Forever Our Ever (10 page)

Against all his better judgment, he leaned over and shook Kris.

Kris opened his eyes, sitting up slightly. “What’s up?”

“Ever is dying. Her body is failing and she is having trouble breathing.”

Kris leaned his head back into the pillow. “I have done nothing for the last five days but think about this. I want her back. It is tearing me apart that she might be gone from my life, our lives. I still can’t decide if this is the right thing. I’ve heard what you said, that she might have brain damage. I have run every possible scenario over in my mind a hundred times. It all comes down to the fact that I love her and I have to do anything to try and save her. I’m allowing my heart to rule over my common sense. Is it kinder to just let her die?”

Mick released a long and troubled breath. “I don’t know either. I was just considering the same question. I woke you up, which I suppose means that I think that we have to at least try and see what happens. It might actually be a safe idea to chain her to the bed, just in case it goes badly. We can’t take a chance that she is set loose on the clan.”

“That’s probably a very good idea. Do we have chains that would hold a rogue were?”

“The only ones that I know of are on the podium. They are the ones used to hold an accused were during a tribunal.”

Kris nodded and sat up, spinning his feet to the floor. “Are you coming or not?”

“If you want me there.”

“Where are the keys?”

“They are hanging on the wall. They were dropped off when Father left.”

Kris tugged on a pair of jeans and a shirt. He wrapped Ever’s cool, slightly swollen body in a blanket and lifted her into his arms. “I guess we had better get this done, or we will never know the outcome because she will die before we have a chance to try.”

“I don’t think she is going to last much longer on her own.” Mick turned and walked from the room, with Kris on his heels. He wasn’t any surer of what they were doing than Kris was, but they were going to do it anyway. It had started on the podium, and as things now stood, it would end there, one way or another.

Ever lay in bed, feeling absolutely horrid. She had been home for a week since her night with Carmen and had woken up two days later feeling like shit. It was even worse because he had not called her or returned the calls that she had made to him.

She hit the remote, turning on the news. Maybe if the weather brightened, she would try to go outside and get some sun. A photo of Carmen flashed on the screen and she scrambled to turn up the volume.

“The man has been identified as local entrepreneur Carmen Amar. He is not known to have any family, but is believed to have been killed as part of gang activity in the area. Anyone having any information should contact their local police department.”

Ever rewound the show, thinking that she had missed something. There wasn’t anything else. Carmen was dead.

Shaking in shocked silence, she started to sob. How could he be dead? It was impossible. Her bedroom disappeared, replaced by the podium that she had given birth to her children on. Ever was confused. Had she given birth? She looked down and she was no longer pregnant. She tugged on her stomach with her hands, looking for a scar or something to indicate that she had been cut open. Mick had done that to her and she had a vague memory of the excruciating pain, but there was no scar.

She heard footsteps on the wood and looked upward. Carmen was walking toward her. Carmen had been dead for almost two years. She was with the three now and she had just moved into the house on the clan’s property. Carmen stopped directly before her, putting his hands to her cheeks. “I love you. I will love you forever, but they are going to take you away from me. Come with me, Ever. Stay with me for eternity as it was meant to be.” He dropped down to his knees, taking her hands and kissing them. “Please. If you don’t come, I will lose you. You will lose me. Come back with me. It is so lonely without you.”

* * * *

Kris laid Ever down on the now-empty high podium. It was his seat now, and if things had gone as planned, she would be taking the seat beside him. Mick and Liam would sit on the lower level, but tonight it didn’t really matter.

Mick took the keys and unlocked the shackles. The accused would always be placed on the lower level and shackled into a chair where he could be seen by all as testaments were heard. Then a clan-wide ballot would be taken and tallied to determine the accused one’s fate. Ever had committed no crime. She was completely innocent, but as Kris placed the bands around her wrists and ankles, it was simply a morbid reminder of what they had come here five nights before to do.

He had figured that they would have a festive evening. Even if he had been forced to fight their father, he would have won. Kris had no doubt in his mind about that, and once he had taken his birthright, things would have continued on until well into the next day. There would have been eating and camaraderie, a time of companionship and a night to begin building new trust with his clan. Instead, it had ended with misery and four children who now seemed like a distant memory.

With a sigh, he lifted Ever slightly and clipped the silver band around her stomach. It was made of high-tensile steel, the chains of equal quality and craftsmanship. Mick put his fingers to her wrist. “Her heartbeat is very fast and faint. It’s probably a good idea if you bite directly in her throat, catch her jugular vein so that your saliva will flow fast and furious. If Carmen’s genes attack it, then there is nothing else you can do. Maybe if it hits her heart quick enough, her body will accept it.”

* * * *

“Come back where, Carmen?”

“Into the light. Into forever. I have waited for you, because you were a part of me. They are breaking that bond and soon it will be too late.” He stood, but his body was slightly translucent. Carmen was fading away before her eyes. He reached out to her and she took his hands. Ever took a single step and then stopped. She loved Carmen, but she also loved Kris and Liam and Mick. If she went with Carmen now…she would…would she die? Kris had promised that she wouldn’t.

Ever suddenly knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had to make this decision now. There was no changing her mind. If she took Carmen’s hand and went with him, there would be no way back. He was becoming lighter, his hands outstretched, tears streaming down his beautiful face. “Please, Ever. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

* * * *

Kris concentrated on Ever as he shifted first into a were and then into a full wolf. He condensed in size and mass, the genes in his body compacting to a stronger form. Biting her as a wolf was the most logical thing to do, his saliva slightly different and more potent. Kris stepped over her body, straddling her.

He remembered a night not so long ago when he had shackled Ever for the sexual fun of it. Now was not fun, and it held no sexual intent whatsoever. Now was the final moment of her life. No matter what happened, she would be permanently changed.

Kris bared his teeth and lowered his head. Forcing saliva into his mouth, he bit deeply into the front of her throat, lingered there for a moment, and then released her. Within seconds the convulsions started, her body bucking off the wood like a fish stranded on the shore. Kris lay down on top of her, changing back into a man to grab her arms with his palms. He held her to the wood, Mick grabbing her feet so she didn’t thrash them against the buckles and break her ankles. Her chest was heaving in an effort to breathe, her mouth open as she fought to take a breath into lungs that would not allow it. Her body was changing again, Carmen’s genes at war with his own. It was a war that was going on inside her, under her blanched flesh.

Terror flashed in his mind as he watched her. It was a good thing that she was still unconscious, because the pain of such a change would be unbearable. Kris had read about such a thing in a book of ancient clan tales. The circumstances had been different, but the man had been bitten first by a were woman and then later during a power dispute. He had described his suffering as the cell structure of his internal organs was altered. It was far more painful than the first change between human and were, because were genes were proficient at taking over human cells and changing them. This time, what he was doing to Ever was different. His genes were attacking Carmen’s genes and every tiny cell in her body was now at war as his blood waged an attack. It was like two microscopic armies fighting to overwhelm and take all existing property for themselves.

The convulsions stopped, her entire body dropping slack to the podium. Ever’s head lulled to the side, all motion stopping. Kris didn’t know if she was dead or not as he put his fingers to her throat. There was a pulse, shallow, but regular. Her heartbeat had returned to normal. In the dim moonlight, he examined her throat. All indication that he had bitten her was gone.

He turned to look at Mick. “She is still alive. My teeth marks have already healed.”

“That’s good. Right?”

“I guess so. There isn’t a lot of information about this sort of thing.”

“Yeah, I know. I have been researching it. Typically, the second bite is an accident and the human dies from it. Do you think it’s safe to release her?”

“No.”

Mick let go of her legs tentatively. They didn’t move and he stood, walking over to take a seat in the chair. “See if the incision on her abdomen is healed.”

Kris slid down to sit on her thighs and peeled back the quilt. Ever’s naked body looked like abalone in the moonlight. She was so pale, as if they sun hadn’t touched her in years. There was a raised mark where Mick had cut her open, but the wound appeared to have closed up completely. “It’s healed.”

“That’s a good thing, at least.”

“Yeah.” Covering her with the quilt, Kris got to his feet. With a heavy sigh, he walked over to sit beside his brother. “Now I guess we stay with her and wait. If she isn’t awake by morning, we bring her home and wait there.”

Mick nodded and Kris could almost hear his thoughts. Mick was wondering the same thing he was. How long should they wait? If a week passed and she hadn’t woken up, what then? Should they wait a month, a year, an eternity? Just the fact that her heart was beating solidly didn’t make her alive. Hopefully it was not something they would ever have to deal with, but it was an issue that needed to be considered. There were now only two options. Either she woke up, or she would die. Kris could not bear to leave her in a permanent state of unconsciousness. It wouldn’t be fair to Ever, to them, or their children. Kris had done all he could for her and now he needed to start thinking about his sons. He wanted them home where they belonged and in the morning, he was going to call Liam and make arrangements for that to happen.

Out of pure curiosity, he stood and knelt down beside Ever. Peeling back the quilt from her chest, he leaned and placed his lips around her nipple, sucking gently at first and then building pressure. He massaged her breast with his palm and then it happened. Odd-tasting liquid began to leak slowly from her nipple, filling his mouth. He released her and turned to Mick. “Go home and call Liam. Tell him to bring the children back tonight. Ever has milk for them.”

Mick stared at him in obvious disbelief. “Are you serious?”

“Do you want to taste it for yourself?”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“Then go call Liam.”

Mick got up and hurried across the open field. Kris sat down beside Ever and stroked her cheek. “You need to wake up. I can’t go on without seeing you smile again. I love you. I feel so bad because I should love our sons, but I’m having trouble with that. I’m hoping that if they come home, I will find out that I’m wrong. Maybe having them around will build some parental emotions. In the meantime, you need to come back to us. I can’t bear the idea that you will remain this way. I can’t leave you like this, Ever. It is ripping me to shreds to lie beside you night after night and not hear your voice. I need to see your beautiful eyes looking back into mine. I need your thoughts and your opinions. I need you…alive and laughing.”

He had done this to her with his primal need to have a child. The first scent of her readiness to mate had driven him insane. It had been an amazing night and before it was over, he had known that she now carried his son. Kris wondered where the feelings of pride and loving anticipation had gone. They had disappeared the moment he realized that Ever wasn’t waking up. He would do what needed to be done, but Kris feared that the coming days might prove to be the hardest of his entire life.

Ever sat down on the podium alone, with tears streaming down her face. Carmen was gone and she had chosen not to go with him. She was now trapped in this silent place to wonder what had happened to her. There was no sound now, not even the whisper of the breeze that rustled the trees around her. Where were Kris and Liam? Were they with her body, watching over her, waiting for her to awaken? What had happened, and how long had it been since the last night she remembered? She had been dreaming of Carmen, bits and pieces of the days and nights they had spent together before he had turned her into a werewolf, before he had died himself.

What had become of her children? Had they been born, or had they died during birth? Ever longed to see them with all her heart. They were her babies, they were a part of her and she needed them.