Kendrick smiled at the memory and felt his eyes fill. Little did he know then, there were monsters out there that cared very little that he was Keelan's brother.
"You just sleep, little buddy. I'll figure out this clusterfuck before you wake up. Everything will be okay," he promised. He picked up a soft bristled brush and began brushing his brother's hair in place.
He heard a knock at the door. "Can we come in now?"
"Yes."
Rheia and Anne walked in as he was finishing up. "He looks so much better now." Anne said hurrying to Keelan's side.
Rheia nodded in agreement. "He really does. With only an IV and feeding tube, he looks almost normal. That stasis spell even preserved the flush in his cheeks. He's like a male version of Sleeping Beauty."
Anne turned to Kendrick. "Can you watch him for a couple hours? Colton and a gentleman named Sascha are running me into town before their council meeting. I need to pick up my things, break my lease, and let Bart know I quit. I hate leaving on such short notice, but he knew I could land a nursing job at any time."
Kendrick didn't want her in town alone with only two warriors for protection. Without confronting her about his dreams, he had no right to dictate her actions. "Maybe you should take a witch along as well, for safety," he suggested.
"I'm sure Colton and Sascha will be fine." Anne said.
"Actually, I agree with Kendrick. I'll suggest that they take Quinn along; he's in Sascha's unit." Rheia said.
Kendrick breathed in internal sigh of relief. "Foxglove?" She nodded.
Even better, he knew that Quinn was an exceptional witch when it came to protection, especially since he had personally sent the warrior some shielding spells from the archived grimoires. Technically, the older and more powerful spells were supposed to be studied and memorized in Storm Keep, which meant the younger witches serving in the units didn't have half the arsenal of spells they needed to keep them safe. Kendrick had been mailing copies of spells out to the warriors and the Vanguard for centuries in an effort to keep them all from getting killed.
"Quinn is an excellent witch; you'll be safer with him," Kendrick said, keeping his tone neutral.
"If you both think so," Anne hedged.
"We do." Rheia said firmly. Kendrick winked at Rheia; after all, it was her mate going into town as well.
"Okay, well, I'm heading to the clinic. A lot of the pregnant women will only stop in when I'm there, so I like to be there as much as possible." Rheia turned to Kendrick and surprised him when she gave him a hug. "Thank God you came when you did. I didn't know what else I could have done for him," she whispered.
Kendrick rubbed her back. "You just worry about yourself and leave Keelan to me. You have a brand new life growing inside of you; that takes a lot of work."
Rheia looked up at him, her confusion obvious. "You knew last night I was pregnant, yet I never said anything. How did you know?"
"What do you know about magic?" he asked.
"Absolutely nothing."
"Well, there are two main fields of magic, elemental and psycho/physical." Anne and Rheia just stared at him. "Earth, air, fire and water are elemental. Mind, body and spirit are psycho/physical."
Understanding lit up Anne's face. "I played an RPG where the magic was classified like that. Different classes were able to master different things. Like a Ranger could do earth magic and a cleric could heal."
"Exactly!" Kendrick paused his explanation. "Wait, there are human games like that out there?"
Anne nodded. "Yup. I always choose a paladin, a ranger, a knight and a cleric. I go for balance."
"Amazing. Paranormals think that humans know so little about the magical world, yet they invent games based on the very premise of our--"
Rheia cleared her throat.
Kendrick smiled ruefully. "Right, my explanation. Anyway. One of the types of magic I've studied is body magic. I could see the changes in your body. It's also how I knew that Keelan was an empty shell."
Rheia frowned. "If you have studied body magic, that must mean others have as well."
Kendrick nodded. "Some. It's not very popular since most paranormals heal quickly and rarely get ill."
"It's so frustrating. You can heal so much, and human doctors have to guess and try to figure things out by process of elimination." Rheia clenched her fists.
Kendrick walked over, took her hands, and gently bounced them until she relaxed. "There is another reason why body magic is so rarely studied. The body is constantly changing; every second, new cells are created and others die. Trying to treat something as simple as a virus can be life threatening to the caster. In that respect, your human science is the better method. In helping Keelan, my magic is keeping him exactly as he is, so the spell wasn't as taxing."
Rheia managed a smile and squeezed his hands. "You're not nearly as gruff as you pretend to be, are you?"
He dropped her hands and cleared his throat. "I don't know what you mean."
Rheia snorted. "Come on, Anne, the sooner you leave, the quicker you can get back. I know that Aiden wants everyone back before nightfall," Rheia said.
Anne looked at him. "I'll be back before he needs his IV bags changed."
"Take your time. I'll be in and out of this room setting up my lab anyway."
The women waved and left. For someone used to being on his own, Kendrick was shocked when the room suddenly felt empty.