by Stormy Glenn
Basil sat down in the nearest chair, heavily. “I knew he was sick, but…”
“It’s just a possibility, Basil.” Dario rested his hand on the man’s shoulder, trying to give him a bit of reassurance. “We don’t know for sure.”
“No, you’re right,” Basil said, “It would explain a lot if he was poisoned.”
“It’s just a hypothesis, Basil, remember that.”
“It’s a good one,” Basil said. “Anyone who knows anything about us knows that we would move heaven and earth to find an antidote if one of us was poisoned.”
“Which is why I suspect poison,” Dario said.
“The one thing that confuses me,” Vey said, “is whether Clay knew he had been poisoned, and if he did, why he simply didn’t tell us He was adamant that we break into this lab, so he must have known, don’t you think?”
“Then why didn’t he insist we search for an antidote?” Dominic asked. “Why be so pigheaded about searching the place and then blowing it up?”
“I think that the only person who can answer that is Barclay, and he’s not talking,” Dario said, “We’re going to have to figure this out on our own.” Dario spread out the blueprints before nodding toward Basil’s laptop. “Start looking. There has to be something there.”
“Or not there,” Basil said as he pulled his laptop closer and opened it up.
Dario smiled. “Or not there.”
When Vey and Dominic both looked at them with confused-looking frowns, Dario shrugged. “A story for another time.” They had better things to do right now, like find what wasn’t there that they had missed the first time, because there was no way he was allowing his mate to walk into a trap—not even for his brother.
Three hours later, Dario felt as if what they were looking for simply wasn’t there, and what they were looking to be missing was actually there. Either way, they didn’t seem to be any farther into solving this mystery than they had been when they’d started.
They had gone over the blueprints with meticulous scrutiny and found nothing missing or not where it should be. Basil had found nothing in his search, either. There was just nothing there to back up Dario’s theories. He was starting to feel like a complete buffoon.
Dario leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. His eyeballs ached. His back ached. His ass ached. His head was about to explode. And they still had nothing.
Dario tilted his head back and stared up at the ceiling. There had to be something. He just knew it. There was something in all of this mess of blueprints and computer searches that would give them a clue as to what had happened to Clay, because Dario never wanted to see that look of misery on his beloved’s face that he had when they found Clay’s bloody body behind those crates.
Dario slammed forward in his chair. “The bloody crates!”
“The what?” Dominic asked in a voice way too tired to sound curious.
“The bloody crates we found Clay hiding behind.” Dario looked at Basil, his excitement starting to grow. “Did you say that the facility was shipping crates in from China?”
“Yeah,” Basil said slowly. “So?”
“There is a poison…” Dario trailed off as he grabbed Basil’s computer and pulled it around so he could see the screen. He started typing, looking for every reference to what he suspected had poisoned Clay. “Damn, I don’t know why I didn’t think of this.”
“Think of what?” Basil shouted.
“There’s this plant called Ailanthus altissima, or commonly known as the tree of heaven. It’s only found in China, which makes sense, since these crates were from China. It’s an aggressive, invasive species.”
“Which means what?” Dominic asked.
“Nothing if you are human, but it’s deadly to paranormals,” Dario explained. “Ailanthus produces a chemical called Ailanthone. It is primarily used to treat intestinal hemorrhaging in humans. It is only prescribed in small amounts, so as not to poison the patients. But when given to paranormals, it can cause nausea, vomiting and muscular relaxation. Too much of it can cause inflammation of the lungs, which leads to bleeding.”
“Meaning what?” Basil asked.
“It means that if Barclay came into contact with this plant in any form, he could have gotten poisoned simply from touching it. It would explain all the blood we found. His lungs became inflamed and started bleeding, basically downing him in his own blood.”
“Shit.” Basil rubbed a hand down over his mouth as he stared at the computer screen. “Is there a cure?”
This was the part Dario wasn’t looking forward to and had been praying wouldn’t come when he realized Clay might have been poisoned. “No.”
“That might not be true,” Alberto said from the doorway. “If he has indeed been poisoned with Ailanthus, there may be a way to save him, but I’ll need assistance.” Alberto breathed deeply. “Assistance and a miracle.”
Chapter Thirteen
Under the weight of his heavy sorrow, Beau slumped down further against the wall. Why was this happening? This should be a happy time. Most of them had found their mates. They were being given the gift of new life in the form of precious kits. Life was no longer just the five of them struggling against the world.
Yet, Clay lay in the middle of the bed with the duck pressed against his side. The bed covers weren’t even arranged into a sweet nest. If Beau hadn’t known already that Clay was sick, the lack of a nest would have given him a huge clue. The crunch of Clay grinding his teeth and the line of drool spilling from the corner of his mouth said he was hurting. The drop of blood welling from one nostril scared the ever-loving-bejeezus out of Beau.
So, instead of floating on cloud nine at how wonderful life could be, Beau, Bax, and Bailey were sitting on the floor, trying to give Clay their moral support. Which wasn’t exactly being accepted, if Clay baring his teeth at them every few minutes was anything to go by.
They had been there for two days.
“You know, I just don’t get it.” Baxter began picking at a hole in the knee of his jeans. “Clay’s never taken off on missions alone before. He’s always harped at us about the buddy system.”
Beau held back a smirk. Clay’s lip was curled up high, showing a good amount of sharp teeth, and he was glaring at Bax. No doubt for Bax’s use of the word “harped.” At least his big brother was still falling for Bax’s little jabs. Things were almost normal for a half-second.
“Why was he laying there behind those crates?” Bailey asked as he stared at Clay. Yeah, it was kind of creepy. “Whoever hurt him would have taken him inside the lab.”
“You’re right. We’re a hot commodity.” Bax leaned forward and looked over at Bailey. “I’m sure anyone lucky enough to catch one of us would receive a huge bonus.”
“Clay wasn’t hurt.” Basil walked into the bedroom and sank to the floor on the other side of Bailey. “Dario has a theory that some kind of residue on the crates poisoned Clay.”
“What kind of residue?” Beau tried to remember if there was anything on the crates when he and Dario had found Clay.
“Some kind of pollen stuff from a tree in China,” Basil answered. “The tree is lethal to paranormals. It makes us bleed inside.”
Beau looked at Clay. The strings of drool now hanging either side of his mouth were pink with blood.
Bax sat up and looked ready to stand. “So what do we have to get to cure him?”
“Got me.” Basil shrugged, which had Bax slumping back onto the floor. “Dario and Alberto are on a conference call with someone called the Old One. Alberto said he’d need a miracle to fix Clay.”
The group was quiet as they all stared at their big brother. Bailey sniffed and wiped at the side of his face. Beau refused to see if Bailey was crying. If he was, Beau would probably burst into tears. That wasn’t happening. He didn’t cry in front of anyone, except maybe Dario.
The more Beau thought about it, the more things didn’t add up. “If Barclay’s sick from something on the crates, why has he been
acting weird for months?”
“I’d put my bets on that nasty, smelly duck.” Bailey commented as he rubbed at his nose.
The duck quacked at Bailey, and everyone burst out laughing. When the duck gently ran his bill over the side of Clay’s face before tucking it under his wing, something niggled at the edge of Beau’s mind.
Beau began to think out loud. “Everything began changing after the mission where we found Vey, the duck, and the baby. Heck, we even stumbled across Dominic at that lab.”
“Are you suggesting that I didn’t find Vey by accident?” A flush spread over Bailey’s cheeks. “What’s next? Are you going to try and tell me that Vey’s not my mate?”
“Oh, simmer down,” Bax snapped. “Even I can see that it was after that mission that things went hooky.”
“Dario thinks that, on this last mission, we were set up by the scientists,” Basil stated. “He thinks because Clay took off on his own before we all planned to leave that it messed up their plans.”
“How would they know what our plans are?” Beau’s first thought was a traitor, but that didn’t seem right, except…
“Beau, you have a weird look on your face.” Basil remarked. “What are you thinking?”
For a second Beau couldn’t answer, he was so shocked. One of his brothers actually noticed he had a face, with expression. And now all of his brothers were looking at him.
Wow.
Beau cleared his throat to give him some time to remember what he had been thinking about. “Um, we rescued a lot more paranormals than usual during that mission. What if one of them was a traitor?”
Bailey jumped to his feet. “You’d better not be saying my Vey is a traitor.”
Basil pulled Bailey back down beside him. “Settle down Bailey, we know Vey would never betray us.” Basil looked at Beau. “Right?”
“Of course he wouldn’t,” Beau said. “None of our mates would betray us. That’s why they are mates. The bond between us is too strong. We’d know if they were up to something. We’d feel it. That’s just not something they can hide from us.”
“Then you think it’s someone else here in the house?” Bailey asked, his voice almost a whisper.
“It has to be,” Beau insisted.
“But who?” Basil asked.
“Well, the only ones that aren’t mates or family are the cook and caretaker.” Bax frowned for a second before his eyes grew big. “Holy heavens, they take care of the babies.”
“I have scanned them both multiple times.” The quietness of Bailey’s words had all four brothers straining to hear what he had to say. “They overflow with love and adoration toward the babies.” Bailey’s expression grew hard. “I would never let them near my kits if I didn’t totally trust them.”
“Okay, so they love the kits,” Beau agreed, not about to take on a protective parent. “But maybe they don’t feel the same way about us.”
Bailey turned his face down toward his fingers twisting together on his lap. After a moment, he tipped his head up and took a deep breath.
Looking toward Beau, he said, “They are worried about all the hurling you and Bax are doing. Every time they see Alberto, they both yearn to have enough courage to ask him to give you two vitamins.” Bailey faced Basil. “They hurt because you are so sad.” Bailey paused, but didn’t say any more to Basil. Instead, he turned to Clay. “Frustration pours from them when they look at you or see the way you sometimes talk to the rest of us. It’s as if they want to push you to do…something.”
“So the traitor is not one of them,” Beau concluded. “Who is left?”
Silence descended on the room. Beau racked his brain. The only other person in the household was the baby. Not for second did he believe that little one was capable of anything but growing, crying, and pooping. He did see him smile the other day, but that was about it.
Beau froze. Shit, how could they all be so stupid?
“Beau, you’re vibrating.” Bax slid his arm around Beau’s shoulders. “What’s going on?”
His fingers were shaking so much he could barely cling to Bax’s shirt. “She did something, Bax.”
“What are you talking about?” Bax clasped his hands around Beau’s fingers.
Through their mating link, Beau felt Dario’s reassuring touch. His mate sensed his agitation and was coming for him.
“That lady we thought was Nicky’s mother.” Beau’s thoughts were swirling around, trying to figure out the answers. “While she was with us, she drugged us and helped blow our hideout to pieces. I’m telling you, she did something. Planted a bug or…or…did something to…”
Beau looked at Basil. Basil’s mouth dropped open before he caught himself. “You think Chelsea messed with my computer?’ Basil shook his head. “It’s not possible. If anyone but me even touches a key, an alarm will go off and the computer will lock up and turn off.”
“Was she in the room when you were researching the labs?” Bailey’s question had Basil’s hands tightening on Beau’s.
“I had no reason to hide anything.” Basil let go of Beau’s hands and jerked to his feet. “But I’m certain she never touched the computer.”
Basil shoved his fingers through his hair and started pacing back and forth.
“Do you think it was tampered with before you could recover it after the explosion?” Beau asked.
Basil always had stored the laptop in a metal case when he wasn’t using it. The only good thing about the explosion was that it had occurred during dinner and Basil had secured the computer in the case, which had saved it.
Basil stopped moving and lifted his chin, defying anyone to doubt his answer. “No. No one touched it.”
“Well, that doesn’t leave many ways she could have done something with your computer,” Bax commented. “Maybe it wasn’t her.”
“If she only could watch you work, would it be possible for her to get some kind of information to use against us?” Beau asked, grasping at straws. He fully believed this Chelsea was the reason things had gone weird.
Basil chewed on his lip as he stared at the far wall. Beau could almost see the wheels of his brain turning. Dario appeared in the doorway and just stood there, watching Basil. Long minutes that felt as if they were hours passed before Basil turned to Beau. The haunted look in his eyes broke Beau’s heart.
Basil’s tone was emotionless to the point it sounded as if it were a recording. “If she knew what she was seeing, she could have figured out what programs I use. If they have someone tech-savvy enough at the labs, there is a way that they could lower my firewalls enough to feed me the information they wanted us to know.”
“Could they have tracked your computer some way?”
“No.” Basil quickly shook his head. “I have a program in there that makes my IP address hop all over the damn planet.”
“What about a virus?” Bax asked. “Is there any way you could have gotten some sort of virus that overrode that program?”
“No, but…”
“But what?” Beau asked.
“If that bitch told someone what type of hacking programs I used, they could have set up a virus for me to download when I went searching for information.”
“Like a sleeper bug?” Bax asked.
Basil’s shoulders slumped and he lowered his head, his frustration and sadness clear to see in his defeated stature. In seconds, Beau, Bax, and Bailey were surrounding Basil and had their arms wrapped tightly around him.
“If that’s what happened, then the big question is, can you confirm our theory and fix it?” Beau whispered in Basil’s ear.
Basil lifted his head enough to look at Beau. “Yeah, I can.”
“Gentlemen, I hate to interrupt, but the Old One will be here soon,” Dario’s deep voice warmed Beau’s heart and calmed the emotion making his stomach churn. “He has asked that you all be here when he draws out the poison from Clay’s body. He said it was especially important that the heart be here.”
“Was he referring to
Bailey?” Beau asked as he walked into Dario’s arms.
“I believe so.” Dario smiled and hugged Beau for a second before growing serious. “We need to have a meeting and catch up on stuff. Even if the Old One cures Clay of the poison from the crates, there is still the question of why he has been acting different the last few months.” Dario’s jaw tightened before he continued. “We have to go back into that lab and find the paranormals. We also need to take a sample of whatever they are using the tree of heaven for. After that, I will dance with joy when the place is blown to smithereens.”
Beau pushed out of Dario’s arms and headed for the door. “Sounds good to me. Let’s go. Besides, I’m hungry. Lasagna sounds good.”
Two hours later, Beau and his brothers were all holding hands around Barclay’s bed while an ancient-looking guy covered Clay in a black, sticky gel that smelled like the underarm of a garbage heap. Twice Beau had raced to the adjacent bathroom and puked his guts out. Bax wasn’t doing so well, either. He had puked once and was currently swallowing really loudly.
The mates stood quietly in the corner, with Vey holding an unhappy duck. At least it had shut up after the Old One had sent it a dirty look. Alberto stood next to the Old One, handing him whatever he asked for.
“Bailey,” the old guy said as he turned and held out a hand, “you will assist us.”
“Me?” Bailey squeaked.
“Yes, you.” The man beckoned with his hand. “Now, come. Your brother does not have much time left.”
Beau gasped at the implications of the man’s words. He didn’t know whether to trust them. For an ancient guy, he sure looked like a beach bum, complete with Bermuda shorts, flip flops, beaded necklace, and long, shaggy hair. Beau was kind of surprised he hadn’t arrived with a surfboard and Sex Wax.
Beau pressed a hand to his mouth as the old man placed one of his hands on Clay’s head over his ears and began chanting in a language he didn’t understand. It didn’t even sound as though it came from planet Earth. Alberto grabbed Bailey’s hands and placed them on Clay’s back before pressing one of his own hands on Clay’s hind paws.
