Rissa, per her personality, had opted to sit out of the frivolities. She spent the time prowling the edges of the room, studying a few of the specimens, trying to get better acquainted with them, and peering at the goblin. He'd fallen asleep in the corner waiting to see if the vaccine would work.
I kept my eye on my second. She was so uptight she was bound to upset herself. I'd tried many times over the years to get her to lighten up a bit, but it wasn't her temperament. She was all business, all the time. I had one eye on them both, Rissa, and the goblin in the corner when suddenly, Rissa flexed her hands, a flick of her will granting her claws. "Uh," she muttered. "Something is happening."
It was like she'd yelled fire. Everyone in the room jumped to their feet and rushed to the corner. We made room for Tanni to get through.
Right before our eyes, the deformities began to shrink. The swelling went down, the redness faded, and within seconds, the goblin, Noah, looked normal again.
Well, normal for a goblin. While they came in all colors, they didn’t have the attractive edge of a shifter like me.
"This is amazing," Tanni whispered. She checked Noah's blood pressure and peered into his eyes. Then she took some of his blood and retreated to her tools. Respecting her ability, we drew away from her, celebrating.
"Someone go get champagne," Bran said.
"Not in my lab." Tanni stopped rushing around and fixed him with a stern glare. "You can have some out in the lobby."
One of Bran's goblins left to get some, and I pulled Cathy into a big hug. "Can you believe it?"
"Of course, I can," she said in a high-pitched voice. "Tanni has always been a genius."
"Aw, thanks," the brilliant scientist said from around her machine. Numbers and colors flickered on the screen. She’d fed it a drop of Noah’s blood a moment ago.
Seconds later, our giddy joy came crashing down as Noah collapsed against the wall, barely stopping himself from planting face-first on the cold, tile floor.
"What's wrong with him?" Bran asked.
He helped Tanni get Noah up onto a stretcher. "Let's get him to my medical room."
We waited in the lobby while Tanni and her goblin assistant Serena got Noah into another room and hooked him up to a bunch of machines.
I didn't have it in me this time to do magic tricks or play cards. I'd just dozed off when Tanni walked into the lobby. The sun was high in the sky. "Hey," I whispered, waking Bran and gently extracting myself from Cathy. She'd fallen asleep pretty much in my lap, not that I minded.
"How is he?" Bran asked.
"Best we can tell, better than ever." She beamed at us. "The cure exhausted him. I've given him an IV to prevent dehydration and got him some food. He needs a lot of rest. Next time, we'll know to bolster them with an IV and some nutrition before we give the cure, and to do it in a bed so they can rest." She smiled around the room at us. "For now, without the benefit of long-term testing, I'm calling the cure a qualified success. We did it."
The room erupted in cheers. I pulled Cathy into my arms and squeezed her tight as Bran did the same with Andromeda. "She did it!" I crowed. She'd made a huge difference in the world, and my chest swelled with hope.
Cathy pulled away and looked into my eyes. "We did it," she whispered, her brown eyes dancing with joy and excitement.
Well, damn. We sure did.
12
CATHY
"Okay, we're all exhausted."Bran looked around the room. "Beyond so. Harold is going to stay here and rest beside Noah. The rest of us are going home to get some sleep. We'll meet up in a few hours and figure out our next steps." We all nodded and murmured words of assent. Even if I'd wanted to argue, I didn't have the energy. My little catnap was not going to be enough, even if waking up in Rey’s lap wasn’t the worst way to start the day. "Great," Bran concluded. "See you all at two at the office."
The goodbyes were said around yawns and the room cleared out pretty quickly. "If this worked," Rissa said as we walked toward the door, "I guess I'd be on board. If we can cure the violent shifters, okay then for the coming out plan."
Rey clapped her on the back. "Atta girl. We'll talk more tomorrow."
I glanced at him from beneath my lashes and a sudden wave of fatigue crashed over me. Rey caught it in my expression, and we shared a knowing look. We needed sleep. "Come home with me?" he asked as his hand rubbed a circle on my back.
Boy, that sounded heavenly. Snuggled up with Reynard and slept. Beautiful, wonderful sleep. I nodded, my head bobbing wearily. He held out his hand and I slipped mine into it, grateful for the warmth of his skin against mine. We barely spoke on the drive to his place, and it felt like a lifetime before we were finally at the gates. My exhaustion had gotten the best of me, and I was ready to pass out. If he'd lived farther away from the lab, I would've been snoring away in the truck.
"What the hell?" Rey squinted toward the house as we pulled up the driveway. "What is that?"
I followed his line of sight and gasped. A wolf—a large one at that—lay on Rey's doorstep. "Oh, no," I whispered in horror. Rey took off like a shot out of the driver's door. "Please don't let that wolf be dead." I stumbled out of the truck behind him, and when he dropped to his knees and made a horrible, heart-wrenching, keening sound, I knew. The wolf was dead.
