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he let himself mentally drift as he waited. Kallen’s pen scratched lightly on the page.
    He wasn’t sure how long he had been daydreaming. The touch of Laurin’s hand on his made him open his eyes. He clasped her fingers tight, not wanting to let go. She smiled, squeezing back before pushing the pad of paper his direction. As Matt moved to read the message, Laurin touched Kallen’s shoulder again to get his attention.
    “We’ll do what we can to help you, I promise.” The familiar cool wash of Laurin’s magic flashed in a new and unexpected manner, lighting them with a bright incandescence that left spots before Matt’s eyes. She shot to her feet in an instant, back against the mast, fear on her face. “What was that? Was that…me?”
    He’d never felt her power react like that before. She always insisted she didn’t have magic of her own, just the ability to bolster another’s. Not once in the past two months during their experimenting had she ever initiated anything he couldn’t do on his own. It had to be her responding to something—in Kallen?
    Cold dread poured into Matt’s heart. He stared at Kallen in horror.
    “What did your brother do to you?” Matt demanded.
    The written message Kallen passed over provided little information about the actual curse. Two weeks earlier, Kallen had been ambushed during a walk and woke in his avian form. The rest of the revelations in the note turned Matt’s dismay to an even greater consternation.
     
    My brother made no pretense of innocence in the attack. Kilade bragged he would now take leadership of our people, and there was nothing I could do to stop him. He told me to find Laurin. Said she was the only one who could cure me. But I see no way for that to occur.
    I thank you, Shaman, for giving me back my human form. I had met with two other healers of the air clans before seeking you, and neither of them was strong enough to help me shift. I will continue to search for a cure. I refuse to remain as a mute—I must find a way to return to my tribe and take over from my brother. This deceit proves he is not a worthy leader for them.
     
    “Why would Kilade tell you to see me? I have no healing powers. And if he was the one to curse you in the first place, why offer you the cure?” Laurin moved to Matt’s side, crawled into his lap and he curled himself around her, protecting as best he could.
    “Kilade had a deeper reason for coming to fight back in June.” Matt stared across the short distance at where Kallen watched them carefully. “He actually quit before we were done. He seemed pleased to discover Laurin and I were partners.”
    “He said he wanted to be sure you were strong enough to defend me,” Laurin pointed out.
    Matt thought back to the fight. The air shifters who’d wanted to take control of Laurin’s abilities had come to claim her as a mate, and he’d fought them, letting it be known in no uncertain terms that her choice was the one that mattered. His suspicions regarding the exact nature of the curse grew.
    The situation wasn’t improving.
    Kallen leaned back on his stool uneasily. His dark eyes took in every move across from him. Matt’s reservations wavered as he considered how he would feel if their roles were reversed. It had to be a horrible position—to be totally dependent on others’ goodwill for something that hugely affected not only Kallen’s future, but his tribe’s.
    “What if you can heal Kallen?” Matt asked Laurin. He turned her face toward him, ignoring the hope that flashed in Kallen’s eyes. “What if you do have the ability, with my help?”
    The eagerness she felt was plain to see. “Then I would cure him, of course.”
    “There’s no of course to it. Not everything is simple, Laurin.”
    She narrowed her gaze. “What are you not telling me?”
    Kallen waited, silent and still. Matt hesitated. He had to push past his fears. If this was meant to be, he had to be strong enough to face it himself. “Do you