Marriage First, Mate Second
I would never have encouraged him to come out of hiding if I believed for a single moment that those creatures were still after him.
“How severe are the wounds,” I ask Hope, “Is he going to make it?”
Hope hesitates before answering, and I fear that I already know what she is going to say.
“The shifter that attacked him was diseased,” she says sadly, “He was mad with it. Sharper’s disease. And you know what that means.”
I know exactly what that means. Sharper’s disease is a terrible illness that for reasons unknown, only strikes rogue shifters. It eats away at their reasoning, and leaves them unable to do anything but attack others. They become pure wild animals. It is alway fatal.