AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Beside her, my father sat in a chair, refusing to leave my mother’s side even as he needed his own rest. Dr. Olivet went to him next. She pressed two fingers to his wrist, checking his pulse against her watch. After a moment, my father jerked his hand away from her.
“I’m alive,” he croaked. “What more do you need to know?”
Dr. Olivet tousled my father’s hair, earning her a threatening growl. She made eye contact with me and all mirth was gone from her expression. It sent a chill through me. She made a quick, jerking gesture with her finger. I avoided my father’s gaze as I followed her out of the room and all the way downstairs.
“Let’s take a walk,” she said. “I’d rather not be overheard, and even in his weakened state, your father’s wolf ears are powerful.”
I was eager to hear what she had to say, but hesitant to leave the house. Pat had gone to stay with her son and his family at my insistence. I’d promised to bring Dr. Olivet to her later this afternoon.
“They’re stable for now,” she said. “We can head to the barn.”
“The barn’s not quite far enough,” I said.
She stopped and eyed me once we reached the porch. “Please tell me you’ve taken that Dragonsteel off Anson. Tem, he won’t…”
“I’ve taken it off,” I said. “He’s staying there voluntarily…for now.”
Dr. Olivet straightened her coat. For as long as I’d known her, the woman had insisted on wearing a lab coat when she visited for professional purposes.
We walked out to her Jeep. She climbed behind the wheel and drove us out to the lake. No one, not even the horses, would be able to hear us here.
She cut the engine and took a breath. “Tempest,” she said. “I believe I’ve figured out the cause of your family’s illness. It’s going to be hard to hear. So I need a promise from you. You have to keep an open mind.”
My blood heated. I’d been dreading those very words. Squeezing my eyes shut, I let my own breath out.
“It’s me,” I said. “I’m the carrier, aren’t I? It’s why I’m the only one who hasn’t gotten sick.”
“What? No!” Dr. Olivet put a hand on my jacket sleeve. “No. Tempest. This is not your fault. Even if you were some sort of carrier, it wouldn’t be your fault. Now, I need you to listen to me. We have some hard things to face if we’re going to get these people through this.”
“I’m listening,” I said.
She started to talk. Her words blurred together at first. She spoke of viral loads, proteins, enzymes, and recombinant DNA. Her tone grew more excited as she went.
“Stop,” I finally said. “English, please.”
“Oh. Was I speaking French?”
“No,” I said. “You were speaking scientist. French is easier for me to follow.”
She smiled. “The illness is viral. We’ve been right about that. But it’s unlike any shifter virus I’ve ever seen in the way it behaves. In the way it mutates. Tempest, it’s extremely critical that you not leave your father’s house again. Do not go to the Tullys or to care for any other pack on Wild Lake anymore. While all the packs are sick with it, each one has a slightly different variant of the virus. It’s mutating so quickly.”
“Pat,” I said. “She’s at Luke and Tamryn’s.”
“I know,” she said. “It’s not ideal. But Pat has been back and forth this whole time. The McGraw mutation and the Tully mutation are very similar. I don’t want her coming back here, but for now, I think we’ve stopped just short of disaster.”
“What caused this?” I said. “You said I’m not the carrier. Which means you have a theory on its origin.”
“Not a theory,” she said. “Tempest, it’s your brother. Based on the samples I took of his blood, compared with what I found at the other homesteads, this is something Jarred brought back with him. He’s…patient zero, for lack of a better phrase.”
I shook my head. Though her words made sense, it was like I still couldn’t understand them.
“Jarred wasn’t sick when I sent him back,” I said. “Not with a virus. Dr. Olivet, he was under a spell. We thought it was drugs. He said it was something the fae did. Her name was Lissa.”
Dr. Olivet nodded. “He was right. There is a supernatural origin to this virus. I’ve cross checked it with every known magical virus there is. It’s not from a mage. Not dragon either. At first, I thought it might be since it’s been resistant to Dragonblood. But this is definitely fae in origin. Your suspicions were right. It’s very similar to one the Ring experimented with about a decade ago. We believed it had been eradicated right along with them.”
“She turned him into a Trojan horse,” I said, horror turning my blood cold.
“I’m sorry?”
