Chapter Fifteen
“Juno! Juno! Wake up!”
Juno blinked her eyes in confusion. “What’s going on?” she asked, looking around and trying to place where she was. Slowly, it came back to her. She was in the abandoned sick bay of Hook Labs—the rooms where new medicines had been tested before the place had been abandoned. The bed was unbelievably soft for a hospital bed, and Juno tried to snuggle into it again.
“Juno, wake up!” the voice came again, and she felt her body being shaken. She forced her eyes all the way open, and looked up to see Wyatt standing above her. At some point, he had gotten up and gotten dressed. He was wearing his signature sweatpants, but no shirt. Juno smiled. She loved the way his sweatpants hung low around his hips, exposing that deliciously sculpted “v” in his abdomen that led downward toward what was truly the most magnificent endowment she’d ever seen.
“Juno, focus,” he said.
Juno forced herself to pay attention to what Wyatt was saying. His face was as handsome as ever, and right now he was so excited he was practically glowing.
“Lily came back,” he said.
“She came back?” Juno asked, sitting up slowly and trying to shake off the last traces of sleep.
“Yes, she came back. She wants to help us!”
Juno was instantly alert. “Why didn’t you say so?” she said. She jumped out of the bed at lightning speed, scrambling around to find her clothes and throw them on. Wyatt burst out laughing.
“You look ridiculous,” he said. “Slow down. Yes, she came back, and I’ve been trying to say so, but you haven’t been listening, sleepyhead. She came back a few minutes ago, and luckily I was wandering around in the outer lab because I woke up and couldn’t sleep anymore. I was starting to make plans to go out and get more bear flu victims for us to treat when there was a knock at the door. I opened it and there she was. She wants to talk to you.”
“On my way,” Juno said. She jumped up and ran toward the door at lightning speed. Wyatt followed behind her, keeping pace with her frantic footsteps as she scurried towards the outer lab. When she got there, she found Lily sitting timidly in one of the big desk chairs with her back to them. Juno told herself to act cool and get it together, then she took a deep breath and walked into the room.
“Lily?” she asked. “I heard you wanted to talk to me?”
Lily turned around, and that’s when Juno saw tears glistening in her eyes.
“Yeah,” Lily said. “I wanted to tell you I’m really sorry for the way I acted. You saved my life and I ran out in a fit of anger. That’s pretty embarrassing behavior.”
Juno smiled kindly and sat down across from Lily. Wyatt sat down, too, and he reached over and squeezed Juno’s hand. He believed in her and that meant the world to her. Now if only she could make Lily believe in her, too.
“You don’t have to apologize, Lily,” Juno said. “I know you’ve got a lot to process. You’ve been through a lot. But the bear flu epidemic is killing off entire cities and threatening to kill off the entire world. That’s why I worked on the cure. I’m sorry we injected you without your knowledge, but we didn’t have much of a choice. We needed to prove that the medicine worked, and now we did.”
Lily smiled. “It’s okay. I realized that if it weren’t for the medicine I’d be dead right now, so I’m really grateful. And I’m really sorry I ran off. It’s just that I’m not used to shifters. I was told that you were all mean and vicious, but you guys seem pretty nice and down to earth.”
Juno smiled sadly. “Yeah, the media painted a pretty bad picture of us. But most of us are good people, just like most humans are. We just want to be helpful, contributing members of society, which is why it was important to me to come up with the cure. If things keep going the way they are, humans will be wiped out. But we found the cure. We can stop the bear flu, and that’s so exciting. The only problem is that we have to convince the outside world that we actually did make a cure.”
“How are you going to do that?” Lily asked.
Juno took a deep breath. “Well, we’re hoping that’s where you come in. We want to talk to the president, but we need a reason for him to listen to us. If we could show him the testimony of someone who was cured of bear flu by our medicine, that would be pretty compelling. We’re shifters, so we have to have some outside street cred. Sad, but true. Would you be willing to do that for us, Lily? Would you be willing to talk to the president?”
Lily’s eyes widened. “Yeah, I would. I’m not sure how good I am at speaking and presenting, but I’m happy to tell my story. Especially if it helps get this medicine to more people.”
Juno smiled. “You don’t have to be a professional presenter. Just be yourself and tell your story. My other friends are on their way right now to get people to help us. As soon as they get back, probably within the next day or so, we can go to Washington. As long as you’re game?”
“I’m game,” Lily said with a smile. “I can’t believe there’s a cure for this, and I can’t believe I almost walked out on the opportunity to help with it.”
Juno smiled. “We all misjudge things now and then. I’ve made some pretty crazy decisions myself. But the important thing is to always do your best to help others, and to leave the world a better place. And that, my dear, is something you’re going to do in a big way.”
“Come on,” Lily said. “I’m just the messenger. You came up with the cure.”
“I had a lot of help,” Juno said. “Great accomplishments are usually the result of an entire dedicated team, and this was no different. Way back when I first started college, I realized that the more people I had helping me, the further I would go. And the more people I helped, the more people will be willing to help me. So here I am, with an opportunity to help the entire world. I’m gonna take that opportunity, and I hope you’ll join me.”
Lily smiled. “Sure thing. What do you need from me?”
“Just stick around,” Wyatt said. “We’ve got food, water, and anything else you need. In a few days, the rest of the gang will be back and we’ll be going to Washington.”
“Okay,” Lily said, nodding. “I’ll do that. I promise I won’t run off again. If it’s okay with you, though, would it be all right if I took a nap somewhere? I didn’t realize how exhausted I still was until I wandered the streets aimlessly for several hours.”
“Of course,” Juno said. “There are plenty of beds in sick bay.”
Juno ignored the smirk on Wyatt’s face at the mention of beds in sick bay. She slapped his knee under the table, but thankfully Lily didn’t seem to notice his antics. Juno helped Lily find a bed and gave her a big hug.
“Make yourself at home,” Juno said. “And let me know if you need anything. I’ll be around the lab.
“Thanks,” Lily said, then turned to look quizzically at Juno. “Do you really think this will work?”
Juno smiled. “I think so. And with your help pulling it off, there’s hope for humanity yet.”
Lily grinned from ear to ear. “Alright,” she said. “I trust you. You saved my life, after all.”
Juno gave her one more hug. “It was nothing,” she said. “Now get some rest. We’ve got some big days ahead of us.”
Lily nodded and climbed into bed, while Juno walked back out toward the outer lab with Wyatt. When they got there, he pulled her into his arms.
“This has been a whirlwind couple of days,” he said. “I never would have imagined when I found a girl struggling against an attacker in the lobby of this building a few days ago that she would turn out to be my lifemate. And not only that, but she would also turn out to be the one who saved humanity.”
Juno blushed. “It’s true what I told Lily, though,” Juno said. “It’s been a joint effort with a lot of people. You, Grant, Jack my other clan members…all of us working together. And together we can save the world.”
Juno smiled happily as she said the words, realizing that for perhaps the first time since the bear flu hit, she actually
believed there was hope.
“Together,” whispered Wyatt, echoing Juno. “I’m pretty sure there’s no more beautiful word, especially when it’s applied to me and you. Together forever, my love, my lifemate, my bear.”
“Together forever, my love, my dragon,” Juno replied, then closed her eyes as Wyatt leaned in to kiss her.
Everything was going to be all right.
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There are bears walking among us. Sloane Meyers is devoted to telling their stories.
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Danger in a Fur Coat (The Fur Coat Society Book 4) Page 10