This time, Grant’s eyes widened. “Juno, what are you talking about?” he asked. “We all know that you’re amazing, and we all know that you’re capable. I mean you’ve been at the forefront of this battle since the very beginning. Remember, you’re the one who was giving us inside information on the eye scanners when they were still being developed.”
Juno looked down at her feet, unable to meet Grant’s eyes. “I guess,” she said. “I just felt like it wasn’t that much. I mean you got us all out of Chicago, Grant. And Jack, you’re the one who saved Drew’s life. I feel like I just have been sitting around taking up space.”
“Juno,” Wyatt said. “I can’t believe you feel that way. I’ve only known you a few days and I can already tell you’re so much more than just a blob taking up space.”
“I don’t know who this guy is Juno, but he’s right,” Jack said. “You’re amazing. I can’t believe you don’t see yourself that way.”
“No one ever tells me that,” Juno said quietly.
“I didn’t realize you needed to be told,” Grant said. “I thought it was obvious to everyone, including you. I’m really sorry that you feel that way, but Jesus Christ! Next time just come talk to us about it. Don’t sneak off with a fucking helicopter.”
Juno looked down at her feet again. She couldn’t exactly argue with that logic. Grant was right.
“Fine,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
Grant let out a long weary sigh. “Right, well, I guess you’re okay, so that’s the most important thing. What have you been doing since you arrived here. Have you made any progress on a cure? Looks like you made a friend, at least,” he said, gesturing toward Wyatt.
Juno took a deep breath relieved that she wasn’t going to be completely excommunicated from the clan. “Yeah. This is Wyatt. He’s a dragon shifter and my newest friend.”
Juno saw Wyatt raise an eyebrow in her direction. No doubt he was wondering why she didn’t introduce them as her boyfriend or lifemate or something. But the truth was she felt a little weird saying that, since they hadn’t actually discussed between themselves what, exactly, they were. She felt like he was her lifemate, but did he feel that way, too? Did he love her?
Juno’s heart started pounding again, and she forced herself to look back at Grant. “Wyatt is a firebreathing dragon,” she said. “And firebreathing actually comes in quite handy around here. He burned the front door to the lab down so that I could get in, and he’s been letting me stay in his lair and eat his food. He also knows the codes to pretty much all of the security computers in Chicago.”
“Wow,” Grant said. “That’s pretty impressive.”
“Thanks,” Wyatt said, sounding a little bit wary.
Juno decided to keep talking and hope the awkwardness would fade. “I’ve also been working on a cure since I got here. I went through one round, and unfortunately it didn’t work. Our patient died. But we have a second version of the medicine right now that we’re testing on a girl. We’re just waiting to see at this point if it’s effective. If it is, we should start seeing improvement very soon.”
Grant frowned. “You think you might’ve actually found a cure already?”
Juno smiled sheepishly. “I don’t know. I had high hopes of finding one before you arrived, but I guess I’m a little late for that.”
Grant rolled his eyes at her, then looked over at Wyatt. “Nice to meet you, Wyatt. Sorry we almost attacked you. I wasn’t aware that you are actually here to protect Juno, not harm her.”
“No worries, man,” Wyatt said. “I probably would’ve done the same thing in your shoes.”
After shaking Grant’s hand, Wyatt shook Jack’s hand. Juno breathed out a small sigh of relief. Everything seemed under control, at least for the moment.
“Do you guys want to go see the lab and our patient?” she asked.
“Sure,” Grant said. “Let’s go.”
Juno nodded, then turned back to head towards the hallway that led to sick bay. “Come on,” she said. “Let’s go see whether I’ve actually accomplished anything while you guys were trying figure out how to get to me.”
Chapter Eleven
Juno stepped into the small room in sick bay where she had left the patient lying. She quickly checked the vitals on the girl, and felt a spark of hope in her chest.
“You guys!” she said excitedly. “Her fever’s coming down.”
“Seriously?” Jack asked, running over. “What was it before?”
“It was 104, and now it’s down to 102.”
“And it looks like it’s dropping,” Jack said, peering at the computer readout of the patient’s vital signs. “Her pulse rate is normalizing, too. Looks like her heartbeat is slowing down to a normal level instead of the elevated rate that usually accompanies bear flu.”
Juno bit her bottom lip. Was it possible that the woman was actually cured? Juno watched the thermometer readout in amazement. Just as Jack had said, the woman’s temperature was steadily dropping a tenth of a degree or so every minute. The four shifters crowded around the woman, watching as she started to stir. She moaned slightly, and then, to Juno’s utter astonishment, she opened her eyes. She had beautiful blue-green eyes, and when she opened them Juno could clearly see that they didn’t have the glassy look of a sick person anymore. They were clear, wide, and alert. And, as the woman looked around the room, it didn’t take long for those eyes to register fear.
“Who…who are you?” she asked, trying to sit up but wincing from the pain. “Where am I? What’s going on?”
Jack immediately stepped into the familiar doctor role. “You’re going to be all right,” he said. “I’m Jack, and this is Juno. We’re here to help you. These are our friends, Grant and Wyatt.”
“Okay,” the girl said slowly. “But where am I? What’s going on here?”
“You’re in an exam room at Hook Labs,” Juno said. “We’ve been working on a cure for bear flu, and we think that we may have found one.”
The girl was silent for several moments, trying to take it all in. She tried to sit up again, but she was still too weak. Slowly, tears formed in her eyes and spilled over onto her face.
“There is no cure,” the woman said. “I know because I tried so hard to find one. I researched as much as I could. I asked everyone I could. I even broke into hospitals. But there’s nothing. There’s no cure, and I lost my whole family. My younger brother died in my arms.”
Juno felt her heart twisting in her chest. “I’m so sorry,” she said. “So very sorry.”
“I guess I caught it from them,” the woman said, “I don’t feel so great. Nothing is going to make me better. There’s no cure.”
Juno put her hand on the woman’s shoulder. “We’ve been working on one,” Juno said. “We tested it on you, and we think it’s effective. That’s why you’re even conscious. You might not feel great right now, but you were much worse a few hours ago. You were unconscious, and on the brink of death. You’re on the mend now.”
The woman pondered Juno’s words, then looked at her suspiciously. “I don’t know what to say. Is this for real?”
“It’s for real,” Juno said, feeling a small puff of pride in her chest. She had actually done it. She had just saved someone’s life. It was incredible the way it made her feel. But the woman still seemed confused.
“I don’t understand. There is no cure.”
Juno opened her mouth to try to explain again, but Jack held up his palm for her to wait.
“What’s your name, dear?” he asked.
“Lily Young,” she said.
“It’s very nice to meet you, Lily. Like Juno said, I’m Jack. I know this is a lot to take in. Why don’t you rest for a bit and we can go over more details once you’ve recovered a bit more. Are you hungry? We can get you something to eat.”
“No, just exhausted,” Lily said. “I feel like I haven’t slept in a month.”
“You probably haven’t slept properly in a month, that’s for sure,” Juno sai
d. “Between taking care of your sick family and being sick yourself, you must have a lot of sleep to catch up on. Rest. We’ll be back in to check on you in a little bit.
Lily nodded. She still looked confused but she seemed a little more relaxed as the shifters quietly left the room. As soon as they made it back to the main outer lab, Grant and Jack started shouting and pulled Juno into a big hug.
“You did it!” Grant said. “You did it.”
Juno smiled. “I guess I did. I almost can’t believe it myself, but it looks like we found a cure.”
“YOU found a cure,” Jack corrected. All anger over Juno sneaking away seemed to be forgotten in the joy of the moment.
“Hey, you helped,” Juno said. “If it wasn’t for the fact that you realized we could use shifter blood to cure Drew, I may never have finished this cure.”
“Look, it doesn’t even matter anymore who was more or less responsible,” Grant said. “The important thing is that bear flu is cured.”
With that he let out another whoop, and Jack started cheering again too. Juno laughed and wiped away the tears of joy that were starting to fall from her eyes. She looked over to find Wyatt and pull him into the hug, but that’s when she saw him slinking out the front door of the lab.
“Wyatt!” she cried. “Wyatt, wait.”
There’s no way he didn’t hear her, but he didn’t pause or turn around. He kept going, letting the door slam behind him with a thud.
“What’s that all about?” Grant asked.
“I don’t know,” Juno said. “But I have to find out.” She started running toward the door, but Grant reached out to hold her back.
“Juno wait,” he said. “You’re wasting your time. He’s a dragon. Don’t you know they’re solitary? They don’t pair off. Not permanently. They’re loners.”
Juno furrowed her brow. “No, Wyatt’s different,” she said. “He likes to spend time with me. We’ve only been together for a few days and we’ve already had some really good times together.”
“Look, Juno, I can see you love him,” Jack said. “But he’s only going to break your heart. Grant’s right. Dragons are solitary. He’s going to feel smothered before too long. In fact, he probably already does.”
“You guys are wrong,” Juno said, her voice rising a little. “He might be a dragon, but he’s my dragon, and I’m going to go chase after him.”
Juno shook off Grant’s hand and ran out of the room as fast as she could. She saw Wyatt at the very end of the long hallway, only a few steps away from the door that led to the exit.
“Wyatt, wait!” she said. This time, he turned around and looked at her with sad eyes and shook his head.
“I can’t,” he said. “I’m sorry. I have to go.”
And with that he took off running again.
Chapter Twelve
Juno ran as fast as she could, but she barely made it out the door of the building in time to see which corner Wyatt disappeared around.
“Wyatt!” she yelled, running as fast as she could. But Wyatt was faster. There was no way she was going to catch him unless she shifted, and even then he could just shift into dragon form and fly away. Why was he running? What was this all about? A sick feeling filled the pit of her stomach. Were Grant and Jack right? Was Wyatt destined to be solitary, a slave to his dragon genes?
“Wyatt!” she cried. “Wait! Stop or I’ll shift.”
It wasn’t a big threat. After all, there was no one around to see her shift or judge her for it, and Wyatt could just as easily shift himself. But somehow, that that was enough to jar him back to the moment. He stopped, and turned around looking at her with pleading eyes.
“Juno, please,” he said.
“Please what?” she asked, breathless as she caught up with him. “Why are you running away? I thought we had something together. And don’t you want to celebrate? You’re gonna leave right when we’ve made a big breakthrough with a cure for bear flu? I thought you’d be happy for me!”
“I am happy for you,” Wyatt said. “Believe me, I’m so happy for you. But seeing you with your clan members makes me realize that I’ll never fit in. I’m not a bear, Juno. I’m not all exuberant and emotional and hugging all the time.”
I wasn’t that emotional,” Juno said. “Just because bears hug when something life-changing or even world-changing happens doesn’t mean that being with me is going to force you to be touchy-feely all the time.”
Wyatt frowned, “I’m not social enough, Juno. I won’t survive in a bear’s world. I’m a loner. A dragon.”
“What happened to everything you said about wanting to be with me? That it was better than being alone?”
“I still mean that,” Wyatt said, his voice catching. Juno was surprised. Wyatt was a strange mixture of emotion and defiance right now.
“If you still mean it, then why are you running away?”
“I still want to be with you,” Wyatt said. “And I meant it when I said you improve on the solitude. But you’re a bear. You have a clan. Being with you means that I’ll have to be around all of them, too. And I’ll never fit in. They’ll never understand me. I’m too quiet, and they’ll ask what’s wrong with me and talk about me behind my back.”
Juno raised an eyebrow. “Well that’s an awful lot to assume from meeting two of my clan members one time and seeing them excited over the bear flu cure.”
“Don’t you see the way they look at me, Juno? They already don’t trust me. They already know I’m gonna hurt you, so why disappoint them?”
Juno was angry now. “Why disappoint them? What about disappointing me? How do you think it feels to give my heart to you only to have you turn around and walk off?”
“It’s for your own good, Juno,” Wyatt said. “Don’t you understand? You’re only going to get hurt if I stay. And the longer I stay, the worse it’s gonna be.”
Suddenly, Juno saw herself in Wyatt. She realized how ridiculous it had been to sneak away from her clan. She had said the same things that Wyatt was saying to her now. She’d told Grant and Jack that she had left for their good, and that they would be hurt if they came to Chicago. But that hadn’t been true, and she had to admit now that it would’ve been better if they had come with her from the start. It was the same with Wyatt. He thought he was leaving for her good. He thought he was helping her. But he was actually tearing her heart apart.
“Wyatt,” she said softly. “I understand what it feels like to want to protect someone you care about. But remember what you told me? You have to let people decide for themselves what dangers they want to face, and you have to let me decide for myself what heartache I want to face.”
Wyatt was quiet. There wasn’t much he could say in response to that, so Juno pushed on.
“And if you think Grant and Jack don’t trust you and are glaring at you, then stand up for yourself. You’re a dragon for crying out loud! Don’t just sit there and get hurt feelings.”
“It’s not about my hurt feelings,” Wyatt said. “Don’t you understand? The only way that I know to stand up for myself is fire. Do you want me to singe your friends?”
Juno actually laughed. “No, Wyatt I don’t. But I think you’re capable of more than you know. You can stand up for yourself with words. You can speak your mind without burning someone up. So why don’t you go do that?”
“Seriously?” Wyatt asked. “You want me to just go in there and get in the face of your friends who I just met?”
“Why not?” Juno said. “That’s the other thing about bears. If we have a problem with someone, we just tell them. We’re not perfect, but that’s how we try to handle things. Don’t be like me, running away to try to save someone else. I’ve realized it doesn’t work. It only leaves everyone worse off.”
Wyatt ran his fingers through his hair. “If you want me to fight for you, Juno, I’ll fight for you. I just don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to make things worse than they are.”
“Wyatt, don’t be ridiculous,” Juno said. “Re
member, let me choose the risks I’m willing to take for myself. You just be true to yourself, and be honest with the other shifters. Everything will work itself out.”
“I hope you’re right,” Wyatt said. “I’m a dragon through and through. I can’t change my scales.”
“And I wouldn’t want you to,” Juno said. “Come on. Come back with me. Talk to Greg and Jack, and show them you mean business.”
Wyatt smiled. “Alright. I just don’t want to put you in an awkward position with your clan.”
“Let me worry about that,” Juno said. “You just worry about being true to yourself and true to me.”
Wyatt’s smile deepened, making Juno’s heart skip a beat.
“I can handle that,” he said. “Let’s go.”
With that, he turned around and walked back toward Hook Labs. Juno grinned and scurried after him. This day was turning out to be full of new beginnings and wins.
Chapter Thirteen
Wyatt walked back into the lab with his head held high. He glanced over at Juno, and she smiled encouragingly at him. What had he been thinking, storming out of there without her? He could never leave her behind, no matter how difficult things were with her clan. True, he had seen the looks that Grant and Jack had given him, and he knew they were wary of him. He also knew that being in a social clan would be difficult for him. But it was a sacrifice he was willing to make. He would learn the ropes of clan life for Juno’s sake—she was worth it. He couldn’t imagine ever asking her to leave her clan, but he also couldn’t imagine life without her. He was glad for her encouragement and understanding. Dragons might be solitary, but they still needed love.
As Wyatt stepped back into the outer lab, Grant and Jack looked over at him suspiciously.
“Welcome back,” Grant said, his voice almost a challenge.
“Thanks,” Wyatt said, straightening his back to stand as tall as he could. “Listen, I’m not sure whether I made one thing clear when I met you guys.”
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