Page 48 of The Healer and the Wolf: Part Two

VANESSA

“Ineed you to count down from ten for me,” I said calmly, pulling one of my vials and a bit of gauze from my fanny pack as I knelt next to a wolf sprawled on ground, blood pooling below it. “You can do it in your head.”

How else were they going to do it? It wasn’t like I could communicate with shifters when they were in their animal form. I didn’t even know if they were able to speak to each other, but I imagined they had some sort of wordless telepathy.

The counting was the only way I could think to distract him as I pulled a silver bullet out of the wound in his side. We’d been so lucky so far that no one had ever used that type of ammo against us—at least that I knew of—and I figured the only reason for that was because the brothers employed so many shifters who wouldn’t be able to use anything the bullets touched and would be weakened in its presence. Now, I wasn’t surprised they were using it. The brothers were on high alert, and most of the shifters they’d enthralled had been removed.

Which was why I had brought so many things to counteract silver poisoning. At least I’d brought things I’dguessedwould counteract it. It wasn’t like there was a manual, and when Iasked the shifters what would help, they’d said their best method for fighting off such poisoning was to remove the source of the poison.

Different shifters had different weaknesses. Wolves were the only ones susceptible to silver, but along with coyotes, bears, and moose, they were also weakened if iron got into their bloodstream. I had no idea how they dealt with anemia, or how they could eat so much read meat, but I chalked it up to magical shenanigans. Eagles were susceptible to electricity and deathly allergic to waterthyme while moose had a wolfsbane-like reaction to English yew.

In fact, it seemed the only shifters with no known weaknesses were alligators. I’d heard a lot of different theories as to why from our little merry group of rebels, but my theory was that alligators had evolved out of their weaknesses. They were, after all, ancient creatures. It was a shame we didn’t have any in our group because from what I heard, they were twice the size of a regular alligator and incredibly difficult to damage. Most of them liked to live in places much warmer than where we were, though, which made sense since they were reptiles.

“Focus on breathing and counting for me, okay?” I urged softly, despite the cacophony around us. One moment we’d all been standing around the bus, watching security try to fix our blown tire, the next an explosion had rocked the courtyard, and chaos erupted. Despite my sudden magical prowess with plants, I didn’t jump into the battle. Chris and I had retreated, both of us armed with full med-kits to run triage as best we could.

Chris had been a champ when he’d come to me and asked to learn whatever he could, and I had tried to teach him everything I could about what herbs and concoctions to use in which situation, and how to stop the flow of blood until a shifter could heal. I’d also showed him all the little tricks I’d learned about how to clean wounds so the injury could heal faster. Hewas a great student, and I wouldn’t mind if he chose to continue learning once everything was settled. It would be nice if there was more than one herbalist in our group.

In ourpack.

Once people started going down, we’d split up to cover more ground. I didn’t regret it, but I did hope Chris was all right. He didn’t have an animal form to protect him, or even mysterious plant powers that worked of their own accord.

I couldn’t risk the distraction of worrying about him, though, so I took that out of my mind and focused on removing the bullet from the side of a giant wolf. Pulling out a long pair of tweezers, I carefully inserted them into the wound and felt around for something solid. The shifter whined, but to their credit, they didn’t move a muscle. That was truly impressive. Or maybe the silver had paralyzed him. Either way, I knew the longer the bullet was in, the worse it would be, so I went a bit faster than I was comfortable with.

Thankfully, after a minute or two, I got it out. I threw the offending piece of silver as far away as I could before returning my attention to the wound. I pulled a vial of black liquid out of my pack. It looked exceptionally magical, perhaps even villainous, but it was only powdered charcoal mixed with witch hazel, distilled water, crushed ibuprofen and powdered willow bark. It was a double whammy of absorption and reducing inflammation.

Unfortunately, I would have to find out if it worked in real time.

The wolf jerked as I poured some of the liquid into the wound, and I didn’t blame him one bit, not even when one of his claws nicked my arm. Instead of freaking out, I gently laid my hands on his side and tried to envision calm and healing seeping into him.

“You’re gonna be okay, friend. I need you to picture all that icky poison draining right out of you. Pouring out like when a cup tips over. Can you visualize that in your mind for me?”

Although I was flying blind, I tried to sound as confident as I could. Maybe it was a magic thing, maybe it was just invoking the placebo effect, but I figured if I sounded like I knew what I was doing, it would help more than hinder.

“When you’re ready, I’d like you to try to sit up on your belly so all this badness can drain from your side. Do you think you can do that? I’ll be here to help.”

Another whine, but it seemed to be an affirmative. It took at least a full minute or two, but eventually the wolf groaned, then struggled onto his side. The mixture I poured into the wound began to dribble out, but I swore it had a new metallic shine to it. Maybe that was my own brain seeing what it wanted to see, but after another moment, I could feel the wound closing up even through the dense layer of his coat.

“See? You should be feeling better already. Give yourself some time, then get out of here,” I advised as I reached into my pouch and took out some deadnettle balm. I dabbed it around the wound, then smeared the rest on a bit of gauze and placed it over the jagged hole once I was sure it was done with the majority of the leaking. The deadnettle would soothe and help heal, as I had learned with Leo all that time ago, and the gauze would help to soak up anything the wound wanted to discharge as it healed from the inside out. I didn’t secure it, because I wanted it to fall off once the wolf was up and moving, as his body would take it from there. “I need to go help others, but be safe.”

I gave him one last pat on the side, still trying to exude healing, calm, and comfort, before I was on my feet and running again.

I kept my eyes peeled for anyone in need of medical attention, but it seemed we were doing a great job of stayingscattered and having most of the security chase us rather than engaging in direct combat. We’d fight if it came down to it, but for the most part our job was to keep as many of the guards running around far away from the manor. And we were doing a great job if I did say so myself.

A sharp yelp somewhere to the left of me had me turning my head, and I saw a wolf shifter caught between three furious members of the security team. I still didn’t really have a handle on my powers or even know how to activate them, so I couldn’t just charge in. Instead, I reached into the bag Chris had thrown me when everything went to shit and pulled out a smoke bomb.

My softball training came in handy as the smoke bomb hit one of the guards right in his back. Smoke filled the space between the trio, and the wolf darted away in the confusion. It seemed even without my plants I still had a trick or two up my sleeve.

I continued to move, helping where I could, but trying my best to stay out of direct danger. If Leo could see me, I was sure he’d be proud of how well I was doing in a support position. Truthfully, I didn’t really want to be a brawler. I had only done what I had at the auction because I truly had been afraid I was about to lose the love of my life.

I fell into the rhythm of battle, scanning for the injured or someone who was in a pinch, aiding however I could, then moving on. It was a balance of quick efficiency and making sure everyone got the care they needed. However, after I threw a smoke grenade at a tight cluster of enthralled shifters about to surround a couple of our own, another explosion rocked the grounds, nearly knocking me off my feet.

That could not be good.

I whipped around to face the massive estate, sure that was where the blast had come from. Sure enough, a wolf sailed through the window and went flying through the air, his bodylimp. I raced toward him like I was going to catch him or something—what a ridiculous thought—but two eagle shifters beat me to it, swooping in and grabbing one of his front legs to slow his momentum so he didn’t hit the ground with an overwhelming force.

I got to his side as fast as I could, gasping in horror at the blood covering him. The deep but thin lacerations all over his body made it look like he’d been whipped with a cat-of-nine-tails.

“I’ve got you. I’ve got you,” I said, aiming for that soothing timber again, but not quite getting it. Almost instantly, the wolf began to shrink until a battered and bleeding Jason lay in front of me.

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