My Brother's Keeper by Alanea Alder Read Free Book Online Page B

in the units didn't have half the arsenal of spells they needed to keep them safe. Kendrick had been mailing copies of spells out to the warriors and the Vanguard for centuries in an effort to keep them all from getting killed.
    "Quinn is an excellent witch; you'll be safer with him," Kendrick said, keeping his tone neutral.
    "If you both think so," Anne hedged.
    "We do." Rheia said firmly. Kendrick winked at Rheia; after all, it was her mate going into town as well.
    "Okay, well, I'm heading to the clinic. A lot of the pregnant women will only stop in when I'm there, so I like to be there as much as possible." Rheia turned to Kendrick and surprised him when she gave him a hug. "Thank God you came when you did. I didn't know what else I could have done for him," she whispered.
    Kendrick rubbed her back. "You just worry about yourself and leave Keelan to me. You have a brand new life growing inside of you; that takes a lot of work."
    Rheia looked up at him, her confusion obvious. "You knew last night I was pregnant, yet I never said anything. How did you know?"
    "What do you know about magic?" he asked.
    "Absolutely nothing." 
    "Well, there are two main fields of magic, elemental and psycho/physical." Anne and Rheia just stared at him. "Earth, air, fire and water are elemental. Mind, body and spirit are psycho/physical."
    Understanding lit up Anne's face. "I played an RPG where the magic was classified like that. Different classes were able to master different things. Like a Ranger could do earth magic and a cleric could heal."
    "Exactly!" Kendrick paused his explanation. "Wait, there are human games like that out there?"
    Anne nodded. "Yup. I always choose a paladin, a ranger, a knight and a cleric. I go for balance."
    "Amazing. Paranormals think that humans know so little about the magical world, yet they invent games based on the very premise of our--"
    Rheia cleared her throat.
    Kendrick smiled ruefully. "Right, my explanation. Anyway. One of the types of magic I've studied is body magic. I could see the changes in your body. It's also how I knew that Keelan was an empty shell."
    Rheia frowned. "If you have studied body magic, that must mean others have as well."
    Kendrick nodded. "Some. It's not very popular since most paranormals heal quickly and rarely get ill."
    "It's so frustrating. You can heal so much, and human doctors have to guess and try to figure things out by process of elimination." Rheia clenched her fists.
    Kendrick walked over, took her hands, and gently bounced them until she relaxed. "There is another reason why body magic is so rarely studied. The body is constantly changing; every second, new cells are created and others die. Trying to treat something as simple as a virus can be life threatening to the caster. In that respect, your human science is the better method. In helping Keelan, my magic is keeping him exactly as he is, so the spell wasn't as taxing."
    Rheia managed a smile and squeezed his hands. "You're not nearly as gruff as you pretend to be, are you?"
    He dropped her hands and cleared his throat. "I don't know what you mean."
    Rheia snorted. "Come on, Anne, the sooner you leave, the quicker you can get back. I know that Aiden wants everyone back before nightfall," Rheia said.
    Anne looked at him. "I'll be back before he needs his IV bags changed."
    "Take your time. I'll be in and out of this room setting up my lab anyway."
    The women waved and left. For someone used to being on his own, Kendrick was shocked when the room suddenly felt empty.
    Shaking his head, he walked past Keelan's antechamber. His brother had set it up to be his library and practice area; it was a sacred space for a witch. That was why Kendrick was setting up his lab in Keelan's bedroom. He cast a protective containment field around his work area and started unpacking his equipment. Grinning, he loosened his pouch from his belt. He opened it and began to pull books and test equipment from the bottomless bag. He looked