Chapter 6

Rose

Cade gives me his full attention, and I struggle not to fidget under his stare. He finally nods and turns away, and I follow him as we walk further down the hallway. Before he opens the door, he turns back to me and gives me a pained smile. "Don't be too hard on him; there's a reason he's the way he is."

His words give me pause. "What do you mean?"

"Not my story to tell," he says gently. I exchange a glance with Ava, but she merely shrugs at his words. We step into the room, and it takes my eyes a moment to adjust to the dimly lit room. The curtains are drawn, and there's only a small lamp on. We follow Cade over to the bed, and I look down. Instant tears prick my eyes when I finally lay eyes on Maverick, not because I care about him. But I hate to see anyone in pain, and he's in obvious pain. I stare down at the man, who's almost unrecognizable to me. His beard takes over half his face, and his hair has grown wild and shaggy. His skin color is pallor and not the deep tan I'm used to seeing. I turn my gaze to his face again and see the deep lines, lines that tell of chronic pain. He shudders, and I startle and take a step back. His body jerks again hard, and his hand flails. I turn alarmed eyes to Cade, but his expression is sad. Maverick makes a loud sound of pain, and it calls to the healer inside me. Tears burn at my eyes. I move to take a step closer, but Cade motions us to the door. Maverick thrashes hard again on his bed, and my hands tingle with the power building inside me. When he makes a low sound of pain again, I can't handle it. The burning increases, and I tug off my gloves.

"What are you doing?" Ava asks, alarmed.

Cade steps towards her, like he's going to intercept her. "I'm just going to release some of my healing power," I tell both of them without looking at them. I'm still looking at Maverick, trying to assess the depth of his pain, of what's going on. Maverick jerks again and makes a sound; he seems to be getting worse. "Why is he getting worse?" I ask, looking over at Cade.

"It's probably because you're here," Cade says in a quiet voice.

I meet his eyes. "Because..."

"You're his mate," he says softly.

"Not really. He doesn't--"

"You're his mate," he says firmly, cutting off anything I was going to say.

Maverick makes a pained groan again, and I decide to just take matters into my own hands. I bend over him and place my hands on his stomach. I'm alarmed at the feel of his ribs. I've never seen him without a shirt on, but I know he's way underweight from what he should be. His ribs are too exposed. His skin is cold to touch, and it startles me. But I keep my hands on his stomach and close my eyes like Sage taught me to do and breathe out before I release my power and send it into him. I've done this many times now, but this time is different than any other time I've done it. My power doesn't ricochet and come back at me, like I thought it might. That's what happened when I helped heal both Samantha and Ava after the vampire power started taking over their bodies. It doesn't do that, but it sort of circles around, looking for a place to land and then just dissipates without really doing anything. I try again, and the same thing happens. I'm frustrated when I pull back. "Nothing is happening," I tell Ava.

"What do you mean?"

"It's like my power's just...obsolete. I don't know; I don't know how to describe it." I feel panicky that I can't do anything to help. Meanwhile, Maverick is dying while I'm standing less than a foot from him. I squeeze my fists, unsure what to do.

"Well, he seems a little better now," Ava says, and I turn my gaze back to Maverick. She's right. He's quiet now, and his body isn't shuddering as much. "So maybe you did more than you thought you did."

Hope fills me for the first time since stepping into the room. I pull out my phone. "Do you mind if I call Sage?" I ask Cade.

"Go ahead."

I wait for Sage to pick up. "Rose, I've been wondering how it's going. How are you doing?"

"Hey, Sage." Just hearing her voice gives me a sense of peace. "I need your help."

"Okay. Tell me what's going on; I've got you on speakerphone. Paul's here too."

"Oh good." I look down at Maverick. "It's really bad." I don't look at Cade as I speak. "The shifters are in such pain, and they're wasting away to nothing. I'm looking at Maverick right now, and you wouldn't even recognize him. His ribs are showing, and he looks...terrible. The pain..." my voice falters.

"Did you try your healing power?" Sage asks in full healer mode.

"I did. That's why I'm calling. It did absolutely nothing."

"Tell me exactly what happened."

"I sent some power through him, just to see what would happen. It didn't recoil, but it didn't do anything either. It sort of just dissipated."

"Did it stop on any particular organ or part of the body?" Sage asks.

"No, it really just sort of moved around a little and then dissipated."

"Rose, I think it would be good to get a sample of blood and get it to the lab to get tested," Paul interjects. "I would be interested to see what the levels in the blood are like."

"We had a few sent out, but the results were inconclusive," Cade says.

I repeat that back to Paul. "Well, they should have showed something," Paul says. I can hear movement, and I'm sure he's moving around the clinic. He never sits still, especially when he's trying to figure something out. "I want samples sent here, Rose. I know it's going to be extra work, but I want to see them myself. I'll send a kit to you."

"Okay." My heart squeezes when a particularly violent shudder runs through Maverick. I don't like the guy, but nobody should have to endure that kind of pain. "Should I try to send more healing power through him?"

"I don't know." It's Sage that answers. "If it's not doing anything, you might just tire yourself out without it actually doing anything."

"Why would sending my healing power through not just heal whatever it is that's wrong?" I ask. "Shouldn't it just seek out what needs to heal?"

"In theory, yes. It should gravitate towards what's damaged or injured. But in rare cases, like this, when it's the whole body, sometimes it just floats out, like what you described. When Samantha was healing Alpha Tanner's mate, she had to send the power to each individual organ to be able to heal her. I can't help but think it's something like that for this."

I sigh in defeat. "Start by getting those blood samples to me," Paul says. "And we can go from there."

I turn away from Alpha Cade, not that he can't still hear me. "I don't think we have the time. I think Maverick will be dead before you get the sample analyzed."

It's quiet on the other end. I can almost see them exchange looks; I've seen them do it so often. "We're obviously not there, Rose. I know what it's like to be the one on site. You're the healer there; you make the call. We will support you whatever you decide." Sage's words give me a boost of confidence. "But if you do decide to start healing Maverick, don't do it all at once. You will burn out. Without a mate, you're on your own. Once your healing power is depleted, it's gone. It will take time for it to come back. Take my word for it; you don't want that to happen. Don't push it until you pass out. As soon as you feel yourself starting to get weak, you have to pull back, Rose. Or you won't be able to recover."

"Okay. I'll work on getting you the blood samples, and I'll pace myself." The thought hits me that Ava's here as well, but I'm not sure where she's at mentally. I don't know if she'll do any healing. Ava's her own person, and nobody can get her to do anything. "Thank you both. I'll keep you updated."

"Of course," Sage says. "Call anytime, and be careful, Rose." I know what she's not saying—to be careful that I don't get it, whatever it is. I hang up and pocket my phone. "I'm going to do a little more healing."

Ava gives me a look, but I ignore it. I step close to the bed again and take a deep breath, trying to settle myself. I let my power begin to rise to the surface and feel my hands begin to tingle. Only when they're close to the burning stage do I lean forward and put my hands on his chest. This time I try to focus and direct my power through his body, watching carefully to see what it snags on. Even though I try to direct my power, it still dissipates. I'm frustrated but refuse to give up. I let my power rise again before I touch him again and force my power to go where I want it to. I move it over his major organs first and keep it moving, keeping it carefully controlled. When it moves over all his major organs without stopping before dissipating, I try to figure out what's going on. Obviously, whatever it is, it's enough to kill shifters. The damage has to be here somewhere. But it's not in his heart, liver, kidneys, or lungs. I send another wave of power through and direct it towards his stomach and intestines. It gets snagged there for a little bit, so I push more power that way before pulling back. I'm starting to get lightheaded. I know what that means; I'm starting to run out of healing energy. If I keep going, I'm going to deplete myself. Disappointed, I let the last of my power dissipate. After a moment, I find my stability and turn to Alpha Cade. "I'm going to get to the bottom of this."

He nods. "Thank you at least for trying." I bite my lip and follow him out of the room with Ava right behind me and begin the process of decontaminating. He faces us after he closes the door to the room. In that moment, he looks exhausted and depleted; I can't imagine what he's been through.

"I'll be back here first thing in the morning," I tell him. He nods and lets out a big breath of air. My heart goes out to him. I don't envy what he's dealing with; that's for sure. Fear of losing more of his pack members must ride him so hard, not to mention the fear of losing his beta and his mate and child. I couldn't imagine that. "I'll do my best. If they can be healed, I will do my best to heal them."

He nods at my words. "Two of my shifters are on their way here to show you around the building and where to get food." He looks behind us and motions somebody over with his hands. I turn to see two shifters I've never met walk over to us. "This is Mark, and that's Brandon. Please show our guests to the dining hall."

The guy at the front, Mark I think, nods and walks over to the door. After a glance at Ava, we follow the two of them.