My Brother’s Keeper (Bewitched And Bewildered Book 5)

It was late afternoon, almost evening. After Anne changed Keelan’s IV bag they had switched from Tezuka’s story to another anime when she said she wanted to watch the rest of it with Kendrick. She was just about to press play and start a new series when they heard car doors slam outside. Elizabeth stood and pulled the curtain back. ‘Gods above, it’s the committee members.’ She whirled around to face Meryn. ‘Remember what we talked about. You are a shy mute.’

Meryn crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. ‘You’re not being nice.’

Elizabeth went to the mirror and fixed her hair. ‘I don’t have to be nice; I’m your Yoda. You’re nowhere near ready to tangle with these sharks, maybe in another couple years, but not now.’

Meryn sat up. ‘I don’t see what the big deal is.’

Elizabeth turned. ‘Because you won’t be able to win them over by being blunt and funny. They only respect one thing and that’s power. Frankly, you haven’t built up enough of a reputation for them to take you seriously. These men were around before the pillar cities, Meryn; they live and breathe etiquette and deportment. Please, just this once, listen to me on this,’ Elizabeth begged.

Meryn sighed and nodded. She took pinched fingers and dragged them across her mouth. ‘I’ll be mute.’

Anne exchanged glances with Rheia who was looking equally as nervous. Anne turned to Elizabeth. ‘What do we do?’

Elizabeth smiled. ‘If asked, just introduce yourselves. Keep it short and polite, either Amelia or I will do most of the talking.’

Amelia stood and straightened her sweater. ‘I’m used to these types of men. I sit in for Caiden all the time at home for council meetings. I may carry some clout since I’m an Ironwood and can trace my line back to the royal palace.’

There was a knock on the door and Ryuu stepped in. Anne could see that he did not look happy. ‘Ladies, you have visitors in the front room.’ Penny and her grandmother walked in. They had been displaced by the visitors.

Elizabeth turned to Noah and Jaxon. ‘You two stay here, I don’t think they’re here to question you.’ Both Noah and Jaxon looked relieved. She turned to the room. ‘Come on ladies, let’s not keep them waiting.’

Rheia kissed Penny on the cheek and ruffled her hair.

‘They can die of old age for all I care,’ Meryn muttered.

Elizabeth shot her a dirty look. Meryn rolled her eyes, took a deep breath, and right in front of Anne, it was as if she transformed. Gone was the quirky, vibrant woman and in her place was a wide-eyed, scared looking creature.

Elizabeth patted Meryn on the head. ‘Good girl.’ Meryn held on to the hem of Elizabeth’s sweater and they walked out of the room.

‘Freaky,’ Amelia and Anne said at the same time.

Rheia shook her head. ‘I think that transformation will give me more nightmares than the ferals.’ 

They left command central and headed to the front room. Ryuu had brought in more seating to accommodate so many people. In addition to the seven-man council, there were also the three Lycaonian council members seated before them. The men rose as they entered the room. There were only enough empty seats left for the five women to sit down. Anne looked around the room, trying to spot Kendrick. Darian stepped forward from where he had been standing next to the wall with the other Alpha and Gamma Unit members and leaned down to her ear. ‘He had to run to the city to do some errands; he should be back any minute now.’

Anne nodded and turned back to face the imposing men in front of her. To the left, an older version of Aiden smiled at them. Beside him, a blond fae man was nodding encouragingly. Elizabeth and Meryn both smiled back at him. Next to him was a man in emerald green robes. There was a small coffee table between those three and the seven committee members. The dark haired, oily-looking man bowed and remained standing when the other men sat back down.

‘Ladies, thank you for joining us. Allow me to introduce everyone. To my far right, the Lycaonian Shifter representative, Elder Byron McKenzie. Then we have the Lycaonian fae representative, Elder Celyn Vi’Ailean, and then our esteemed Lycaonian witch representative, Elder Rowan Airgead.’ He pointed to his chest. ‘I am Daggart Hemlock, a witch representative of Storm Keep and head of the newly formed Committee. To my left is my colleague, Adalwin Dulse, another witch representative of Storm Keep.’

Anne thought both men looked like they belonged in a dungeon as torturers. She couldn’t shake the feeling that they were up to no good. Adalwin looked like he had been up for days. Since being introduced to paranormals, she had never seen any of them looking so tired and haggard. He looked like he should be in bed, not out causing trouble.

‘On the other side of Adalwin are the fae representatives of Éire Danu, Brion Li’Aereil and Varis Vi’Eilendis.’

Anne noticed that Elder Celyn flinched at Varis’s name, which made her like Varis even less. If Elizabeth and Meryn liked Elder Vi’Ailean, then she would trust his opinion, and judging by the way he was looking at Varis, there was bad blood between them. Of the two fae introduced, Varis was the more arrogant one. Brion twitched nervously and kept looking around the room.

‘Beside Brion, we have our vampire representatives, Edmond Devan and Jourdain Régis.’ Daggart continued.

Anne thought that Edmond looked like every version of vampire she had ever seen on television. He wasn’t handsome like Gavriel; he was very ordinary, from his stereotypical dark hair to his Victorian style dress. Jourdain, on the other hand, was handsome, and he knew it. His lip seemed to be stuck to the tip of his nose in a permanent sneer. Anne instantly hated him.

‘And last, but certainly not least, our Lycaonian representative, Réne Evreux.’ Daggart sat once he concluded the introductions.

Anne thought that Réne looked sullen, as though he wanted to be anywhere but here. If she didn’t know better, she would have said he looked angry with the other committee members.

Anne looked over as Elizabeth stood gracefully. ‘Thank you for such a thorough introduction. Allow me to do the same. I am Elizabeth Monroe. My uncle is Magnus Rioux of Noctem Falls, and I am mated to Gavriel Ambrosios. To my right, we have Meryn McKenzie, the mate to our esteemed Unit Commander and future Elder, Aiden McKenzie. Next, we have Rheia Bradley, a much-respected doctor and mate to Colton Albright. Beside her, we have Amelia Ironwood, daughter to Elder Ironwood of Storm Keep and mate to Darian Vi’Alina. And this is our newest family member, Anne Bennett. She has just completed arduous schooling to become a nurse, and she has been taking care of Keelan Ashwood, the warrior who sacrificed his life so that the Alpha Unit would live.’ Elizabeth sat back down and took Meryn’s hand in a gesture of support.

The men nodded at the women as they were introduced. Mostly, all eyes were on Meryn, but Anne noticed that vampire Jourdain stared at Elizabeth.

‘Now that we know each other, let us move on to the topics at hand–‘ Daggart began.

‘Don’t you mean allegations?’ Elizabeth interrupted.

Daggart smiled at her. ‘Allegation is such a harsh word.’ He smiled at her in a condescending manner. Anne fought the urge to smack him.

‘So you simply wish to discuss certain topics, with no intention for any actions to transpire after the fact?’ Elizabeth asked.

Daggart shook his head. ‘There have been some extremely reckless decisions made by some of you ladies that have resulted in damages to public property.’

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. ‘I disagree. Everything that was done was in response to unusual and dire circumstances. I can’t believe that the Committee would value property over the lives of our people.’

Adalwin shook his head. ‘Had things been done the way we have always done them, we wouldn’t have had any damages.’

Elizabeth smiled sweetly. ‘In that case, can you please go to the super ferals–‘

‘Reapers,’ Meryn whispered.

Elizabeth glanced down at Meryn and continued. ‘Please go to the reapers and convince them to go back where they came from and to stop killing people. That way, we can go back to doing things the way we always have.’

Adalwin’s face flushed at her response.

‘We don’t need her introducing human technology; it isn’t needed,’ Edmond protested.

To Anne’s surprise, it was a white-haired man leaning against the wall who responded. ‘I’m Sascha Baberiov, Gamma Unit leader. We…’–he pointed to the rest of the warriors–‘the units disagree. Since the introduction of updated technology, we have been able to save lives without losing warriors. I know of several instances where Noah and Jaxon were able to direct units away from pockets of ferals in the last battle using the city’s surveillance cameras. They were able to avoid being outnumbered and were able to escort civilians to safety.’

‘Who the devil are Noah and Jaxon?’ Edmond demanded.

Elizabeth smiled. ‘Noah Calloway and Jaxon Darrow are the first students in Meryn’s technology learning program. As the Gamma Unit leader has pointed out, it’s already a huge success.’

Daggart pointed to Elizabeth. ‘That brings me to my next point. We have methods of teaching our young people so that they can be closely monitored. How do you explain your out of control witch unit warrior who cast the perimeter spell?’

Aiden stepped forward and Anne could tell it was taking every ounce of his will not to yell at the accusing committee members. ‘As previously reported, no unit member witch is responsible for casting the spell that created the perimeter.’

Elizabeth leaned back in her chair, looking smug. ‘Maybe you should reevaluate your teaching methods, witch representative of Storm Keep. It looks like one of your witches has been naughty.’

Anne could hear the wood crack under Daggart’s hands as he grasped the arms of the chair. ‘Our methods are perfectly sound.’

Jourdain locked eyes with Elizabeth until she shuddered and looked away. Gavriel was behind her in an instant, his eyes glowed bright red as he hissed at the other vampire.

Jourdain smiled mockingly and spread is hands. ‘Forgive me, but I haven’t seen little Bethy in quite some time; old habits die hard.’

Elizabeth held onto Gavriel’s hand so tight Anne could see her knuckles turning white. ‘I’m fine.’ She took a deep breath and sat up straighter. ‘If you gentleman have nothing more substantial to discuss, frankly, I find your allegations groundless and insulting.’ Her voice held an edge that hadn’t been there before Jourdain’s stare.

Jourdain leered at her. ‘We’re just getting started. We haven’t even discussed how the Alpha Unit let one of their own warriors be compromised and fall into the hands of the enemy.’

Anne felt him before he even walked into the room. She turned to the doorway to see Aiden and Colton parting to allow Kendrick to enter. The committee members turned to look at the new arrival. Daggart and Adalwin were staring with mouths open at Kendrick. Suddenly, the room felt smaller, as if it couldn’t contain Kendrick’s very presence.

‘I will not allow you to turn my brother into a political stepping stone.’ His deep voice resonated through the room.

Jourdain turned back to Elizabeth, ignoring Kendrick’s entrance. ‘You may have a pretty answer for our reasonable concerns, but you cannot deny that… that human is incapable of leading our units.’ His long finger pointed directly at Meryn.

Byron stood, growling lowly. ‘First, be very careful how you address my daughter, Jourdain. Second, I follow her lead, as do the men. Are you trying to tell us that, with our combined thousands of years of training, we don’t know what we are doing?’

Jourdain scowled. ‘Of course not.’

Kendrick walked behind the chairs of the committee members slowly, causing each one of them to flinch. He stopped at end of the row. ‘I believe she is doing exceptionally well.’

Daggart looked up, his eyes dark. ‘And why would the opinion of an archivist who has yet to receive a Mastery level matter to anyone?’

Kendrick nodded while smiling. ‘You’re absolutely right, I’m just a poor scribe from the Lower City.’

Daggart smirked at Kendrick’s admission.

‘However, Lady Fairfax isn’t, and neither are many of her other highborn friends, or many of the Lycaonian citizens I spoke with today.’ Kendrick kept walking until he was behind the women’s chairs. ‘You see, they trust Meryn implicitly. Because, when it mattered, this pregnant human female took up arms and protected not only her mate’s unit warriors, but also the people of the city. Unlike certain elders who show up after the fact, pointing fingers.’

Daggart raised a hand to interrupt, but Kendrick kept going, ignoring him.

‘They love her so much, in fact, the editor of the Lycaonian Herald–an old friend of mine, by the way–will be doing a multi-page article about Meryn and how she is changing the lives of the Lycaonian people for the better. The paper will, of course, be distributed to the other three pillar cities, where interest in Meryn’s technology programs is growing every day.’

Brion spoke up. ‘What about the charges for having a unit leader acting as Elder to gain even more influence?’

Kendrick stopped mid-step and faced the fae. ‘Are they charges now?’

Brion flushed. ‘I misspoke. We have concerns regarding this matter.’

Kendrick shrugged lazily. Anne had to turn her head. She was starting to understand his body language. Whenever Kendrick made it look like he couldn’t care less, that was when he was the most agitated.

‘This sort of thing happens from time to time doesn’t it? Especially with hereditary seats. Caiden has done such an amazing job performing both roles over the past thirty years that no one noticed until very recently that he had been doing both.’

Elizabeth let a snicker escape and coughed as if she was trying to cover up her slip. But Anne was learning; Elizabeth never did anything without reason. The woman wanted to let the men know that their concern was a laughable matter.

Daggart glared at Kendrick, his affable personality fading. ‘That doesn’t change the fact that Unit Commander, Aiden McKenzie not only left the city while it was under attack, but also took valuable units with him.’

Kendrick held up a hand to Aiden who had stepped forward growling. Aiden nodded and stepped back glaring at Daggart. Kendrick looked at the witch representative. ‘That is very true, but it isn’t as if he left the city defenseless. All I heard today from the people was how safe they felt after seeing so many of their neighbors step up during the battle as inactive or retired warriors. To quote one shopkeeper: ‘It’s as if there is a warrior on every corner keeping us safe.’ She didn’t seem upset at all.’

Kendrick walked until he was behind Amelia’s chair. He laid a hand on her shoulder. ‘Let us not forget that the person they went to save is right in front of you. And that by leaving the city and saving her life, the Alpha Unit not only learned more about the enemy’s intentions, but was able to destroy one of their facilities.’ Kendrick’s hard glare pinned the committee members to their chairs. Some looked away, embarrassed. They had forgotten that Amelia was the one who’d been taken.

Adalwin broke the ensuing silence. ‘What about the damages?’ he asked weakly.

Kendrick smiled. ‘I thought you’d never ask.’ He looked over at Oron who nodded at him from where he stood against the wall with Sascha. ‘Queen Aleksandra herself has gifted the city of Lycaonia with the services of her very best fae craftsmen to clean up and rebuild the square as a personal gift to Meryn.’

Daggart gasped. ‘Impossible! It takes weeks to get an audience with the queen!’

Oron stepped forward, grinning. ‘Not when you’re close to the throne.’ He turned to Meryn. ‘The queen is very excited to see another female in a position of authority, and she says she can’t wait for you to visit.’

Daggart’s jaw dropped as Meryn gave Oron a thumbs up sign.

Elizabeth turned to the men. ‘Gentlemen, did you have any other concerns for us to address?’ she asked sweetly.

Daggart was about to respond when he was interrupted by a faint buzzing sound; everyone looked around to try and locate the source of the noise. Ruefully, Aiden pulled his phone from his pocket. ‘Aiden here. What? How many? Position? They what? Roger that. I’ll call back with orders.’

The men closest to Aiden who had heard both sides of the conversation looked sick.

Daggart looked at Aiden. ‘Well?’

‘Reapers and ferals have taken a large refugee group coming from Jefferson hostage just south of here. They are demanding that we lower the perimeter in exchange for the refugees’ lives.’

Everyone began talking at once. Colton brought two fingers up and whistled sharply. Aiden smiled at him. ‘Thank you.’ He looked over at Kendrick then at his father. ‘Suggestions?’

Anne watched as Byron glanced up at Kendrick and flicked his eyes over to Meryn. Kendrick nodded and went to stand behind Meryn. ‘What do you think we should do, Meryn?’

Meryn looked over at Elizabeth who nodded. Anne smiled; Meryn was getting the okay from her Yoda to talk. 

‘How many ferals?’ Meryn asked.

Edmond snorted. ‘Shouldn’t you be asking how many hostages?’

Meryn glared at him ‘No. I know what I meant to ask.’

Daggart stood. ‘This is preposterous! This woman has no right to be included on important decisions.’

Aiden stared down at the officious man. ‘She has more of a right than you do.’

As arguments broke out, Anne could see Kendrick’s patience running out. He simply held up his hand and released a spell causing everyone to freeze. It was instantly quiet. He opened his hand and everyone was able to move again. ‘Let me try to clear this matter up for you gentlemen once and for all. Then we can concentrate on the hostages that need us.’ He moved to the middle of the row.

‘Amelia represents a normal woman, she’s warm, caring and intelligent. All wonderful qualities, and as much as I love my godsdaughter, because of these qualities, I would never put her in the position to make such a hard decision. Meryn on the other hand, is…different. She thinks the way I do, the way a trained leader would, and I trust her implicitly to make hard choices because of this.’

Adalwin looked confused. ‘How can you possibly show us that?’

Kendrick held up a finger. ‘Amelia, Meryn, I am going to describe an emergency situation. You will be able to ask me one question before deciding on your course of action; however, once you hear my answer, you must reply immediately.’ Both women nodded.

‘You are the captain of a ship that is sinking. For argument sake, let’s just say that there is only one way to save the ship. You have to seal off the lower levels. However, there are fifty people down there who, no matter what you do, won’t be able to be make it to the upper levels in time to be saved. What is your question? Amelia?’

Amelia swallowed hard. ‘How many children are there?’

‘Twenty-five. Half of the trapped passengers are children. Your answer?’ Kendrick asked sharply.

Amelia flinched. ‘I’d try to save them.’

Kendrick looked at the men around the room; nearly all of them were nodding in agreement. He turned to Meryn. ‘Your question?’

Meryn shrugged. ‘How many people are on the boat?’

‘Three thousand. Your answer?’

Meryn responded instantly. ‘I’d seal off the lower decks.’

The room was silent. ‘As you can see gentlemen, Meryn knew what question to ask and chose the best course of action.’

Kendrick turned to Aiden. ‘I believe she asked how many ferals there were.’

Aiden nodded. ‘Epsilon reported anywhere from thirty to fifty ferals and approximately one hundred hostages.’

‘Are they willing to accept anything else?’ Adalwin suggested.

Aiden picked up his phone and dialed. ‘Hey Santa, can you let the bastards know that we can’t lower the perimeter, ask if they would settle for something else in return.’

Everyone waited silently as the Epsilon leader communicated with the ferals.

Aiden nodded. ‘Okay, stand by. I’ll call back.’ He put his phone back in his pocket.

‘Santiago said that the reaper leader is willing to accept our necklaces in exchange.’

Rowan stood and inclined his head to Aiden. ‘Personally, I don’t think it would be a loss taking the perimeter down. I have complete faith in our unit warriors, they have protected us for centuries without a perimeter, and I feel that they can continue to do so. But, since we don’t know who cast the perimeter, being able to take it down as requested is off the table.’ 

‘It looks like the necklaces are our only choice,’ Réne confirmed.

Rowan shook his head. ‘Unfortunately, someone has already given them to Kendrick here for study.’ Réne scowled at Rowan, who ignored him.

Rowan turned to Kendrick. ‘Well, son, do you think you can give up on your tests to save the lives of our people?’

Anne watched as Kendrick looked at Réne. An odd look appeared on his face and disappeared just as quickly. He shook his head at Rowan’s question and turned to Meryn. ‘Well?’

Meryn looked up at him. ‘Maybe I am human; maybe I’m too young and too American, but in a situation like this, I refuse to negotiate with terrorists. I would send out every unit we have plus any volunteers to exterminate this threat. If we start giving in to them now, we’ll be opening ourselves up for more hostage situations down the road.’

Anne looked over at Aiden and Byron who were both already on their cell phones. Aiden was coordinating the units to meet at the Alpha estate, and Byron was calling the older warriors to see if any would volunteer to assist.

Rheia stood and walked over to Anne, a cell phone to her ear as well. ‘Adam we have a situation where we could be facing a lot of casualties. Bring anything that isn’t nailed down to the Alpha estate. Oh, by the way, we have another nurse now.’ She paused. ‘I don’t want to hear you complaining about not having any supplies after the last battle. I don’t care if you have to shit bandages, get out here on the double.’

The committee members were staring at Rheia in shock. Rheia didn’t even give them a second glance. ‘Anne, you’re with me. We’re setting up triage on the front lawn. Normally, I would have everyone sent to the clinic, but we’re closer.’ Rheia left the room yelling for Ryuu. Ryuu appeared and she began giving him a list of hot beverages and blankets she would need to help treat shock victims.

Elizabeth was on the phone with her uncle, asking that he send any spare medical supplies via portal to the Lycaonia clinic, the sooner the better.

Anne watched as Amelia coordinated with Kendrick and Sascha to use her magic to level the ground making it easier to care for the wounded. Meryn was on a handheld walkie-talkie talking with unit warriors. ‘I miss you, too, Adonis. After this is all over, you have to swing by to meet my new peep, over and out.’

Anne blinked. ‘Who is Adonis? Sounds sexy,’ she teased. Meryn grinned, and before Anne knew it, Aiden and Kendrick were heading in their direction.

Aiden growled at Meryn and nipped her neck, and Kendrick scowled at her. ‘Never mind any Adonis.’ He looked out the window. ‘I’m going out with the men to try and minimize the number of casualties, but it will be difficult doing this in the dark. I need to be able to see to cast. Unfortunately, my form of light is fire, so unless we want to burn the forest down, I’ll be relying on flood lights from the warriors.’

Colton clapped him on the back. ‘Not as easy as you thought, is it?’

Kendrick shook his head. ‘No, but I’ll do whatever I can to keep you all safe.’

Colton didn’t say anything, just clapped him on the back again, and walked to Aiden.

Anne grabbed his arm. ‘You have to be safe, too.’ It was sinking in that the men were about to head out to battle; they could be killed.

Kendrick looked down at her, and she was confused by the frustration in his eyes. Suddenly, he leaned down and kissed her forehead. He kept his lips to her skin and whispered. ‘I’ll be back. You and I have unfinished business.’

When he pulled away, she felt as if he’d pulled a piece of her heart out of her chest with him.

‘Be careful!’ She called after him. He nodded and ran to catch up with the men who were already filing out the door.

Rheia walked up and wrapped her arm around Anne’s shoulder. ‘It doesn’t get any easier no matter how many times I do this. It helps to stay busy.’

Anne nodded. ‘Point me where you need me doctor.’

Rheia smiled. ‘That’s what I wanted to hear.’

*****

Anne quickly began to notice that they were receiving more injured than just she and Rheia could handle on their own. When two more shifters showed up with bullet wounds, Anne made the decision to send all critical patients to the clinic.

She ran up to one of the warriors carrying a stretcher. ‘No. Get him in a vehicle and send him to the clinic.’

The man frowned. ‘But Dr. Bradley said that we were to bring all the patients here.’

Anne put her hands on her hips. ‘That was before we realized how many injured were on the way. This man needs surgery; that cannot happen on the front lawn.’

Rheia raced up to them. ‘She’s absolutely right.’ 

Anne looked around the lawn. ‘Noah!’

The blond turned to them and quickly jogged over. ‘What do you need?’

‘Follow behind me. Get a pen and paper, and tag each patient for transfer that I point to.’ She turned to Rheia. ‘You need to call the clinic doctor and tell him to stay there and expect incoming.’

Rheia nodded and pulled out her phone. She was giving orders when a new batch arrived in an SUV. She cut the call short as they both ran over. The new arrivals were two children who had a death grip on Sascha. He handled them very gently, one perched on each hip. When he saw Rheia and Anne approaching, he practically sagged in relief. ‘Thank the Gods! Can you look these two over? I don’t think anything is wrong, but they are so little,’ he fretted, looking with worried glances between the two.

When Rheia reached for the little boy, he turned and buried his face in Sascha’s chest. Sascha looked up at Rheia, a frantic look on his face.

‘Doc! We need you over here!’ another warrior yelled. He was straddling a man’s body on a stretcher holding blood-soaked bandages. Rheia immediately ran over to assist.

Anne looked at Sascha. ‘They seem to be okay. I don’t see any broken bones or open wounds. Keep them calm and warm.’ She turned and ran back over to where the wounded where being laid out in rows.

‘How do I do that?’ Sascha yelled.

‘Blankets and hot chocolate!’ she shouted.

Noah caught up to her, and they quickly worked their way through the wounded. Out of the one hundred hostages over thirty of them had been hurt. When they were done prioritizing the care of the seriously wounded, Anne and Noah looked for Rheia.

Rheia’s face looked pinched as she worked on a patient too critical for transport. She looked panicked when she called out for items she needed only to realize there was no one to assist. Anne ran forward. ‘I’m here, keep going.’

‘Noah! I need you and four warriors to grab blankets, tarps, whatever you can and create a makeshift operating room. We need as much coverage as possible!’ Anne yelled.

Noah took off like a bullet. Anne turned her attention back to Rheia and calmly handed her the instruments she needed to remove the deeply lodged bullet. She hardly noticed when the wind stopped blowing her hair in her eyes due to Noah’s superb efforts to keep them protected.

Anne ran through the list of steps in her mind and was determined to stay two steps ahead of Rheia, anticipating her every need. She was never so grateful for her mentor’s suggestion to volunteer as an ER nurse. In the ER, one needed to know a little bit of everything. It had been equal parts exhilarating and frustrating. She had been determined to learn as much as possible, and it was paying off.

An hour later, the man was stable and most of the patients were wrapped in blankets and ready to be sent to the city.

She was washing her hands for what seemed like the thousandth time that night when Rheia walked over. ‘You have to be one of the best nurses I have ever seen. Are you sure you aren’t psychic?’

Anne smiled and shook her head. ‘No. I just hated it in nursing school when a patient suffered because I didn’t know something. So I studied everything.’

‘You are exactly what we need here in Lycaonia. I don’t think I could have handled this on my own. You and Noah were invaluable at getting the patients lined up with the correct care. You thought clearly and adapted well. Good job.’ Rheia nodded at her in admiration, and Anne’s breath caught.

‘Thank you, Dr. Bradley.’

‘You’re very welcome, nurse.’ Rheia stretched and rubbed her back. ‘How do you think Sascha faired with the kids?’

Anne grinned and nodded her head to the edge of the treatment area. Sascha had spread blankets on the ground and sat leaning against his SUV. Both children were sound asleep with their heads in his lap.

Rheia shook her head. ‘Big softies, every single one of them.’

Anne couldn’t help but agree. ‘We wouldn’t want them any other way.’

‘You can say that again!’ Rheia exclaimed and looped her arm through Anne’s.

They inspected the area together, making sure that everyone who needed treatment had received it.