Fated Healing [Kindred of Arcadia 5] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) (9 page)

in a shifter town. But I think I’ve taken it for granted that my patients don’t get sick and die. I’m not used to

losing people, Felix, not like this.” Claybourne stood straight and kissed Felix on the forehead.

“We’ll get through this,” Felix said. Claybourne nodded and turned back to the sink. He ran water to

wash his face. Felix reached over, pulled down a few paper towels and passed them to his mate.

Claybourne smiled his thanks, wiping his face.

“Okay. Let’s go see Ms. Tully,” Claybourne said. Felix grabbed his hand and they walked back to the

smaller gym where Ms. Tully stood by her friend’s side.

“Ms. Tully, I’m sorry for leaving so abruptly. Ms. Brayburn…” Claybourne started.

“Edith. Her name is Edith. My friend is dying isn’t she, Maddox?” Ms. Tully asked.

Claybourne nodded. “She was one of the first infected, and she just doesn’t have the strength to fight

much longer,” Claybourne admitted.

Ms. Tully nodded. “I will miss my friend. Can you leave us alone for a while, Doctor? I’d like to say my

good-byes,” Ms. Tully asked softly.

“Of course.” Claybourne kissed the older woman on the cheek and stood back. He held out his hand.

Felix walked over and took it. Together they walked back to the others.

* * * *

Benedict intercepted them in the hallway before they could get to the larger gym.

“Ms. Brayburn, she’s not going to make it, is she?” Benedict asked. Claybourne shook his head. All the

blood drained from Benedict’s face.

“Ma got sick right after Ms. Brayburn. Doc, what are we going to do?” he asked desperately.

“Actually, it was Damian then your ma. Both have youth on their side. Ms. Brayburn is old, even for a

shifter. We’ll figure something out, Benedict, you’ll see,” Claybourne said.

“We can’t lose her, Doc, we just can’t.” Benedict shook his head.

“You and your brothers should take turns sitting with her. That always helps,” Claybourne suggested.

Benedict nodded and headed to the cafeteria. Felix tugged on his mate’s hand, leading him down the side

hallway away from the gym until they came to the teacher’s lounge.

“What are you doing?” Claybourne asked. Felix pushed him on to the sofa.

“You need to eat and rest,” Felix said. Claybourne went to stand and Felix pushed him back down.

“Just a quick bite. Put your feet up and close your eyes, rest. I’ll grab us some sandwiches and be right

back,” Felix pleaded. Claybourne capitulated, removed his glasses and closed his eyes.

“Just for a minute,” he said and then nodded off. Felix smiled. His mate hadn’t rested at all through the

night and the emotional burden he was shouldering was heavy. He needed this. Now. Time to find some

grub.

Felix opened the cafeteria door to see Benedict speaking to all of his brothers, including Aleks. Bran

and Liam sat with them. He walked over to Connor.

“Hey, Connor, got anything for Claybourne? I’d give him soup but he needs something more

substantial,” Felix asked. Connor nodded and headed to the kitchen.

“Where is Doc?” Finn asked.

“He’s taking a nap in the teacher’s lounge,” Felix said. He watched as Finn’s face grew dark.

“Why in the hell is he napping? People are dying, my ma is dying, and he’s taking a fucking nap!” Finn

slammed both hands down on the table. Everyone looked angry.

“Kate is getting worse. What has he done to stop this thing?” Bran asked.

“Nearly every member of my pride is in the gym fighting for their lives. He doesn’t have time to take a

nap,” Liam argued.

“You know what. Fuck you all. Claybourne has been working around the clock for close to two days

now. He hasn’t slept or eaten. Want to know what he’s been doing? Look in the fucking gym. There are

over twenty people lying there fairly comfortable, being treated because of him. He’s not a miracle worker.

He’s a physician in a shifter-only town. He doesn’t have the equipment to deal with this type of outbreak.

He hasn’t had enough time to sit down and go through our interview notes to see if we can determine the

cause. But instead of helping out, you all are in here bitching and feeling sorry for yourselves. Before you

dare to breathe another one of those accusations to anyone else about what Claybourne is or isn’t doing, ask

yourself this. What would happen to those twenty or more people including Ma, Kate, and the pride

members if Claybourne got sick?” Felix yelled his last question, breathing hard.

“He’s right. Again. Sorry, Felix. I don’t know how humans deal with this. If someone was attacking Ma,

I’d rip their fucking throats out, but this quiet, drawn-out waiting. This helplessness as you watch someone

you love die slowly? I don’t know how they do it.” Finn shook his head then put it down on the table.

Benedict wrapped an arm around his brother.

“Here you go, Felix. Lots of soup and sandwiches. Take some time with Doc. We’ll work the gym to

make sure everyone is taken care of.” Connor handed up a cooler.

“Thanks, Connor.” Felix turned to leave but couldn’t leave things as they were. He turned back around.

“Hey guys, we’ll get through this okay? We’ll have a huge party and celebrate kicking this thing’s ass.”

Felix forced a smile.

“Go on, take care of your mate. After everyone has recovered we have a party to plan,” Bran said,

smiling at Felix. Felix smiled back and turned to walk out.

“I’m gonna get so fucked up,” he whispered to himself.

“Heard that!” Emmett called out.

“Busted!” Duncan yelled. Felix smiled a genuine smile and flipped them both off, causing them to

laugh. Feeling better than he had in a few days, he went to feed his man.

* * * *

“You shouldn’t have let me sleep so long,” Claybourne complained. Though he had to admit he did feel

better. Felix rolled his eyes.

“Oh no, you slept a whole four and a half hours! Gasp! Eat your sandwich,” Felix ordered.

“What about the patients?” Claybourne asked, sipping on the soup.

“The Arkadions, Bran, and Liam are walking the gym. They know what to do. Sandwich. Now. While

we eat lets go over some of our notes. We’ll be productive and eating at the same time.” Felix handed

Claybourne his notebook. Claybourne rubbed his eyes and looked down at his notes.

“You’re the best, Felix. All right then, let’s look at what we know,” Claybourne began.

“It’s a short list,” Felix grumbled.

“Okay, we know that Brayburn was the first case,” Claybourne said. Felix stopped him.

“Technically we don’t know that she was the first case, she was the first case we saw. We can’t use that

to establish a timeline,” Felix said. Claybourne’s mouth dropped. He had never considered the possibility

that she wasn’t the first case.

“You know, if you keep giving me looks like that, you’re going to give me low self-esteem. I’m smart, I

went to college
and
nursing school. Give me some credit.” Felix glared at his mate.

“Sorry, you were just so hot right then my brain got stuck,” Claybourne admitted.

“Well when you put it like that, entirely okay.” Felix leaned in and kissed his mate.

“Okay, so Brayburn was the first
reported
case. Then Damian, then Ma. They all were sick enough to

search me out on the same day. Brayburn is worse off due to her age. Whatever this is, it zaps your strength

and she didn’t have a lot to begin with. It affects only shifters, regardless of animal group, not humans or

vampires. Epinephrine has no effect at all. We tested on Brayburn and then later on Damian. It didn’t even

increase the heart rate, which is a physical impossibility.” Claybourne read from his list.

“It has an incubation time between twenty-four and forty-eight hours. It hits hard and fast, like it means

to kill,” Felix said. Claybourne looked up sharply. His small mate’s keen perceptions always seemed to

contradict his sometimes spastic behavior. But he had to admit that his mate was truly brilliant. Felix simply

didn’t care what people thought about him and said whatever popped into his head.

“Why do you say that?” he asked. Felix put his notes down.

“Most illnesses don’t hit this quick. The way this one affects the host. Makes it weak and tired. Not

many people would go to the doctor for that, they would just go to bed. Once in bed this thing has eight to

twelve hours to really spread. When they wake up and still aren’t feeling well they may go to the doctor, but

there are no visible symptoms. You examined all three and came up with the same diagnosis that I would

have. Dehydrated and run down. So we advise them to go home and get more rest. This thing has another

eight to twelve hours to spread, but this time with a fever to further weaken the body. By the time we begin

to administer more fluids and Tylenol, this thing has a solid foothold. But by then it’s too late, they are too

weak to fight this off.” Felix shook his head. “I’m just guessing,” he said.

“No, that’s good. It’s really good. But we caught it, we had three people come down with it at the exact

same time, which put us on alert. That alone may have saved the town.” Claybourne put his notebook

down.

“Where did it come from though?” Felix asked.

“Field Day. Everyone started to get sick after Field Day,” Claybourne said, slapping his notebook. He

just knew it had to be something at Field Day.

“What could have infected such a wide range of people?” Felix thought out loud.

Claybourne looked down at his empty plate.

“The food. I bet it was something in the food at Field Day,” Claybourne said excitedly.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

“Benedict, I need you to do something. See if you can track down any of the food served at Field Day if

there is any left. Bag it, label it, and leave it in the fridge at the clinic. Yeah, thanks.” Claybourne ended the

call.

“Do you think they’ll find something?” Felix asked.

“I don’t know but it’s a start.” Claybourne finished eating his sandwich and stood to throw his plate

away. Felix handed him his empty plate too.

“There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Rebecca said, walking into the lounge.

“What did you find?” Claybourne asked.

“It’s a virus. A really nasty virus. But there’s something weird about it. It doesn’t act right. Normally, a

virus hits the body and goes out to conquer, converting or reproducing using everything in its path. Under

the microscope I swear I saw the virus wait for a large group of white blood cells to drift by then attack. It

actually looked like it attacked.” She collapsed onto the couch, rubbing her back. Claybourne immediately

went to her side.

“You overdid it. Please tell me you weren’t on that microscope all day?” he begged, rubbing her back

for her.

She let out a happy sigh. “Off and on, yes. But I had to. Ma is sick, and the more we know about this

thing the faster she can get better.” She looked at Claybourne, who had stopped rubbing her back, and

turned to Felix.

“What? What’s that look for?” she demanded. Claybourne sat up and took Rebecca’s hand. He began to

explain about Brayburn. Claybourne’s heart broke as he watched her put all of the pieces together.

“Ma is dying, isn’t she?” she asked, crying brokenly into his shoulder.

“Not yet. With what you have discovered plus our theories, we made real strides today in trying to track

down what this thing is,” Claybourne reassured her. There was a knock at the door and Ms. Tully walked in

with red eyes.

“Doctor, I think it’s time,” she said softly.

“Oh no. No!” Rebecca cried. Ms. Tully went to the younger woman and held her close.

“Do what you have to do, Doc, I’ve said my good-byes. She’s no longer there, it’s just a shell now.

She’s finally going to be able to see her mate again. Let’s not keep them apart any longer,” Ms. Tully said,

comforting the crying Alpha Mother. Claybourne could only imagine how overwhelmed with grief and fear

the small human was. She loved Aleks’s Ma like a second mother.

Claybourne stood and straightened his shoulders. He headed out the door to the small gym. Felix

followed behind him. Claybourne gently began to unhook everything. He explained in a soft voice to a

patient that could no longer hear him what he was doing. Claybourne leaned in and kissed the woman’s

forehead in the same gesture that he had done not two days ago. He heard a soft click and the respirator

stopped. The steady beep of the heart rate monitor was cut short when Claybourne turned off the machine.

“Edith Brayburn. Time of death six thirty-three p.m.,” Claybourne choked out, and covered the

woman’s face with the sheet.

Chapter 6

That night news of Ms. Brayburn’s death hung in the gym like a foreboding miasma. Everyone was

quiet, some huddled together, crying for the friend they had lost. More patients were being brought in

which meant that their theory about the twenty-four hour to forty-eight hour incubation period was wrong.

Claybourne made his rounds, administered more Tylenol, and checked to make sure those who were getting