All progress I’d made getting through to Zayd is obliterated in an instant, his eyes turning pitch black as his pupils engulf his irises. The vicious sound that tears out of his throat has the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end as he lunges forward, wrapping a hand around my brother’s throat and slamming him against the wall. Claws start to emerge on his free hand braced against the wall, and I curse, rushing around the stainless steel exam table taking up the center of the room to the emergency drawer beside the sink.
Stryker sprints into action and bands an arm around Zayd’s throat, putting him in a chokehold and refusing to let go no matter how much he struggles and claws the hell out of his arm until it’s a bloody mess. Hating myself for it, I stab the needle into Zayd’s thigh and inject enough tranquilizer to drop a horse.With the way shifters metabolize medicine, it should knock him out for at least six hours.
As the fight drains out of him, Stryker eases Zayd to the ground. Killian falls to his knees, coughing and rubbing his throat.
Tossing the syringe in the sink, I crouch beside Zayd and push his wild, dark hair out of his face. “Gods, he's going to be devastated when he wakes up.” If I’m lucky, a good, long sleep will help him reset and we can deal with this rationally once he wakes up. Get him into therapy for his PTSD, or at least make sure he confronts his trauma and is aware of it so he can start working on coping mechanisms.
I don’t want to think about what I’ll do if he’s fully feral when he wakes up.
Killian coughs, rubbing at his abused throat. “Don’t mind me, just bleeding out here, thanks for asking.”
His hand trembles as he raises it to his head, but I swat it away and take over. “Don’t be stupid, you’re in no shape to heal yourself.”
Closing my eyes, I shove everything else out of my mind, concentrating completely on ensuring I heal every inch of the damage. The state of the back of his head makes my stomach sink with guilt. He must have smacked ithardwhen Zayd slammed him into the wall. His neck is a swollen, bruised mess as well. When something nags at the corner of my mind, I follow the thread down to his liver and make a mental note to punch him in the throat after it’s healed. I’m not sure what he’s thinking, drinking enough to cause this sort of damage, but he’s an idiot not to have immediately healed it the next day after waking up with one hell of a hangover. Let alone however many it took to reach these levels.
“You shouldn’t be healing me,” he grumbles. “Your-” his breath hitches, and I cringe, knowing there’s no hiding it fromhim anymore. “Kiara,what the actual fuck?! First I have to hear from strangers gossiping around town that you’re moving, and now, apparently, your condition has gottensignificantlyworse and you never said anything? What else are you keeping from me?”
Heart in my throat, I grab Zayd’s limp arm, pivoting it to show off the mark on his wrist. “What else was I supposed to do? He’s my mate, Kills. Of course I’m going to protect him.”
The look of pity that takes over his face will sear itself in my memories. “Fuck. I’m so sorry, Kia.”
“No, you don’t understand, he’s getting better! Today was just… it was a bad day.”
His sympathetic expression speaks volumes. “You know there’s no cure for feral shifters.”
Fuck sympathy. I’m tempted to punch him in his stupid face.
“Not yet, maybe, but I’m onto something. When I found him, he was stuck in animal form, couldn’t speak, and flinched away from every touch. Now he’s having full on conversations with us, and snuggles up to me any chance he gets. He’s told me straight up that my scent helps him stay lucid, and if that’s the case, the answer isn’t going to be an easy cure, but it offers hope we didn’t have before. If a feral shifter is exposed to their fated mate’s scent long enough, and eased out of whatever trauma triggered their animalistic instincts taking over…”
Killian nods slowly. “Then there’s a chance. It wouldn’t be a case of putting them down unless the death of their mate is what drove them feral. But how would anyone be able tofindtheir fated mate to bring them back if they hadn’t already met? Can’t even confirm it unless there’s some sort of physical contact, and anyone in their right mind isn’t going to stick their hand in a feral’s cage on the off chance it’s their mate in the world’s worst speed dating experience. Let alone be saddled with theburden of trying to rehabilitate someone they have no emotional attachment to-”
“Yes, it’s hard,” I snap. “Most things in life worth doing, are. But it’spossible,Killian.”
His gaze flits over to Z’s unconscious form slumped on the ground, and it’s clear that he’s still unconvinced.
“Zayd is my mate, and it doesn’t matter if nobody’s saved a feral shifter before, becauseI’mgoing to find a way to cure him. Even if it kills me.”
A riot of emotions swirls in Killian's eyes. “That's exactly what I'm afraid of.”
He takes a slow breath in through his nose, holding it for an obnoxiously long time before he collects himself and launches back into his lecture. “Even if you're on the verge of cracking the code, as today has clearly demonstrated, he’s still a danger to you in the interim. If he was a decent man before succumbing to this, he'd never forgive himself if he hurt you. You can still visit him while trying to come up with a cure, but he needs to be put in a secure facility in the meantime.”
The icy chill that suddenly engulfs the room and snakes down my spine is followed by a firm hand on my lower back. “Kiara has done an exemplary job coaxing Zayd back to his former state. So you caught him on a bad day;everyonehas bad days. That isn’t a mark against her, it’s a testament to her determination.”
My heart swells at Havoc’s praise, as much as I don’t want to admit how much his approval means to me.
Jaw clenched, my brother spits, “You were supposed to fix it, not leave her alone with aferalfucking shifter!”
All of my hope sputters a slow death in my chest. “Wait, you two know each other?”
To Havoc’s credit, he grimaces as my brother unrepentantly clarifies, “We bumped into each other a while back and he clued me in on the fact my baby sister had met herfated mate,andconveniently hadn’t filled me in. I don’t get it, Kia. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to be happy and healthy. Why wouldn’t you tell me that you’d found your mate?”
Because I would have had to admit that I wasn’t good enough and he abandoned me.
A bell chimes in the distance as the front door opens, and I mentally sigh in relief at the excuse. “I’m working, we can talk about this later.”
Killian starts to follow me. “Why don’t I come with you? I can help.”
I stop so fast he crashes into my back. “You want to help? Then believe me when I tell you that Zayd isn’t beyond saving.”
