My stomach churns as I make my way down the hallway to my room later that morning. My skin is covered in a fine sheen of sweat, and I’m pretty sure I’m running a fever.

Entering my room, I barely make it to the bathroom in time to empty my stomach, which feels like it’s being thrown about in a freaking tornado when it’s not sending spikes of pain throughout my entire body, starting in my stomach.

“Farrah,” I call out weakly, knowing that since she’s a healer she may be able to figure out what’s wrong with me. “Something’s wrong.”

“What’s going on? Why not tell my brother or one of the guys?”

I don’t answer right away, instead I bend over the toilet again, emptying whatever’s left in my stomach. “I’m sick, I don’t know what’s going on. This isn’t normal.”

“I’ll be right there.”

I lean back against the tub once my stomach stops heaving for a third time and close my eyes, breathing deeply to settle my stomach.

My eyes fly open when I feel a feather-light touch on my cheek.

“Hey, Farrah told us you’re sick,” Talon mutters, pulling his hand away from my face.

I nod weakly. “I feel like absolute crap. I’ve had colds, but I’ve never been sick sick,” I say, my voice coming out hoarse.

“Farrah said she’ll be here in a few minutes. She’s all the way on the other side of the territory, so it’ll take her a little bit to get here,” Parker says softly from beside Hunter in the doorway.

“You were fine this morning, weren’t you?” Hunter asks, confusion swirling in his eyes.

I nod. “I don’t know what happened. I was going to go to the library after we separated and then I just felt hot, then sick. I decided I’d just come to my room and lay down for a nap, try to feel better. I barely made it here in time,” I mutter, closing my eyes and resting my head on the tub, letting its cool surface cool down the back of my neck a little bit.

“It just came on?” Hunter’s brow furrows. Turning to Parker he asks, “Can Farrah heal poisons?”

Parker frowns thoughtfully. “I don’t know. I don't think we’ve ever tried it. Vampires don’t use poison, and not a lot of people know about Farrah’s ability to heal. It’s possible. But it’s also possible that she can’t.”

“She can’t what?” Farrah asks as she walks in the room, pushing Parker out of the way to get to me earning a sharp look from him.

“Heal poison,” Talon explains.

“Hmm,” she hums thoughtfully as she places her hand on my forehead, “it’s possible that I can’t. I’m not sure. I’ve never tried it.” She pulls her attention from me to the guys. “You think she was poisoned?”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Talon says.

“Why?”

“She wasn’t sick at all this morning after you healed her. She’s been fine. She says that the sickness kind of just came on suddenly. That’s not a normal sickness,” Hunter explains.

“Alright, give me some room,” she says to Talon, who’s still crouched beside me on the floor.

He moves away, but doesn’t go far.

Farrah rolls her eyes. “Alright, can you lay down for me, Mercy?”

I nod and slowly move myself down to the floor completely, resting my head on the towel Talon places under it.

Farrah closes her eyes while she places one hand on my forehead and another on my stomach. After a few minutes she bites her lower lip and pulls her hands away.

“That dagger was laced with a poison. It was a slow-acting poison and it shouldn’t have even started to show until, at the earliest, tomorrow,” Farrah says, her voice soft and confused. “I think something in your blood or your body was fighting off the poison before it even started working.”

“Did you get rid of the poison?” Hunter growls.

“Yes. She should be fine with some rest.”

“I don’t understand, how is it possible that my body started fighting off the poison before it even took effect?”

“Mercy, there’s a lot of things that we’re still learning about you and your abilities, maybe this is another one,” Parker says softly.

“I guess,” I mutter. “I’ve never been poisoned before so, I guess it’s possible.”

“Can you get up on your own?” Talon asks.

I nod and slowly move to sit up, thankful that my stomach isn’t rebelling at the movement. Wanting to change the subject, I look up at Hunter. “When are Kai and War due back?”

He looks at his watch on his wrist. “They should be here soon. I spoke to them shortly before we came hereto check on you.” He eyes me, concern written all over his face. “How’re you feeling?”

I rub my hands across my face. “Better. Not one hundred percent just yet, but I’ll get there soon enough.”

“Good,” Parker says, extending his hand to me.

Grasping his hand I pull myself up to stand and stumble a little. Parker catches me, steadying me on my feet until I can stand on my own.

“Well,” I say, pasting a cheery smile on my face, even though I’m not feeling exactly cheery, “I never want to be poisoned again, so let’s avoid that, huh?”

Farrah laughs. “You say that as though it’s a given it’ll happen again.”

I shrug. “Hell, you never know.”

* * *

I walk around Parker’s territory, this time without any escorts, or Farrah, just needing to be away from the guys. All they’ve done since Farrah healed me is coddle me, and it’s making me lose my mind.

I’m thankful that they were worried for me, and I understand that it’s not a great feeling to be so helpless.

Coming up to the edge of the forest, I pause when I see a large black feline prowling in the woods. Frowning, I look again, and my frown melts into a grin when I realize it’s not just any cat. It’s a panther.

Talon, if my guess is right. I don’t know of any other panther shifters around here, and I certainly don’t think this area has panthers to begin with.

The panther pauses and sniffs the air for a second before it’s attention turns to me. It stalks to me, every movement graceful and predatory.

Once it’s close, I kneel down until we’re locking eyes, and I slowly, carefully, reach my hand out to pet him.

His head bumps my palm, and he rubs his head all over my hand, without me needing to actually pet him. His fur is surprisingly soft, and I can’t get over the feel of it threading through my fingers.

A rough tongue darts out and delivers a lick to my chin, making me chuckle.

“Hey,” I mutter, my eyes locking on the cat’s magnificent blue eyes. This is the first time I’ve seen Talon as a panther. He hasn’t had a need to shift around me before. “Wanna walk with me?”

Another lick to my chin.

Alright. I’m taking that as a yes.

I pet his head, scratching behind his ear as I stand back up.

We walk side by side for a while until we hit the pond where the panther drops in a surprisingly graceful heap and moves his head almost in a gesture for me to come to him.

Obliging, I opt for laying down beside him to look up at the stars. It doesn’t take more than a minute for him to cuddle up to my side, laying his head on my chest, making me smile.

Boobs. Apparently the perfect pillow for supernaturals, too.

I close my eyes, relishing the contact, and the warmth emanating from him.

The snapping and cracking of bones makes me open my eyes, and I watch as the beautiful panther shifts into a naked Talon hovering over me.

“Hey,” I mumble sleepily. I was so close to falling asleep while we were just lying here, it was just so damn comfortable.

“Hey,” he says with a small quirk to his lips. “You look tired.”

“I am. I was almost asleep when your shifting snapped me out of it,” I explain, wrapping my arms around his neck.

“Hmm,” he mutters as he brings his head down to nuzzle my neck. “I figured you were sick of our hovering, but I didn’t want to leave you alone, either. It was a safe compromise.”

I chuckle. “I guess so. At least as a cat you can’t really talk.” I frown. “Wait, can you still talk telepathically in your panther form?”

“Yes. It takes a bit more concentration because at that point, I’m more beast than man, but it can be done.”

“So, what is it like when you shift?” I ask, curious if it was similar to how it was for me.

“You mean does it hurt?” At my nod, he says, “It used to, when I was first learning, it hurt like a bitch. After a while, your body gets used to it.”

I fall silent at that.

I wonder if I were to keep working at my shifting if I’d be able to do it without any pain.

“If you want, I can work with you on your shifting,” he says, brushing his nose against mine.

I narrow my eyes at him. “Can you read minds now?”

He chuckles. “No. I can’t read minds. You’re just fairly easy to read, now that I know you.”

I open my mouth just to close it again. “I don’t know how to respond to that. I’m also not sure if that was a compliment or an insult.”

He snorts. “You’re able to hide a lot behind that snarky facade, Mercy. We’ve spent quite a bit of time together since you came to the Order. Even if it wasn’t looking like it, each of us were studying you within that time. Learning any tells you have, pretty much learning everything about you that we could without needing to bug you to tell us.”

“That sounds boring,” I quip.

He chuckles. “Nah. It’s not boring when we have such a beautiful subject to study.”

“You’re talking out of your ass,” I accuse playfully. “You hated me.”

He reaches up and moves a lock of hair out of my face, his fingers caressing my cheek as he does. “No. I didn’t hate you. I hated what you were. Are.” He shakes his head. “I don’t think I could hate you if I tried,” he admits quietly.

“Why do you hate what I am, Talon?” I ask. It was finally time to talk about this. Get to the bottom of his hatred for my kind.

We haven’t had a chance to actually sit down and talk since we left Payne’s place in hell, and this is the first time we’ve been able to be alone together.

He sighs and sits up so he’s no longer hovering half over me, instead sitting beside me.

“My best friend was a half-demon. We grew up together. His mom was a human, his dad a demon. I don’t know who his dad was. My parents sent me and my siblings to go to human school, so we could learn how to interact with humans, before the whole secret about supernaturals was known world-wide, anyway.

“That was where we met. I didn’t know he wasn’t human until he admitted that his father wasn’t human. The night before high school graduation he, well, he lost it in an argument with my brother. I didn’t know how close to rogue he already was, even though I should have seen it. He was constantly twitchy, quick to anger. His outbursts were getting worse.”

He pauses and closes his eyes. “My brother pushed him too hard, and he responded. Only he didn’t respond the way a normal person would have. He completely flipped out. He killed everyone in our pride. He nearly killed me, but I got him first.”

The pain in his voice guts me, and without thinking I sit up and wrap my arms around his neck and settle into his lap.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper into his neck. His arms curl around me, and he grips me tightly to him.

“It’s not your fault.”

“No, but having me around brought it all back, didn’t it?” I ask softly.

“It did, but it really shouldn’t have. I shouldn’t have taken my anger and frustrations about those events out on you, Mercy. I’ll always regret the way I acted toward you,” he says.

I look up and meet his eyes. “It’s fine–”

“No, it’s not fine.”

I move my hands to cradle his face. “I’m saying that it’s fine, now. I forgive you. I don’t want either of us to dwell on that. It won’t do anything for us.”

He searches my gaze for several minutes. He must have found what he was searching for because he nods. “Alright.”

I smile. “Alright.” I kiss his lips gently. “No more thinking about it, okay?”