by Helen Harper
Oh. A woman. I relaxed. “Well, you have a choice to make then, kitten. Either you save your Cornish friends and stay here, or you save your special friend and go to the mages.” I stepped back and grinned at her as she paled. “Your choice.”
“What is it with you and your megalomania?” Mack spat. “Why do you need me to stay here? After all, Corrigan, all I seem to do is piss you off. Just do the right thing for once and let the Cornish pack off and let me go.”
“Well, no, I don’t think I’ll do that, kitten. If the Ministry and the Arch-Mage think that you’re so bloody important that they’re going to send you to their academy and train you, even though you insist that you are not a witch, then you must be something special.” I forced myself not to lick my lips again. “And that means that I want you too.”
She didn’t seem to have an answer for that. I watched while she wrinkled her nose, clearly scheming to find an escape route. It was rather entertaining. I wondered what she’d try first.
“I need a break,” she finally said.
I raised an eyebrow. Plumping for time? This was a new Mack – one who thought before acting. Interesting.
“In the last twenty-four hours,” she continued, “I have stormed the Ministry, been interrogated, been attacked and been kept against my will. I am tired. I need a break to think over what you have said. Pretty please?”
I was tempted to tell her to piss off and give me an answer now. But there were other things to worry about as well as Mack – not to mention that it was good to see her looking before leaping. I nodded at her and turned to go.
“Uh, Corrigan?”
“What?” I craned my neck back. It was a stupid move as I could feel the strange dizziness returning.
She jerked her head down at her restraints. “Can you–?”
I almost laughed. She may be neither mage nor shifter but she was nuts if she thought I’d let her run loose around the Brethren. I didn’t need that kind of carnage to deal with. “No. Don’t push your luck, Mackenzie. I’ll send someone to tend to your wounds.” I opened the door and walked out. My legs were shaky and it was all I could to remain upright.
“I don’t need anyone to look after me,” she yelled out after me.
I shut the door and reached forward for the banister, gripping onto it. I was starting to feel hot and feverish. If it hadn’t been for Staines lunging forward to grab me, my legs would have given way completely. Oh shit.
Chapter Seventeen
“You’re fluttering around like an old woman,” I complained.
“You almost fainted, my Lord.” Staines’ tone was calm and pragmatic. I pretended not to notice the tic in his eye indicating his tension.
“I’m fine,” I told him, sitting up from the bed. “I just needed to eat something, that’s all. Plus, I’ve not had much sleep lately.”
He looked at me levelly. “We should look at the results of your blood test.”
I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. “We can’t. Right now, everyone needs to believe that I have everything under control. Finding out that I’ve got red fever too isn’t going to help a single bloody soul.”
“Do you? Have the red fever, I mean?” There was only the slightest quaver to his voice.
I lifted my eyes upwards and breathed deeply in through my nose. “I don’t know.”
“It’s her fault.”
There was no point in asking him who he was referring to. “No, it’s not.”
“She’s a damn mage! She shouldn’t be here.”
“She’s not a mage,” I said tiredly.
“Well, she’s certainly not a shifter, is she?”
“No,” I said flatly, “she’s not. But she hardly caused this disease.”
Staines remained stubborn. “She might have. She has access to the Pack. To the Brethren. She could have…”
“She didn’t.” My tone brooked no further argument. The one good thing about all this was that at least Mack would be immune. The rest of us might not make it but she would. I changed the subject. “Has the lab gotten anywhere with an antidote?”
Staines snorted. “Fat chance. The herb woman might have more luck.”
I eyed him. “You know her name.”
“I also know that she was in full possession of the knowledge that your Mackenzie isn’t a shifter.”
“Leave off Mackenzie, will you?” I asked tiredly. “There are more important things to worry about.”
Unfortunately, at that precise moment, those other things made themselves known. “My Lord?” Logan said, nervously from the door. “Uh…”
“What is it?”
He looked down at his feet. My stomach sank. I had a horrible feeling I knew exactly what he was about to say. “Jeannie, my Lord.”
I closed my eyes. “When?”
“Just a few moments ago. We thought…”
“Yes?”
He cleared his throat. “We thought we should go ahead with the cremation straight away. I know the fever’s no longer contagious between shifters but…”
“It’s the best idea. I’ll be right there.”
Logan quietly departed while Staines and I simply stared at each other. “What do we do now?” I asked him. “How do we fight this?”
“I don’t know, my Lord.”
“You know,” I said with a humourless laugh, “that’s got to be the first time you haven’t had an answer for me.”
He simply looked at me with haunted eyes. There really wasn’t anything else to say.
*
Everyone gathered in the hall. It was a common ritual whenever a member of the Brethren passed away. I got to my feet and surveyed them all. There were a lot of worried faces. I even spotted several of the wererats clutching thermometers. The trouble was that knowing whether you were sickening or not wasn’t going to help in any way, shape or form.
“Jeannie was a vital member of the Brethren,” I said. “Her loss will be felt keenly by all. She followed the Way and was a true sister.” I coughed slightly and received several alarmed glances. “I know a lot of you are scared about what’s going to happen next. We’re fighting an invisible enemy and we don’t have any weapons or any strategy and we’re already starting to lose. It is imperative, however, that you don’t give up. This might not be a giant or a vampire or a monster we can beat with ease. But if you give up, then all is lost. We are the Brethren. We do not quit.”
I noted several chins rising up with pride and I wanted to say more. I was starting to feel unwell again, however. The last thing anyone needed was to see me collapse. Instead, I nodded somberly and picked up Jeannie’s urn before heading outside to the garden of remembrance.
I placed her remains on the small table inside the gazebo and tilted up my face so I could appreciate the cool breeze against my skin. It didn’t really do much; I still felt hot and feverish. Every little helped, however. I bowed towards the urn.
“Your sacrifice will not be forgotten,” I intoned formally. “Your remains will join those of your Brethren forebears and your name will be etched into the wall of those we already remember and mourn.”
A hard knot grew in my chest. It occurred to me that those were words I’d never say for Mack. She wasn’t Brethren. And she wasn’t a shifter. There would be no formal Way ritual to mark her passing. Then fury overtook me. I should be focused on Jeannie. I should be thinking about the others who were already getting sick too and what on earth could be done to help them. Instead my mind kept drifting to the red-haired Amazon locked up downstairs. Staines was right; keeping her here was pointless. It was less than pointless, in fact – it was distracting me from my real duties.
“I’m sorry, Jeannie,” I whispered, reaching out and brushing my fingers against the cool porcelain lid. “I should have done more.” A single hot tear escaped and trailed down my cheek. “I’m sorry,” I whispered again.
*
My intention was to march straight down and tell Mack to leave. I’d barely gotten back in
side, however, when a flush of heat overtook me. My skin prickled all over and my throat was tight. It was as if my airways were closing up and I couldn’t breathe.
I didn’t even notice Lucy was by my side until her cool hand rested against my forehead.
“You’re not well, my Lord.”
“I’m fine,” I growled.
She yelled out to someone to fetch Julia.
“Leave her be,” I said.
She stood back, her hands on her hips. “You seem to be of the opinion, my Lord, that you’ll look weak if you ask for help.”
I couldn’t help raising my eyebrows in surprise.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered, “but someone has to speak up.”
“It’s got nothing to do with looking weak.”
Realisation flickered in her eyes. “You don’t want people to see that you’re sick. You’ll afraid it’ll panic them even more.” She leaned in towards my ear. “You know what’ll really panic them, my Lord? You refusing medical treatment. When they get sick, they’ll think they have to do the same.”
“If,” I said. “If they get sick. Not when.” I gave her a faint smile. “I always liked you, Lucy.”
“I like you too, my Lord. Now accept the damn help.”
She moved away to allow Julia’s wheelchair access. The older woman frowned up at me and tutted. “Bend down so I can get a better look, Lord Corrigan.”
I did as I was bade. “Anything for a quiet life.”
She threw me a droll glance and pressed her fingers lightly to my forehead. Then she peered into my eyes and checked my temperature. When she finally drew back, her expression was sad. “I’m sorry, my Lord. The blood test will confirm it.”
I nodded perfunctorily. I wasn’t surprised. “How many others now, Julia? How many other shifters are sick?”
She looked away. “There are nine Brethren so far.”
“And from the outlying packs?”
“More. Gloucestershire is doing badly.”
I sucked in a breath. “Thank you.” I stood up.
“You should rest, my Lord!”
“I have things to do,” I muttered, walking off again.
*
The door to Mack’s ‘cell’ was open. Both Tom and Betsy were there, talking to her.
“This is why we need to make sure that you are kept out of the way of the rest of the Pack,” Tom was saying. “This disease, whatever it is, only seems to affect shifters. Now that everyone knows that you’re not a shifter after all, they’re a bit pissed off that they’ve expended all this energy trying to get hold of you when their own are at death’s door.”
Betsy chimed in. “And a bit jealous that you’re going to be immune.”
I smiled faintly from behind them, although it was clear Mack had a different reaction.
“Really?” she said incredulously. “Really? How is it my fault that I’m not a shifter? That’s like being fucked off at the sun for rising. And if I was a shifter, they were effectively bringing me into the danger zone by capturing me in the first place! If this disease is only here and in Somerset so far, then–”
I interrupted her. “So far’ being the operative words, Mackenzie.” I walked into to join the three of them, concentrating hard on not looking too shaky. “The disease is spreading. There are already reports from Gloucester.” I couldn’t help putting in a dig to make it clear to her why we’d gone to so much trouble to bring her here in the first place. “Rogue shifters are of particular concern because they’re nomadic. If one happens to catch this disease and then decides to wander around the country, then the results could be catastrophic,” I lied. It wasn’t the few rogue shifters in the country who already actually knew about the disease who were the concern, of course.
“So why in the hell don’t you just warn them?” she asked. “Put something out on the Othernet, and tell everyone.”
“First of all, we’ll create a panic. Second of all, do you really think they’d believe us? The entire shifter world – and that includes the local packs – seem to think that we’re the bogeymen. Some of them,” I said pointedly, “even seem to think that we’d go so far as to destroy entire localities because a single human knows of their existence.”
“Oh. So you definitely aren’t going to–”
She still believed I was capable of that. It was definitely better that she was leaving. “No, you feckless harpy, I definitely won’t.”
“Why are you telling me this? You could have kept me stringing along so that I’d stay here without you forcing me.”
I didn’t want to blurt out that I couldn’t concentrate with her around so I took the coward’s way out and glanced at Tom and Betsy. “I rather thought that someone would have told you the truth already by now.”
“My Lord Alpha, I…” Tom began nervously.
I held up a hand to make him fall silent. That hadn’t been fair. They’d all been bound by a geas. I could trust them.
“Actually, Tom suggested it but wouldn’t go so far as to tell me everything,” Mack butted in, apparently feeling the need to step in and help out her old friend. “It appears that loyalty around here is in abundance.”
I wasn’t prepared to get into another discussion with her on the subject of loyalty so I completely ignored her words and blithely continued. “Besides which, kitten, I don’t think anyone could really hold you against your will.”
I walked over to her, pulling her up to her feet and turning her around so I could undo her restraints. I inhaled deeply. There was something so very alluring about her real, natural scent. I wished I’d had more of a chance to get to appreciate it. Despite everything else, desire stirred in my loins. This exactly was why she had to leave.
“You’re letting me go?” she asked disbelievingly.
I finished releasing her and stepped away as quickly as I could manage. “We have enough here to deal with without some non-human, non-shifter trouble-maker hanging around. I’ve decided it’s better for everyone if we just let you leave.”
Something flashed in her eyes. “After all that trouble? What happened to ‘if the mages want you then I want you too’?”
I still wanted her. Of course I bloody did. It didn’t matter though. I tried not to think about what the future would hold for her now. “I believe that you are a lady of your word,” I said stiffly. “Promise me that you won’t do anything to hurt any shifter and I will let you go.”
“I can’t promise that, Corrigan. What if a shifter comes after me? I have to be able to protect myself.”
She just couldn’t learn when to stay quiet. I growled. “I will make sure that you are left in peace.”
“You can’t assure me of that! You can’t expect everyone in the whole wide world to jump to your bidding.”
“Actually, kitten, I’m the Lord Alpha. Yes, I can.” Not to mention the fact that we were all about to drop down dead so what happened to her was hardly going to be a priority for anyone outside of this room.
“Yes, but–” she stammered, stubborn anger lighting up her face.
I sighed. I needed to finish this up and get the hell away from her. Whatever it took. “Fine. Do you promise not to intentionally hurt without provocation any shifter?”
Mack blinked. “Uh, okay, I promise,”
“Then you are free to go.” I motioned toward the door before stalking out myself and gesturing to both Tom and Betsy to follow.
They did as they were told but I still heard Betsy’s hissed undertone to her. “Kitten? What on earth, Mack?”
I smiled sadly to myself. Goodbye, kitten.
Chapter Eighteen
I deliberately stayed away from the main hall. I didn’t trust myself to watch Mack leave. The temptation to call her back and demand she stay was niggling at me and I was afraid I’d do something rash if I had to watch her walk out of the Brethren doors for good. Instead, I holed up in my study, rifling through the various reports on my desk. The red fever had reached as far as Birmingham. We really w
ere doomed.
Despite my self-imposed isolation, I was still very aware of the pall hanging over everyone. I didn’t need to consciously reach out with my Voice to sense it. It was there in the slumped shoulders of every shifter who walked past. It clung to every corner and every mind. I could compel everyone to brighten up or send out waves of reassurance but it seemed unfair. There was no point denying the inevitable. I merely put out orders to go into shutdown. Maybe by forcing everyone to stay inside, some could hold out against the ravages of the disease for long enough. It had mutated once. It could do the same again.
I stared down at the minutes from the last meeting of the Way Directives Editing group. They’d been making progress in cutting down the unwieldy list of rules. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be known across the Otherworld as the Lord Alpha who brought modernity and common sense to the shapeshifters. I’d simply become the cautionary tale. The last leader of an extinct race. I put them to one side and flipped open the folder containing the blood test results. There was no denying the situation any longer.
Corrigan? Are you there?
I scowled. Now that I was giving Mack the independence and freedom that she so apparently craved, she didn’t appear to want to let go. I was tempted to refrain from answering. Unfortunately I couldn’t help myself. What is it, Mackenzie?
Staines told me. That you’ve got it.
I gritted my teeth. I guessed every damn shifter in the country knew by now. And? Are you going to gloat now?
I’m sorry, Corrigan. She sounded genuinely upset. There must be something you can do. Julia knows a lot of stuff about a lot of herbs.
I sighed. She hasn’t been able to do anything more so far than ease the pain of those suffering.
Do you know where it came from?
I was about to explain what I’d discovered of the Cwnn Annwn before I decided it would be unfair. Mack’s surrogate family were all shifters. She would be better off disappearing and living her own life, whether it was with the mages or otherwise. If she knew there was the very distinct likelihood that every shifter in Britain was going to sicken and die then she’d hang around to watch it happen. I knew enough about her to know it would destroy her. I took a deep breath and skirted my way round the truth. Only that it originated in Somerset as far as we can tell. The first victim was an older shifter. Nobody realised how serious it was until the others around him also started to get ill.
