Chapter 22
Don’t give me that bullshit, Dennis. Tell me what happened.”
Hank watched Cecilia, his body tight, his senses on alert. There was no reason for it. They were in the Griz headquarters and perfectly safe. Simon had installed sentries, video cameras, and God only knew what kinds of more subtle security in this converted Ace Hardware store. Since Alyssa’s home had burned to the ground, they had moved in upstairs and Simon was taking no chances with his mate. Fort Knox probably had less security.
That made this the safest place to come with all of Dr. Oltheten’s science shit. Cecilia had set up in a back corner and had been poring over them most of the night. Around midnight, she’d called Dr. Sherilyn and started talking data blots and adrenal compounds. Together they’d come up with a solution or so they hoped. A triple cocktail of existing medicines that would suppress the conversion to hybrid, assuming the victim got it in time.
Then they had to wait for a victim while convincing Dennis to try the treatment. A young woman had come in to the ER around two a.m. Dennis had administered the medication and now two hours later, everybody tried to listen in as Cecilia got an update.
“What does it matter where I got the idea?” Cecilia huffed into her phone. “It was magic.”
Hank flashed her a warm smile, but she didn’t see it. She was too deep in her argument with Dennis. Part of him was grateful. She’d been terrified not once, but twice today and the violence of it had shaken her to her core.
He’d watched her draw into herself, her eyes becoming haunted and her body strung tight. But ever since they’d grabbed Dr. Oltheten’s data, her confidence had come back. She was firmly ensconced in the one area she ruled supreme: science. And as more and more of the pieces had fallen into place, she’d come alive in a way he’d never seen before.
This was her life’s calling. She solved medical mysteries, and she would never be happy doing anything else. That was fine with him. He had no desire to stop her and would, in fact, follow her to whatever city she landed in. But what if she didn’t want him around? What if she buried herself so deeply into science that she rejected all things magic?
She wouldn’t be the first person to choose to go blind again. And the happier she got talking about chemical compounds, the more Hank felt her slipping away from him. He was already hovering too close, standing too much in her line of sight, just in the hopes that she wouldn’t forget him.
But that hadn’t helped. It had been over an hour since she’d even looked at him.
“Fine,” she all but bellowed into the phone. “I prayed, Dennis. Happy? I prayed for a miracle, and I got one. Now for the love of God—” Her words cut off as she shot to her feet. Across the room, Simon looked up. Alyssa was already halfway across the room, not even trying to hide that she was eavesdropping. “Are you sure? What about the blood work? Yes, yes, that weird enzyme I sent you.” She dropped her head back as she glared at the ceiling. “Prayer. God. Miracle. That’s how. Now is there any trace…?”
She abruptly crowed. A full-throated cry of exultation. She even did a few dance steps while she clutched her phone.
“Keep checking. I want updates every hour.” She listened for a few more moments. Made a half-dozen illegible notations on a pad of paper, then she thumbed off her phone and turned to the room at large.
“It works,” she said before anyone could ask. “At least that’s the preliminary results. If we catch a Flu victim early enough, the cocktail halts the conversion. They don’t become hybrids and…” She held up her hands during her dramatic pause. “There are no signs of brain deterioration.” She grinned. “They don’t go crazy.”
The room erupted in cheers. Not just Hank who had been grinning from the moment she started dancing, but everyone in the room.
“You did it!” he said as he hugged her. She squealed in delight as he swung her around. But the moment he set her down again, other people were there. Simon clasped her hand and gave her one of his very rare smiles. Then Alyssa pulled her into an impromptu dance that had everyone laughing.
Cheers and congratulations all around, and though Hank was as happy as anyone here, he couldn’t help but feel like the end was on the horizon. She’d solved the mystery of the Detroit Flu. She’d found a way to stop the poison’s effect on a body, and so her task here was done. The quarantine would be lifted, she’d be off to the next challenge, and where would he be? Trailing along behind her like a lost puppy? Would she even want him there? Science was her life. It was hard to believe she had any room left for him.
The celebration continued for a few more minutes, but eventually Simon held up his hand. One by one, people went back to their tasks, which left the alpha looking at Cecilia with serious eyes.
“I need to talk with you, Dr. Lu.”
She nodded, her expression sobering. “I know what you’re going to ask.”
Really? Because Hank had no idea.
“You’re wondering if I’m going to publish the results. If the cure we’ve found can be distributed without exposing shifters.”
Simon leaned against the table, his arms crossed as he looked hard at her. Then he turned to his mate. “Alyssa, can you summarize what you and Hank figured out about Dr. Oltheten?”
The woman nodded, her expression grave as she tapped on her tablet. “Hank and I went through all the personal stuff that we could find. It was pretty disorganized, but it goes like this. Dr. O and his sister were both cougar shifters, but he never manifested. Both were pretty gifted science-wise, but the family was a bit loony tunes. Anyway, after the wolf-cat war, their numbers were low, so sis and a psycho friend developed the serum that activated latent shifter DNA.”
Cecilia frowned. “When did that happen?”
“Last spring. The Gladwin bears were on the front line for that one. We should have figured out the last name connection—Oltheten isn’t a common name—but we’re new to being in charge here. I’m still sifting through the old alpha’s files.”
“What happened to the sister?”
“She’s gone, too. What we didn’t realize is that before being captured, sis sent all her stuff to her brother. He never manifested as a shifter and always wanted to. Worse, his wife never believed, so he got it in his head to…”
Cecilia exhaled loudly. “To tell everyone. Get as many people as he could to believe so that she would finally see.” It wasn’t phrased as a question, but Alyssa answered it anyway.
