บท 151: Chapter 151: Alpha, Indisposed
Jude POV
What in the Moon Goddess' name was wrong with him?
Ravyn, the acting Alpha, stood inside his private room in the Healarium, guarding him like the most stalwart sentry on duty.
Nearly attacking Caden in an impulsive manner ... imprisoning the Hemmings just on suspicion of poisoning Harland ... the strange flashes of memory ... the headaches.
"Ravyn?"
She flew to his bedside as he lay on the crystalline-covered bed. "Try to rest."
He reached out a hand to her and noticed it was shaking. "What's wrong with me?"
Ravyn gripped his hand, letting him feel her strength and warmth. "We'll find out. The Wise Women shut themselves up in Eirika's healing space and vowed they wouldn't come out until they had the answer. All of the witches and wizards here are scrying to see if they can find what might be affecting you. Kelara sensed another presence within, but she couldn't determine what it was."
He howled in anguish.
Another presence?
"The Dark Goddess?"
"NO. Everyone tested you," Ravyn said in a soothing voice. "We've gotten really good at detecting her now. It isn't any energy or entity we recognize."
Jude clutched his head. "Whatever it is, make it stop!"
Ravyn's cool hands surrounded him. "Just breathe. Breathe in, breathe out. Concentrate on my voice."
What would he do?
"What are you going to tell people? The pack?"
Ravyn held his head. "That you're ill. That you were affected more than most by your trip to the Nightmare Realm. Edna Chalice has consulted with Senior Healer Galen in Wildefell and has the head librarian researching your case. But you remember what happened when Hades nearly destroyed Cyran and Tulaska ... the Dark Goddess' energy was behind him."
Jude shuddered. "Do I have to go to that shrine in Nauru where they were healed?"
Ravyn's voice was solemn and gentle. "The Shrine of Last Hopes, or Lost Hopes? No. I don't think your case is that serious. I think you were probably attacked, You were standing next to Hades when he sacrificed himself in a blaze of glory. You might have been harmed in ways we didn't realize at the time."
He groaned, feeling every ache and pain from that attack in a way he hadn't allowed himself to feel, with so much to do and so many eyes on them both. "Why me? Everyone else who was there was probably affected. Garnet was very close to Hades--she reached out and tried to grab him. SHE'S not weak."
Ravyn gripped him tightly, her hands clamping on his head. "I don't want to hear you say that. You are NOT weak. If you were, you wouldn't be alive."
He growled. "Don't coddle me, Ravyn--"
"I'm the acting Alpha now and I can do whatever I like," she shot back. "And it's not coddling. It's finally taking care of my mate. I should have heeded all the warning signs. I shouldn't have been caught up in all the pack celebrations and my bonding ball--"
"OUR bonding ball," he corrected. "I was just as caught up."
"And you didn't want to admit anything was wrong."
Her words hit home with a sledgehammer.
"I can't be the Alpha if I'm crazy," he moaned.
"You're not crazy--you're wounded. Would you shame anyone else who was sick with silver poisoning? Did you belittle Harland when he was ill because of wolfsbane? This is no different. Spiritual poisoning is still poisoning, and it's even more toxic than if it were just physical. It affects the mind and the heart, and obviously, the body. It weakens all the things that make you a great leader."
He clung to her. "I now understand what Cyran went through. I don't know how he survived it, and rebuilt his life to become a husband and father. I don't give him enough credit."
Ravyn gently held him. "Out of all of us, only he and Naomi can truly comprehend what you're going through."
"There's Daxius, after being imprisoned by the Dark Goddess."
Ravyn smiled. "Yes, to a lesser extent. He's fully in your corner. He knows you're strong and can weather this tempest. You have so much support, my love. And none of us will leave your side until you're better."
He took a deep breath. "Until I am, there's so much about running the pack you need to know. I have a complete list in my office."
She seemed glad of something positive to do. "Why don't I go get it?"
* * * * *
Daxius POV
After Ravyn left to get something for Jude, Bram Faolan paced outside in the main room of the Healarium. Daxius had to keep a close eye on the boy. Cyran, Jiro, and Dane also hovered, ready to support him and stop him from running off a cliff.
Goddess, what must be going through Bram's mind? He lost his mother, got his father back, and now his father had been stricken with a mystery affliction. Really not a mystery, if you knew demons at all.
"Daxius," Bram said suddenly.
Daxius adopted a kind smile. "Yes?"
"You were a prisoner of the Dark Goddess for years--how is it that you're not ... well ... stark raving mad?"
"Oh, I was, until I escaped. And even then, as you know, her curse followed me. And Cyran--well, you saw what happened to him."
Bram trembled. "But ... but you didn't seem as badly off as my dad. And at least he's not near death, like Cyran. He's in the middle somewhere."
Jiro tried to be reassuring. "That might work in his favor."
"But how do you know, Mr. Know-It-All?" Bram burst out.
Dane injected humor into the situation. "In his defense, he did say 'might'. He's come down from his know-it-all-ness since becoming a father."
Bram stomped around, clearly not in the mood for cute quips. "My father is the strongest wolf I know. How can he be sick like this? What if he doesn't get better?"
"You can't think like that," Cyran told him firmly. "If people had those doubts about me, I'd never have been cured. And your father isn't possessed by the Dark Goddess ... he's just suffering from the aftermath of an attack. It's very different."
"But why did Kelara sense another consciousness, then?" Bram demanded.
That question stumped Daxius. "Sometimes ... sometimes spirits can be walk-ins."
"Walk-ins? What in Fenrir's name is that?" Bram asked.
Jiro and Dane looked at Daxius questioningly. "I've never heard of that," Jiro said, sounding mildly offended that he didn't know something.
Daxius shrugged. "It's a somewhat common phenomenon. Every once in a while, a spirit will 'walk in' and inhabit another being's body."
Kelara, who had slipped in, looked gobsmacked. "Of course. It COULD be a walk-in. But I didn't know shifters were vulnerable."
Cyran muttered, "I didn't know we could be possessed, either."
Bram hurled a bedpan at the far wall with perfect aim so that it smacked against the wall and fell on the floor with a clatter. "No one bothered to tell us about this walk-in business after we knew Cyran got possessed?"
Daxius looked guilty, as did Anneliese, who'd come in with Kelara. "Honestly, we didn't think shifters were susceptible."
Anneliese chimed in, "The wolf in you usually repels any such influence. The Dark Goddess is a big exception because she is one of the most powerful demons the world has ever seen."
Bram cursed wildly, ferociously. "How can you tell if there's a walk-in living inside my father? And how can we kick it out?"
Daxius laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "As to the first, higher-level witches and wizards, and seers like Kelara, can do scrying to make contact with the walk-in. As to the second, there are ceremonies and rituals to induce a spirit to leave. But we have to find out who it is and why they've come."
Jiro scowled, his elegant face turning rough and lethal. "Does it matter why?"
"YES," Kelara exclaimed. "Walk-ins often come in for a specific purpose. Usually when he original soul has just suffered a crisis or torment, which would fit after the ordeal in the Nightmare Realm. The walk-in or transmigrated soul is a departed spirit that is seeking a temporary home until it completes whatever unfinished business it has in its former life."
Bram frowned. "Then who is inside my father's body, and what is their unfinished business? We've got to find out as soon as possible!"
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AmandaMadden
AmandaMadden A walk-in is a real concept in New Age thought. It is basically the concept of #transmigration. Except unlike transmigration/walk-ins, Jude seems to share consciousness with the entity co-inhabiting his body. Who do you think it is?
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
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