Holis lounged on the wide bed, bare-chested in small clothes. On the table beside him, two hypos sat prepped and ready. Quyn was washing up in the bathroom on the other side of their room.

"Hell of a thing, Vael meetin' up with Sofi's boy."

"Kid looks like his pop," Holis replied.

"He does." Quyn joined him on the bed, toweling his hair. "Reckon I ought'a let it ride."

"Don't see how ya could do anything else. Vael's his Mama's boy. Warn him off, he'll buck just cuz he can."

"Don't I know it, though," Quyn sighed, tossing the towel. Naked, he stretched out next to his second. "Mona would be bustin' with pride in that boy."

"As you are," Holis smiled, looking him over with appreciation.

Quyn Kestrel was a beautiful man, standing tall and lean with dark, deep-set eyes, sculpted cheeks, and a square jaw. Almost femininely full lips regularly gave Holis all manner of wicked thoughts.

The long twists of his hair lay damp across his back, with various bits and bobs threaded and woven throughout. His long, lean body was toned and tight, naturally bronzed and lightly coated in soft springy hairs.

Those dark eyes were gleaming golden right now, though. His long, tapering fingers were tipped with short, sharp claws instead of flat smooth nails.

They almost cut it too close.

"We can't keep pushing your time like this. Ready for it?"

Quyn nodded, rolling to present his muscled ass to Holis. With a lazy smile, he picked up one of the hypos and skimmed a hand down Quyn's thigh.

"Y'know I can scarcely control myself when you're so...naked," Holis teased.

"Same goes." Quyn gasped as the needle stabbed into his thigh. "That shit stings."

"We're doublin' your dose," Holis told him, grabbing the other hypo. "You're down from once a month to once a week. We got enough left for two more doses."

Quyn grunted when the second needle struck home. "Should roll out to Nic, then."

Holis dropped the two spent hypos in a medic bag on the floor by the bed and rubbed the injection spot. His mood sank a bit at the mention of Nic. Quyn's attachment to the man never eased, even with Mona around. Holis knew that when he got with him, but it didn't stop him from feeling...inadequate...when faced with the fact.

Quyn loved him, and he knew that without question. But Nic and Mona both wore matching Sweetlocks made from Quyn's hair. The three of them were almost rabid in their devotion and passion for each other. Holis didn't get one until he enjoyed a courtship that involved all three of them pursuing him for Quyn.

At least he got one. He supposed.

"The serum needs a tweak. I give you any more than this any more often, and it'll be more harm than good."

Quyn drew a deep breath, dizziness and nausea coming on fast. "Side effects gettin' worse too. We need to go tomorrow."

Holis ran his fingers through Quyn's long hair, rubbing his thumbs over the various beads and trinkets throughout. The sweats were already started, soaking the strands, and slicking his skin.

"You call it tomorrow, but I don't see you movin' much before day after."

"That could be."

Holis moved quickly to roll Quyn so he could empty his stomach into the bedside can. With a sigh, he went to fetch rags from the bathroom.

It was going to be a long two days.

***

They took one of the larger rovers the Clan owned, packed with creature comforts Nic couldn't get on the regular. It was a half-day drive to the small, cobbled-together compound the Wizard called home.

If you didn't know it was there, it was easy to miss it. Nic's compound was a collection of derelict geodesic domes in a narrow canyon. The entire place looked and felt abandoned to the unpracticed eye. The domes stood in plain sight, but further back, under the overhang of stone and hewn into the rock was the actual dwelling.

Most of Nic's living and workspaces were in caves, tunnels, and underground dwellings. Several of the tunnels cut straight through the rock to another canyon miles away, where he kept a spacious cottage and several open-air pens.

Many of those pens held heavily sedated, chained, and muzzled mad dogs. The cottage housed a lab spread across three rooms where Nic worked on various projects. At the edge of the tunnel, he parked two tricked-out custom-built rigs that he kept fueled and ready to roll at a moment's notice.

Sofi was out in one of the rigs. She often hit the wilds to study the dogs, grabbing stills and vid of them to add to Nic's research.

The Kestryl men rolled up on a nearly untraceable track, parking close beside Nic's cabin.

Holis hopped out of the driver's side and waited for Quyn to join him. The Boss was still pale and drawn, but he wasn't sweating and puking anymore. Though it was a near thing.

Grabbing their gear from the rig, Holis supported Quyn with an arm around his waist as they made their way into the cottage.

"Bloody hell, Quyn," Nic sighed, peering at them over his small round wire-rimmed glasses. "What've ya done to yourself?"

"The serum," Holis told him, easing Quyn down onto one of several bunks in the lab. "It needs work."

"Yeah, sure, it does," Nic agreed. "How much is he gettin'?"

"Double hypo, once a week. Last one two days ago."

Nic whistled, hopping off his stool, and grabbing a kit. He knelt by the cot, grabbed a monitor, and slapped it on Quyn's forehead. With quick, efficient motions he connected wires to the device in the kit and flipped switches.

As he waited for the readout, he stood and moved behind a bar. "Whiskey?"

"Double," Quyn croaked, closing his eyes.

Holis fretted, smoothing a hand over Quyn's forehead, pushing his hair back from his face. His eyes hadn't gone completely back to their normal dark, yet, and his nails remained sharp.

"It's like it's not workin' at all anymore," Holis muttered when Nic returned with the bottle and three glasses.

"Just needs a kick, yeh? We'll figure it out, Hols. Drink." He splashed the dark amber liquid into all three glasses. Holis sat back while Nic lifted Quyn up to help him drink.

"Now then," he peered at his contraption. "It appears he's gone resistant to the serum which is contributin' to degradation. Gotta fix that."

"How?" Holis was just a breath away from panic. He couldn't lose Quyn. He couldn't bear to face a moment without him in this world.

"Need a clean blood sample."

Holis bit his tongue to keep from screaming at the man. "He's already tainted," he pointed out in a tight voice.

"Course, but I didn't mean from him right now." Nic detached the wires and got up. He disappeared into another room and came back with a small chest.

"Don't you recall how much we drew years ago before all this? Anyway, I've been workin' on a purer formula, concentrated. S'almost ready, but I dun think Quyn's got time for me to test it properly."

"Will it cure him?"

Nic lifted a ring of keys from his belt and used one to open the chest. Inside, Holis saw tubes of blood. "He's too far gone for a cure, and we all know it. The best we can hope to do is control it till Vael's ready."

He held two tubes of bright red blood and leaned over Quyn. "Oy, Kestryl."

Quyn blinked his eyes open, and a slow smile lifted his lips. "Oy, Nic."

"This can go good, or very, very bad," Nic told him, and Holis' throat ached at the tenderness in the other man's voice. "Y'know I'd never want to see ya harmed. But if you're gonna have a chance, this is where we gotta take it."

Quyn swallowed hard and closed his eyes. "I get you. Do what ya gotta."

"Tell me, Quyn," Nic began, gathering devices. He wheeled an intravenous drip machine over as well as a heart monitor. "We still good on that end game?"

"Gotta be," Quyn replied weakly. "Only way to figure out how to beat this."

"Y'know I can't do it," Nic said softly. "Hols neither."

"Vael will," Quyn was sure. "He's got the balls and the heart. Then you'll have what ya need."

Nic unrolled a length of tubing and quickly connected everything up. Soon the machine beeped, and he inserted a needle into Quyn's arm. As the drip started, he took the tubes to his worktable.

"What're ya doin'?" Holis asked, monitoring Quyn's vitals automatically.

"He's too far gone for a dose, plus you just hit him two days ago. The best way to deliver this concentrate is through his own blood," Nic explained. "Otherwise, it'll be too much for his system. So, I need to add it to his sample here an' let it trickle slow an' easy."

Holis watched Nic insert a long hypo into each tube of blood and add a thick, darker red liquid to it.

"How slow?"

"Two, three days minimum. Any faster and we run the risk of overloadin' him, causing a cascade, and then it'll all be for nothin'. Is he sleepin' yet?"

"Passed right out. Why?"

Nic sighed, popping the tubes into a centrifuge. "This won't be comfortable. Better he sleeps through as much as we can manage."

Holis felt fear roll through him and saw the same etched on the other man's face. Nic started the machine with trembling fingers.

"This could go that bad?"

"It could. We know he don't want worse, and it's on us to help keep it from goin' there."

Holis swallowed the lump of bile that leaped into his throat and nodded. Nic was brilliant. He had to be as a Wizard, the most versatile the Clans had. Holis wouldn't be the top Medic he was if Nic hadn't trained him up on stuff his own Clan's mentor never hinted at.

If Nic was scared, things were grim indeed, and he had to put aside his jealousy and nut up. "What d'ya need me to do?"

***

Quyn blinked awake and blessed the absence of pain. He didn't know how Nic did it, and surely wouldn't understand if he explained it, but he felt better. He didn't have the edge, the hunger that rode him as long as he could recall.

He felt like a man. His dog wasn't pacing and snarling in his head. There was no residual rage at the world that took one of his heart-mates away. He wasn't content, but he was calm.

"Hols." Quyn listened for a response. "Nic."

"Ah, you're awake. Good."

Nic came to sit on the edge of the bunk and smiled at him, light gray eyes shining behind his spectacles. "How are we feelin' then?'

"Better," Quyn said. "Much better. Where's Hols?"

"Giving Sofi a hand. She brought in some dogs."

Quyn nodded and swallowed. In a moment, Nic had a canteen and offered it to him. Lifting on one elbow, he took it and sipped.

"Whatever you did, it's workin'."

"Yeah, sure," Nic nodded, watching him closely. "I wonder how long, though."

"It's a new serum, yeah?"

"Reworked, yeah, but same basic principle. You'll be taking it by mouth, in capsules. Two a day, one at a time, every twelve hours."

"Injection is out of the question?"

"For now. We've got you loaded enough; all you need is maintenance," Nic explained. "We'll revisit in a month or so, see if another intensive session is needed to keep your levels steady."

Quyn smiled, handing the canteen back. "It's always good to see you, Nic."

"You too, Quyn," Nic murmured. "Though Hols has a hard time, yet."

"And Sofi?"

"She accepts what is," Nic shrugged. "She wears my 'lock, and I wear yours."

"Then," Quyn sat up and cupped the other man's cheek, "we've a moment, don't we?"

Nic sighed, clasping his wrist. "You're a cruel man, Quyn Kestryl, to tease me so."

"No tease, Nic," Quyn promised, brushing a thumb over his lips. "I miss ya fierce, always. It'll be another month 'til I'm here again. Can you wait that long? Cuz I can't, I'll say."

Nic peered at him over his spectacles and got up, clasping his hand in both of his.

Quyn followed him out of the lab and down a dark hallway. They came into a small sitting room and went through another hallway into a bedroom.

"Won't Sofi come lookin'?" Quyn whispered as Nic shut the door behind them.

"That's as likely as Hols joinin' us," Nic challenged, shedding his spectacles and coat, and kicking out of his boots.

Quyn smiled and stripped out of his skinsuit since it was all he was wearing.

Nic didn't bother with more than short pants, and they were soon on the bed in each other's arms.

Quyn sighed, holding the other man close and running his fingers through dark auburn hair. It was enough, for now, just being there with Nic. The smell and feel of him, the heat of him, eased Quyn.

He ran his fingers over the intricate Sweetlock that wrapped around Nic's right forearm, glinting in the low light. Within the transparent coil, a long lock of Quyn's hair was wrapped with strands of Nic's dark auburn and Mona's sandy brown hair. Trinkets, jewels, and intricate works of gold and silver lay along the length of Quyn's hair.

"I'd go with you if I could," Nic whispered, smoothing a hand across Quyn's wide chest.

"I know," Quyn pressed a kiss to his temple. "Your work is needed, though. You can save us all, but no Stead'll allow what ya need."

"Not 'til I can prove it, at least," Nic threw a leg over Quyn's hip. "They all demand proof, but they'd sooner slaughter all mad dogs than try to learn anythin' of 'em."

"That's why I'm doin' it," Quyn curled his body around Nic's, leaving kisses along his shoulders. "And so you have somewhere safe to work."

"Your pop and uncle made good progress, but you're runnin' out'a time, Quyn. Too soon, no serum will stop the Taint, and you'll be done."

"Then Vael can finish it. I know he will."

"You've told him?"

"I will, this run. He's made Copilot. It's time."

"He's so young to carry all our hopes an' dreams," Nic sighed.

"Yeah, sure. But he can do it, 'specially now he's met Sofi's boy. I trust in that."

"Then I'll trust in you."

Humbled, Quyn drew Nic close, burying his face in his hair. This man's faith in him and love for him got them through the darkest time in his existence. Quyn prayed he would do him proud.

"You always smell like spices," he mumbled.

Nic laughed. "Only to you, Quyn Kestryl. Sofi often tells me I smell like wet dog."

Quyn shook his head, running his hands up and down Nic's back. The tight, curled hairs tickled his palms and sent pinpricks of pleasure over his skin. His fingers glided along the scars that ran from one shoulder to the opposite hip.

Nic sighed and pressed close, raking his nails down Quyn's chest. "One thing we'll never have enough of," he muttered, "is time. How am I gonna do this life without ya, Quyn?"

"Shh, hush. You'll find your way, Nic." He kissed the top of his head. "You got Sofi, and you were always the clever one."

"Fuck clever," Nic growled. "I'd rather be dumb as a bag'a rocks and have ya 'round."

Quyn laughed, laying his cheek on the silky strands. "I know, love, I know."

"Just fuck me, already," Nic sniffed. "I can't be gettin' all weepy when ya come 'round, Quyn Kestryl. S'not manly a'tall."

Quyn laughed and rolled Nic onto his back.