Page 38 of Shifter and the Succubus (The Pack #1)

Jason had been up for hours. Ah, who was he kidding?

He’d never really gone to bed. His emotions had taken over his rational brain and made him want to grab Sabrina and make a run for it.

Get away from all the tests and ramifications for both of them.

Instead he headed to the kitchen for a gallon-sized cup of coffee and to set some new plans in motion.

They didn’t need Lucas. Sabrina could figure this out on her own.

He had sent the team home last night after his hulk-out without telling them that he’d found out what deal Sabrina had made with Lucas.

It wouldn’t be long before they were reaching out asking questions.

If he had his say, the deal would be a moot point soon.

He stepped into the kitchen, and even though it was early, he found Bea making breakfast.

She looked at him. “Couldn’t sleep either?”

Jason poured a cup of coffee. “No. Did Griffin come back?”

She nodded. “Around midnight, but then he paced his office for most of the night. I’m afraid to find out what he’s been working on.

” She pointed to the stove. “I’m going to take him something to eat and see what I can do to help.

” She spooned eggs and then potatoes and bacon onto a plate and set it in front of Jason.

“You need to eat as well. No arguing. You can’t live on coffee alone. ”

He really didn’t want to eat, but he needed to stop the acid churning in his stomach.

He ate quickly and then headed toward the front door, but Griffin called out to him.

Jason ended up in Griffin’s office where Bea sat next to a plate full of food.

Griffin apparently hadn’t heeded Bea’s advice to eat like he had.

“Jason. I wanted to talk to you. To let you know that I will be working with the Shifter Council to communicate to all our packs. To put steps in place where our members can reach out when in trouble even if it’s within their own pack. I will be implementing a plan as soon as possible.”

Jason nodded, appreciating how serious Griffin was taking this. “That sounds like a good first step. I think involving the BSR with the process makes sense since there are BSR teams in most big cities, so that would help.”

Griffin nodded. “I can’t ever make this up to you, but I will make sure to help all our members going forward.”

Jason took a step closer to the alpha, who released energy in jerky bursts. “I don’t blame you for what happened to my mother. You couldn’t fix what you didn’t know about.”

Griffin closed his eyes for a moment. “I don’t think it’s as black-and-white as that, but I appreciate you saying that. I need to make sure our packs understand that I am nothing like my father or brother. I’m here to help.”

Jason left a few minutes later and headed across the yard to the small hospital.

Other than a nurse, he didn’t run into anyone else before he entered the lab.

Lucas sat bent over a table, bouncing between looking at his tablet and then rifling through a stack of papers.

From his clothes and wrinkled appearance, he’d been there all night as well.

Seemed like sleeping hadn’t been on anyone’s list of priorities.

Lucas looked up. “How do you feel since your episode yesterday?”

It was interesting how he always just jumped into things. No small talk. “Fine.”

“Any recurrence?”

“No.”

Lucas set down his tablet. “Do you know what triggers your animal?”

“I thought we already talked about this.”

“Somewhat. But I think your reactions stem from your need to protect Sabrina more than yourself. Am I wrong?”

Jason bristled. “No. My animal has only tried to come out when it feels Sabrina is in danger. But I’m not here to answer questions. I came to let you know your services are no longer required.”

Lucas sat back. “Excuse me?”

“I don’t need your help with my animal. You can go back to your secret Succubus hideaway and leave us alone.”

Lucas’s eyebrows rose. “Sabrina asked me to help.”

He crossed his arms. “Yes. To help me. But it’s my body and my choice on what help I need from you. I’ve decided I don’t need anything.”

Lucas shook his head. “Has Sabrina told you that this is more serious than your animal trying to come out?”

“She has. Doesn’t change the fact that I want you to leave. And Sabrina is not coming with you.”

He frowned. “You would risk your health so that she didn’t have to come back to our clan?”

Why was this so hard to understand? “I don’t want her to be forced to do anything. Especially when I’m the one who should be in charge of decisions regarding my health.”

“Jason, what are you doing here?” Sabrina asked from the doorway.

“Letting Lucas know he can go home. That I don’t need his help.”

“What?” Sabrina walked over to him. “He needs to stay.”

He blew out a breath. “And I’m saying he can go. You can figure this out on your own, Doc. We don’t need him.”

Lucas stood. “Except I think I may have figured out how to help you.”

Sabrina’s eyes widened and spoke up before Jason could. “How?”

“I planned on reviewing this with you first to get your thoughts before involving Jason. But I imagine you want to stay for this.”

“You imagined correctly.” Jason could be passive-aggressive with the best of them.

Lucas nodded. “Has Sabrina explained to you that your DNA associated with your shifter abilities has a mutation?”

“Yes.”

“Shifting involves energy and pheromones. I think that your mutation doesn’t allow your shift to happen.

If that was the only issue, it wouldn’t be critical.

But in addition to that, before yesterday’s episode, the blood work after each failed shift has showed a continual increase in white cells and a breakdown of some other components.

I think that the shifter blood you received from Griffin and Bea caused a cascade effect that is similar to your body fighting against itself.

Rheumatoid arthritis in humans is similar to this.

The immune system mistakenly attacks its own tissues. ”

“You said before yesterday’s episode?” Sabrina asked.

Lucas picked up some papers and handed them to Sabrina.

“Yes. If you remember, I took blood right before and right after the episode, and that was very enlightening. Before the episode, the blood work showed the continued breakdown of your blood. I would expect the blood work after your episode to have degraded even more, but it didn’t do that. ”

He pointed to something on the paper Sabrina held, and she looked up in surprise. “The counts improved.”

Jason’s heart sped up.

Lucas lips almost turned up at the sides. “It did. Not completely, but there is a definite dip in white cell count. The only outlier I can associate with this is that you gave Jason your energy.”

Sabrina shook her head. “That could be—”

“A one-off, I know. But the monitors showed me something as well.” He turned to Jason.

“Succubus energy has a distinct signature. Our clan is able to read each other’s energy—think of it as waves or pulses.

The waves in your brain synced with Sabrina’s.

We know that a shift is energy based as well, and I think that it allowed your animal to retreat and you became cognizant because of it. ”

Jason tried to follow along. “Why does that improve my blood cells?”

“I want to check a few things, but I think that the energy surge started to clean your blood as well. I think that if Sabrina gives you more energy, it could help stop your body from attacking itself.”

Sabrina smiled. “And it would be noninvasive. It doesn’t hurt for you to receive my energy.”

“And we would monitor you in the lab to test the impact.”

Jason’s head had started to hurt halfway through the conversation. Could the answer be that easy? “What about the whole ‘thou shalt not mess with shifters’ rule?”

“In this case it should be fine. She would be giving you energy, not taking it. And it would be a few sessions at the most.”

Jason’s stomach bottomed out. A few sessions at the most because Sabrina would be leaving.

He looked at Sabrina, now in deep conversation with Lucas.

They were talking in a doctor language that made little sense to Jason and were finishing each other’s sentences.

He could imagine what they had been like working together in the past. And if Lucas had his way, they would be doing the same in the future.

A few hours later Jason was hooked back up to the monitors, and Lucas once again drew his blood. Both he and Sabrina had gone over all the test results and felt that Sabrina giving him some of her energy could be the answer to his problem.

“This will not fix your mutated chromosomes. You were born with those. But the hope is that Sabrina’s energy will revert you back to the way you were before.”

“When I didn’t have any shifter powers?”

Lucas nodded. “Yes.”

Sabrina sat down in front of him. “I’m sorry, Jason.”

“Honestly, it’s okay. I’ve gone my whole life without them. I’m fine being human.” And he was. What he wasn’t fine with was the thought of losing Sabrina.

Lucas untied the tourniquet from Jason’s arm. “Okay. We should be good. I am going to man the monitors in the outer room.”

Sabrina smiled at Jason. “Are you ready?”

“Yep.”

She reached her hands out and placed them on his chest. Her vanilla scent increased as she leaned toward him.

Her hands were steady, a doctor’s hands, but he expected nothing less.

Everything about this female exuded confidence, determination, and strength, which was a heady combination with her large heart, brilliant mind, and beautiful soul.

Her hands heated up, and he stared into her eyes that glowed ever so slightly as she shared her energy. Little pulses ran along her fingers and into his chest, warming his trunk and spreading out into his arms and lower extremities, cocooning him as his muscles relaxed.

Sabrina’s smile grew. “You like that, huh?”

Jason grinned back. “I feel like I’m in one of those heated massage chairs.”

She laughed. “That’s a new one, even for me. But I’ll take it.”

“You can have me,” he said. He couldn’t blame his response to his uber-relaxed state. It was the truth, and he wanted her to know how he felt.

A few glorious minutes later she removed her hands, but residual warmth flowed through his body. Lucas came at him once again with a needle and took more blood, heading back into the main lab area to run all his tests.

“I think you could use a nap,” Sabrina said as she disconnected him from the monitors.

“Only if you come with me. You did all the work. I think you need a nap too.”

Her eyes widened. “I can at least come tuck you in.”

“I’ll take it. I think Lucas can handle things here.”

“Agreed. Both of you take it easy for the rest of the day. I’ll let you know about the results later, and then we can see how many more sessions you will need for a clean bill of health,” Lucas said.

Jason didn’t argue. He grabbed Sabrina’s hand and pulled her gently from the room. They headed across the lawn into Griffin’s house and up the stairs before someone could stop them. Jason stepped into the guest room and guided her over to the bed.

“Let’s relax. We both could use it.” He kicked off his shoes and lay down on top of the comforter, moving over so that he made room for her. “Nap time, Sabrina.”

She shook her head at him, but he didn’t mind because she toed off her shoes as well.

As she got into bed with him, his heart soared.

He couldn’t wait to have her in his arms. He reached down and unfolded the blanket at the foot of the bed and pulled it over them both before settling her back to his chest with his arms around her.

“You good, Doc?” he murmured in her ear.

“I’m great.”

“Good, because I’m not letting you go.”

And he meant that in more ways than one. They could deal with Lucas later. Because they weren’t being separated. And right now he needed to be close to the female he loved.