Page 46 of Whisker me Away
A soft thud from the bedroom made him abandon his coffee and move back toward Freya's room. He found her standing beside her dresser, one hand braced against the wooden surface for support while she stared at something on the floor.
"What happened?" he asked, noting how pale she'd gone.
"I tried to touch the violets Maizy brought." Freya's voice was barely a whisper. "They just... died. Withered like I was poison instead of a healer."
Kieran looked down to see the small potted plant that had been cheerfully purple an hour ago now reduced to blackened stems and fallen petals. His tiger snarled with protective fury at this new evidence of what the failed ritual had cost his mate.
"Your magic's still recovering," he said, though the words felt inadequate. "It'll stabilize once you've had time to heal."
"Will it?" Freya lifted her hand, studying her palm like it might hold answers. "Because right now, I feel like everything I touch turns to corruption. What if this is permanent? What if I've damaged my connection to growing things so badly that I can never heal again?"
The fear in her voice made Kieran's chest tighten. He moved to her side, carefully taking her hands in his despite her instinctive flinch.
"Hey. Look at me." He waited until her green-gold eyes met his. "You're the strongest magical practitioner I know. One failed ritual doesn't erase a lifetime of power and training."
Her laugh was bitter. “I'm starting to think maybe everyone was right to be suspicious of the Bloom bloodline. Maybe we're not guardians at all. Maybe we're just carriers for something that should have stayed buried."
"That's the trauma talking, not logic." Kieran squeezed her hands gently. "Give yourself time to recover before you start rewriting your entire family history."
Sharp knocks echoed through the cottage. Three precise raps that made Kieran's tiger surge toward the surface with territorial awareness.
"Expecting anyone?" he asked, already moving toward the front door.
"No one knows I'm awake yet except you and Maizy."
Kieran peered through the window and swore under his breath. A woman in a crisp gray suit stood on the front porch, her posture radiating authority and barely contained impatience. Everything about her screamed government official, the kind who dealt with supernatural communities that stepped out of line.
"Regional council representative," he told Freya grimly. "This can't be good news."
The woman introduced herself as Director Hayes from the Department of Supernatural Affairs, and her smile held all the warmth of winter frost. She swept into the cottage like she owned it, taking in the protective charms and lingering magical residue with calculating eyes.
"Miss Bloom," she said, her voice carrying the kind of professional courtesy that barely concealed threat. "I'm relieved to see you've recovered from your... incident. The regional office has been quite concerned about the situation here in Hollow Oak."
"Concerned how?" Freya asked carefully, settling onto the couch while Kieran remained standing behind her.
"Well, when an entire supernatural community suffers catastrophic magical contamination that threatens to spread beyond municipal boundaries, we tend to take notice." Director Hayes opened a tablet and began scrolling through what looked like official reports. "Forty-seven percent property damage, fifty-three percent population displacement, and complete environmental collapse in the affected zone. Quite impressive for a single practitioner."
The clinical assessment made Kieran's hands clench into fists. "Freya's been unconscious for three days. Maybe focus on solutions instead of blame."
"Oh, I'm not here to assign blame, Mr. Holt. I'm here to discuss containment." Director Hayes's smile sharpened. "The regional office has grave concerns about this corruption spreading beyond Hollow Oak's borders. If it can't be resolved within one week, we'll have no choice but to implement a permanent quarantine protocol."
"What does that mean exactly?" Freya's voice was steady, but Kieran could see her hands trembling.
"Complete magical isolation. A barrier around the affected area that nothing gets in or out of, maintained indefinitely to prevent contamination of neighboring communities." Director Hayes delivered the words like she was discussing weather patterns. "The residents would be relocated to supervised housing in other regions, and Hollow Oak would be classified as a supernatural hazard zone."
"You're talking about destroying our home," Kieran said with enough authority to make the director's eyes narrow.
"I'm talking about protecting thousands of other supernatural communities from magical contamination that's already proven lethal." Her tone sharpened. "The corruption here has evolved beyond anything in our records. Plants, water, now humans falling into comas. If it jumps to another community..."
"It won't," Freya said quietly. "Because I'm going to stop it."
"Oh?" Director Hayes studied her with skeptical eyes. "From what I've read, your last attempt to 'stop it' resulted in this catastrophic escalation. What makes you think you can succeed where you've already failed so spectacularly?"
Freya flinched like she'd been slapped, her already fragile confidence crumbling further. Kieran felt his tiger surge toward the surface, making his vision flash gold.
"Careful," he said softly, but his voice carried warning that made the director take an involuntary step back. "You're in our territory, talking about destroying our home. I'd watch your tone if I were you."
"Is that a threat, Mr. Holt?"
