A truck came to a stop and Brinnah hopped out of the passenger side and ran to the unconscious woman.
“Kadie!”she cried, falling to her knees.She grabbed her friend’s hand.“Kadie, please wake up.”
“You shouldn’t touch her, Brinnah,” Jericho warned.
Tears rolled down Brinnah’s face and she leaned over to talk softly into Kadie’s ear.It must have done something because she roused, blinking open deep blue eyes, almost violet in color.
“Brinnah?”she asked, her voice thin and weak.
“Yes, I’m here.”She wiped limp hair off Kadie’s forehead.“Did the alpha let you leave?Where’s Maggie?Oh, I’ve missed you so much.”
Kadie gripped her hand.“They’re dead.”
Brinnah blinked.“What?Who are dead?”
Tears filled Kadie’s eyes.“Everyone.The alpha.Elder Agnes.M-Maggie.Their bodies just melted.”
Brinnah’s whole body seemed to melt as she collapsed in a boneless heap.“What ...oh my God, no.Please.No.What?What happened?”
“Some disease.We didn’t know where it came from.Or how it spread.I ran after the alpha died, but I didn’t know where to go.I beg of you, can I stay here?”
Brinnah looked at Alpha Jericho.“Can she stay?Please?”
“Damn it,” Jericho muttered.
“What’s going on, Alpha?”Everett asked.“What disease?”
Jericho looked at each person.“This stays between us.Ezra Parsons died of a blood disease.Doc is investigating how contagious it is, which is why I don’t want this to get out until we know the facts.Understood?”
When each person nodded, he glanced back at Kadie.“Are you infected with this disease?”
“No, Alpha,” she replied, head bowed.“Wolves die within days of infection.”
“You can stay, but I insist on quarantine until we figure things out.Okay?”When she nodded, he turned to Everett.“We should get her to the medical office.”
“Good idea,” Savannah said.“I can coordinate with...”
She paused, looking at something beyond Kadie’s supine body, and everyone turned their attention to what had captured her attention.An older woman staggered and Keegan recognized her.
“Mrs.Smyth?”Keegan asked.Sickness was quite different from a human, as well as the aging process.Each shift regenerated cells.Wounds could be healed and disease erased.To have the older woman looking like she was ready to keel over wasn’t good.Not to mention an entire pack dying from some disease.Just then, Mrs.Smyth collapsed and Savannah reacted immediately, hurrying to inspect the older woman.Mrs.Smyth lay on the ground, eyes closed.
“Stay back, Keegan,” Savannah ordered.She took a few steps toward the older woman.“Mrs.Smyth?”
Suddenly, her eyes opened wide and her lips parted.From it a red mist sprayed out, and Savannah fell back.
“Oh my God,” she muttered.
She scrambled to her feet and pulled Jericho and Keegan away from Mrs.Smyth.As the red mist left her body, it seemed to leech the color from the older woman and she went from normal skin tones to ghost white.Suddenly the mist evaporated and Mrs.Smyth’s wolf let out a mournful howl before her head lolled to the side.Death had consumed her.
“Stay back!”Savannah yelled.“Shifters, don’t go near that body.”
“What’s the disease?”Alpha Jericho demanded.
Savannah bent down to touch some of the fallout from the mist.“Oh, no.This is not good.No, no, no.”
“Savannah, what is going on?”Jericho demanded.“This is how Ezra died.”
The enchantress pulled hand sanitizer from her pocket and quickly wiped her hands.“We’ve got a big problem, Jericho.It’s the red plague.”
