out a mistrust and hopelessness in a shifter that is very hard to get past. I wasn’t surprised when you didn’t show up for your first session. I had to earn your trust, which I did yesterday when I asked you about your beast. I’m telling you now, therapy will give you your life back. It won’t be the same as before, but you can have a life again.”
Aidan watched as the lines that had been present on Liam’s face ever since Ava’s Dsershon relaxed. Tension eased from his body. If his friend had any lingering doubt about getting therapy, it was now gone. Liam was ready to fight.
“Okay, let’s get back to the warning,” Liam said. “What am I supposed to do when I taste it?”
“Mentally prepare. Remind yourself that it’s her reality you are feeling, not yours. As her emotions overtake you, you hold on to that, repeat it, do not allow yourself to stray from it. Think of it as a life vest that will keep you from going under.”
“All right.”
“I’m going to have you bring on a Bahrraj episode right now.”
“I can do that?”
“You do not try this on your own. Only with me. It’d be very dangerous for you to do it alone.”
Liam nodded.
“Now concentrate on her bond. Think of nothing else but it. When you get that taste in your mouth, immediately tell yourself that you are feeling her, not you, and keep repeating that as the bond takes over.”
Liam cleared his throat and stared forward. Aidan knew the moment his friend entered Bahrraj. Jaylin shot to her feet and grabbed his shoulder and snapped her fingers. “Liam!”
He didn’t respond.
“Outside! Now!” She pointed at him without taking her eyes off Liam.
He didn’t question her demand and hurried out of the house. With the way his beast had thrashed around aggressively yesterday, he wanted as much distance between him and that device as possible. The flash filled the living room, spilling from the window. His beast’s reaction was instantaneous. Hissing, coiled tight in rage.
Seconds later voices came from the house and he reentered. Jaylin still knelt beside Liam, listening to his chest through her stethoscope.
“What the hell is that red flash thing you use?”
Jaylin glanced up at him. With a resigned sigh, she tugged the stethoscope from her ears and stood. “It’s called a Splycer. During a Bahrraj episode, Liam loses all connection with his beast. The Splycer jolts the beast back into place, disrupts the episode, and brings Liam back to consciousness.”
“Why does it piss off my beast?”
“We’re not sure. All we know is the flash does something to a healthy shifter’s beast—makes it irate. Male therapists have to use trained half shifters to perform a shock. They can’t even go near it. It’s why I keep sending you from the room when I need to use it.”
“I don’t think you’ve sent me far enough away. I still felt its fury.”
She placed the stethoscope and device back in the briefcase. “Not like you would if you’d been in the room. I’m genuinely sorry for the discomfort. I know it had to be disturbing.”
Discomfort? He’d take that in a heartbeat over the seething fury he’d felt from his beast. However, she had “disturbing” accurate. “Do you use it only on Dsershon patients?”
She lifted a brow. “Curious, aren’t you, Mr. O’Connell?”
Aidan ignored the use of his last name. “Call me crazy for wanting to know a little more about a device my beast gets all worked up around.”
A small smile came to her lips, almost as if he had actually amused her with his response, before she put back on her professional face. “Remember Dsershon is extremely rare, so we don’t actually use it for that as much as you think. The Splycer is mostly used on half shifters.”
Now that surprised him. “Half shifters? Why?”
“The females of our race may not have a beast but we do have latent shifter DNA, which, as you know, gives some of us special abilities. Unfortunately, rapid healing isn’t one of them. During life-threatening injuries, we have effectively used the Splycer to boost the genes to speed up healing. It can save a half shifter’s life when conventional medicine can’t.” Jaylin lowered herself onto the couch beside Liam. “Now do you have any more questions or can I get back to work?”
“No,” he said through clenched teeth and stalked back to the chair in the corner.
Jaylin turned to Liam. “What did you feel?”
“I did what you told me to do