ETHAN
Her comment made me wonder if she also got feelings like I did. I had yet to meet someone who had the same type of intuition. Trust me, I looked, but came up empty handed each and every time.
The intuition could be a blessing or a curse depending on the situation. It took me a while to learn just to follow them once I got them. Sometimes it led to some unpleasant circumstances, but many times it also kept us safe.
I was six when I got my first one. It led me to a swimming hole near our packhouse. There was a girl swimming in the water, but she suddenly went under the water and did not come back up. I dove in and was able to save her just in time. Diana became a close friend of ours growing up, and one of the few people that was allowed to put us in our places without having a limb of our choosing detached.
My feelings were not nearly as strong then as they were now. Xander and I posited that it could have been that they were intensified by the war. Gifts from the Goddess were few and far between with most of the research being lore hypotheses. However, I was not sure what else it could be if it was not one of those gifts.
I took a moment to look at Emma out of the corner of my eye. She really was not affected by my aura. The dip and tension in her shoulders showed me that she carried a lot of shit on them. Her take on things made a lot of sense in that context. It was one I shared as well.
'Tell it like it is' had always been my mentality too. Pretty words were often uttered to twists one's thoughts away from the snake uttering them. Flattery was fake because it served an agenda. There was no use for flattery if the words were truth. The good thing was that flattery was easily detectable by intelligent people.
"We're collaborating with your pack's doctor." I sighed, remembering how stupid that man was.
"Fineman? Good luck there. He got the job because he came with Ezekiel when he took over my pack. We originally had a legitimate pack doctor, but Fineman got the job because of his unyielding loyalty to him. He's an idiot. I doubt that he would even know the first thing about wolfsbane rejection versus wolfsbane antitoxin," she said, shaking her head in disappointment.
Well, now she had my absolutely undivided attention. That type of passionate speech had many layers that I wanted to peel back piece by piece.
"Oh? What would that difference be?" Okay, so my tone was eager, but I did not care. This was the type of conversation that I lived for.
The use of Ezekiel instead of saying Alpha Ezekiel was a bit odd. Pack members used the titles of their leaders. The only ones who did not were the leadership themselves. However, when addressing pack members and outsiders, titles were always used.
She did not care too much for her Alpha. He really was a piece of work, so I would not fault her on that. Anyone with half a brain would see him for what he was.
Emma looked at me carefully, as if to gauge my actual interest. I nodded encouragingly, truly wanting to know her thoughts on it. First the coven controversy. Now this? Hell yes, gimme all those thoughts swirling inside that mind.
"When shifters come in contact with wolfsbane, the body reacts to it as a poison. There are two ways to get rid of it. In rare cases, the body can reject the wolfsbane. The other way is by using an antitoxin prepared with a diluted mixture of live serum as well as a mixture of Chamomile, Tilyian healing herbs, and Diasties roots."
Damn. She was absolutely right once again.
Fineman was an idiot when we were discussing the wolfsbane found on the rogues. There were different strains of wolfsbane which were crossbred with poisons that were found. Werewolves had very few things that acted as kryptonite. There was silver, of course. Wolfsbane was also harmful. It and silver were two of the few things that would leave a scar, even with shifter healing. It burned the skin, but it could kill a shifter if a potent enough dose entered into the body.
Perhaps this tiny she-wolf should take over his practice. We would gladly offer aid at that point. I could actually stomach dealing with this pack if it was because of her.
"Again, I'm impressed. That's absolutely right. And, I agree, he wouldn't have known that. He could barely form a coherent sentence regarding the wolfsbane on some rogues."
She looked taken aback by the praise and blushed. It was amusing to see the red tint seep onto her skin. How I bet she hated that with a passion. It made me wonder how easy it was to make her blush.
"Why do you think the body sometimes rejects the wolfsbane?" I pressed.
Emma tilted her head in thought and looked up at me. "I have a theory, but it's just a theory. There's no proof," she added the last part quickly.
Oh, now I had to know what it was. Some of the best theories created the most interesting truths.
"Don't worry, I won't hold the burden of proof on you like you did your teacher," I teased. I bumped her shoulder and smiled. "Share with the class?"
She looked at me startled a little with the physical contact, but after a long moment she laughed and relaxed.
Hmm. So far, I witnessed that Emma was shy under praises but had no qualms about telling me off. She got startled with physical interaction, but she was fine a few moments later. She was my mystery to crack, and I would crack it wide open. I thoroughly enjoyed puzzles, and she was the most interesting one so far.
"Nobody truly knows, but I believe there is something encoded in those shifter's DNA that acts as a repellant. It depends on your school of thought regarding the original wolves of our kind, but it's commonly believed that certain wolves were blessed with healing abilities. If that were the case, then as they reproduced, the DNA encoding could had been passed down from generation to generation. Sometimes it would be recessive and sometimes dominant. That could account for the fact that the rejection does not occur with each shifter."
I stopped in my tracks. It took her a moment to realize that I had stopped, but she turned back around and looked at me.
"Did I say something wrong?" she asked, her brows furrowed. She was confused about my sudden halt.
I thought about her theory. I turned it over and over in my mind, weighing my knowledge and her proposal. Damn, it made a lot of sense. I could not believe that I never thought of it working that way. I absolutely believed in goddess-given gifts. They were often inherited, so her theory made a lot of sense.
Holy fuck.
"Wrong? No, absolutely not. That's a brilliant theory, Emma. What made you think of it?" I asked, continuing to walk beside her.
She was quiet for a moment, briefly lost in her own thoughts. This she-wolf had a brilliant mind. I could not say I knew too many people who could hold this type of conversation with me. Many pack members were typically too nervous, too simpleminded, or were focused on other topics altogether to hold one. The squad really did not fit into that category and were all incredibly brilliant in their own areas of expertise. It helped keep our pack running smoothly.
Emma, however, surprised me. I did not know what I expected when I bumped into her. This was certainly not it, but I welcomed the pleasant surprise and change of pace.
"My papa was big into tales about the origins of our kind. I've had run-ins with wolfsbane, so I began learning everything I could about it. The search became a bit of an obsession for a while. So, I developed my theory for the two reactions." She shrugged and dropped the topic.
I was insanely curious about what her run-ins were because it was not something that regular pack members typically encountered. However, it seemed like a touchy subject. I decided to drop it as well. I did not want to make her uncomfortable. Everyone had a past.
Wolfsbane hurt like a bitch. Every member of the squad has had their own encounters with it over the years. Enemies always loved to use it because of how painful it could be. It was not something we ever used though because we felt it was cruel to use it against another wolf. We killed our enemies, but we were not needlessly cruel. We refused to become the monsters who always sought to obtain what our pack had.
"When is your assignment due?" I asked instead. Perhaps my extensive knowledge on the topic could come in handy here.
"Next Friday," she said with a small smile, thankful for the topic change.
I looked at her and smiled widely. "Coincidentally, I have to come back to consult with Dr. Dipshit over the next couple of weeks. Perhaps we could get a coffee while getting you an A on the paper," I offered.
'Yes, yes, please say yes,' I chanted internally.
Emma was quiet for a few moments. Her lip wedged firmly between her teeth. Again, I would give damn near anything to see her inner monologue.
"Why would you help me?" she asked me instead.
Her face was completely composed, not betraying any emotion. I doubted that I could tell her that I found her the perfect combination of hot and intriguing without sounding like a total creep. She would probably turn and run in the other direction. That was something that I was actually trying to avoid. I wanted the chance to talk to her more, so this was a safe reason.
"Because I want to. You have two choices here, Emma. You can either pass on my offer, or you can take it and hand in a paper that will act as a big fuck you to your teacher."
With my help, she would be able to turn in a top-tier paper that nobody could refute as genius. Which would be a better source – dingy books that left out important information or someone who literally fought through it at the ripe old age of sixteen?
My words seemed to get through to her, and she laughed before she nodded her head.
"When you put it like that, how can I resist?"