“Perhaps your enemies have given up.”
“If only.” Varian straightened. “But after decades of this war, I think it would take more than a rogue tiger to scare them off. No offence.”
“None taken.” Devan observed Varian as he prepared to leave, all the while wondering if the point of the conversation would ever reveal itself. He found it hard to believe that a leader as stretched as Varian would summon him for a pep talk. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
Varian took a last glance at the latest drone footage on the computer screens, his frown deepening before he schooled his features, and turned back to Devan. “Not that I can think of, but stay vigilant. Look for things you’ve never seen. Right now, it’s all we can do.”
* * *
Devan saw Varian to his waiting vehicle, then let himself be drawn back to the tent, instinct reassuring him that Zio was exactly where he’d left him.
And he was, though he’d put clothes on.
“Did someone give Michael a lobotomy?” He waved a plate of food in Devan’s general direction. “He’s acting like he went to sleep one day and woke up the next thinking he’s somebody’s mother.”
“Maybe Varian told him to chip in a little more.”
“Why would he do that? Michael works as hard as the rest of us.”
“How would I know? He’s been your brother far longer than he has mine.”
“You’re hiding something.”
“Yup.” It was pointless to deny it. “But I can’t tell you what, so don’t waste your energy worrying about it. Speaking of which...” Devan fished his supply bag from beneath a pile of Zio’s crap. “I want you to take some of these.”
He pulled a pouch of herbal pills from his stash and held them out to Zio.
Zio hooked the pouch from Devan’s fingers as though he’d been handed poison. “The fuck are they?”
“A blend from home. We use it to give shifters strength after injury.”
“I’m not injured.”
“But you have been, many times, and you’re shifting every day.”
“I’m a wolf, bro. I don’t want to take these and grow whiskers or some shit.”
Devan laughed. “You’re ridiculous. Do you think I’ve only ever healed my own kind? Granted, wolves aren’t my speciality, but there’s more to my world than big cats.”
“Seems to me there’sonlybig cats in my world right now. One of you, at least.” Zio shovelled the last of his dinner/breakfast into his mouth. “And I’m not down with swallowing random pills, but something tells me I’ll end up doing it anyway, so I might as well get it over with.”
He tipped the chalky pills into his palm. “Why are they all different colours?”
“I made them on different days. Nature changes every minute. Some days the berries were red; by the end of the week they were black. Same with the leaves.”
Zio held his hand up to the light. “I’ve never taken... medication before. That’s a human thing.”
“It’s not medicine. It’s holistic.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“It treats the whole person—shifter and human—rather than one specific thing.”
“There’s nothing wrong with me.”
Devan ran out of rope. He sighed and flopped down on the bed. “I know that. Think of it more as a supplement. An energy boost. Or at the very least, a harmless intervention. If you have no faith, you’ll feel no different, but if you do... it can’t be a bad thing, eh?”
“Nothing about how you make me feel is bad.”