Page 79 of Blade's Battle
“Ignore them,” Tess said, glaring at Blade and Frank until both shifters shut up. “Continue, Anna. Some of us want to hear this.”
Anna made a mental note to ask Tess how she got the guys to listen to her with little more than a glare, and then she took a deep breath and started again. “Except for mature red blood cells and cornified cells in the skin, hair, and nails, every cell in our body contains our entire genetic code. But we don’t grow noses on our feet, and we can’t control how our kidneys work like we can hold our breath. Which DNA is used where in our bodies, by our various organs, depends on the parts of the DNA that are activated. The part of your DNA that allows you to shift is still there, Tess, and got passed on to Damien as it would under normal blood-bonding circumstances.
“I believe your ability toactivatethe DNA that’s needed to shift was corrupted by the virus. That’s what prevented you from shifting. I’m theorizing that when some of Damien’s genetic code copied over to you, so did his ability to activate the proper DNA. Whether the blood-bond also overwrote some of Tess’s tRNA—transfer RNA—or she simply made use of what was in Damien’s blood and is now running out, I can’t say yet. But I’m fairly certain this is not a missing DNA issue, but an activation issue.”
“Way over my head, Anna,” Damien said. “What precisely got you so excited?”
“Blade did,” Frank said, which earned him a left cross from Blade this time.
Anna couldn’t help but smile at the two of them behaving like idiots, childish idiots. It meant Blade’s wolf wasn’t in control.
Callen grabbed them both by their hair and slammed them together before taking up a spot between them. “I swear, the next one of you to open his mouth or try anything, I’m going to personally hang you upside down from a tree for a week.”
Anna tried to hide her smile as she turned her attention back to Damien and Tess. “When I figured out how the virus had affected Tess, it altered my perspective. I think I know how to stop the degradation of your ability to shift, Tess—”
“Her what?” Hayden and Pryce asked at the same time.
“Shifting’s becoming more painful and harder for me,” Tess said.
“It’s degrading, fast,” Anna concurred. “As I was saying, I think I know how to stop that, and maybe even restore your ability altogether.”
“Seriously?” Tess’s face brimmed with excitement. Damien set a steady hand on her shoulder. The alpha’s face showed no enthusiasm, probably because he feared it would fail.
“The virus starts at the shifter’s bridge, destroying the ability to shift. From there it moves on to the wolf genome. Once the wolf genome is destroyed, the shifter dies. It’s like losing half of yourself. You can’t live with half a heart, half a brain and so on. In Tess’s case, her immunity kept the virus from reaching her wolf genome. It’s what saved her life. The bridge is my specialty. I don’t know which genes are affected, but my work might be able to help Tess in time.”
Tess was bouncing in her seat. “I’ll do anything you want, give you any samples. I’m your pincushion from here on out!”
“Not so fast,” Damien said, as he put a hand on Tess to calm her. “We need to know if whatever she has in mind is safe.”
“Not that I don’t want to see Tess, healed,” Pryce began, “but I think we have to focus on stopping the virus first. Alex was worried the virus was mutating. The vaccine we’ve been sending out may become ineffective.”
“It already is,” Anna confirmed. “The vaccine he sent over to Liam’s pack didn’t work.”
“Damn,” Pryce said as he thrust his hands through his hair. “That means we’re vulnerable.”
“Liam was quick to isolate the sick shifters. That’s the only reason he was able to contain the virus. The cure is eighty percent effective, but that may change too.”
“Can you protect the wolf genome,” Hayden asked. “To keep shifters from dying?”
“I have some ideas about that. I’d really like to confer with your virologist.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Hayden said. “We can take you to—”
“She’s not going anywhere,” Blade said. “It’s not safe.”
“We’ll keep her safe,” Damien said as he drew Tess against him.
“I appreciate the offer, Damien,” Anna began. “But if I go anywhere near a city, the WSSO will find me. They have a lot of law enforcement on their payroll and with all the cameras these days, I think I need to stay away from populated areas. The WSSO is bigger than you realize.”
The room fell silent until Damien rose. “I had hoped the ties to law enforcement was nothing more than Drake spouting his paranoid nonsense.”
“We’ve had this discussion before, Damien,” Hayden said. “Paranoid or not, his network of spies delivers. If Drake says the WSSO has its hands in law enforcement, then believe him.”
“Drake told you about the WSSO’s ties to law enforcement?” Blade asked Anna.
Anna blew out a long breath. “No. Katy did.”
“Who’s Katy?” both Blade and Tess asked at the same time.
