23. Twenty Three

Twenty Three

Rainbow

Baldr was an interesting man… god. One of the old Norse gods, he had lost a lot of his power in a world where he wasn't worshiped. He put what he had of his power into protecting Westhaven like his Greek friend, Hestia, did over in Greyhaven.

Our meeting with him was brief. He explained the healers were at a loss with my dad. Without his familiar there was no chance of his recovery. All they could do was ease his symptoms and keep him stable until we could break the bond.

Though they had vampires and Were shifters in Westhaven, Dad had refused them. An Oracle, or a Seer, someone had told him he had to wait. If anyone else changed him, he wouldn't make it through it.

"What I am is a curse. How can I give this to my mate's father? I'd be damning him to the same life as me, always an outcast, forced to shift, out of my mind on the full moon."

"In Westhaven," Baldr began, "we have uncovered many remedies for the affliction. We can cure those accidentally infected as long as it is before their first full moon. For the nights where they are forced to change, we can help them find peace. They do not rage at the bars of a cage. They can sleep soundly beside their mates if they choose. There are even talismans to prevent them from accidentally turning their loved ones."

"No offense, but that sounds like a fairytale."

"Alas, we do not have the time to demonstrate it. Aspen is fading. By Christmas, he will be gone. Your pack is about to enter turmoil, so you only have a day to choose which of you will do it. For now, you should visit the clinic."

Mom and Sky were waiting for us outside the clinic, all bundled up against the icy wind. "Rainbow!"

They swarmed me with hugs and kisses, asking a million questions while not letting me answer. Done with me, still without listening to a word, they went after Griffin and Sunny. At least they were more restrained with Griffin, likely sensing he wouldn't appreciate it as much as Sunny clearly did.

I waited for them to finish before introducing them properly. "Sunny, Griffin, this is my sister, Sky, and my mom, Rose."

"Nice to meet you," my mates said.

"Come on, we'll talk inside." Mom pushed the button for the automatic doors, letting us inside the warm clinic.

"How's Dad?" I asked, nervous. I wasn't ready for this. My dad had always been there for me. Through all the bullying for my eyesight. Kids teased me for being the only one wearing glasses since my sight couldn't be fixed with a simple spell. He'd given me my love of plants and encouraged me to see more of the world than our village.

"He doesn't have long. We've tried everything to find Jones. All the tracking spells have cut off now. It's been too long. We think someone must have taken him in. He might have been injured and lost hope."

"Will the cat be okay if the bond is cut?" Sunny's concern for Dad's familiar was touching. He had Jinx in his pocket.

I was happy to reassure him. "Jones will age like a normal cat after the bond is broken. It might hurt him, though only briefly."

Sunny nodded, mollified.

Mom took us into the room with my dad. Gone was the healthy man who looked to only be a few years older than me, thanks to witch genetics. Gray threads were visible in his brown hair. It was thin and limp. His body, once lightly padded from good living, was lean, fragile. Worse, his skin, the same light tan as mine, looked yellow, like he was jaundiced.

The sound that escaped my mouth was one of grief. I hated seeing him so close to death like this.

"He… I can't change him." Sunny was crying. His pain, the hurt he had for letting me down all over his pretty face.

"Why? They said you could!" I protested.

"Maybe last week, if we'd known. His liver… I can scent his blood. It's infected."

"I'll do it." Griffin looked resolved. "If you swear he wants this, and only if everything the mayor said is true. If Westhaven is willing, I'd like to take their remedies back to the pack. My people deserve it."

"Baldr said you might ask for something like that. He's already agreed. Even if you didn't do it, he would have given you the potions and recipes for them and something to protect Rainbow. He feels like all Weres deserve to live without their condition hanging over them." Mom went to Dad's side and clutched his hand. "Aspen, you need to tell the boys you want to be a werewolf."

Dad's eyes fluttered open. With a weak voice, he said, "I want to howl at the moon." The idiot tried to howl. Sunny laughed and joined him.

Sky, staying unusually quiet, just rolled her eyes.

"Be serious, Dad. Griffin needs to hear it properly!" I chided.

"Griffin, please turn me into a werewolf. I know what I'm asking…" his words ended with a cough.

"Alright. I'm going to need everyone to leave. Does that door lock?"

"Hold on!" Sky interrupted. "They've got a room set up. They can gas the room with the potion after he changes. We heard the first few shifts are rough."

"Great." Griffin unhooked the machines monitoring my dad and rolled his bed towards the door. "The longer we wait, the worse the odds."

Dad and Griffin went into the room alone. Griffin picked Dad off the bed and held him in his arms inside the tiny room. It looked like a cell. The walls were all padded, floor to ceiling. I could tell the door was reinforced.

The minutes ticked by as Griffin spoke quietly to Dad. Sunny couldn't hear them, judging by the headshake he gave me.

Then I watched in fascinated horror as Griffin bit my dad's wrist. Then his ankle. He scratched him along his ribs in downward strokes.

"He's saying the more venom Aspen gets, the quicker the change. Hopefully, it's enough to fix the damage."

We waited for what felt like forever, just looking through the window into that terrible space. Griffin laid Dad down and stepped away, out of sight.

"Griff needs to know you won't blame him if this doesn't work," Sunny mouthed against my ear.

"I—I won't. Griffin, if Dad dies today, it's because you helped him find peace, okay?" He had to be able to hear me with his Were senses, right?

"Is he listening?" I asked Sunny, who nodded.

Reassured my words were getting to Griffin, I continued. "I will never blame you if we lose my dad. They waited too long to tell us. We could have come sooner. Couldn't we?"

I was crying. "If I'd come to your door and said my dad was dying and only you could save him, you would have dropped everything for me, wouldn't you? Even when you pretended you didn't like me, you would have. I know it."

"Yes," Griffin said, as he opened the door and took me into his arms. "I would have tried to say no, but in the end, I would have done it."

"Aspen's heart rate is picking up," Sunny informed us, stroking my back as I cried against Griffin's chest. "I think you did it, Griff."

Our wolf's smile trembled. "Hope so."

Hours went by as we talked in the hallway. Nurses, healers, whatever they were called, brought us drinks.

Our only source of information was Sunny. He would open the door and take a sniff. Slowly, my dad's scent cleared into something healthier.

He was over the worst. Sure, he would have to grieve both the loss of his magic and his familiar, but he'd survive, adapt. I only hoped that wherever he was, Jones was safe and cared for. We'd probably never know what happened to him, and that hurt. He'd been with Dad for so long, it would take each of them time to adjust.

Dad shifted sometime in the early hours of the morning. Mom and Sky were asleep, leaning on each other. I had been dozing between my men. We were probably blocking the corridor, but I couldn't bring myself to go any further away.

"Bow," Sunny's voice was urgent. "It's happening."

We woke up my mom and sister so they could see. It was a painful process. All of Dad's bones broke and reformed with such a slowness I feared the worst was going to happen.

After minutes of watching him change, he stood in wolf form, panting for breath, his hospital gown shredded on the floor. He caught sight of us and lunged for the door.

"Sunny, go tell them to release the gas." The healers had learned of a way to turn the potion into a gas so the Weres could inhale it, making it act faster. Unlike my sleeping potion, this was built for Were physiology and would last an entire night, or so they said.

He ran to the nurses' station and shouted for help.

Dad was rattling the door with every lunge he made until the gas turned the room green. When it cleared, he was lying on the floor.

"He made it," Griffin said in wonder. "The magic, it worked!"

There was such a sense of relief. Dad was going to be okay and we would have a way for all the Were shifters in Umberwood to have a sense of security, not having to wander about, wreaking havoc on the local population.

Once they were sure he was out and he shifted back, they went in to check on him. His magic was gone, which I knew my family would grieve for, but his body was perfectly healthy. He would bear the scars of his turning for the rest of his life. I was just grateful Griffin had thought to keep them small.

We'd barely had any sleep when Griffin's phone rang. Tor. Knowing it was urgent, Griffin answered.

"Griff, you need to come home. Ray has taken over. He's trying to make all the Weres leave. He's giving them two days to get packed up. Says Southridge is claiming our pack."

"Shit."

"We'll be on the next flight we can get," I said. Tor could hear me easily.

"What about your dad?" Griffin asked. Sunny stayed silent.

"You saved him. They can come and visit once he's stable. Maybe we can have a second Christmas with them in the new year."

"Just that easy?"

"Yeah. The pack needs us. We'll ask Baldr for the remedies and go home."

"We should see your family first. Your dad is wearing a cuff, right?"

Rather than risk the slightest thing triggering a change when his body had been so fragile, the healers had devised a cuff which could stop him from shifting until he learned some more control. It was also why he couldn't take the potion to stop the change from being permanent. My dad was so weak, not having his Were side would kill him. I was just grateful he had changed, even if he didn't have magic anymore.

Besides, the way his magic acted up, he was looking forward to being a shifter, Were or otherwise. He was honestly looking forward to shifting and howling at the moon. I loved him for it.

"You want one, too, right?" I tried to smile, thinking of the cuff and the amazing magic Westhaven had.

"Damn right."

Griffin took care of flights while Sunny charmed Baldr and all of City Hall. Even though their Seer had warned them, they were upset we couldn't stay longer.

I spent some time with my family.

"Are you sure you don't want to check out Umberwood?" I asked my sister. She was still being quiet over her time in Westhaven. I felt bad I hadn't chased her for more details about everything. Sky had suffered in my absence.

"She's met someone," Mom confessed. "Early days, though. Won't talk about it. We'll come after the holidays once Aspen is steadier."

Dad said little, though he asked me to thank Griffin for what he had done. He looked better, and that was the best I could ask for.

Leaving Westhaven so soon after we arrived was bittersweet. I longed for more time with my family, yet I was also grateful to get back to my real life.

My family might not have abandoned me when the vampires took over our coven, but they hadn't waited for me. They knew which area I was in, so they knew where to find me. They hadn't before, but that could change. We had different priorities now. Natural, I guess, for a guy in his thirties.

Besides, I had my mates and a new family now. They came with a weird vampire obsessed with plants and a pack mixed with Were and born shifters.

I was on a new path, forged on my own, where I'd found the happiness I deserved.