| A Test Or A Gift?

Nelly worried her lower lip as she rose and turned to Natalie. "Can you help?" she asked as she frantically looked between them all. Nelly knew that Natalie could decide not to help a pack mate if that person was dumb enough to drug themselves into a practically catatonic state, but she hoped Natalie could see that Arya wasn't the type of person who would do drugs. 

As if Natalie knew what Nelly was thinking, she set her hands on the girl's shoulder and smiled. "Of course, I can heal her. We just need to find out if Renee will let us use her event tent. I can't heal her here." 

"For you, I'm sure she will. But I'll go ask her nonetheless," Zane rasped before disappearing into the crowd. 

"Do you think someone spiked her drink?" Shirley asked and Nelly haved a sign.

"She was fine up until those rouge werewolves began sniffing around her." Nelly's voice had a panicky ting to it as she continued, "I told her not to go around them but she didn't listen. I got pissed and walked out on her. I should've never left her."

Richard nodded but gave his sister a reassuring smile. "It wasn't your fault, hun. I am glad you didn't go near them." Turning to Natalie, he explained, "When we discovered Arya, I chased them off. I wish I had broken some noses first, but I didn't want to cause a scene." 

Natalie nodded. "It's okay. You did the right thing. Renee wouldn't have wanted anything to spoil her carefully planned event. Although she's going to be so pissed off when she hears that someone brought drugs to the solace and used them to spike people's drinks." 

"I'm sure she will. I know Mark wouldn't want you anywhere near the solace after this." Richard asserted and Natalie had to use all her willpower not to scoff.

"It's only a few days until the mating ceremony," Nelly added, excitement lacing her voice. "You must be pretty excited." 

"I'm sure she is. Although it was cool what you did at the dinner last week, how you knocked him out of his chair," said Richard with a grin. Nelly had been one of the females staring at Mark that night, and it seemed like Richard didn't like that. Good. He was a smart man.

"Yeah! We all noticed that. What did he do to deserve that?" 

The disapproval in Nelly's voice was causing Natalie distress. She ran a hand through her hair, hoping she didn't look as stressed out as she was feeling. She knew she had to give them an answer, but the lord knew they wouldn't like what she was about to say. Thankfully, as she was about to say how much of a Margot it was, a hand tapped her shoulder, and she swerved around to find Zane.

"Renee said it's okay. She's waiting by the door with the key. She said she zipped it locked to protect her stuff." 

Natalie nodded. "Come on then people, let's get Arya moved."

Natalie grabbed Arya's purse as Richard and Zane each draped one of Arya's arms over their shoulders and lifted her from the chair. She didn't react other than to let out a low whiny moan. With Nelly and Shirley on either side of her, Natalie led the way to the tent, making room through the crowds for the guys to carry Arya through without dropping her on her ass. 

Five footsteps later Natalie accidentally bumped into a curvy brunette. A familiar curvy brunette. Everything about her was false; her breasts, her plush upper lip, her eyelashes, her nails. God, even the length of her hair wasn't natural – she clearly wore hair extensions. Hell, she was so fake she probably had 'Made in China stamped somewhere on her body. Natalie would've happily ignored her if she hadn't turned and sneered, speaking in that acidic tone of hers.

"Well if it isn't the Kage." 

Having been listening to Brandy's crap for years, Natalie could only roll her eyes and sigh. "Must we go through this every time? Yeah, I'm Kage, get over it." 

"Should you even be here? This is a werewolf event and when you think about it, you don't count as one, do you?" 

Noting how loud and obvious Brandy was being and just how close she was to the notorious alpha of the local falcon pack, realization dawned. "Oh, you're putting on a show for the big bad alpha here. I'm sure he's very impressed hearing you mouth off to someone who you believe is weaker than yourself." 

Shirley snorted. "You'd think she would have learned her lesson years ago when you kicked her ass at the school prom." 

Brandy's face scrunched up in mortification. "I had a migraine that day." 

"Sure you did," Zane scoffed dryly. 

Turning her attention back to Natalie, Brandy shot her a wicked smirk. "How's your dad? Is he doing as good as when I left him last night?" 

Raven growled inside Natalie's head. "You know, one day you're going to get seriously banged up and need fixing, and I'm not going to do a damn thing about it." 

"Ooh, did I touch a nerve?" 

"You get on my nerves, does that count? Now as much as this might surprise you, Brandy, the world doesn't revolve around you. I have shit to do, including helping out Arya here, so run along." 

She stepped a little closer, pouting. "But I'm having fun, aren't you little freak?" 

With a speed that Brandy hadn't been expecting, Natalie grabbed Brandy's hair and yanked down, connecting her makeup-filled face with a sharply rising knee. There was a crunch – her nose, probably. Then she flung a squealing yet dazed Brandy aside and watched as she landed awkwardly on her ass. "Now I'm having fun."

Ignoring the claps and cheers – did all guys love watching females fight? – Natalie continued making her way to the tent. Renee had already unzipped the tent and held it open, allowing them all to enter. She then cleared off the surface of a wooden table and the guys carefully laid Arya on top of it. 

Knowing the drill, Nelly made sure to hold the tent door open while Zane, Shirley, Richard, and Renee stood at the other end of the tent in other to give Natalie some space.

Natalie placed her palm over Arya's forehead and, as quick as that, there were patches of luminous lights shining through Arya's skin, indicating where the most damage was done by the drug Arya had taken. The first light was coming from her stomach, making her baby pink dress give off a neon glow. The other was beneath her scalp, gleaming behind her dark hair. 

Natalie bent over and opened Arya's mouth as if she would give her the kiss of life. It wasn't quite far from the truth. She put her mouth to Arya's and then inhaled deeply until she tasted the foulness she had been expecting. When she could breathe in no more, she lifted her head and turned it toward the open tent before blowing all the foulness out of her lungs. It escaped her mouth in a whoosh of what looked like black particles and zoomed out of the window.

Natalie repeated the process over and over until Arya's stomach and scalp no longer glowed, indicating that all of what had been polluting her insides was gone. Natalie then stumbled backward, breathless and a little weak. "It's done. She will wake up soon." 

Zane was beside her before she knew it, urging her into a leather chair and placing a bottle of water into her hand. 

Shirley shook her head. "No matter how many times I see you do that it always amazes me." 

"So…you extracted the drug from her system?" Renee asked in wonder. 

"No," Natalie rasped. "I can't explain it well, but it's like I extract the badness." 

"Like… the bad effects of the drug or illness or injury?" 

Nodding, she replied, "Kind of, yeah." 

"That was so cool," Nelly wined. "Even cooler than when you broke Brandy's nose. You going to heal her?" 

Natalie tilted her head as she considered it, then shook her head with a wide smirk "Nah. Let her feel the effects of her bad mouth for once. She deserves it."