What would I have left when she took Raphael?
Goosebumps ran up my arms, and I went to the cabinets on the other side of the bed. It took me three tries, but I found the blankets. The wolves liked to run the air conditioning a little more than I was comfortable with in the infirmary.
Or maybe I was still in shock.
The door opened and light filled the dimly lit room. “Hey,” Teresa said.
Oh God. I’d forced her change. She was going to be mad at me. “Hi.”
“How is he?”
I sank down in the chair with the blanket bundled in my arms. “Not good.”
“I heard Dr. Gonzales cleaned the wound and stitched it.”
I nodded. “She did a great job taking care of him, but she can’t fix this.”
Teresa sniffed and I finally turned and met her gaze. Her eyes were glowing, meaning her wolf was close to the surface. “Is that sulfur?”
Tears welled, and I tried to blink them away. “Yes.”
“Oh shit,” she said as she sat on the end of the bed. “This is really bad.”
“I know.” A single tear managed to slip free, and I quickly brushed it away. I couldn’t break now. I had to be strong.
“Do you think…” Teresa started and stopped. I waited for her question, but I could guess what she was going to ask. I’d been asking myself that same question.
“Do you know what’s going to happen to him?” She said finally.
“I don’t know for sure, but… Did you see Daniel?”
“Yup.”
I gave her a level stare.
“No. No. That can’t happen.”
I shrugged. “That’s my best guess. Although nothing is certain. If I can find a way to stop it, then he could be back to normal in no time.” That was a long shot, but I had hope. I cleared my throat. “Thank you. I’m sorry I used you, but—”
She sliced her hand through the air to cut me off. “Don’t even. God. Whatever you did boosted my power to like the umpteenth degree. I never felt so strong or so fast before.”
I nodded. It had cost me a good dose of energy that I didn’t have to give, but if it had stopped Daniel from killing my brother, then it was worth it. At least now I had a shot at figuring out how to save him. Undoing some nasty magic was far better than trying to fix a ripped out throat. That was impossible to fix.
Thank goodness Teresa wasn’t angry. “Well, I’m sorry I didn’t ask your permission.”
“It’s fine. But now I know why Luciana wants you back so badly.”
I sighed. “Yeah.” Would I go back? If she promised to save Raphael, I wouldn’t have a choice.
“I know what those girls said, but take it from me. Trusting Luciana isn’t a good idea. No matter what she promises.”
“But if she can save Raphael…” I reached out, cradling his hand in both of mine. “I don’t know that I could risk his life.”
“Don’t even—”
A cell phone rang, and I recognized Raphael’s ringtone. That was his phone.
“That’s why I came down here. Not just to check on you, but Raphael dropped his phone in the quad and it keeps ringing.” She pulled his small flip phone from her pocket and handed it over. “It says Matt.”
I groaned. He was probably the last person I wanted to deal with right now.
“Is that the douchebag?”
I laughed. “Yeah. That’s the douchebag.”
“Why is he calling your brother?”
“Probably because I don’t have a cell phone.”
“You don’t have a cell phone?”
I took the phone from her and it stopped ringing. Saved by the bell. “You remember the amazing cell reception at the compound.”
“Right. I wasn’t thinking. Of course. Why would you have a cell if you couldn’t use it?”
“Exactly.” I held up the phone. “But this is Raphael’s. He left the compound every day for work so it made sense for him to get one. Clients needed to get in contact with him. But Luciana never let me out of her sight.”
The phone started ringing again. I didn’t bother reading the caller I.D.
“You going to answer that?”
I didn’t want to. Not eve a little. “If he calls again, I’ll pick it up.”
She grinned. “Makes sense.” She motioned back to my brother’s sleeping form. “So how do we help him?”
I leaned back in the chair. “I have no idea. That kind of black magic is so far out of my knowledge base. I’m hoping that the demon didn’t fully infect him, but I won’t know until he wakes up, and I’m not waking him up. Not yet.” I chewed on my lip. “Is Muraco back by any chance?”
She shook her head. “He’s not expected back until the afternoon. Why? What are you thinking?”
“Honestly, I don’t know what I’m thinking. But if Raphael needs white magic to fix him—and I have a feeling that’s what he might need—then I’m going to have to go to Peru.”