by Ivy Sinclair
Kyle pulled out his phone and started typing a text. “That changes things a bit.”
“No fucking kidding,” Eric replied. Now that Kyle was up to speed, he had questions for him. "What did you mean when you asked Kelly about options? There are no other options. Nina is going to transition, and, by the looks of it, it is going to be soon. All I want is to ensure that the Doc does whatever she can to make sure that Nina makes it."
"Of course, Kelly will do everything she can," Kyle said. "You don't have to worry about that. What I was talking about was Oak Tree’s research."
"We destroyed that research, remember?" Eric said. It had happened six months ago. Kelly had been involved with a major pharmaceutical company, Oak Tree, that had been covertly trying to create a vaccine that would cure shifterism. It was inhumane research that went against nature’s plan. When Kelly had discovered it, she had come to Kyle because she wanted to blow the whistle on it and had been in danger. After Kyle had settled the score, Eric had bought Oak Tree and closed down that research division.
"I'm not talking about that research. Of course, vaccines that would take someone who was supposed to be a shifter and mutate their genes so they wouldn't be would not be something we would be pursuing. However, Kelly and I have had extensive talks about the fact that there are humans in the world who are inadvertently bitten by a shifter. Often times, it's during the shifter’s first phase when they can’t control their animal self. So, we have been exploring if there's anything that could be given to those humans that would be an antidote to a shifter bite."
"Why the fuck wasn’t I told about this?" Eric asked. His attention was fully on Kyle for the moment.
Kyle looked at him with a neutral expression. "Well, for one thing, you're running a large, multibillion dollar corporation. As you’ve been ramping up to your IPO, I haven’t wanted to bother you with it. You’ve been a little busy. But then on top of that, this is something that has been a discussion between me and Kelly. I have mentioned it briefly to Tony, and he was in agreement as well."
Eric was seriously pissed now. "Since when do you guys go off and make decisions without me?"
"I can make decisions without anyone's approval," Kyle reminded him.
"Really? You’re going to play the alpha card on me now? I thought that that was something that we talked about." Eric wasn't sure what to think. Ever since Kyle had taken on the alpha role, he had been different. Fundamentally, Eric understood why. When push came to shove, someone had to make the final call.
However, they had spent the previous three years being lockstep with each other. Everything they planned and everything they did was all done with the approval and express knowledge of all three members of their trio. This was the first marked departure of that agreement.
“We all knew that things were going to change eventually,” Kyle said carefully. Eric sensed, though, that there was heat rising in his veins. An alpha did not like ever being challenged.
Eric was ready to see just how far he could push him, but then he looked through the window into the examining room and saw Kelly carefully examining every inch of Nina’s skin. He had bigger things to worry about at the moment than his new, cocky alpha.
He started to move toward the door when Kyle stepped into his path. He shoved Kyle against his chest. Kyle growled at him, and Eric growled back.
“I’m going to check on her. You won’t stop me,” Eric said. He planted his feet and waited.
A few moments later, Kyle stepped aside. “This conversation isn’t over.”
As Eric stormed back into the room, he shot back over his shoulder. “Looking forward to it.”
Kelly looked up as Eric walked in. When Eric first met Kelly, he thought she was naive. She had come into Kyle’s life through what had appeared to be a random set of circumstances. But, after six months of watching her work and reading her research, Eric was more than impressed with the young doctor. She knew her shit. That was the only reason that he trusted her with Nina’s care.
“What’s the diagnosis?” Eric asked. He moved back to Nina’s side. He was careful to stay out of Kelly’s way, but he needed to be close to her. He could see that it had appeared as if she had settled now. Her breathing was more stable. She didn’t appear to be as pale as when he first brought her in. It probably had something to do with whatever was in the IV that Kelly had attached to her arm.
He heard the door open behind him and knew that Kyle had come back into the room as well. Eric was going to ignore him, though. His attention was focused completely on Nina. He looked up into Kelly’s face, and he knew the prognosis wasn’t good.
“I think that I can keep her stable. I think that will help, but I have no idea if she’s going to be able to withstand the transition.”
“There’s a few too many ‘I thinks’ in that statement, Doc,” Eric quipped.
“I haven’t been able to gather enough data about this particular kind of instance of phasing, Eric. All of my work has been with men and women who were born to be shifters. This is a very new area of study,” Kelly said.
Eric sensed she was choosing each one of her words carefully. He could feel his anger bubbling up. A new area of study sounded cold and impersonal, but it was exactly the kind of reason they had built the state of the art research facility they stood in to begin with. If Kyle had bothered to ask his opinion, he probably would have agreed that it was important for them to look into it. It was unfortunate that Eric’s first real encounter with it, though, had to do with his mate.
He brushed Nina’s cheek. Her skin felt cold. “She doesn’t want to be a shifter, Doc. I know. We talked about it.” He felt exposed, and he didn’t like it, but someone had to speak on Nina’s behalf since she couldn’t speak for herself.
“I understand, but I don’t know that there is any choice in this,” Kelly said.
“Kyle said there’s something you might be able to do.” He didn’t want to debate the ethics of the whole situation. They could figure that out later. Eric was a man of action. If there was something that could help Nina, he wanted to do it. Her life was at stake.
“Eric, it’s in the very early stages. I’m not at the point where I can even think about doing any kind of live trials.” That was when Eric caught the glare that Kelly shot in Kyle’s direction. He had a feeling that his alpha’s mate didn’t appreciate being put in this situation. But he didn’t really care.
“But there’s something,” he persisted. “There had to have been something that you found in Oak Tree’s research that we can use.”
“I have a prototype only, and I have no data to support what would happen if we actually used it. Developing this kind of drug takes years, Eric. That isn’t something that you want to spring on somebody untested. You think the situation is bad with her turning into a shifter. It could be worse.”
“I don’t know if she would think there was actually anything worse than being like me,” Eric said. He almost choked on the words.
That hurt him in a way that he couldn’t even describe. He and Nina had had a tenuous relationship despite what he felt was the depth of their connection. It had run hot and cold, and part of the reason he had been reluctant to let her in was because he knew she still carried with her the trauma of her brother’s death. He understood that. Yet at the same time, he had never been able to feel like he could truly be himself with her. Becoming a shifter would be like Nina’s worst nightmare.
“Right now, my only concern is ensuring the stability of her condition. Once she is conscious, we can talk to her about what happened. When faced with death or living as a shifter, you might be surprised at her choice.” Kelly was trying to get him off of this particular idea.
“That isn’t a fucking choice! We have to give her something to hold on to, and we also don’t know when this transition is going to happen. We might still have time if we take action now,” Eric argued.
“I am completely out of my league here,” Kelly said. The words weren’t
said to Eric; they were said to Kyle. Kyle moved forward then.
“Do you want me to call in Dr. Clarkson?”
Eric had forgotten about the ugly little egotistical doctor. Before Kelly started working for them, Dr. Clarkson had been their go-to physician. “That little shit always has something up his sleeve and knows more than he’s ever willing to tell. Yes, let’s get him over here. Let’s find out what he knows.”
“Dr. Clarkson can’t be trusted,” Kelly protested. “I have been looking over all of the records of all the treatments he’s done for everyone in the Urban Dwellers organization, and they are spotty at best. Charlatan medicine at worst.”
“I saw what he did for Billy Miller when he got bit by a wolf from a legacy bloodline that was poisonous to him,” Eric said. “He used to be the one that you got your drugs from.” He pointed at Kyle. “He also knows more about shifter lore than anybody else. Jillian’s clan is a clan that hasn’t been seen in years. I don’t know anything about them. I doubt either of you do either. I think it’s worth a conversation. Nina deserves that.”
He saw Kyle and Kelly exchange a look. He didn’t really care what they thought. If they wouldn’t help him, he would take Nina to Dr. Clarkson himself.
“If that’s what you want, Eric,” Kyle said. “She is your mate; it’s your choice.”
“Then get the ugly motherfucker over here. Now.”
CHAPTER NINE
Nina woke up and was surprised at the absence of pain. When she had slipped into unconsciousness, the only thing that she could remember was the intensity of what felt like the explosion of every nerve ending in her body. Now, there was nothing. The pain was all gone.
Her eyes popped open, and she saw the sleeping man next to her bed. She felt a small rush of warmth when she realized that Eric had stayed with her. How was it possible to hate someone and yet want them so desperately at the same time? She needed to focus.
She looked around the room, but it wasn’t familiar to her. It had the sterile look of a hospital room, and it smelled like it too. The smell of antiseptic was something that she would never be able to wipe out of her memory banks after sitting at Tomas’s side for days while he went through his transition. She had wished with all her might that their grandparents were alive then. They would have known what to do. But it was just her, Mia, and Tomas left in the world, and less than a week later, it was just her and Mia.
As soon as she shifted in the bed, Eric’s eyes flew open. He leaned over and took her hand. His face held an expression that she had never seen before. It almost looked as if Eric cared.
“You’re awake,” he said quietly. “How do you feel?”
Nina thought about the question. She looked down at herself. She was wearing a hospital gown, but all of her limbs appeared to be intact. “Well, I’m not a snake, so I take that as a positive sign.” She looked hopefully at Eric for his confirmation. Eric’s face fell at her quip. That was when she knew that she was not out of the woods yet as she had hoped.
“The doc was able to give you something to make you more comfortable.” Eric had avoided her question.
“Is this really happening?” she asked softly.
“I am not done yet,” Eric said with a grimace. “We’re still looking into it. You just have to hang in there.”
“Looking into what?” she asked.
“We think that if we can find Jillian, we might be able to reverse the effects of the bite.”
“Isn’t that some type of weird Dracula logic?” Nina asked him. The myth around the vampire said that if the one who spawned their supernatural offspring were killed, the ones bitten would return to their human form.
Eric’s eyebrows rose practically to his hairline. “Vampires don’t exist.”
Nina didn’t know how else to handle the situation except with an element of sarcastic humor. “I keep forgetting,” she said. “Dead ghost shifters need to be added to the list, though. There are so many different creatures in this world to keep track off.”
She saw Eric’s face harden and realized what she had said. She felt bad because she knew that he was adding himself up into that category. That wasn’t what she had meant. She might have been pissed off at Eric, but he was trying to help her. “I’m sorry. I suppose sarcasm isn’t helpful in this situation. I think I’m still in shock at what’s happened.”
That was really the underestimation of the year. She was going to transition into a shifter. Not just any shifter, but a rattlesnake. A cold-blooded creature with a lethal bite. That was when something else occurred to her.
“There was venom in her bite too, wasn’t there?”
Eric’s look of surprise was comical. “We did find traces of a toxin that the doc hasn’t been able to identify yet.” He grimaced. “The tests indicate that it is toxic.”
“So if the transition doesn’t kill me, that little added gift would.” The plan was startlingly simple and yet stunningly effective. For a psycho, Jillian was clever; Nina had to give her that.
"If you are going to track somebody down in this city, you need me," Nina said. “Especially if there’s a supernatural element at play.”
Eric shook his head vigorously. "You need to rest. I'll figure it out."
"Since when did you become the private investigator?" Nina asked.
"You've just been through an ordeal. You need to conserve your strength."
Nina was ready to argue when the door to her room opened, and a tall woman with long brown hair entered the room. She was even prettier in person, Nina thought. The pictures in the press didn’t do her justice. Nina knew who she was. Her face had been plastered along with her husband's all over the media.
"I'm Dr. Frost. It's nice to meet you," she said, crossing the room with a warm smile. “But you can call me Kelly. No need for such formality with friends.”
Nina instantly liked her.
"When can I get out of here?" Nina asked. That was really the question of the day. Behind Kelly, Nina saw there was a short man in a three-piece suit that she hadn't noticed before. It was because the man was so small. She had to work hard to keep her face neutral when she saw his face. He was quite possibly the ugliest man that she had ever seen. The man came around to Kelly's side next to Nina’s bed. She felt as if he were looking at her under a microscope.
"I'm Dr. Clarkson," he said with a note of pride, as if she should know who he was. She didn’t.
She couldn’t be sure, but she thought that Kelly almost rolled her eyes at the man’s introduction. Whatever relationship the two doctors had, it seemed to be tenuous at best.
"How do you feel?" Kelly asked. Nina sensed that Kelly was trying to ignore the fact that the small man was there at all.
"I feel great," Nina said. She stretched out her left arm and flexed her shoulder muscle. She looked at her collarbone. There was a bandage there, but the bruising that had been all around it seemed to have completely disappeared. She wasn’t exaggerating. She did feel great. In fact, she didn't feel tired or hungry or anything. It was as if she had a bolt of energy in her system.
Kelly didn’t appear to be pleased by this news. Dr. Clarkson, on the other hand, gave Kelly a satisfied smirk. "I told you that would work," he said. It was said in a very matter-of-fact tone.
"I never said I doubted you," Kelly replied.
"Well, you never implied that you didn't either," Dr. Clarkson said.
"Can you two have your pissing battle outside of this room?" Eric asked. Nina was actually surprised that he had been quiet so long. "What's going on? How is she doing, really? How much longer until the transition takes hold?"
Nina wanted to argue that she should be the one asking the questions; she didn't like the fact that Eric was taking control of the situation. She didn't need him to speak for her. She had a mouth, and she had a brain; she was capable of addressing the situation herself. But Eric’s questions were the ones she would've started with anyway, so she felt like she had to let it go.
Kelly st
arted to say something when Dr. Clarkson inserted himself. "Depending on the species, the transition effects can take anywhere from three to seven days in my experience. Rattler shifters are incredibly rare, as I’m sure you well know. I've only seen one in my entire career, and that was an old man who passed away shortly after coming to see me. So, this will be a new experience for all of us."
Just Nina's luck. She had to get bitten by the rarest shifter breed out there. The situation continued to get worse.
"How long have I been asleep?" she asked. She was already starting to do the math.
"Just a few hours," Kelly said. She reached over and touched Nina's arm as if trying to comfort her. "Dr. Clarkson has given you something for the pain. It's a drug that is commonly used for shifter bites. But I will tell you that the side effects of the drug could be incredibly dramatic."
"What the fuck does that mean?" Eric asked.
She would have preferred in this particular situation to tell Eric to cool it with his cursing. But she knew asking Eric not to curse would be like asking the Pope not to pray. It just wasn’t going to happen. One thing that she had noticed during their brief relationship was that he tended to curse more when he was more emotional. She was kind of surprised at this turn of events. He was acting almost possessive of her.
"I understand that you have seen the effects of the drug in another instance fairly recently, Eric,” Kelly said. She consulted the notes on her clipboard. "It was used for a Greyelf Grizzly clan member who was here in the city about a year ago."
Eric sighed in disgust. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. "Okay. Yes. So what you're saying is that when the drug wears off, everything is accelerated."
"That is the trade-off," Dr. Clarkson said with a note of smugness. "The universe demands a balance. You can try to shift a situation to your benefit, but eventually, the universe will balance itself back out."
Nina didn't like the sound of that at all. She looked between the doctors and Eric. She was so confused. It was as if they were all speaking some kind of foreign language that she just didn’t understand.