fault, not the bonding.”
Her lips pinched together in a straight line before she said, “You blame the female?”
“Why wouldn’t I? If she hadn’t left, then he wouldn’t be a zombie right now.”
“I see. Let me give you a little perspective, Mr. O’Connell. Just as you have no control over what woman awakens the Drall in you—shifter or human—the woman has no control over you bonding to her. Did Liam ask Ava before he Fewsed himself to her?”
“You know that isn’t how it works.”
“That’s my point exactly. How can you blame her when she wasn’t given the choice to refuse him?”
Aidan blinked. Forced to look at it that way, he had to see the truth in what she said. But it wasn’t that simple. The Drall only awakened after a shifter kissed his true mate. There wasn’t supposed to be any fear of rejection. The instinct was supposed to ensure that.
Who would have known that it could backfire so badly? That what Liam was going through was truly a possibility for any shifter?
“Not an easy pill to swallow, is it?”
He remained silent, not liking the superior tone she was using. It would seem Dr. Avgar wasn’t down with the ways of shifter mating. He could only assume Jaylin felt the same way. The idea made him edgy. What if she was his mate? She wasn’t a human. She’d know each step of the mating ritual. The first being his bonding to her. Would she stop him? Could he stop himself?
He shook off his thoughts. He wouldn’t wind up like Liam. Two Dserted shifters in the same town was inconceivable.
Jaylin cleared her throat. “I see the truth doesn’t sit well with you. Do I need to bring some rainbows and kittens back into the subject?”
He frowned. He could do without her patronizing him. He wasn’t a child. He’d seen the bad with Liam—with his brother. But he’d seen the good, the awing, made-it-worth-risking-the-bad, good. “I think you have a very narrow-minded view of the Fewshon.”
She arched a brow. “Oh, really? I’m sorry I’ve busted your happy little bubble, Mr. O’Connell, but I’ll throw you a bone, okay? The Drall is accurate ninety-nine percent of the time.”
“Why not a hundred percent?”
She shrugged. “With Dsershon being so rare, we’ve not been able to study it enough to find a reason for the glitch, so it’s a mystery.”
“Will Liam ever be whole again?”
“No. He won’t.” She gave a sad smile. “He needs therapy. What you saw yesterday is only the beginning of a situation that will just get worse. If he doesn’t learn to cope, there’s a chance he’ll go into a Bahrraj episode that no one can bring him back from.”
Aidan hung his head. Damn it. “How long does he have before it gets worse?”
“There isn’t a timetable for these things. Each shifter is different. How the loss manifests itself depends on the circumstances.”
“Have you worked on a lot of rejected cases?”
Her eyes darkened as her lips tightened. “As one of the few half shifters in the US who specializes in Dsershon and Wydowed patients, I’ve seen my fair share. No case is pretty, Mr. O’Connell.”
“Why did you quit?”
She started to stand. “I stayed to answer questions for you in regards to Liam’s condition. I did not authorize a Q-and-A session about my personal decisions. If you are finished, then I’ll take my leave.”
Aidan held up his hands. “No. I have a few more questions.”
She sighed, but settled back on the couch and raised a brow.
“Is there anything I can do when one of these episodes hits him?”
“Just try to bring him out of it as quickly as you can with the techniques I described to you over the phone.”
“Are there any warning signs I should look for?”
“Not for you. No. And really not for Liam. When it hits, it’s crippling. There’s a split second before it happens when there’s a sensation he needs to learn to identify. Learning this cue is the key to keep him from going deep into Bahrraj like he did last night. Eventually he’ll be able to get himself out of the episodes and live a relatively normal life.”
Relatively normal. That sounded awful, but he guessed it was better than the other option. “He was catatonic. His body was there.” Aidan shuddered. “But he was vacant.”
Her warm palm squeezed his fingers. His eyes shot to the small hand covering his much larger one. “I know this isn’t easy for you. Liam has changed, hasn’t he?”
He lifted his head and