Page 63 of Sun Warrior

“Yeah. I disinfected it as best I could with the supplies we have here, and packed it with goldenrod, too, but I know it needs more attention.”

“It’s nothing. Less than I deserve for what I tried to do.” Jaxom looked away from them, staring into the hearth fire.

“Talk to me more about that stag. The one that was sick,” Nik said.

Jaxom shrugged. “I don’t know what else to say. Strips of his flesh were missing and his blood smelled wrong. And he was enraged.”

“All stags are enraged when they’re in rut,” Nik said.

“Not like this one. I know because it happened to each of us,” Jaxom said.

“You’re not making any sense,” Sora said.

Jaxom looked up at her, beseeching understanding with his kind brown eyes. “After we got sick we were enraged, too. Not just at night. And not just at ourselves. All the time. It was uncontrollable, and much, much worse than Night Fever. It was like there was nothing left inside me except anger and pain. My skin—it felt like it was boiling all the time.”

“Have you ever heard of anything like this before?” Sora asked Mari.

“No,” Mari said.

“I have.” The group turned to see Rose standing just inside the burrow. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. Sarah and Lydia are out ofpoppy tea. Isabel said she’d get more for them, but I told her to stay and dance, that I’d get it.”

“Rose, it’s okay. Of course you may have more tea. But what did you mean when you said you’ve heard of Jaxom’s illness?” Sora asked, motioning for Rose to join them.

Hesitantly, Rose moved closer so she could take a look at Jaxom’s strange wounds. She nodded and blew out a breath. “Thaddeus had wounds just like this before he was captured by the Skin Stealers, and that anger he’s describing… Well, that happened to Thaddeus, too.”

“Are you Thaddeus’s mate?” Mari spoke up, sending Nik a wary look.

“No! Well, I almost was. After his Odysseus mated with my Fala, Thaddeus and I were a thing.” She moved her shoulders. “You know how it is, Nik, when your Companion mates and you’re unattached.”

“Well, not directly, but I do understand,” Nik said.

“I don’t,” Sora said.

“Me, either,” Mari said.

“Companions share emotions with their canines,” Nik explained.

“We understand that,” Mari said.

Sora snorted. “We sure do. Mari’s creature almost ate me when we first met.”

Mari rolled her eyes. “I did tell you not to follow me, and you know Rigel wouldn’teatyou.”

“Now I do. I didn’t then. But my point is I understand the shared-emotion thing because I’ve seen Rigel and Mari share emotions.”

“Take what you’ve seen them share and triple it, because when it’s mating season those emotions can get pretty intense. It’s not unheard of for canine lust to cause their humans to share a bed for the season and from that bond they sometimes even become permanently mated,” Nik said.

“I think that’s what Thaddeus expected to happen with us,” Rose said. “I just expected some lusty fun. Thaddeus wasn’t exactly what I’d consider mate material, even before the stag.”

“The stag?” Jaxom said. “You know about that?”

“Just from what Thaddeus admitted,” Rose said. “He and some Hunters found a sick stag. They put him out of his misery and burned the carcass because they could tell something was seriously wrong with it and didn’t want to bring it back to the Tribe.”

“And Thaddeus got the stag’s blood in his face and mouth,” Nik said.

“Yes, how did you know?” Rose said.

“Davis told me about the stag. That’s all I know, though—just what you’ve already explained.”