Page 27 of Doctor Wolf's Human Nurse

Sawyer went into the lab and looked at the slides under the microscope. It didn’t take him long to spot what he was looking for. He sat back in the chair, groaned, and ran his fingers through his hair.

Abby had followed him. “It’s the virus, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

They went back into the examination room.

“It seems that there is some kind of virus going around that is affecting shifters. Right now, I don’t have a treatment for it or a cure. I’m hoping that my colleagues can help. Don’t worry, though, we’ll get this figured out.”

Sawyer hoped that he sounded more confident than he felt.

Elsbeth nodded glumly.

Taylor burst into tears. “I want to shift. I don’t like this.”

“I know, Son, and I’m sorry. There are a lot of people working on it.”

“But there’s no promises that you can fix it,” Raina said, sniffing back her tears.

“No, but we’ll sure try. I promise you that. I’ll call you as soon as we figure anything out,” Sawyer promised.

He walked down the hall with them and told Cindy that there wouldn’t be a charge for this visit.

Sawyer went into his office and called Beth. “We have three more cases of the shifters who’ve been sprayed with something. I had them describe it and they gave me permission to share it with you.”

“Savvy, Taryn, and I have been trying to figure out what it could possibly be. Hold on a second. We’re at Rory and Savvy’s place. Let me put you on speaker so we all can hear it.”

Sawyer played the recording for them.

Taryn spoke slowly. “I’ve had a thought – more like a feeling really. Is it possible that the people making the virus got ahold of shifter DNA?”

Sawyer’s mind immediately flashed to the missing younglings. “Yes.”

“What are you thinking?” Beth asked.

“My gut says that they are twisting the DNA with chemical and natural substances, altering it. Wormwood, sage, and eucalyptus are all known to disrupt magic. They could add a chemical to them that would disrupt the shifters’ cellular structure.”

Sawyer closed his eyes. “Great. How do we combat this?”

“I don’t know, but we’ll figure something out,” Beth said. “Let’s just hope that it doesn’t permanently alter the shifter’s DNA so that they can’t ever be cured.”

“We’ll work fast,” Savvy said. “Hopefully, this particular virus isn’t contagious.”

“How are you and Abby doing?” Taryn asked.

Sawyer’s heart caught in his throat. “Fine. Why do you ask?”

“No reason. I’ll talk to you later.”

Sawyer could hear the amusement in her voice.

Everyone said their goodbyes and hung up.

For a minute he thought about Taryn’s question and wondered what she knew. She was possibly the most powerful witch on the continent and knew things that no one else in the world did.

He shook his head.I’ve got more important things to worry about than what a witch thinks about Abby and me.

Sawyer shot off a text, letting Zac, Matthias, and Lucious know about the new cases. His heart twisted at the thought that they might not be able to find a cure.

---