My Defender(13)

She shrugged. "It could be. It would make a lot more sense than them being sick; shifters just don't get sick. That's why I'm leaning toward an outside cause like a food allergy or a reaction to some type to foreign plant."

Magnus inhaled sharply. "What type of plant?"

"I have no idea. It could be anything. Since most of the children are wolves, it could be something specific that just affects canines. I won't know more without doing additional research. But right now, they're resting. I gave them a very low dosage of pain reliever, fever reducer, and sedative. So far, it seems to be working."

Magnus nodded. "I am glad to hear they are feeling better. I will provide anything you need to treat them. Children are treasures, and their care has the highest priority. If you need any supplies, let Kari or me know, and we will take care of it," Magnus offered.

Ellie was pleasantly surprised at the passion in his voice. He truly cared about the children. "Thank you so much, I will reach out to Kari if I run across anything that is needed. I've never received this type of support in any of the hospitals I've worked in. I may get spoiled." She smiled at the prince. "As of right now, I'm afraid it's a waiting game. I need to see how they react to the medicine. The next step for me is to check the blood samples my grandmother's gathering. I understand you have the start of an infirmary here?" she asked.

"We do." Magnus nodded.

"I have to say I'm very impressed with the equipment you have. It's all state-of-the-art. You also have every supply known to man for a NICU." She hesitated. It seemed rude to say she found it curious they had a NICU at all since there hadn't been any vampire births in decades.

Magnus' chest puffed out. "Yes, my niece is with child so we wanted to be prepared for any eventuality."

"Well, whoever set up the infirmary and NICU deserves a pat on the back; it's amazing. You have a lot of the heavy imaging equipment and almost everything I'll need for bloodwork, including centrifuges, electron microscopes, and refrigeration units." She paused when she saw the prince grimace. "I'm so sorry, did I step in it?" she asked.

Magnus shook his head. "The reason most of the equipment is new is because we had to replace nearly everything when my brother's lab was destroyed. We lost a great deal of blood samples and all of his research equipment."

Ellie winced. She couldn't imagine losing her own personal lab. She had everything set up exactly the way she liked it. "I'm sorry to hear that, what a devastating loss."

Magnus studied her face. "I think you truly understand, more than any of us here, how much that hurt Broderick."

"Broderick? Dr. Broderick Monroe?" she asked incredulously. Everyone in their world knew of Dr. Monroe. His research on synthetic blood was groundbreaking. "It was his lab that was destroyed?" she demanded. She was overcome with anger. That man had made strides in medicine years before his time. "Who would do such a thing?"

Magnus chuckled. "He would appreciate your indignation, but yes, Broderick Monroe is my brother-in-law. He is mated to my younger brother Caspian. I have assured him that this was just a wonderful excuse to upgrade all his equipment, but he told us is not the same."

"Of course it's not!" she exclaimed.

Magnus's eyebrows rose, and she hastily apologized. "I'm sorry; I meant no disrespect. It's just that even if it's older equipment, it's yours. I'm not sure I can explain it. When you work in a lab like that for so long, you know without even looking that a certain microscope, let's say, has a dent in the plastic of the turning knob, and you know exactly how much to turn it to get the magnification you want. You know without looking where your tools are. It's almost like you know the calibrations for the machines better than machines do."

"Exactly!" a voice crowed from behind them. She turned in her chair to see two men standing in the doorway. She saw relief and understanding in the smaller man's eyes. He smiled and stepped forward. She popped up out of her chair. He shook her hand. "I'm Dr. Broderick Monroe, and this is my mate Caspian Rioux. You must be Dr. Kimball."

Ellie stood in awe. "Sir, it's such an honor to meet you."

He shook his head. "No, thank you," he said simply.

She looked at him in confusion.

"Thank you for understanding. If there's anything you need as far as labwork, let me know. I'm assuming you pulled blood samples." He gently sat her back down as he and Caspian got comfortable on one of the sofas.

"I may actually need some help later. My grandmother is getting the blood samples of the children now. I'm curious to see if they have any kind of the elevated white blood count, that sort of thing."