Nothing happens.
I back up, turn, then do a running jump, colliding with the dresser and seeing stars briefly minute before I back up and give it a second try, succeeding this time and managing to get up into the half-open middle drawer he abandoned. I scramble through the clothes in it until I manage to climb onto the surface of the dresser.
Stretching, I can just barely see out the window. I see him hop the back fence and stalk to the riverbank. He squats, looking at the ground, then as if feeling my eyes on him, he twists his neckto look over his shoulder, up at me. The look on his face, the sensation in my chest, those toxic seedlings are definitely back!
I’ve stopped sneezing, but probably only because the window is shut.
When he comes back in, he finds me waiting by the bedroom door.
“Shift,” he commands.
I shift.
“Omigosh, Jase. Are they back?”
“They’re back. No scent, I can touch ‘em, no sensation, no weakness, but they’re the same length as the grass and it looks like there’s way more than there was.”
“I shifted spontaneously,” I say. “And–”
“Your wolf’s trying to protect you. Let me wash my hands. Need to wash the doorknobs too; don’t want that transferring onto you.”
I follow him. “I tried to talk and it came out as wolf sounds. I felt like I was her. She wasn’t separate, though she’s still in there, if that makes sense. You know what I mean? I didn’t shift on purpose, but I had control! I wanted to see what you were doing and I got up on the dresser by myself.”
Jase says. “Good news, babe. It’ll get better and better from here until it’s second nature.”
“I should test them. Shift and see if they’re still toxic.”
“They obviously are by the way you were sneezing.”
“Let’s just go try.”
We go outside, me in just my robe so it’s easier if I shift to and fro.
And as soon as I step outside, I’m sneezing.
Jase is about to call the test off, but between sneezes, I insist. He doesn’t have to command me to shift because I sneeze a few more times and my wolf bubbles in.
Jase calls me back to human form almost immediately because I’m yelping as soon as I’m shifted, the burn from the ground making my paws feel like they’re on fire. He lifts me from the ground before commanding me back and it takes three shifts for the pain to go away and the rawness to heal. These are stronger than they were last time, maybe because there are more of them. I don’t know what stage of growth will mean they’ll begin to prevent shifting and will intoxicate everyone, but this is a matter of urgency. And it’s clear that now that my wolf is part of me, once they flower they’ll stop me from shifting, too.
We go back inside, get dressed quickly, and I’m phoning Erica while Jase messages his council group chat to get the guys over here sooner.
Jase is absolutely pissed. Seeing me crying out in pain evidently makes him absolutely infuriated.
***
A Couple Hours Later
It turns out that the angel’s trumpet plants aren’t just regrowing along the riverbank, they’re also surrounding the houses of every alpha and council alpha in the village, including a ring of them growing around the perimeter of the clinic because Dr. Blakely is still there.
Those are spelled plants which are toxic to all shifters but it’s obvious they’re designed to disable every single alpha present here.
Ronnie again laid hands on them, trying at a few different locations, and couldn’t read anything from them. Dani recognized them by sight and by my reaction to them, but not through the way she generally reads plants. Erica feels neutral energy from them like before she magically pulled the other ones, but we know they’ll be anything but neutral when they’re full grown by the way they affect my wolf.
Cat brought Dr. Blakely up to speed last night. He confirmed he’s seen that Vivi reported our kidnapping in Rome, logging with the SCC that the abduction, imprisoning, and assault against both of us was related to Dani transporting the Starling artifacts to the archives in Bucharest.
He says Anya has been cooperative and indicated that power sanctions would be levied against Alta. She has not yet submitted her report of all the things Alta did and all the magic used in the course of kidnapping us, which is an SCC requirement.
“Are you following up?” Dani asked him.