it back again. “I’ve been over all this a dozen times. I need fresh ideas. I need to talk to Dr. Gilman. I need to know what’s in that other vaccine.”

Trent stared at her as an idea gelled in his mind. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it already.

“Stay here,” he said. He ran to find the pants he’d been wearing when he’d arrived. They were still in the bathroom, folded neatly on a shelf. He found what he was looking for and took it to his mate.

“Here,” he said, giving it to her. “It’s not the vaccine that Remington is going to bring you, but it’s got to be connected. Rowan gave it to me.”

Rowan didn’t take it. She looked confused, maybe even suspicious. “You know another Rowan?”

Trent thought back, trying to figure out how much he had explained. Nothing? Shit. They’d had other things on their minds. “Ah, it’s a long story,” he said.

“We got all day, bro,” Troy called in an open window. “Or at least until some dickhead shows up and tries to kill everyone.”

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