Howling Love.

19.

Amille Laurent.

Camryn's car came to a screeching stop as he parked haphazardly by my house, just outside the garage, luckily he hadn't driven past the driveway into dad's flowers, or otherwise there would've been hell to pay when he woke up. "Go, I'll get our stuff and follow you." He asserted reassuringly and I nodded, got out of his car and sped walk to the front door, used my key card and got in, I knew what I needed to do first in order to understand the poison that had been used on my dad, my only worry was the time and the ingredients needed to make the antidote, I didn't have enough of either, but I had faith and determination.

So I made my way up to the second floor, then the attic where I knew dad had set up the lab equipment because he was making patents for his new lotion, luckily everything seemed pristine, leave it to my dad to never make a mess. Quickly I grabbed vials, tubes and solutions, setting the equipment I needed to separate the toxin from the blood and analyze. "Whoa, I feel like I've just entered a whole other part of your life." Camryn muttered behind me and I scoffed, of course he would find something sweet to say to me about this. "Need help?" He asked as I placed the last vial where I needed it. "Yes, check the containers in there if we have any of these ingredients?" I told him whilst typing on my tablet what he needed to check. "Oakwood sap, really?" He scrunched up his face like always when he was skeptical but I nodded. "Yes, really." I assured and he accepted going to the neatly placed containers.

After two hours of waiting, with Camryn keeping me from letting my mind wander off with his ridiculous stories of his almost accidents, it was finally ready. "What are we looking at exactly?" He asked as we stood side by side viewing the results on one of the lab tablets. "Wolfsbane, redwood, concentrated silver, a variation of snake venom and wait, this marker is for vervain but mixed with something else, widowswail—." Camryn trailed off after listing what was on the screen, it was such a complex combination of toxins and ingredients, it could've easily killed a child, it's why dad got sick immediately after ingesting it, enough of it would've killed everyone at the party.

"How did something like this get into your dad's drink specifically, why not all of us?" Camryn demanded and that exactly was my question too, how did something so horrible find it's way into my dad's cup, why not all the other wolves there at the party. "I don't want to point fingers but this does not seem coincidental." I signed and Camryn nodded eagerly. "Someone meant for this to get into his cup, —but who?" He growled out and despite my own curiosity and bubbling anger, I needed to get the antidote ready and the accelerant, then deal with whoever tried to kill my dad. So I turned to the list I had given Camryn and we had a few ingredients missing.

"We need mountain ash, white oak bark, fuschia leaves, damphier roots and for the accelerant we need one ingredient, red thorn leaves, it's a well known herb used by healers on werewolves to accelerate healing by chewing the leaves but it doesn't grow in a normal garden, it's unpredictable and tends to choke other plants." I explained to Camryn showing him the images of the ingredients we needed and he nodded in return. "I know the places marked here to get them but one of these is in the heart of rogue territory, it won't be easy to get." He explained and with that I deflated, I needed the accelerant for dad. "It doesn't mean we can't go, he's not just your dad anymore shortstack, mine too, and if leave now, it'll take about a day and half to get it all." He finally concluded and all I wanted was to hug Camryn, I was grateful that he was willing to go through all this just to help my dad, it made tears well up in my eyes as he hugged me.

"I got you moose, and I'm not letting go." He assured me as we stayed in that hug for a moment longer, then we parted to get ready. "We're going to need collection bags, that can preserve the ingredients, we also need hiking boots, infact hiking equipment —." I paused as he chuckled. "What's funny?" I demanded using my phone. "I never thought our first night or the rest of our lives knowing we're mates would start out with me taking you into the wild." He stated and it caused me to laugh aswell. "I blame you, you're the rougish wolf." I teased and he growled playfully. "Oh if I'm to blame then I'm sure you can handle this roguish wolf, when he gets wild." He argued pouncing on me playfully, causing more laughter and a refreshing wave of happiness to flow into me, despite what we were headed into, he was still the same Camryn and I was happy.

After getting everything we needed, including my dad's old hiking gear which was what fit Camryn, and of course tons of bottles of water, we had settled into his car. "Are you ready?" He questioned as he held out his large hand for me, it was warm, enveloped mine fully and reassured me of so many things, he was here with me, so I nodded, I was ready.

So he peeled out of the driveway and sped down the road, it should've terrified me but I guess there was a reason why he and I were mated, the speed, the acceleration, the rush, it was exhilarating for some reason and he smiled my way, as we left an unusual dust trail behind us.

As a sufficient three hours of driving passed, out of pack territory and out of Bridgeton, we finally stopped at a gas station which was positively in the middle of nowhere. "We need to head east into the woods from here, but there are no roads from here on out, so we have to start that hike." I told him and he nodded after filling the tank. "Great, I'll talk to the station attendant and see if we can leave the car here, I'll be right back." He explained, placing a kiss on my forehead before taking off inside the slightly rundown gas station shop. About five minutes later Camryn came back and I had taken what we needed from the trunk. "What did they say?" I asked in sign language. "Haggled a bit but he agreed, I'll park it in his garage, he says it's safer there." He explained and I nodded, as I stood to wait for him to park.

Within a few minutes Camryn and I had taken off into the woods, after showing him the map, he had easily found a trail which led where we were going, I didn't miss how alert he got, he seemed to be in his element and as a wolf, I could tell, the wild was his home, it's how he could navigate so easily, pick up danger before we even encountered it. "Stop!" He lowly hissed as I froze in place, a minute or two passed, I wanted to question why he had abruptly made us stop until I saw the dull gleam of dark grey almost black scales in the grass just yards away from us. "Black mamba, extremely poisonous, but it seems to have had it's fill already so we'll just circle around to be cautious." He explained and that's how I finally breathed a heavy sigh of relief, thanking the Goddess for not just giving me a mate who was an engine junkie but a primal predator too, despite how horrible that sounded.

Another hour of walking had us finding our destination, it was in a small clearing, I was elated to actually find more than one of the ingredients we needed. "Isn't that fuschia?" Camryn asked as we hurriedly walked to where a field of it blew freely in the wind. "It is and that's damphier, we did it!" I happily replied as soon enough I had carefully dug out the plant roots and more so we could grow it at home, then the fuschia aswell. "It's getting hot, we need to get back to the gas station, get you fed and continue toward that." Camryn mentioned as in the distance he was pointing in, I could see the outline of a mountain, and since we had travelled well into the afternoon, he was right, it was getting hot and late, so I nodded, we indeed needed to get a move on, I could only hope getting these ingredients was this easy.

Howling Love.

Saint Jay.