The Awakening: Aidan (21 page)

Never!

He forced the emerging beast to turn, using the last of his restraint to thrust his body through the opening and shut the door.

Then he lost himself to the animal.

…

Groaning, Jaylin shifted on the bed. Muscles screamed in protest and she grimaced. Why did she hurt so bad? She tried to swallow, but her mouth and throat had become sandpaper. Opening her eyes, she flinched against the sunlight that streamed into the room, then moaned again as her body rebelled against the movement.

What had happened?

She lay still for moment, blinking to focus on the room, which had taken on a foggy haze. Everything sounded normal. Crashing waves, chirping birds, rustling palms trees.

All the noises she’d grown accustomed to.

The haze slowly lifted from the room.

Had she drunk too much?

No. Definitely not. She’d had her fair share of hangovers and this was not a hangover. Besides, an odd sensation coursed through her body, something she’d never felt before, like an extra electrical charge that created a metallic taste in her mouth and a slight vibration in her entire body as if she’d gotten shocked.

Shocked.

Aidan.

Gasping, she sat up, then flopped back onto the mattress and moaned as her torso constricted. Looking down, she saw the faded remnants of bruises across her abdomen. The previous night hit her.

Holy crap. He’d done it.

She’d been certain she was done for, had been horrified that her last moments on this earth would be watching Aidan torture himself to save her, which had made her wish she’d never told him how to use the
Splycer
and instead had him hold her while she took her last breaths, so she could go to Anavrin while looking into his eyes, with regret in her heart.

Last night as she lay dying, she would’ve given anything to have been
Fewsed
with Aidan. Not long ago, she would’ve thought that a very selfish desire. Knowing she was leaving him to face the world alone. But in those final moments, she’d realized what Aidan had been trying to tell her all along.

No matter which one of them left this world first, death didn’t matter. They would have an eternity together.

At least now, she was certain of what she wanted to do. No more hesitation. She was alive, and she planned to live every moment she had left with Aidan by her side as his mate.

Considering how they’d left things, she may have a time in hell of convincing Aidan of that, but she was up for the challenge.

Gingerly, she sat up, cradling her stomach with her arm.

Where was he?

Maybe he’d gone to sleep on the couch, letting her have the bed so she could heal. Her belly grumbled. A small smile came to her lips. Or maybe he was fixing her some food as she did yesterday morning.

It was hard to believe she’d only been here for a couple of days, and how everything had changed in such a short period of time. She may have been pissed that Aidan had tricked her here, but she could admit now that it was the best thing he could have done for her—for them.

She slowly swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood. Her legs shook a little before they felt like they could hold her weight. “A—” She grimaced and worked her tongue, trying to get moisture to flood her mouth. God, she needed water. She tried again. “Aidan?”

A low growl came from behind her.

She slowly turned around. Aidan’s cougar had its nose pressed to the glass with its jowls pulled back, revealing long, sharp teeth as foamy drool dripped from one corner of its mouth.

Jaylin gasped. Aidan?

Sunlight streamed in from behind him. So many hours had passed. How many?

She glanced at the clock. Nine o’clock.

The storm had started around the same time last night, so she’d been out of it for twelve hours. And Aidan was still in beast form? How?

She cringed from the memory of watching Aidan fight the beast. The way his face had blinked between being fully human and partially animal. The teeth that had lengthened. The eyes that held so much fear in them, she silently prayed he’d succeed so he would never have to live with blaming himself for her death.

And had things gone bad, she knew he would. No matter if she would’ve died anyway. If he’d killed her, none of that would have mattered and he would’ve never forgiven himself.

But why was he still in beast form? Shouldn’t he have already transformed back by now?

She walked toward the balcony, clenching her arm around her waist. The cougar lowered, its back legs prepared to charge as a low, scary growl rent the air. When the animal threw itself against the glass, hissing, she froze.

“Aidan?”

Jaylin stared at the cougar, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. When a shifter shifted, he retained the human side of himself. It showed in the beast’s eyes, even if not the same color. Yet, no remnants of Aidan remained in this beast’s feral eyes. Only animal.

“Oh, God. Aidan?”

Her pain forgotten, she lowered to her knees, tears burning the back of her eyes. He’d been in so much agony. She’d never seen a shifter fight as hard as he had not to shift, the way his body had been broken, and he’d still fought with each stomach-turning snap of his bones.

Could saving her have killed the human side of Aidan?

How did she save him?

“I-if you can hear me,
please
come back.”

The animal only growled some more.

“Don’t give up. Please. You saved me. Now I need you to fight to save yourself.”

The tears slid down her cheeks and she pushed to her feet. She needed help. But who?

Trevor. If anyone could help, he could. He’d been a therapist for a few years longer than she had, so maybe he’d dealt with this sort of thing. Maybe he knew something about what the
Splycer
had done. God knows, she had no clue.

She hurried into the hall and found the satellite phone, quickly dialing his number.

“Dr. Foster speaking.”

“Trevor, its Jaylin.”

“Jaylin. What can I do for you?”

“I have a serious issue on my hands. Has any male shifter ever used the
Splycer
on his own before?”

“Of course not. The damn thing would’ve never been made if it hadn’t been for a half shifter inventing it.”

That’s what she thought. She fisted one hand in her hair and tried not to let panic overcome her. “So there is no recorded case of a shifter actually using the device, or what could happen if one did?”

Trevor was silent for a moment. “I think you need to tell me what’s going on.”

She quickly filled him in, then couldn’t hold the tears back any longer as she added, “I—I think Aidan is dead.”

…

“I’ve never seen anything like it, Miss Jaylin.” Rafael sat cross-legged beside her, looking at the pacing animal on the balcony. “I see no human in him at all. It’s like his beast has completely taken over.”

She’d buzzed Rafael as soon as she’d gotten off the phone with Trevor, just needing another warm body with her while she waited. Rafael hadn’t said a word when he’d found her sitting in front of the window, staring at the cougar, just sat down beside her.

That had been five hours ago, and he hadn’t left her side, unless it was to get her something to drink or more pain pills.

She was thankful for that.

She was doing her best to keep it together, letting Rafael keep her distracted as much as possible, but the longer she watched the cougar, the more she thought she was going to completely lose it.

“I’ve never seen anything like it either,” she whispered.

Not only hadn’t he changed back, but the animal was extremely aggressive toward her. She could just shift her position and it would bare its teeth and lower itself to the floor, growling. Rafael, however, could get up, leave, do cartwheels, and it didn’t even tense.

“When did that doctor say he’d get here?”

“Soon. He left as soon as I called.”

She didn’t think Trevor quite believed her when she’d told him what had happened. In fact he’d told her that she had to be mistaken and Aidan was just refusing to shift. Something that did happen on occasion when a tragic incident occurred. The shifter found solace in being in his beast form. She’d even given therapy to shifters in their animal form a time or two, because she could still communicate with the human.

There was no human to communicate with now.

She’d tried until her voice was raw, until she’d crumbled, sobbing into Rafael’s chest, who’d shushed her and rocked her like a child.

It had taken her getting almost completely hysterical before Trevor realized she at least believed what she was saying.

He’d soon see with his own eyes. It would only take one look at Aidan to know something wasn’t right. She’d been raised with a shifter father, had shifter cousins, went to shifter bars, had seen countless men turn into their beast, and she had never once been afraid because of what they were.

This cougar terrified her.

The whirring of the blades of a helicopter sounded outside. She pushed to her feet, wincing as her muscles protested, and hurried out of the room. Thumping sounded behind her. She didn’t stop. She knew what it was: Aidan throwing himself against the glass. She’d wept the first time he’d done it.

She hurried outside onto the tarmac, her hair whipping as the copter set down. Within minutes, Trevor jumped out, using his hand to shield his face from the wind caused by the rotating blades. He was a sight for sore eyes. Her only hope.

Dressed in gray slacks and pressed button-down white shirt, Trevor was a beast of a man in human form. Tall, pushing six-four at least, and weighing in at around two-twenty in solid muscle, he still moved with the grace of a dancer as he came toward her.

“Where is he?” he yelled over the noise, his short dirty-blond hair being blown toward the left side of his head.

She waved him to follow, noting the two other men who had run up behind him, and they hurried back into the house. When they rushed into the room, she hung back with the strange men and let Trevor enter the room alone, knowing the animal was more aggressive when it saw her. Trevor slowly approached the window, then squatted before the glass. The animal stared at him, its lips quivering on a silent growl.

“Holy shit.”

She guessed he believed her now. “You can help him, right?”

Trevor straightened, his attention focused on her but straying back and forth to the glass. “I don’t know what’s wrong with him. I’ve never experienced this. Have you tried talking to it?”

She gave him a disbelieving look. He held up his hands. “Forget I said that.” He glanced around. “I can’t do anything here. I need to get him back to the States.”

Jaylin had expected that, and was ready for a fight. “Only if we can take him back to North Carolina, Trevor.”

“I won’t argue,” he said, surprising her with his easy agreement. She’d thought he’d want to take him to New Jersey, where his office was. “Anything familiar can only help him. I’ll need to make some calls, get some paperwork in place before we transport him, then talk to my team, but it shouldn’t take me an hour and we can leave.”

She nodded, understanding what he was saying. They were bringing an exotic animal back into the States, not a human being—red tape had to be dealt with. Luckily, shifters had their connections for emergencies such as this, though a shifter who’d lost his human side was a new one. Plenty of shifters refused to be human, wanting to instead stay in their animal form, but this was different. Scarier. Because Aidan
couldn’t
shift back.

She wrapped her arms around her waist and walked toward the glass. The cougar immediately lowered in warning. She took up her place on the floor and seconds later Rafael joined her. He reached over and took her hand.

“Everything will be fine, Miss Jaylin.”

She really wished she could believe that.

…

A little over an hour later, Trevor walked into the room. “Okay. We’re clear.”

Jaylin climbed to her feet with Rafael’s help. The more she sat on the floor, the stiffer she seemed to get, but she couldn’t make herself move from the spot.

“Jaylin, I need you to leave the room.”

She stiffened. They’d have to remove her physically if they thought she was going anywhere. “That’s so not happening.”

Trevor sighed. “We’re going to have to tranquilize it. It’s not going to be easy to watch.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “You mean
him
, don’t you? I’m not leaving
him
.”

Trevor cursed. “We’re not dealing with a shifter’s beast right now. We’re dealing with a cougar. A wild animal. There’s no telling what can happen. You’ll be safer in another room until we get it caged.”

She looked him square in the eyes and tilted her chin up.

“Let her stay,” Rafael said. “I’ll keep her out of the way.”

Trevor rubbed his hand over his eyes. “Fine. Stay over there.” He pointed to an area by the door, near the corner. When they’d moved to where they were instructed, Trevor said, “Alric, Bastion, come on in.”

The two men came in with scary-looking guns, and Jaylin swallowed. Maybe she should’ve left the room. The guns made everything real.

“We don’t know what it’s capable of. If cornered, it could attack. The less danger we put ourselves in the better, so we don’t want to ambush it. I think it’d be best if we opened the door and just let it come into the room on its own. Once you get a clear shot, take it.”

Jaylin pressed a fist to her mouth, breath held as one of the men walked up to the glass. The cougar snarled, its razor-sharp teeth bared. The man opened the door and quickly stepped back, gun raised.

Jaylin hated seeing the weapon aimed at Aidan, had to bite her tongue to keep from yelling for them to lower it, but she knew this had to be done. The cougar growled, then hissed. A standoff ensued.

Minutes went by. The cougar not moving, the men positioned and ready to fire.

“Damn it,” Trevor muttered. He sighed. “This isn’t going to work. It’s not going to come out of the room with all of us caging it in. Everyone back out.”