Dawn felt fingers in her own, and for one beautiful moment, she opened her eyes, expecting to see soft hazel gazing back at her.

  Instead, she was met with forest green. Familiar, but not as dear. She forced a smile at Cait, and tried to turn her head to get her bearings. No luck, her head throbbed like the human’s horrible dance music, and her vision flashed white the moment she moved an inch.

  “C-cait.”

  She managed to get the word out, but her mouth felt wrong. Worse, it was half a bleat, in a voice that hadn’t been hers for years. Her instincts screamed at her to remain calm, but her panic screamed louder. She felt her eyes go wide and her breathing pick up, but all that did was make her head hurt worse.

  “Hey, hey,” a soft voice cooed. She felt the gentle brush of Kennedy’s mind on her own. The girl was becoming masterful at combating Dawn’s negative emotions. She’d been doing it for days now, since with how often they linked there had been no hiding anything from her. Dawn could feel her body leaving fight-or-flight as the empathic warrior did battle against the panic inside of her.

  If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

  “Kennedy,” she sighed, her mouth forming the word better this time. She realized she was still squeezing Cait’s hand, hard enough that the veins on her forearm were standing out. She went to apologize, then remembered who she was dealing with. That brought her first genuine smile.

  “You are an excellent stress ball, Cait,” she said. The words took real effort to form, and despite waking up less than a minute ago she already felt tired. There was a commotion behind her, and she heard Lira complain to a voice she didn’t recognize.

  “Give her a second with her friends you goon,” the fiery redhead scolded, backed up by a gurgling hiss that must have been Breastman.

  “Christ, Lira, I’m trying to be a fucking doctor!” Cait and Kennedy each gave Dawn a tight smile, and made way for the owner of the strange voice. Another Altered Beast, judging by the ears.

  “Wait!” she croaked as the new woman shined a light into her eye. Cait and Kennedy re-entered her vision.

  “Is it true?” she asked. The look the two women shared contained volumes, but Dawn didn’t need to know the contents to guess the end. Her eyes were welling up with tears even before Kennedy gave her a curt nod, and a look so piteous it cut like a knife.

  He was gone.

  The medical tests the doctor ran her through passed in a blur. She didn’t know how she’d fared, and she found it increasingly difficult to care. It wasn’t that much longer before she drifted back to sleep, unwilling or unable to be roused.