Page 85 of Habibi: Always and Forever

HOW NOT TO CARE FOR A HUMAN

DAKOTA

I gave a loud, full-bodied sneeze, knocking my mouse off the desk and making my stomach cramp with the intensity of it.

“God bless you, and stay away from me,” Divya said as she rolled her chair as far away from me as she could while still reaching her computer.

“It was just a sneeze,” I protested, resisting the urge to sniffle.

“No way. The flu’s been going around the office like crazy, and I have a hot date tomorrow,” she said, then started digging through her massive handbag before giving a victorious, “Ha!”

She slapped the mask she’d unearthed over her face, though it must’ve been something she’d lost in her purse ages ago because the elastic was loose and the mask hung awkwardly off her face.

“Damn it,” she grumbled, then glared at me. “You need to go home.”

“I’m fine.”

“Go home, Dakota. You have three hot boyfriends to take care of you. I don’t. Go .”

I sighed, but I was starting to feel a little under the weather, and it might be better for everyone—especially Divya—if I went home early.

“Fine, fine. I just need to see the boss first.”

“Don’t worry, I texted her. She said you need to get the hell out of here,” Divya said, giving me a sweet smile. With her brown puppy-dog eyes, she was the picture of innocence, but I knew better.

Shaking my head, I slid on my jacket, stuffed my phone and keys into my pocket, and took the elevator to the parking lot.

A headache started building as I walked to my car, and I stumbled as I sneezed again, then fell into a coughing fit.

Damn, Divya had been right. I was definitely getting the flu, and it was going to be a bad one. I could just tell.

I leaned against the car as I caught my breath and realized it was very unlikely I’d make it home safe if I drove myself. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I opened my chat with my boyfriends and started typing.

Me : Can one of you come get me? I think I caught the flu. Not sure I can drive. In the parking lot near my car.

Only a few seconds had passed when I felt the air beside me stir familiarly, and I turned just as Nico appeared beside me, his worried black eyes scanning me from head to toe. He reached up to press the back of his palm against my forehead, then hissed.

“Come on, let’s get you home,” Nico said, then wrapped his arms around my waist and teleported us home. While he was quite a few inches shorter than me, his demon strength made it easy for him to support me, and I found myself leaning into his soft body.

“Is he okay?”

“What’s wrong with him?” Ryk and Star demanded as soon as we appeared in our living room, and Nico didn’t answer either of them as he helped me to the couch.

I started coughing as soon as I sat down. A shiver passed through me, and Nico turned to our mates. “Ryk, search the internet for how you treat the flu. Star, get Dakota some hot water.”

Our mates hurried off, and I made an attempt at clearing my throat. “I’m okay,” I said, though the hoarseness of my voice belied my statement.

“Here,” Star said, thrusting a glass of water toward me. I grabbed it, then dropped it immediately with a hiss, shaking out my palm as the water soaked into the carpet. Thank fuck I didn’t drop it on myself.

“Too hot,” I mumbled, and Star’s brown eyes went wide.

“Sorry!”

“It needs to be just a little warmer than normal,” Nico explained, and Star reappeared with another glass a moment later. I took it more cautiously, but it was just the right temperature, and I guzzled it down greedily.

“Okay, so this article says he needs to rest, sweat out the virus, drink lots of fluids, and take painkillers for the headache,” Ryk announced, and I winced as my head pounded some more.

“I could shift and hold him. That would make him sweat,” Star suggested as he pushed his dark, messy hair off his forehead, and Nico brightened.

“I don’t—” I started, when Nico cut me off.

“That’s a good idea. Maybe we should move to the demon realm, though. This house might not be able to handle your size.”

“Good idea,” Star said, then picked me up like I weighed nothing while I flailed about like a fish on land.

“You two go ahead. I’ll grab some drinks and blankets, and make sure Moon and Candy have enough food,” Nico said, referring to our cat and dog, and then I was in the demon realm.

Star placed me on his giant bed, then shifted into his bouldery demon form before climbing in beside me.

Of my three mates, he was the one who rarely shifted, which was understandable.

He was eight feet tall and looked like he was made of big, bulging rocks, with cracks filled with white fire, and blazing red eyes.

Inconspicuous was not how I’d describe him.

His skin was surprisingly smooth despite his appearance, and I sighed when he wrapped his arms around me, then pulled me on top of him. He was pretty warm, though not hot enough to hurt, and I tucked my face into his neck as my shivers slowed down.

A blanket covered my back, and it took my foggy brain a few minutes to realize it wasn’t a blanket, but Ryk’s wing. He was curled up on Star’s right and covering me with his wing.

I was starting to get a little hot, but I was too tired to move. My head was killing me, and my throat felt raw and dry as a desert.

“Ryk, help me cover him with more blankets,” Nico said some time later, and I groaned. No, not more blankets. I was already too hot.

My mouth felt too dry to speak, and then I was covered in a mountain of blankets while Star blazed under me like a furnace. Damn, this wasn’t going to end well.

* * *

RYK

“Is he sleeping, or did he fall unconscious?” I asked as I squinted at our mate. I’d never taken care of a sick human before—none of us had—and I was worried.

“I’m not sure,” Nico said, his lips pursed. He was still in his human form and looked as worried as I felt.

“We need to talk to a human,” Star said, and I nodded. The internet was helpful, but it wasn’t as good as asking an actual human.

“Ask Archer,” I suggested, and Nico nodded, then disappeared again, probably to go call or visit Archer.

I kneeled at the edge of the bed, and my brows furrowed as I took in Dakota’s pink skin.

“I think he’s hot,” I said, and Star gave me a look .

“This isn’t the time, Ryk. He’s sick .”

I rolled my eyes. “No, dumbass. I mean, he looks like a boiled lobster. He’s getting too hot. Maybe you should shift back.”

Star’s eyes widened, and then he wrapped his arms around Dakota and shifted into his human form, keeping him in place.

I magicked up a bowl of water and a washcloth, then soaked it before wiping Dakota’s brow with it. He made a whimpering sound, but didn’t wake, and I kept wiping.

“His clothes are soaked in sweat,” Star mumbled, and I hummed.

“Should I grab a change of clothes? Or magick out the sweat from these?”

“The second one. I don’t think we should move him.”

Nodding, I used my magic to evaporate all the sweat in Dakota’s clothes, then continued wiping down his face, neck, and arms.

“We need to wake him,” Nico announced as he reappeared in the room, his dark eyes slightly panicked.

“What? Why? The internet said we should let him rest,” I reminded, but Nico shook his head.

“We also need to keep him hydrated, and with how much we sweated him out, we need to get some fluids back in him before he gets dehydrated.”

“Fuck!” Star muttered as I shifted back and grabbed Dakota’s shoulder, shaking gently.

“Dakota, wake up. You need to drink something.”

He didn’t even stir, and I shared a worried look with Star. Shaking harder, I pushed some magic into my voice as I repeated, “Dakota, wake up!”

He groaned, then blinked his eyes open, peering at me blearily. I’d never been happier to see those familiar blue eyes.

“Sit him up,” Nico directed, and Star slid him off his body, then leaned his back against the mountain of pillows while keeping him covered with the blankets.

Nico climbed up into bed with a bottle of a blue drink, then kneeled beside Dakota as he uncapped it and pressed it against Dakota’s lips. “Archer said this will keep you from getting dehydrated. Please drink.”

Dakota took a small sip, then another one, and before long, he’d drained the bottle. Nico gave him another bottle, then handed him what looked like an orange candy—like the ones Dakota’s mom gave me every time I went over—that would apparently make his cough better.

As Dakota sucked on the candy, Nico pulled the blankets up to his neck, then turned to us.

“I’m going to go back and make him some soup.

I’ll get lunch for us as well, and some pills for his headache.

Archer said we should take him to a doctor if it gets worse.

Like if he can’t breathe or he starts vomiting. ”

“We’ll watch over him,” I assured Nico, and Star nodded in agreement.

Nico went back to the human world, and I turned my attention to our human mate.

In size, he was bigger than both me and Nico, and yet he was so much more fragile than any of us.

As demons, we were technically already dead, which meant we couldn’t share our ‘lifespans’ or immunity with Dakota.

If we could have, he never would’ve gotten sick.

“We should cover him with an invisible shield,” I realized, and Star raised a brow at me. He was on Dakota’s other side, keeping him warm with his human body now.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I know we can’t make him immune like supes can with their mates, but we can do almost anything with our magic. Why can’t we use it to make an invisible shield of some kind that would keep all kinds of viruses and bacteria away from him?

“That’s... actually a pretty great idea,” Star said, making me huff.

“You don’t have to sound that surprised.”

Star gave me a sheepish smile, and I shook my head.

“We’ll talk to Nico about it when he gets back,” he promised, and I nodded, running my palm over Dakota’s chest.

“He’ll be okay, right?” I asked, and Star nodded quickly.