Page 62 of Their Witch Bride

No answer. My heart pounds as I race to catch up with him, worried about yet another bear attack in our territory. Or maybe something worse.

But when we reach him, he’s simply sitting at the side of the river. Staring. I run closer, spotting something lying behind the bushes. A shifter.

It looks like a dead body until I get closer and hear the young man’s shallow breaths. He looks unharmed. And yet, something’s wrong.

We shift into our human form as we approach. There’s no sign of injury, no blood anywhere on him, but he looks sickly: thin and pale. He can’t hold himself up. His eyes open, and he rasps for us to stay back, then coughs and sputters.

Coughs? What the hell? This doesn’t make sense.

“I have the Illness,” he manages between rasps.

We exchange a confused look. There’s no way. He can’t be older than us, and the Illness only affects the elderly. There must be something else going on.

“That’s impossible. You’re too young,” I tell him gently. “Did you bump your head? Are you injured?”

“No–” He shakes his head.

We exchange another look.

“You’re wrong,” he pants. “The Illness is… spreading.” He coughs again, harder, just like my father, and blood splatters his mouth.

I move forward, and Drogo hauls me back.

The young man continues, his skin a shade paler than any I’ve seen before. “The young are getting it too. Even pups. Tell the King…Warn…the Kin…”

He dies before he can finish his last word, collapsing into a heap. We all stare. We keep staring. Watching for the rise and fall of his chest, but there is none. This is impossible. This man had many good years ahead of him.

None of this is possible.

The Illness… it can’t be…

We stand over his withered body. He’s young. Much too young to die from this.

Drogo’s voice is clear and edged with anger as he speaks. “It’s spreading. The fucking thing is spreading!”

Rinan rubs his eyes, turning away from the body.

I stand, staring in disbelief.

Drogo slams his fist into a tree and turns back to us, “We need that witch to find the cure now. No matter what we have to do to her.”

Rinan keeps his back to us. “Drogo–”

“Tell me her comfort is more valuable than the lives of our people!”

Neither of us speak.

He growls and paces beside us. “That’s what I thought. Now, grow a pair. We need to handle our little wife.”