Fated Healing [Kindred of Arcadia 5] (Siren Publishing Classic ManLove) (13 page)

“It’s why the pride was hit harder than any other group. My lions live off of chocolate.” Liam looked

out at the gym.

“It also explains why Sebastian and Ashby got it later. They probably reached for it to deal with the

stress of everything that was going on, like a lot of other townspeople who got sick once things began to get

bad. It explains why people were getting sick at different times,” Felix continued.

“Rebecca?” Aleks asked.

“I was so ti–ti–tired looking at the slides, my eyes were fuzzy. I didn’t think a small bit of caffeine

would hurt. I didn’t know!” She covered her face with her hands. Aleks kneeled down and wrapped both

of his large arms around his mate in a muscled cocoon.

Claybourne and Felix stared at each other before standing.

“Attention everyone! Does anyone have any uneaten portion of the ‘Screw You’ chocolate that Bobbles

and Things was giving away on Field Day?” Felix shouted. He deliberately avoided using Rian or Damian’s

names. It wasn’t their fault, after all.

Several hands went up and Felix raced around the gym with Claybourne collecting samples. Claybourne

hesitated before leaving the gym.

“Go! See if this is the cause. It may be the break we need to save everyone,” Gabriel urged.

“We got this, Doc,” Bran said. “Don’t worry about us!” one of the newer patients shouted. It was as if

this small fragment of hope was enough to breathe life back into the townspeople. Felix grabbed his mate’s

hand and they raced to the lab, eager to see what they would find.

Chapter 8

“Nothing! There’s not a damn thing in this chocolate but chocolate! There’s no trace of the virus.”

Claybourne scooted away from the microscope, disgusted. He removed his glasses and carefully set them

on the counter. He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

“That can’t be right, it fits! Everything fits!” Felix shouted.

“There’s no trace in the chocolate, love,” Claybourne whispered. Felix screamed wordlessly in

frustration. Claybourne was up in a second, pulling him into his arms.

“It has to be there, it has to be.” Felix clung to Claybourne as if the man were his lifeline.

“I’m so sorry, my love. I wanted it to be there, too.” Claybourne stroked Felix’s hair.

“What do we tell them? I can’t go in there and tell them we still haven’t found the cause, Claybourne, I

just can’t. This will surely kill them.” Felix cried until he felt like he had no more tears. He pulled back to

see Claybourne silently weeping with him. Together they collapsed to the floor in the clinic holding on to

one another.

“What do we do?” Felix whispered.

“We’ll call the leaders in first to tell them, and we’ll continue to fight this.” Claybourne kissed the top of

Felix’s head.

“Ma doesn’t have much time left,” Felix said.

“I know,” Claybourne admitted.

“Call them. We’ll meet with them in your office. I’ll pull in chairs from the waiting room.” Felix pulled

away.

“Thank god you don’t eat that much chocolate,” Claybourne said. Felix’s eyes went wide as he

remembered their shopping trip at Bobbles and Things.

“I do, actually, you bought me the last box of the ‘Screw You’ chocolate, remember,” Felix said.

Claybourne swallowed hard and pulled Felix into his arms.

“I would take you right now, but I don’t want to hurt the others by having them smell sex on us when

their mates lay ill,” Claybourne admitted.

“There will be plenty of time later,” Felix kissed his mate gently. Claybourne stared at his mate.

“Come on, let’s call them. The sooner we do this the better,” Felix said. Claybourne nodded and stood.

He reached down and helped his mate to stand.

* * * *

The men sat in stunned silence, crowded around Claybourne’s desk.

“If it’s not the chocolate, I can’t think of anything else it could be,” Bran said, closing his eyes and

leaning back in his chair.

“I hate to ask, but are you sure?” Liam said as he leaned over on his knees, his face buried in his hands.

“I’m afraid so. I tested it five times, I was so sure I had missed something,” Claybourne admitted.

“Why are we trying so hard to find the cause, why aren’t we looking for a cure?” Kent asked logically.

Felix shook his head.

“We have tried treating this with epinephrine. It has no effect. We know nothing about this virus. We

plain lucked out that the antiviral has slowed this to a crawl, but that is all that it was. Luck. Without

understanding how this virus works, anything we may give a patient as a cure could end up killing them. It

may reduce the time they have left from days to hours, we can’t risk it,” Claybourne explained.

“They are dying anyway!” Kent exploded.

“If it were Sebastian, would you want to give him an experimental treatment that may or may not work

if you knew there was a possibility that it could kill him? Right now he has days, maybe longer for us to

find the source. If we act rashly and without more information we could end up killing a lot of people,”

Felix said. Kent pounded his fists on the arms of the chair.

“What do we tell the people?” Gabriel asked.

“The truth. That we are still working on it,” Claybourne said.

“That is a half-truth,” Gabriel countered.

“You saw those people, Gabriel. With just a glimmer of hope, that entire place became stronger. I’m

afraid to take that away from them now, at this point in the game, it may be the very thing that breaks

them,” Claybourne said quietly.

“Okay at this point we all know what to do to treat the sick. You and Felix work on identifying the

source so we can see what this virus is designed to do. If someone gets worse we’ll come get you,” Gabriel

said. The men around the office nodded. Gabriel’s eyes softened when he looked at Aleks who was staring

off into space.

“Aleks, why don’t you keep Rebecca company? We don’t want her getting bored,” Gabriel said with a

sad smile on his face. Aleks looked over to Gabriel and nodded absently.

“Come on, Felix, we have some more foods we can test,” Claybourne said, standing. He turned to the

town’s leaders. “Thank you,” he said simply.

“Good luck,” Kent said. Felix nodded and followed Claybourne back to the lab. They would need every

ounce of luck they could get.

* * * *

Felix sat back and rubbed his eyes. They had been staring into the bright lights of their microscopes for

the past five hours. It was time to take a break.

“Claybourne, break time,” Felix said, hopping down off of his lab stool.

“One more slide.” Claybourne stared down into his eyepiece. Felix simply reached over and unplugged

the microscope. Claybourne looked up, about to argue, and then slumped forward.

“Okay, a quick break,” he said and groaning as he rolled his shoulders.

They made their way back to the school and to the cafeteria. When they walked in, the men stopped

their conversations.

“Any luck, Doc?” Benedict asked. Claybourne shook his head. Everyone stared down into their food.

Felix couldn’t shake the feeling that they were wrong about the chocolate. It all lined up too perfectly.

All the samples they had collected were mixed with different testing agents and on slides. He wished he

could just get his hands on another untouched sample. Felix froze. He did have a sample. In fact he had a

whole box of samples. Felix took a deep breath. He cleared his mind of his intentions and calmed his

emotions. He wouldn’t get far if Claybourne caught on. He leaned over to Claybourne.

“Be right back,” he whispered. Claybourne reached up and kissed his hand. Felix kissed his mate

tenderly and stood up. He walked into the gym to find his man bag. He knelt down and flipped it open.

With shaking hands he pulled out the box of ‘Screw You’ chocolate that Claybourne had bought for him. He

opened the box, staring down at the contents. He reached in and grabbed a couple pieces. Before he could

change his mind, he popped the pieces in his mouth and chewed. His eyes filled with tears as he resisted the

urge to spit it out. He swallowed hard, scared by what he may have done. He replaced the lid and walked

back into the cafeteria. Silently he sat back down next to his mate, placing the box of chocolates on the

table.

Claybourne was talking with Liam about getting more supplies into town when Rian noticed the tears

on Felix’s face. Kent, Gabriel, Caleb, and Aleks were absent, sitting with their mates, while the others took

time out of nursing to regroup and plan.

“Felix?” Rian asked. Felix looked up at his friend before glancing down at the box.

“No!” Rian yelled, swiping his hand across the table, sending it flying to the floor. Rian raced around

the end of the table to sit next to Felix.

“You said it was safe. It was safe right?” Rian begged, looking at Claybourne.

When Felix looked up into his lover’s eyes, he saw the dawning realization of what he had done

blossom in Claybourne’s aquamarine eyes. Seconds later he saw them shift to a pale sky blue and he knew

that Claybourne was fighting his tiger. That was when Felix lost his composure and began to sob into his

hands, terrified.

“Baby, no! What have you done?” Claybourne pulled Felix away from Rian and began to rock him in

his arms.

“If you’re right and it’s not the chocolate then I am safe. If you’re wrong and I get sick, we’ll have

concrete evidence that it is the chocolate and we’ll be one step closer to the cure. We’re out of time,

Claybourne. The people of this town are out of time,” Felix said, burying his face in his mate’s strong

shoulder.

The other men wiped their eyes, thinking of their own sick mates.

“It wasn’t the chocolate. It wasn’t.” Claybourne held Felix tight, refusing to let go. Felix pulled away as

he grabbed a napkin to wipe his eyes.

“Come on, we have twelve- to twenty-four hours before any symptoms appear. Let’s go through more

samples today,” Felix said, sniffing. Claybourne stood and scooped Felix up in his arms.

“If you gentlemen will excuse us?” Claybourne carried his mate through the school. He walked slowly

through the deserted town to the clinic. Once inside he bypassed the lab and went directly to his private

quarters.

* * * *

Claybourne lay him down on his narrow bed gently before stretching out beside him, pulling him close

to his body.

“Do I mean so little to you that you would risk your life?” Claybourne whispered. Felix shook his head.

“We have to know for sure. I couldn’t ask anyone else to do this, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to let

you do it. Maybe we’ll luck out and you’ll be right,” Felix said, new tears streaming down his face.

Claybourne looked at him Felix could tell he was fighting back tears of his own.

“Didn’t you tell me when we first met, you were always right?” Claybourne blinked and Felix felt his

tears hit his cheek.

“Now you listen.” Felix’s smile was wobbly.

“I need you, my mate.” Claybourne leaned in and kissed him gently.

“Yes! I need you, Claybourne. I need you inside of me, I need to feel you so deep that I know we’ll

never be apart, even if….” Felix sobbed the last word, unable to think about leaving his mate, not after just

finding him. They had barely enjoyed any time together.

Claybourne eased off the bed and began to slowly strip off his clothes. Felix went to remove his, but

Claybourne shook his head. Felix settled back on the narrow bed. Piece by piece, Claybourne removed his

clothing. He folded each piece neatly, watching Felix the entire time.

Felix felt himself start to harden. As each piece was removed, that much more of his mate was revealed.

That chocolate may have had the virus, but he wasn’t sick yet. He wanted his mate more than he wanted his

next breath. Shifting his hips on the bed, he reached down to ease the tightness of his pants and Claybourne

shook his head. Felix moved his arms so that his wrists lay crossed over his head. Claybourne’s lips teased

a hint of a smile. Lord help him, his mate was going to kill him!

Without saying a word Claybourne stripped down and stood next to the bed, looking down at his mate.

Felix could see how aroused his mate was. His lover’s cock was leaving smears of pre-cum across his

stomach. But Claybourne made no efforts to rush. Felix lifted his hips off the bed entirely, trying to ease the

pressure of his own prick. Claybourne raised a single eyebrow. Felix settled his lower body back down on

the bed.

“Please,” Felix asked in a strangled whisper.

Claybourne eased off Felix’s shoes one at a time. He rubbed each foot’s arch and removed his socks.

Next he undid his jeans and pulled the zipper down slowly. Carefully he eased the jeans down over his hips

and down his legs. A ghost of a smile appeared when Claybourne looked down at Felix’s underwear-

covered prick. The evidence of his arousal was soaking the front of his boxer briefs. Claybourne leaned

down and licked the moist spot on the fabric. Felix shuddered and fought his body’s desire to push his cock