Chapter 21

21

EMMA

The heat in my core is making my body sweat. My hands are trembling as I attempt to compose myself after going from an emotional moment with Hunter to almost losing Amy. All of the sensations in my body seem to pull me apart. I cross my legs while leaning against the counter, attempting to solve one problem at least and find some relief. At the same time, I feel the intensity of Hunter's eyes making me nervous. There's too much going on in this room, in my body. I want to look at him, but if I do that, this fire in my core will ignite.

His voice is firm, pulling me from my thoughts, “Emma, we need to get home.”

I shake my head, “No, I need to finish the process. I need to help Amy. I need?—”

“Emma, now.” His voice offers no objections, and his body wraps around me. He breathes in deeply. I know he can smell my arousal. I don't know how my body is possibly aroused right now after two orgasms in my office. Then, every part of my brain wants to work in the lab and finish this.

I let out a soft whimper as my legs pinch, hitting a spot that seems overly tender. I let my head rest on Hunter’s shoulder, breathing in all his calmness. I let myself feel the bond, the strength he exudes. The feeling is washed out like the tide as my body pulses again with need.

“Fucks sake, woman. Tell me what you need done, and I’ll help.” His large body quickly cleared the space in the lab, pulling out the extra large blue gloves and slipping them over his hands.

I try to shake off the thoughts of returning to my office and focus on the task. I breathe deeply and look around the lab slowly.

I work through the process in my mind just as Hunter gets a phone call. “Hold on, sweet girl. I’m going to step out to take this.”

I nod and move around the lab, getting set up to create the antitoxin; one of the bad parts of making an antitoxin is that it's produced by repeatedly injecting it into an animal so they can build immunity. Then, you extract those proteins and use them to cure others. As Hunter enters the lab again, he has a worried look on his face, but I don’t have time to analyze it right now.

“Hunter, I have a weird request. I need a rat, raccoon, or small mammal, and it has to be alive.”

His head tilts to the side, “Why?”

“To build an immunity to something, you must be exposed to it repeatedly. We are going to use a small mammal to do that. I will have them partially sedated so we can inject them with small doses of the toxin. Each time we do an injection, its body will have a natural response resulting in an antitoxin.”

“Alright.” He says without asking any more questions, he heads to the hall where Trevor is and says, “Trevor you need to stay in the lab or office until I’m back.” His tone is that of a commanding officer, and I’m suddenly flushed with heat again as I watch him head out the back door to the forest.

After a few minutes, I hear the bell on the front door ring out. I step out into the hall and see Holly barely managing to walk around the front desk to the hall, followed closely by Will.

Her eyes are sunken, and her skin looks unnaturally pale. Will hovers next to her with a deep scowl etched into his face.

I rush towards her, “Holly, oh my god, what happened?”

Will looks annoyed as he responds, “Holly hasn't eaten in nearly five days…I found her locked in her room.”

“Holly, why didn’t you come in or call…” I’m cut off as she falls forward, nearly colliding with the floor before Will catches her. I open the door to clinic room two, and Will helps Holly lie on the bed.

My mind is racing with the mounting pressure of saving everyone. Holly has been battling this poison for weeks, though she is worse than Amy. I’m the only one who has a shot at saving my friends. I quickly check Holly’s vitals. Her pulse is weak, and she struggles to even smile at me as I ask her questions about how she’s feeling.

Will gives me just enough room to work around her, and I find myself growling at him to back up and give me space. Just as I’m about to ask him to leave the room, Hunter presses in with a snarling raccoon in hand.

Will turns quickly, “Hunt, I thought Dr. Fawnsbeck said no wild beasts in the clinic.” Hunter's smile is full until he takes in his sister lying in the bed.

“Emma, why is Holly here, and where do you want this?” His voice lacks all softness. I take him quickly to the lab and open the large crate I’ve kept here just in case someone does shift.

Hunter throws the raccoon in, and I have him give it a sedative since he seems way more comfortable touching it than I am.

“Why’s Holly here?” His voice is broken.

“She’s not a good, Hunter. I need to get this raccoon set up to begin making the antitoxin, which will help. Why don’t you go back in with your sister, and I can come in, in a bit.”

He kisses me quickly and says, “Please get me if you need help.”

Then he leaves me with the raccoon. “Hey little guy, you ready to help save some people?”

My voice is timid as I push a piece of cheese through the crate.

The first set of shots do very little, and I realize this process may take longer than I have. I spend my time between the lab and Holly’s clinic room, whereas Trevor has barely left Amy’s side.

Nan and Micheal show up for the night shift and to check on Holly. I can’t stop this injection process, and I hope that by the morning, the series of tests will show me the proteins needed to block the poison in the wolf's system.

After the fifteenth injection, I slide slowly down the cabinets next to the raccoon's cage, whose now known as Rocky. My body is exhausted, and my feet ache. Hunter presses into the lab, “Oh sweet girl,” he says, as he slides down and pulls me between his large legs. The exhaustion is weighing so heavily on my body that I savor his warmth as his arms surround me.

“Emma, let's go home and sleep. We can come back in a few hours.”

I shake my head. It rolls against his firm chest. “Just a few more hours, and we might have enough proteins developed.”

“Okay.” Hunter runs his hands down my arms as I let my eyes drift shut. I sleep while he holds me.

Every fifteen minutes for the next three hours, I wake up and administer the shots to, Rocky. My stomach feels like I’ve eaten stones, my body cramps from sleeping on the floor, but the blood analyzer is beeping as it finishes the last round of samples. The computer screen reads a thirty-five percent sample, with proteins that will heal my friends or rather aid in their natural healing abilities. The proteins would help a shifter at this point, but they probably wouldn’t save a human who doesn’t regenerate as quickly.

“I think we have enough to try. Even if it doesn't fully heal Holly or Amy, it will help dramatically.”

Hunter places his hand on the small of my back, “Okay, let's go, sweet girl.”

I pull the small vial from the analyzer and grab the package of syringes from a cabinet. Now, I must decide if we should help Holly or Amy first. I only have enough for one dose. The second should only be another hour, but do they have one more hour? I walk into Holly’s room, and she shakes her head. Will nearly snarls at her denial from the chair on the other side of her bed, “Holls, you’ve been sick for nearly six weeks. Take the medicine.”

Her voice is weak and cracks, “Emma, give it to Amy, I’m okay.”

“Like hell you are,” Hunter and Will say in unison.

I watch my friend closely. Her soft blue eyes are pleading, “I'm okay, promise. Give it to Amy, please.”

“Okay, Holly, but we are giving you the next dose after this.”

She nods.

Hunter is on my heels, and Will’s on his, “Please don’t try to stop me. This is Holly’s decision.” I move around the bed to Amy’s IV pole. I turn to Amy. She smiles at me as I explain that we are about to try the first dose of antitoxin, and she needs to tell me how she's feeling. She nods, knowing the procedure because we reviewed this in one of our lessons a few weeks ago. I slide the syringe from the packaging and pull the liquid from the vial, then turn and slowly inject it into her catheter near her wrist.

Everyone in the room is holding their breath as we watch Amy. Trevor is next to me. Hunter and Will stand, blocking the doorway.

“How do we know if it's working?” Will asks.

I turn to Amy. “How are you feeling?” She opens her eyes, and they're a deep gold as her wolf peers out at me.

Then, between blinks, the wolf is gone. “I feel okay,” she finally answers.

My hands rest in hers as I watch. My frame leans heavily on the bed as I realize how exhausted I am. Hunter comes to stand next to me in support. Then Amy’s heart monitor begins slowly ticking, quicker and quicker.

“Amy, what's going on?”

She shakes her head quickly, “I’m going to shift.” Her words are pinched, and Hunter picks me up and quickly pulls me towards the corner of the room. Trevor and Will both step closer to Amy. Trevor unhooks all of her IVs and helps her sit up on the bed’s edge. She lets out an ear-piercing scream and doubles over as she shifts into a speckled tan wolf with large dark spots. The hospital gown falls to the floor at her paws. The wolf shakes its fur out before turning those golden eyes back to me. It stalks closer, and Hunter puts his body in front of mine and uses a voice I’ve never heard before, telling the wolf to stop. It listens and looks at him.

“Hunter, what’s happening?”

He shakes his head and continues to block my view of Amy. Then, nearly as quickly, she shifts back to her human form.

“Amy?” My voice is laced with worry, “What just happened?”

“You did it,” she says as Trevor drapes the gown back over her shoulders to cover her up.

“How do you know it worked?” Will asks as Amy climbs back into the clinic bed.

Amy shakes her head. “It was like this heat that flowed through my body. The shift allowed it to penetrate something, and as I shifted back, I could feel the antitoxin burn through the poison. It hurt, but it worked.”

Will’s eyes turn to me, “How long until Holly can get a dose?”

It’s almost noon, and my head aches and feet barely carry me down the hall. Holly and Amy are on the mend. Hunter steps up next to me as I lean on the wall outside of Holly’s room. The exhaustion and emotion of the day have me sliding down the wall to sit on the floor, my head falling to my knees as I wrap my arms around my body.

“Emma, you did it.” Hunter’s voice is full of pride as he kneels next to me.

I nod to my knees.

He continues, “Let's go get some rest, okay?”

I nod again, too tired to form words as the exhaustion overtakes my body.