Midnight Eternal (21 page)

Her hands moved up my chest and around my neck. She pulled me closer to her, and I obliged, gently lying back onto the bed. As we kissed, my hands became
reacquainted with her body. I ran them down her spine to the small of her back, then down her thigh and back up again. Softly, I ran my fingers over her hip and to her stomach. She stopped kissing me and pulled back.

“Are you? Is it?” I couldn’t bear to actually say the words.

She nodded. “I think so. I’m sorry, I just couldn’t take that pill. My parents were taken from me. I just couldn’t make a choice that would end a new family given to me.”

I pulled her to me. “Babygirl, I didn’t want to end the pregnancy either. I just don’t want to lose you. I’m sorry.”

“I don’t want to lose you either,” she said in such a way that I was overcome with emotion and lust. Rolling on top of her, I crashed my lips onto hers. Her hands tugged at my shirt and I knew that she shared my same feelings.

I removed my pants and pulled off her top. I was being so careful of her IV that I didn’t notice it at first, but there it was, as bright as ever. “Your mark!” I gasped.

“Always,” she smiled. “It turns out it never goes away.” She unhooked the IV and wriggled out of her own pants.

I kissed her lips again and moved between her legs, positioning my cock at her entrance. It had only been a few days, but it felt like an eternity. I paused. “Is it safe? Are you strong enough for this?” I thought about the amount of my come that I’d given her before the first time we’d made love.

She smiled at me before wriggling a bit, teasing the tip of my cock with her pussy lips. “I’m tired, Oliver, not weak.” To prove her point, she squeezed my hand hard. Her strength wasn’t what  it had been, but she was definitely stronger than a human. Still being careful, I slid forward, savoring every moment of her body gloving mine. She was the first to move, needing the friction. I wanted the moment to last, but having been days after being used to orgasming multiple times a day, I knew it would likely only be a few minute event. Especially with a body like Bec’s, looking into a face like hers and feeling like I did. Our fingers intertwined as I moved in and out of her carefully, pressing my forehead to hers and closing my eyes. Nothing had been more perfect.

Her whimpers and moans of contentment brought my balls closer to my body, and like I had predicted, I was spilling myself into her quickly. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” I chanted as I fed her body with my own.

“I love you, too,” she whispered, but the change in her was already evident. She appeared less tired, though she was looking at our interlaced hands—more specifically, the place where the IV went into her body. “I’m so sorry, Oliver. I never wanted to do this.”

“I know, Honey,” I said, kissing the tears that had started to fall.

“It’s not going to work, I can already tell. Each day I feel a little weaker.”

I felt a lump form in my throat. It was nothing that I didn’t already know. “Babygirl, I’m so sorry.”

She pulled me to her, and for the longest time we just held each other while she cried. I kissed her hair in attempt to comfort her, knowing that nothing I could say would help. I just needed to not let her go. Minutes or hours later, I felt her exhale and then her lips on my neck, then my chin, and finally my mouth. We kissed, and heaven help me, my cock, still nestled inside of her, hardened.

I moved slowly as we kissed, our lovemaking somehow different, more meaningful. “We can give him a chance,” she whispered onto my lips. “Let fate decide.”

I watched a few tears fall from her eyes, not knowing what she meant.

“If I were Bocaj…if I were Bocaj…” she sobbed, “the baby would have a chance, right?”

Her meaning finally clicked. It was risky, and there was no way of knowing if our child would make it or not. If we didn’t do it, there was no way it could survive, though. In some ways, the baby had nothing to lose. I kissed her lips once more before speaking. “I’m not sure what would happen, but I guess there is always a chance. Just please, please be prepared for the worst.” A strangled sob escaped her lips. “But know that we will have our lives together, no matter what.”

That made her smile as she looked up at me. “You’re right, and it’s all going to be fine. I just know it is. When we’re together, I feel like everything is going to be alright.”

I couldn’t help but smile back at her. She was so hopeful and positive. It was just one of the many things I loved about her. Her hips began to move again, teasing my cock, making it harder than ever. It was difficult to think when her body was doing that to mine. She was sweet and sexy at the same time. God I loved this woman.

Picking up the pace, I matched her movements with my thrusts. She grabbed onto me and raked her nails up my back until her hands were holding my head. “I want to be like you.”

“Yes, Babygirl, soon.” I thrust harder.

“No, now. Oliver, now.”

What was she saying? Did she still want Gabriel to change her today anyway?

“I’ll…ungh…” I said, trying to talk while thrusting harder and faster. “…talk to… Gabriel…soon…”

She shook her head, her hair fanning out on the pillow beneath her. “Not Gabriel…you. I want you to do it…now…right now…”

At first I didn’t know what she meant, but my body did and my fangs came out. I tried to get them to retract, but she wriggled under me, arching her back. The new position showed me her mating mark, and in the center, it was almost like a place opened specifically for my fangs.

I had a thousand reasons…good reasons…why I shouldn’t do this right now. I’d gone over them in my head, with Gabriel, and with her even, but I couldn’t seem to think of even one in that moment.

“It’s dangerous!” my brain screamed, seeming to come to
its senses. “You could kill her!”

“She wants this, you want this, your child needs this...it’s right,” something within me argued, and its voice reverberated throughout me, deafening anything my brain could come up with.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, looking into my love’s eyes before feeling the toxin drip into my mouth.

“I love you,” she breathed, gazing back into mine.

“I love you, too—eternally,” I replied, closing my eyes and sinking my fangs into her chest at the same time I came into her body.

She didn’t yell, or scream, or fight, or cry. She did, however, become still…deathly still.

I pulled back and looked at her. Her eyes were closed, and it might have looked like she was sleeping except she hadn’t moved a muscle, not even to breathe. Before I could scream her name or call for Gabriel, there was the sharp intake of breath. She still hadn’t moved other than that, but that was to be expected.

According to the few people we’d talked to, the paralysis lasted around three hours. I’d stay here with her the entire time. Biting her had been purely impulse, leaving me without the help of my family. I knew someone would be in to check in on her soon, though, and I could always call for one of them if I had to. I turned my attention back to Bec, who was breathing slowly.

“Bec, my beautiful girl, I don’t know if you can hear me, but I’m right here. I’m right here.” I kissed the two droplets of blood that came from where I’d bitten her, though it didn’t look that much like blood. It was more pink and watery than thick and red.

I brought my lips to her forehead and kissed it tenderly, then kissed her eyelids in hopes she could at least feel me there. I was shocked when they fluttered open. I’d always assumed it was total paralysis, but I supposed that since her chest was moving, the involuntary muscles must still be working. Her heart was still beating, as well, though if the genetic alteration actually worked, she soon wouldn’t need it.

I hated that I didn’t know what was happening. My plan was to call Gabriel if something went wrong, but how would I know if something actually
was
going wrong?

I looked back into her eyes to see if I could tell if she was in distress. Perhaps she could communicate with me that way. “Bec, I’m here with you. Can you see me?” Her eyelids fluttered. “Babygirl, if you can see me, blink your eyelids.”

I was so busy watching her eyelids that I didn’t even notice her lips move. “I can see you,” she whispered.

I sat back in shock. “You can speak?”

“I can now,” she replied, turning her head toward me. I watched her body shift and she started to move slightly. “I couldn’t at first. I couldn’t move at all, but now I can…I think.” She struggled to move. It was slow, but she was no longer paralyzed. I wasn’t exactly sure how much time had elapsed since I’d bitten her, but it had been nowhere near three hours. It had probably been closer to fifteen minutes.

“Oliver, I don’t think it worked. You’re going to have to bite me again.”

It just didn’t seem right that I would have to bite her again. I knew what Bocaj toxin did to animals, including humans, and although I was a bit weak, mine should have disabled her for hours. I looked back at the place I’d bitten her and was shocked. The bite marks were nearly closed and only had a small amount of fluid leaking from them. I say fluid because it wasn’t blood—it was clear, like mine.

Her heart was beating, but more slowly than it ever had. If she was Bocaj, it wasn’t necessary any longer, but was probably functioning for the same reason she was breathing: out of instinct and habit.

How would we know if it had worked? It seemed a stupid question, but what would the difference be between this and when I came inside of her and she had Bocaj characteristics? Maybe that’s why she hadn’t been paralyzed. She hadn’t been human when I bit her, she’d been mostly Bocaj anyway. The question was, could Bocaj toxin transform a Bocaj? It seemed a question for Gabriel and the rest of the family.

“Do you think you’re strong enough to walk?” I asked, tracing her mating mark, making her gasp and smile.

She bit her lower lip. “I feel really strong, even stronger than when you asked a minute ago.” Sitting up, she put her legs over the edge of the bed and stood. It was a bit shaky, but within two steps she was walking fine.

I wrapped my arm around her waist and we walked onto the back patio side by side. Whatever they were talking about stopped.

“Oliver! Bec!” Caroline said, surprised to see us together. “Is everything alright?”

I had no idea if it was. I’d just bitten my mate…the love of my life. We had no idea if the baby had made it and hadn’t even spoken of it. I knew it was on her mind, though, as it was on mine. We didn’t even know if the transformation had worked. The answer to Caroline’s question, however, was “yes,” and that was because we were together, and together everything was alright.

Bec was holding out her arm for Caroline. “Will you please take this out. I don’t think I’ll be needing it anymore.”

Caroline nodded and smiled, though I could see tears in her eyes. Like us, she was going to mourn the loss of a the child if we did lose him or her. She assumed that removal of the IV meant Bec had stopped trying.

Gently, she took it out of Bec’s arm but gasped when a small amount of clear fluid oozed from the place it had been inserted.

“What is it?” Gabriel asked, coming over to us in concern.

“We wanted to talk to you about something,” I said, not able to contain the smile on my face. “Bec and I just made love…”

“‘Bout fucking time!” Shane interrupted, causing everyone to burst into laughter.

I chuckled, too. “Yeah, you could say that, but it was different this time. I uh, I injected her.” I pointed at the two nearly healed puncture wounds in her mating mark.

“When?” Gabriel asked, confused, though there was excitement in his voice.

“About fifteen…twenty minutes ago,” I said, looking nervous.

“Why isn’t she, uh…isn’t she supposed to be paralyzed?” Caroline asked.

Bec’s face fell. “We’re not sure it worked.”

“She was paralyzed for maybe fifteen minutes. It was spontaneous. She asked me to…and I don’t know, we were upset about the baby.” I cringed at the use of the word.

“I just wanted to give it a chance,” Bec whispered.

“And she asked me to bite her. It’s the only thing she’s ever asked of me, and I couldn’t deny her.”

“Slow down, Son,” Gabriel said. “So you and Bec were making love and you bit her?”

“Yes, right here.” I touched her mating mark, making her gasp and me tingle. “It bled at first. I kissed it actually. She went very still, but then a few minutes later, her eyes opened, and then she was able to speak and move not long after that. How do we know if she’s Bocaj? What if she just has the characteristics like she does when she drinks from me or like when we made love in the past?”

“How do you feel, Bec?” Gabriel asked, turning to her. He took her hand and looked at the mark from the IV, which had nearly healed.

“Better. Every moment I feel stronger and stronger.”

“Is that how you usually felt when, well…after Oliver came inside of you?”

She bit her lip. “No, I’d feel full of energy instantly, then it would slowly decrease. This seems to be increasing more and more.”

“Like you’re changing,” Caleb said to Bec, walking over to us while stating what I was thinking. “How was it with little girl?” he asked Payton, who was leaning down whispering to her.