Page 20 of Shifter and the Succubus (The Pack #1)

Sabrina inhaled deeply as she held the mug of steaming coffee close.

What was it about this brew that she couldn’t get enough of?

After centuries she should have grown tired of it, but she still cradled the mug like a prized treasure before taking a sip.

The rich flavor perked up her taste buds, as it should with the amount of money she spent on her fancy coffee maker.

The caffeine even helped her demon body get started in the morning.

She normally didn’t need much sleep, but after spending so many late nights at the hospital and lab, she was constantly tired.

She had just finished packing a bag for her trip with Jason later that day.

Not sure how long they would be in Wisconsin, she wanted to be prepared.

And she also wasn’t sure if Jason was exactly happy that she’d volunteered to go along.

But someone needed to watch out for him even if he didn’t want to be a bother.

She had learned that quickly with him. He wanted to be needed—didn’t they all want that?

—but he also seemed to have something to prove.

Maybe it was his way to make up for his earlier assumptions about supernaturals that led to bloody consequences.

If Misha and Kyle had forgiven him for what he’d done, it was past time for Jason to forgive himself.

Now he was in trouble and had to rely on the team to help him. For her to help him. It hadn’t been too long ago when her biggest concern for him was her not taking advantage of him and his shifter energy. That she wouldn’t let herself become addicted to his energy.

She laughed at the irony—proclaiming she wouldn’t become addicted while holding a cup of her self-admitted liquid addiction. With centuries of living, having coffee be her addiction was mild to say the least. And she had spent a good part of that life taking care of others.

She sighed. This is why she worked so much.

So she didn’t have to think about her long, long life.

Yes, she had made a difference. And yes, she was fine on her own.

Not everyone needed a partner to live an amazing, fulfilled life.

Her time as a psychiatrist had taught her that many people had to learn to love themselves before they could be in a healthy relationship.

Another person or persons couldn’t make you whole.

But that wasn’t what Sabrina was doing. She was an expert in solitude.

Centuries of being alone. Loving someone was rewarding and terrifying.

Truly putting yourself and your heart in a position that it could get stomped on was a leap of faith on both sides.

When it came to Jason, her stubborn heart wasn’t listening to her rational brain.

Which was new. In the past she had been able to compartmentalize things.

She had to with the enormity of her lifespan.

And while she had lived for over a thousand years, that didn’t make time less precious. Everything was fleeting—it just depended on what your definition of fleeting was.

And there she went again, getting maudlin. Kyle was right, she needed a hobby, whether it included naked time or not.

Sabrina set her mug down as energy pulses traveled over her skin like static electricity.

She pushed back the curtain slightly over her kitchen sink and glanced outside at the seemingly empty street.

But someone—some thing —was out there. Her muscles tensed as she opened her broom closet and pulled out her sword that had been fashioned by a master swordsmith hundreds of years ago.

She had carried it in a sheath on her back as protection.

It had been some time since she’d felt the familiar weight in her hands.

Adrenaline coursed through her body in preparation for battle at the same time her brain told her she was overreacting.

As the energy increased around her, it became recognizable.

And instead of calming her, the familiarity punched her in the chest. She wouldn’t need her sword today, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t in danger of being hurt.

She lowered the sword to her side as she walked to her front door and opened it.

He looked the same. Tall and seemingly lanky, although Sabrina knew he was all muscle. His brown hair was short and styled in the newest fashion with brown, dancing eyes that hypnotized both women and men over the centuries.

Eyes that seemed to stare inside her as well.

His lips turned up into his signature smirk when he caught sight of her sword. “Sabrina. It’s good to see you.”

“Alexander. When I left the message, I expected a return call, not a visit.” Understatement, but that was how the game was played between them.

He shrugged. “The tone in your message made me think it might warrant a visit. I thought I would check in to see how you are doing as well as do some sightseeing.”

“Cleveland, Ohio, was calling to you?”

Alexander chuckled. “I’ve been wanting to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I spent some time with several inductees over the years.”

“I bet you have.”

“Aren’t you going to invite me in? Or do you want your neighbors to see you brandishing a sword?”

Sabrina stepped back and Alexander strolled into her house. He turned in a slow circle, taking in her open floor plan with living room, dining area, and kitchen. “Have you gone minimalist on me, Rina?”

Sabrina did some shrugging of her own even though her heart panged at the nickname.

She kept her small house uncluttered, decorated with some quality pieces but nothing too expensive—except for her coffee maker.

“The last time you saw me was during the Gilded Age. The excess then was shameful to say the least. I don’t need much now. ”

“Even though you could have anything you want if you simply batted an eye?”

Sabrina sighed. “If you don’t know by now that things can’t make you happy, then there is no hope for you, my friend.”

Alexander smiled. “They can’t make you happy, but they can make your life easier.

And we have lived long enough to know what a hard life is all about and to avoid it at all costs.

” He walked over to her mantel and picked up a shadow box with one of the first stethoscopes invented.

One that she had used herself back in the day. “Still a doctor, I see.”

“Yes.”

Alexander set down the box and turned back to her. “Saving everyone except your own people.”

Sabrina kept her face neutral even though his words were like barbs in her chest. Alexander didn’t need a sword to inflict damage. Before she could respond, he continued.

“I understand you have been helping with the immigration. Bringing more demons to this world. More demons who could turn on us and hunt us.”

And the barbs kept coming. “Alexander—”

“Don’t, Sabrina. I know you think we’re safe now. But our kind will never be completely safe. Although it won’t matter in the long run.”

She took a step closer. “What do you mean?”

“You know the answer to that. The Fade.”

Sabrina gripped the sword’s hilt tighter. “Is someone else sick?”

“Not since…” He couldn’t say the name she knew was on his lips.

Over a hundred years ago when they had lost Robert.

The last time she had seen Lucas before he cast her from his life.

God, how she hated that admission. She had become a doctor all those centuries ago to help her clan find a cure and had little to show for it.

Alexander nodded. “You’re the medical phenom, Sabrina. I hoped your call meant you have found something to help us.”

She hated the word before she spoke it. “No. And from your question, I take it that Lucas hasn’t had any luck either.”

Alexander stared at her for a moment. If she didn’t know him as well as she did, she would think he wasn’t impacted by their discussion.

Except his eyes held the truth. Helplessness.

Hopelessness. The same feelings Sabrina had whenever her clan suffered.

There were so few of them now. They would die out eventually, and for as many supernaturals and humans she had saved over the years, they did not make up for her failure to save her own clan from a disease that had no rhyme nor reason.

“Why did you call then?”

She swallowed. “I am hoping for Lucas’s expertise on a patient.”

Alexander blinked. “A patient? You’re reaching out after all these years for a patient?”

“I need a geneticist, and Lucas is the best.”

“And you reached out to me because…?”

Sabrina tried to pull in a breath as her chest tightened. “Because he made it clear that he never wanted to see me again.”

“Your brother was devastated when Robert died.”

“You don’t have to tell me that! I’ve respected Lucas’s wishes and stayed away because he is my brother.

” And it had destroyed a part of her. But if she was truthful with herself, she also stayed away because she couldn’t stand the look he gave her.

The hurt and hate that radiated from him had been so toxic it felt like it would burn her. “I don’t think he’ll agree to see me.”

“I can’t speak for him. But I can talk to him.”

“Does he still live in the US?” She hated that she had to ask that question. That she had completely lost sight of her own flesh and blood.

“Yes.” And he offered no other details. “Why now?”

“I told you. I have a patient who needs help.”

Alexander blew out a breath. “You have dealt with thousands of patients since you parted ways with us. What is so special about this patient that you’re willing to reach out to Lucas again?”

She fought to keep her voice even. “Because he needs help.”

Alexander frowned. “I’ll let you dance around the answer for now, Rina. But I know better than that. I’ll see if he’s willing to help. If yes, and that is a big if , I don’t see him agreeing to come here.”

Sabrina wanted to argue that it made more sense for him to come here since the hospital and labs would be useful, but she would take what she could get.

“I have something you can give him.” She walked over to her laptop bag next to her carry-on and pulled out a memory stick.

“This has blood work and other medical information on the patient. I think that once Lucas sees this, he might be willing to help.” At least she hoped his curiosity overrode his feelings for her.

He nodded to the luggage. “Are you going on a trip?”

“Yes. For a day or two.”

“I’ll be taking my leave then. I think this is a discussion I need to have face-to-face with Lucas,” Alexander said as he headed toward the door. “I’ll contact you one way or the other.”

“Thank you.”

He turned back to look at her. “You understand that Lucas is going to want something in return.”

She swallowed against the regrets clogging her throat. “I know.”

He turned and left without another word. There wasn’t much to say, and Alexander wasn’t in the habit of saying goodbye. He would simply leave before any inane good wishes or goodbyes were voiced.

Sabrina’s head spun as she walked back to her kitchen. She opened her closet and set the sword inside, her hand cramping from gripping the hilt so hard. She flexed her hand before picking up her coffee mug and dumping the cold liquid into the sink.

Leaning against the counter, she sucked deep breaths into her still-tight lungs.

She remembered the last time she had seen Lucas.

It had been at Robert’s funeral pyre. She had tried so hard to save him.

For Robert of course, but for them as well.

The four of them—Alexander, Sabrina, Robert, and Lucas—had been inseparable.

When they’d lost Robert, they had splintered and cracked like a glass pane.

And Lucas couldn’t forgive her. Which made sense since she couldn’t forgive herself. She had failed them all. Still failed them. And it was only a matter of time before someone else in the clan got sick.

Alexander wasn’t mistaken. Lucas would want something in return for his help. And she would agree to it if it helped Jason.

She walked through her living room and down the hall to her office. Normally her sanctuary, now it offered little peace as she opened the bottom desk drawer, emptied the contents, and pulled up the false bottom to reveal her leather-bound journal.

Setting the drawer back in order, she sat and ran her fingers over the worn leather exterior.

She opened the book. Her handwriting greeted her, but it wasn’t a happy reunion.

The ink on the first pages faded as she flipped through her medical notes, languages changing over the years, but the message the same.

There was no cure for the Fade. Anyone who entered it, died.