Skins & Needles (COMPLETE)

New Family Part 1

Arsen

A lot happened in the days following my night with Charlotte. The call I received the morning after brought news of a live sorcerer attack on none other than Macy, Adrian's pregnant wife, and there was no time to waste reaching the border she'd been patrolling. We thought initially it was sorcerers alone who had made the move.

And that's when I was bitten.

I was shifted, helping guard both the border and Macy while Adrian and Kase helped get Macy to the emergency room, and despite my many years of training in detecting other shifters and sorcerers, I missed one, hiding curled up in some weeds just outside the gate to Lycan.

The Nathair was fast, striking me twice in the side before I was able to turn on him, and when I did, he slid through the Pass and into Lycan. I ran after him, about to bound into our homeland myself and finish him off with one snap of my powerful jaws, but Nathan had seen the spectacle, and stopped me before I could go through.

"You've been bitten," he snarled, earning a low growl from me. "You need antivenom."

"I'll be fine," I snapped in return. "I can heal in Lycan."

"Not fast enough," Nathan argued. "Your healing is amplified, but so is their venom. Come on, dumbass! That was a Mojave."

"So?"

"They have two types of venom, and neither you want to fuck with." He motioned for me to follow him, but I shook my head.

"Someone has to guard the border!" I reminded him. My side was starting to burn, but I ignored it. "The sorcs could return at any second."

"Fine, I'll stay. Kase already killed one, and you and I fucked up another. We have reinforcements on their way now."

"Then I'll stay until they get here," I compromised. I wasn't leaving Lycan unguarded. Word from the Hayato circle suggested there had been more than one attack on a few different borders, and it seemed like the sorcerers were getting bolder, testing our response time and numbers more and more with each week that passed. I wasn't letting a single one breach Lycan on my own circle's land.

Fortunately, reinforcements came within the hour. I was surprised to see my father among them, but I didn't get a chance to catch up with him. As soon as they arrived, Nathan was ushering me to the nearest emergency clinic for antivenom.

When I shifted back, I realized my bites were worse than I anticipated. I felt my breaths becoming labored as the neurotoxic venom made its way through my bloodstream, and my skin was showing the hemotoxic effects around the bite sites. I got dressed, but it was a struggle, and despite my protests, I wound up allowing Nathan to drive me to the hospital.

I kept having the same, stupid thought as we drove— one that made no sense for the situation, but it was all my delirious brain could muster. I don't have Charlotte's phone number.

"How far are we?" I gritted out. "Did Macy make it there?"

"Adrian said she's there now," he replied. "We're thirty minutes out."

You should text Charlotte.

"Fuck, I think there's something wrong with my head," I groaned.

"Yeah, well you got bit twice, and the Nathairs don't hold their venom," he reminded me. "We'll get there soon. Try to stay focused."

"God, I hope Macy's okay."

"She will be," he assured, but the look of worry never passed from his face. "Just relax. You don't need to get worked up and spread the venom faster."

I don't have Charlotte's number. God, I wish I could talk to her. This would all be so much easier...

I passed out just before we got there, and when I awoke hours later, my side was bandaged and I had an IV in my arm. Doctor Shannon worked on something in the corner, and I sighed in relief. A familiar face was always reassuring when your life was in danger.

"Seems like I'm gonna make it after all," I said, and she jumped. She swiveled around in her chair and crossed her arms.

"I've seen you way too recently to be in my office again," she scolded, but there was a light smirk on her lips.

"Yeah, well it wasn't me on the table last time," I reminded her.

"True, true," she conceded. "How is she anyway? What was her name..."

"Charlotte," I said with a small smile. "And she's recovered wonderfully. Thank you again for that."

"Of course," she waved me off. "You're lucky you got here when you did. I can't believe how long you waited, especially with Mojave venom— and from a shifter."

"I'm sure you've heard about the attacks. I couldn't risk leaving the border unattended. What's the damage, by the way?"

In response, she stood and strolled to my side, where she began removing my bandage. Once revealed, I made a face.

"It's not as bad as earlier, if you can believe that," Dr. Shannon was saying. Where the two bites had landed a few inches from each other, the surface of my skin had swollen into grotesque blisters, and beneath the skin around the wounds was an unhealthy-looking purplish.

"Necrosis?" I wondered, and reached to touch the wound. Dr. Shannon slapped my hand away.

"Not full necrosis, thanks to your accelerated healing capabilities, but nothing to play around with," she explained. "You'll need to spend another day here, just so I can keep an eye on it and administer any doses of antibiotics or secondary antivenoms if necessary, but you shifters heal well. You can leave after that."

"Any word on Macy?"

At this, her face fell.