The intercom buzzes as Bethany announces her arrival. Mason motions with her hand, and a rush of wind hits the door, turning the knob to open it to reveal a woman standing no more than four foot six, who steps into the room and closes the door behind her. She has on a white doctor coat over a dark blue dress shirt and grey dress slacks, black ballet flats completing the outfit. Her red hair is pulled back into a messy bun as her grey eyes look about the room. Derrick’s wolf turns towards the woman while giving a short growl, stopping to pull back in trepidation as the doctor glares at him.
“Derrick Walter Pichling you better stop growling at me if you know what’s good for you.” The woman says, placing her hands on her hips for emphasis. “ Now why don’t you shift back so I can find a vein easier?”
Derrick submits himself to the doctor, rolling onto his back and presenting his neck, but doesn’t shift back. She watches him a moment before walking past him to the cupboard and pulling out two blood test kits that seemed to have survived the chaos. Walking over to Kaycee, the doctor kneels and touches the bite wound. Kaycee breathes in sharply, jerking away into Mason at the touch. The doctor smiles at Kaycee apologetically before opening the first blood kit and taking Kaycee’s arm. Kaycee turns towards Mason and focuses her breathing so not to let her dislike of needles taint the Omega calm she was still continuing to project. Finished with Kaycee, the doctor stands and takes the sample over to the door, passing it out to an orderly.
“Come on Derrick, Bethany needs you to torlyca nom, shift now,” Mason says as Kaycee sighs and snuggles in closer to the older hybrid.
Bethany stands at the door watching Derrick’s wolf who lays on the ground whining. “Darling, if you don’t shift back it will hurt worse. I was a human doctor, not a vet before you changed me remember.” Bethany soothes, moving to crouch by the door and wait for Derrick to shift back.
The wolf looks at Mason and Kaycee, whining even louder, causing Kaycee to roll her eyes as she reads his emotions. “If Mason was going to retaliate for you hurting me, I would kick her ass. So shift already.”
Mason grins at the startled look on the wolf’s face at Kaycee’s statement. “Like you would win against me A’testhazeve,” she teases back, winking at the wolf.
Feeling calmer from hearing the teasing tone of the Alpha, Derrick’s body shifts, the crunching- rip filling the room as his seven-foot human form takes the place of the large wolf, his black hair laying soaked from sweat on his head, as he moves into a seated position on the floor. Bethany moves forward and hugs him tightly before pulling back and opening the other blood kit, eyes brimming with unshed tears. Taking his blood, she stands once more to hand the kit out, moving back over to Derrick and curling into his lap. Derrick holds Bethany closely, burying his head into her shoulder.
“I’m sorry” Derrick murmurs as a tear escapes Bethany’s eyes and lands on his shoulder.
“Ortkyno miaploni, Derrick. You have no reason to apologize. We all know that wasn’t the real you.” Mason tells him.
Bethany lifts her head up, then wipes at her eyes before kissing Derrick’s cheek. Standing up, she walks over to the intercom, “Can I get some fresh supplies for treating scratch and bite wounds please?”
While Bethany waits for her request to be filled, Mason pulls Kaycee on to her lap. “I contacted the leaders of the other xyjoniel, groups. I’m going to host the Spectyr Bysarype, Supernatural Council, here so the poisonings can be discussed.”
Kaycee pulls away and turns to look at Mason more directly. “Does that mean the other packs are dealing with poisonings too?”
“Wayle, yes. Most of them have dealt with one or two similar cases, but Fox River Pack has dealt with nura, ten, cases alone.” Mason shares.
“Fox River? Why is that familiar?” Kaycee murmurs softly, looking out the window.
Mason frowns, thinking a moment before she sighs “It's J’yayrth-myt-partre, your uncle’s pack. I didn’t even think about it when I contacted him about the poisonings.”
Kaycee’s eyebrows scrunch in confusion as she looks once more at Mason, “Uncle David?” Mason just nods in response. “Oh. So, his pack has been the main target of whoever is poisoning people?”
The intercom buzzes and Bethany quickly opens the door to grab the wound care supplies and a stack of cloth, bringing them over to Kaycee’s side. The cloth turns out to be large scrubs, one of the orderlies had added. She hands them to Derrick who smiles in thanks before pulling them on. Focusing on Kaycee’s shoulder first, Bethany started cutting away the torn fabric of Kaycee’s Hunter’s garb from the wound while Mason and Kaycee continue to talk.
“That's what I was thinking when he told me. J’partre-myt-partre, your grandfather was still Alpha when he was being affected by Dermtryde, Rouge Syndrome, so Fox River has a higher than average number of pack members also diagnosed. With the poisonings mimicking Dermtryde the culprits may have believed it would hide easier until they started branching out to the other packs. David told me they had been dealing with it internally even though their Ometha, Omega, can also see the aura tainting that you have noticed.”
Derrick, now dressed, sits down facing Mason, Kaycee and Bethany. “My aura is different,” he asks in a worried tone.
Kaycee reaches forward, earning a grunt of frustration from Bethany, who had almost finished cleaning the shoulder wound, to grab one of Derrick’s large hands. “It's okay Derrick. You are still you. Your aura will fade back to normal soon.” Derrick just nods and lays down to rest his head into Kaycee’s lap.
“I asked for the Alphas to bring the Ometha’el, Omegas as well. It may be how you are using your Ometha flyrown, Omega power, that is allowing us to counter the kynodurk, poison. We are the only pack to keep our members alive. The rest have kynozyrekancyr, lost, the victims within twenty-four to forty-five hours after they first show signs of being kynodurkcyr, poisoned,” Mason explains, as Bethany covers the shoulder wound and starts to clean out the gashes from Kaycee’s right side.
“Fox River hasn’t found an antidote yet,” Kaycee asks, wincing as Bethany pulls out a piece of fabric that went deep into one of the gashes.
“Even with the advance knowledge from the auras that their Hynthrod Ometha, Hybrid Omega, gave them, Fox River hasn’t found a cure. I just hope by having all of the Ometha’el in one place you can all discuss what was done differently and how to use that to our advantage across all of the spectyr xyjonel,” Mason tells her, receiving a nod in response from Kaycee.
“Alpha, can I get you to move so I can get to the wounds on the other side please,” Bethany interrupts tentatively, as she covers the wounds she had cleaned already.
Mason complies, moving Kayce off her lap and standing to lean her back on the window, arms crossed in front of her chest. Silence fills the room as Bethany starts working on Kaycee’s wounds once more. Kaycee watches Mason who stares off into the corner, a look of contemplation on the Alpha’s face. Derrick sits up and moves to set the bed right side up and pick up some of the rest of the room. After Bethany covers the side wound, Kaycee stands up and moves over to stand in front of Mason as Bethany gathers up her supplies and moves to help Derrick clean up.
“What are you worried about beyond the planning for the council meeting,” Kaycee softly asks, placing a hand on Mason’s arm.
Sighing Mason reaches out and hugs Kaycee once more, tucking her head onto Kaycee’s good shoulder. “I’ve never actually told J’yayrth-myt-partre you are alive. I meant to tell him once you started durkyth, healing emotionally. But I kept putting it off and kynozyrekin, forgot about it. Now he’s coming quere, here.”
Kaycee grins into Mason’s shoulder. “So you’re worried he’ll be pissed off you didn’t tell him six years after the attack that his emotionally distraught niece was actually alive and that you were not going to allow him to steal me away.”
Mason pulls back, rolling her eyes in annoyance, “I was more worried that them taking you away from your new neratiel, friends, in the guild would cause you worse karynreythielderm, emotional harm, but sure, let's go straight to me being obsoral lyn ju, possessive over you, A’testhazeve.”
Derrick and Bethany chuckle lightly at the exchange between the Alpha and Omega, earning a playful glare from Mason. Kaycee just grins bigger and moves over towards Derrick, throwing a comment over her shoulder, “You know you would have been pintu, upset, if he had come and whisked me away.”
Shaking her head Mason huffs at the Omega, “Not the point. I would have taken the time to quyra, visit. I just felt taking you away from your support base here would have made it harder for you to durk, heal. If…” Mason mutters, dropping off as she realizes she doesn’t want to follow that train of thought, not wanting to be the one to remind Kaycee of the past. When word came to her about the blown up car in her pack’s name, Mason had just assumed the whole family had perished and had gotten no word otherwise until Kaycee resurfaced.
Kaycee raises an eyebrow at Mason before placing a hand on Derrick’s shoulder, “Why don’t we move you to another room rather than cleaning up this one? I’m sure Natalie or Philip will be happy to clean this up properly.” Derrick nods and allows Kaycee to lead him out of the room and to another empty room, Mason and Bethany following behind them.
Entering the room Kaycee motions for Derrick to sit on the bed and then moves back to the door where Bethany and Mason have stopped. “Bethany, can you stay with Derrick for a bit.”
“Of course Kaycee,” Bethany says, going over and sitting next to Derrick.
Leaving the door open Kaycee steps into the hallway and faces Mason, who watches Kaycee with worried eyes. Kaycee just smiles softly, “Why are you still worried about not telling Uncle David about me?”
Mason nods slightly looking down at the ground, “In truth, I kept you from your extended kynherbo, family that would have loved to take you and would have wanted to be a part of your grypha, life. A’igweryo’el, my reasons for doing so doesn’t really matter. I’m in the wrong.”
Kaycee shakes her head and moves to hug Mason tightly, “If I had asked you to contact him you would have moved the world to do so. You shouldn’t blame yourself over this. I’ll meet him when he comes, and maybe we all can make up for the lost time. At least so long as he’s not an ass to you about the whole thing.”
Mason smiles and hugs the Omega back a moment before moving back and placing her hands on Kaycee’s shoulders. “I’ll talk to J’fiaxyjon, your team about policies here and expectations within the durksau, medical center while staying with the pack. With the bysarype coming, I almost want them to blend in. Some of the bysarype members will not take kindly to Hythere’el, Hunters working in the durksau, even if it's for the good of everyone.”
Kaycee nods and grins brightly, “Undercover missions are the most fun anyways. I should go focus on helping Derrick. Thanks for being here A’rayloni.” Kaycee gives Mason one last hug before walking through the door, swinging it shut behind her.
Comments (0)
See all