by Meg Ripley
“Ramon…I don’t know if you can hear me, but I want you to know—I need you to know—I love you! And I will keep working on this antidote day and night until it clicks. I will not let you die…but you have to fight, too, okay, baby? I know you can’t promise me, but I need you to fight this until the very last second. If not for me, for our child.”
I was not much of a crier; in fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I cried. But in that moment, I was sure I sobbed more than I ever had in my life. I wanted Ramon to survive; I needed him to.
“Alright, I’m going to take him to the holding cell. I know you said that you’d want to work on the antidote at the lodge if he’s locked up, and I want you to know that’s still okay. Behind bars, he can’t harm you; they’re specifically designed to withstand bear strength, so there’s no way he could escape and hurt you. Either way, I will be there to make sure of it. So, if you’d like to go there, you’re still welcome to.” Trent rested a hand on my shoulder and gave me a reassuring look.
I tried to wipe my face and nodded. “You go on ahead. I’ll take my car; I remember the way.”
“Okay, I’ll see you soon. Try not to take too long or I’ll worry you ran for the hills or something.” Trent smiled, but I couldn’t find it in me to return the gesture. I appreciated his effort, but all I could think about was never being able to talk to Ramon again, never hearing his adorable Spanish phrases and smart-ass jokes.
I watched Trent lift Ramon’s naked body and carry him out. My eyes followed them until they disappeared out the door and a whole new wave of sobs crashed over me.
How can I raise a bear shifter? I hardly know anything about them! I need Ramon. He has to make it through this!
I wasn’t particularly religious, but in that moment, I prayed as hard as I could. I prayed to anyone listening, whoever was up in the sky, to give me the guidance to find the antidote for Ramon, for our child. And I kept repeating that prayer, hoping that the more I said it, the higher it would reach. If I could speak it into existence, it would happen. I just had to keep praying, keep saying it. I could will it to happen if I tried hard enough.
Or at least, that’s what I kept telling myself.
10
Min
A few days had gone by and I was hard at work on the antidote in the holding lodge. I had grown anxious; I was down to only two ticks and I had just opened the first of the two to try out the latest version of the antidote. I knew I was close. I had finally gotten to the point where I could stop the virus from attacking the blood cells by applying the antidote to the samples in a petri dish, but I needed it to be stronger. I needed it to remove the virus not only from the cells, but also from the body completely. I kept increasing the dosage, but it still wasn’t enough. It was missing something. I needed to add something else to it, but what?
I heard a low growl; I was distracted by Ramon snarling at me through the bars of his cell. Ever since the day he shifted in the lab, he’d remained in the same state of mind. He would randomly shift and maintain his bear form longer every time it happened. He would roar and bang on the cell bars, pounding on the walls—luckily, Knox had brought me sound proof headphones for moments like those. I felt terrible tuning Ramon out, but I had to, for his sake; I couldn’t concentrate with his bear making a ruckus. I knew it wasn’t his fault, but I always felt guilty, as I had in that moment, when I slipped them on over my ears.
Trent and Knox had some protocols to go over for the new safety project Acadia was implementing, so I had told them I would be okay working by myself. I knew Ramon couldn’t hurt me from within the cell, so I wasn’t too worried. In the next cell over, Cassidy never spoke a word to anyone either, and seemed to have accepted her fate. Either way, I wouldn’t have shown her an ounce of sympathy; that bitch was ready to throw me under the bus.
When Ramon would shift back into a human, his body was always so exhausted that he would just lie there on the floor, not moving a muscle; in times like that, I would go over to the cell and attempt to speak with him. I thought it highly unlikely that he could hear me or understand me at this point; with how quickly the infection was setting in, once he was incoherent, I knew most of his brain had been taken over by the virus.
But it was his heart that I was worried about. Once the virus would infiltrate that, he would surely die.
I had no idea how much time I had left. It was hard to gauge based on their experience with the rogue shifter, since Cassidy couldn’t remember when she infected him. So, we were playing a game of chance.
I had to be extremely careful with that particular round of testing; I needed to be sure I could test the last tick with the final iteration of the antidote.
Just then, I was distracted by something waving in front of me.
A sandwich?
I looked up to see two women standing in front of me. One was average height with a slim, fit build and the other was short, plump and pear-shaped. Their lips were moving, but I couldn’t hear a word they were saying.
I removed the headphones from my ears. “Excuse me?”
“Oh, sorry; I didn’t realize you couldn’t hear us. We thought you’d be hungry, so we brought you a bite to eat. We’ve been sending things along with Knox and Trent, but we wanted to stop by and say hello ourselves.” The slender woman smiled at me and handed me the Ziploc bag with the sandwich inside. “Do you like peanut butter and jelly? We also brought you some water and snacks. We heard you’re eating for two, so we wanted to make sure you were taken care of.”
The woman was talking to my belly with the last bit. It took me a moment to realize who they were.
“Oh, you two must be Hannah and Blanca.”
“Sorry, we should have at least introduced ourselves!” The shorter of the two laughed. “I’m Blanca and this is Hannah. I’m Trent’s girlfriend, and she’s Knox’s.”
“Pleased to meet you both.” I smiled, trying to be happy for the company. A part of me was, but mostly, I just wanted to get back to working on the antidote. I looked over to Ramon’s cell to see him lying on the floor again, in naked human form. I tried to push it from my mind as I turned back to Blanca and Hannah.
“How are you holding up, hun? Any cravings yet? Morning sickness?” Hannah asked me, looking concerned.
“My, uh, breasts, have been a bit swollen, but that’s all,” I answered, nervously tucking my hair behind my ear. This seemed a bit personal for a first-time conversation, but I knew they were just trying to check in on me and I didn’t want to be rude and send them away.
“I don’t really think we can help with that, but cravings? We’ve got you, girl.” Blanca gave me a thumbs up.
They both looked to Ramon’s cell.
“How is he?” They almost seemed to regret asking.
“Worse. I’m honestly not sure if he has much time, so I’m working as hard as I can.”
“Well, the work you’re doing here is nothing short of amazing.” Blanca was the one who spoke, but Hannah nodded in agreement. “If you ever need a hand with anything or want to chat, don’t hesitate to reach out.”
“Yeah, us girls have to stick together, you know?” Hannah smiled.
“Thank you; I appreciate that. And I am grateful for all the food and water you’ve been sending; you both have been such life savers. I honestly probably wouldn’t eat if you hadn’t been passing it along. I’ve just been so focused on the antidote. If my eyes didn’t need sleep, I probably wouldn’t go to bed at all, either.” I chuckled lightly, hoping that I seemed likeable. I wanted us all to be friends—and women with shifter boyfriends seemed exactly like the friends I needed right then.
Now if only I could keep mine alive long enough to still have a boyfriend.
“Well, you’re very welcome. We’re more than glad to help,” Blanca said. “We also heard about her.”
Hannah and Blanca were glaring at Cassidy in her cell. Cassidy returned the gesture, but didn’t say anything, as usual.
“Anyway, we’re h
eading into town to grab a few things, but we wanted to stop by and check on you first. Is there anything we can pick up for you while we’re out?” Hannah asked.
“Someone to help me with this antidote would be nice, but I doubt you’d be able to find someone who can,” I laughed.
“How far along are you with your findings?” Blanca seemed slightly interested. Trent had told me that she was the one who filed the FBI report on Danielle Peterson.
“I have gotten the virus to stop spreading, but that isn’t enough. If I gave this version to Ramon now, the symptoms alone would kill him. The virus is keeping his body strong because it is strong. But once it overtakes his heart, he will die. I need the antidote to completely wipe out the virus and replenish the affected cells. Right now, it’s just enough to protect cells that haven’t been touched by the virus.”
“So, you’ve created sort of a vaccine?” Hannah looked impressed.
“Yes, but that isn’t what we need. It would protect everyone else from getting infected, though, and I have set aside a few vials of it in case the government decides to release the ticks themselves without me or Cassidy. I’m not sure if the batch they gave me was all they had; at this point, I highly doubt it.”
“You’re probably right,” Blanca said. “Let me think here…My grandmother actually helped with the first trials of penicillin back in the forties. One of the things they did was try to use different viruses against each other, seeing if they could cancel each other out. Maybe you could try that with this virus? Or somehow break it down on a molecular level so that you can harness its strength and pair it with the vaccine that you have already created?”
“Hey…you might actually be on to something. I’ll have to play around with it, but I’m fairly certain I could get that to work. I was actually going to try the virus vs. virus approach, but I think breaking down the mutated virus on a molecular level would give us a much better shot. Thank you so much for the idea!”
I was so happy they had come to visit, because honestly, I don’t think I would have thought of that approach until it was too late. But, now that I had a new course of action, I was eager to get back to work. I started preparing the chemicals for breaking down the virus, feeling positive for the first time in weeks.
“Well, we’ll let you get back to work,” Hannah offered, and after they each gave me a hug, they waved goodbye and left the lab.
“It worked! Oh my god, it actually worked! It’s perfect!” I felt tears welling in my eyes as I watched the diseased black cells transform. They were repairing themselves right before my eyes at an extremely rapid pace. Combining the strength of the virus with the vaccine gave it the push it needed to overtake the diseased cells.
It was game time.
I pulled off my headphones and looked over to Ramon’s cell to see his bear lying on the floor, completely still.
“Ramon?” I hurried over to him. The bear’s face was close to the bars and one of his paws was stretched outside the cell. His eyes were closed, and when I pressed my ear close to the bars, I couldn’t hear him breathing. “Oh no…no, no, no, no, no! Don’t do this to me, Ramon, come on, baby!”
I reached inside the cell and pressed my hand against the bear’s chest, doing my best to feel for a heartbeat, but I couldn’t find one.
“Oh, god. Ramon? Ramon? Can you hear me? Ramon! Wake up!” I shook the bear’s paw. It was heavy and gave no resistance.
This can’t be happening! He can’t… I refused to accept it. Hyperventilating and shaking, I grabbed a syringe and filled it with some of the antidote. I’d made enough for 3 doses: one for Ramon, one for the baby, and one to duplicate in case anyone else were to contract the virus.
I ran back to the cell, “This better work.” I reached through the bars for his chest once more; I still couldn’t detect a heartbeat, so I found where his heart would be in relation to a human’s and emptied the contents of the syringe there. I hoped that the closer the antidote was to his heart, the quicker it would work. “Don’t die on me, Ramon…Please…”
I sat against the cell bars, holding his bear paw in my hands, rocking back and forth, willing him to wake up.
Please wake up…Please wake up…Please wake up… I chanted over and over again, tears streaming down my face. Minutes passed and there were no changes. After fifteen minutes, I was sobbing and crying, shouting at him to wake up.
“You can’t do this us! I told you to fight! Fight for us, Ramon! Wake up!” I let go of the bear’s paw and brought my face right up against the cell bars. “I love you, Ramon…”
After minutes more of staring at him, I was sure he was gone. But, before I could turn away, I swore I saw his bear form falter for a split second. I kept my eyes on him, and sure enough, his body was flitting between its bear and human forms.
His body was fighting the infection.
“Yes! Come on, Ramon! You can do this!”
I watched as his bear form disappeared completely, replaced by his handsome face once again. A whole new wave of emotion washed over me. And then he opened his eyes.
“M-Min?” His voice was raspy, and thirst deprived, but it was his, and happiness flooded through me.
“Ramon! You’re back!” I smiled at him through my tears, wishing the bars would vanish so I could collapse into his arms.
“Am I in a holding cell?” Ramon looked around, confused.
“Yes. I’ll go call Trent and Knox to come let you out.” I ran to get my phone, not taking my eyes off of him.
“Hello? Min? Is everything okay?” Trent’s voice was filled with worry and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Everything’s actually fantastic, Trent. I did it! Ramon’s back with us!”
“What? Seriously? Knox and I will be right there!” The phone hung up immediately, and I padded back over to Ramon, who was smiling at me from within the cell.
“I must have gotten pretty bad, huh?” Ramon ran his hand through his hair.
“We didn’t let it get too crazy before we locked you up. You didn’t hurt anyone, so you don’t have to worry.”
“You did it, Min. I’m so proud of you.” Ramon reached through the bars to stroke my cheek. Tears just kept falling and I couldn’t say anything. I couldn’t believe he was there in front of me. All my hard work and faith paid off.
“Ramon?” I heard Trent’s voice as he ran into the room, and Knox was right behind him. Trent rushed up to the cell and opened the door, immediately hugging Ramon before he could even step outside.
“Don’t you ever scare us like that again. You hear me?” Trent warned.
When Trent finally let him go, Knox shook Ramon’s hand.
“We didn’t think you were going to make it, buddy. I’m happy to see you’re back with us.”
“Well, then let me through to thank the woman responsible!” Ramon joked, stepping past Knox.
I laughed through my tears. “You almost died and you’re still joking?”
He pulled me into a tight embrace and I held him just as firmly, burying my face in his neck. I didn’t care that he hadn’t showered in days and he was covered in sweat. He was there, in front of me, holding me, and that was all that mattered. I just wanted to melt into him. And just when I thought I would, he pulled away slightly and captured my lips in a passionate kiss.
It felt as if I’d found an oasis after walking through the desert. It was as if we had never kissed before, spreading warmth through every part of me that seeped into my bones. Our lips danced wildly, and we had almost forgotten we weren’t alone.
Almost.
“Ahem,” Knox coughed, interrupting our intimate scene. We pulled away reluctantly and Ramon gave him a look.
“I can’t have a moment with my lady?” Ramon asked.
“You most certainly can, but for starters, you’re buck naked, bro, and as good of friends as we are, I would prefer to not have to look at you for too long,” he chuckled. “Also, we’ve got some business to take care of. The conclave called to a
nswer my request for Cassidy’s trial; they’ve arrived and are ready to adjudicate her case.”
“The conclave?” I asked, confused.
“They are a special council of shifters, representing all kinds, not just bears. Their duty is to pass judgement on clan-related incidents,” Knox informed me.
“Are they going to kill her?”
“Conspiring to eliminate the whole clan and teaming up with the government? It’s fairly likely,” Trent snorted.
I looked over to Cassidy, who was staring at the ground. I knew what she did was wrong, but was punishment by death really necessary?
“I don’t want to go,” I admitted. I couldn’t watch her execution. I knew I had no say in their affairs, but that didn’t mean I had to witness the results of their decision first hand.
“You kind of have to, with your amount of involvement,” Trent winced.
“We can leave before the execution—if there is one,” Ramon assured me, and I nodded at him in agreement.
“Alright, let’s get Ramon some clothes and then we can meet the conclave at the clearing.”
When we arrived, there were five others standing there waiting for us.
“Hello, Knox.” The oldest man of the group addressed Knox, stepping forward. He was short with a grey beard and balding.
“Have you been waiting long, Jeremy?” Knox bowed and so did Trent. Trent shoved Cassidy, who finally did the same. I guessed that I should have probably bowed as well, so I did.
“Is everyone involved present?” a man of average height with closely cropped chestnut hair spoke up. He only looked a few years older than Knox.
“Yes, Leonard. Everyone is here.”
“I sense a human among us…” One of the two women—a blonde—was sniffing the air, and her blue eyes landed on me. “Someone explain this.”
