by L. E. Wilson
One thrust caught him in the side of the neck, and he loosened his hands in surprise just for a second, but it was enough for her to turn the tables.
With a surge of strength and speed, she flipped them both over until she was on top. Before Nik knew what was happening, she drew back her knife. His eyes widened, Emma's ethereal face appearing before him as he watched it descend towards the middle his chest.
But instead of feeling the blade sink into his heart, he only felt a brush of fur as Lucian caught her around the throat with his teeth, knocking her off of Nikulas. He shook her violently in his powerful jaws, her own blood joining Aiden's to soak her gown, her arms hanging useless at her sides. The knife fell from her hand to lie in the grass as her head went flying through the air. It landed with a thud next to where Josiah and Luukas were still fighting.
Josiah blocked a punch from Luukas and glanced over at the thing, his eyes growing wide when he realized whose head was now lying at his feet. He bellowed with grief and struck at Luukas with a strength belying his age as a vampire.
At the same time, Luukas was attacked from either side by two of the rotting, grey creatures; Leeha's failed attempts at demon possession. With a roar, he turned to his new opponents, sending them flying away from him with a wave of his hand. He turned back to Josiah to continue their fight, but it was too late. He was gone.
Nik rolled over in the grass and crawled back over to Aiden, protecting his friend's body from the creatures battling around him. Whenever anyone came too close, friend or foe, he shoved them away and back out into the fight.
Aiden blinked up at him, and tried to speak through the blood filling his mouth.
Nik leaned closer. "It's all right, man." He gave him a pathetic attempt of his normal cocky grin. "Don't try to talk. We'll get you out of here."
Squeezing his eyes closed hard, Aiden opened them again and tried to speak anyway, but only a cough came out.
Again, Nik saw his mouth moving. He frowned, but leaned down to listen.
"Wasn't me..." Aiden gasped out. "It...wanted her to...kill me."
Understanding dawned across Nik's face. "That thing inside of you was goading her until she cut you? But, it sounded just like you..."
Aiden's eyes widened, begging Nikulas to get the warning.
Oh, shit. That thing was imitating Aiden. "Okay. I hear ya, man," he assured him. "We'll get you through this, and we'll be careful." It was a lie. Aiden wasn't going to come through this. The wound was made with silver. It wasn't going to heal.
Now that Josiah was gone, Luukas stalked through the clearing. He sent what remained of Leeha's creatures flying through the air with nothing but a look as he made his way over to his brother.
Squatting down next to him, his lips pulled back from his fangs as he surveyed the damage Leeha had done. "Oh fuck."
Nikulas bit back a sob and felt his brother's hand on his shoulder. He knew what it was costing his brother to be so close to the thing that was inside of Aiden, but the scene became surreal to him. He and Luukas kneeling next to Aiden while he lay dying on the battlefield. Only this time, Luukas' blood wouldn't save him.
Cedric was suddenly beside him, naked, dirty, and covered in blood. "Aiden, lad?" He looked up at Nikulas and Luukas in disbelief.
"Silver?" he asked.
Luukas pointed with his chin towards the knife lying in the grass near them.
Cedric threw his head back and howled with rage.
Around them, the other three wolves finished off the last of the last of their creatures and turned toward the group huddled on the ground. Their howls joined their leader's, ringing sad and eerie through the trees.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
A howl rang hauntingly through the trees, causing chills to run down her spine as Grace jogged alongside Keira and Emma. A feeling of foreboding overcame her as more howls followed, just as full of pain as the first.
The sisters exchanged a worried glance with Grace and picked up their pace.
Not the best at obeying orders, the girls had left shortly after the guys, borrowing one of Luukas' cars.
Emma had overheard Nik telling the wolves where to go, and had had the foresight to write down the directions. Once they'd found their abandoned vehicle, the two mated witches had followed their instincts as to which way to go, hoping that they weren't leading them astray. Turns out they didn't need to guess.
Following the sound of the grieving wolves, the three girls burst into the clearing.
Grace immediately zeroed in on the group huddled around someone on the ground. A quick glance around proved her worst fear was correct.
All were accounted for except for Aiden.
"No," she breathed. "No!" she yelled, louder this time.
Running up to the group, she heaved the huge males away from the body lying on the ground with a strength she didn't know she possessed.
Nik growled at her and tried to go back to his position beside his friend, but Emma wrapped her arms around him and he turned to her automatically. Tears were running down her face and she covered her mouth on a sob as she turned to look back at Aiden lying lifeless on the ground.
Grace collapsed beside him, staring at Aiden in disbelief. Two large slash wounds, like from a knife, wrapped around his throat. His head lay in a pool of blood. Her body felt numb as she picked up his hand and held it in hers.
He squeezed it weakly.
With wild eyes, she searched for Luukas. "You're a Master vampire, right? You can help him. Why aren't you helping him?" She sounded hysterical, even to her own ears, but she couldn't help it. "Help him!" she screamed when he just stood there.
But he just ground his jaws together and shook his head. "I'm sorry, I cannot. The knife was silver. It's beyond my powers."
Gradually, what she was seeing in front of her began to penetrate through the protective shield her mind had thrown up to protect her. Pain cracked through the center of her chest, knocking the breath from her. A keening cry rose from the center, gradually gaining volume, until it was a scream of grief and pain.
One of the wolves crept up to her and Aiden, its head lowered in deference.
She saw it advancing out of the corner of her eye and her head whipped around. An animalistic growl rose from her and without thinking, she crawled over Aiden's body to protect him from this new threat.
The wolf backed off, whining, and eyed her with a new respect.
Tears fell to drip onto Aiden's face as she bent over him to kiss his face. Her heart was ripping in two, and she'd never felt so powerless.
Lowering her weight down, she laid her head on his chest and listened to his weak heartbeat. Fresh tears filled her eyes as she stared through the grass. She could picture his heart muscle moving inside of his chest as the blood pumped through it. Could picture the blood moving through his veins and arteries to nourish his cells.
She could picture his body healed.
Grace sat up, straddling his body. He blinked up at her, and she tried to give him an encouraging smile.
Placing her hands over his wound, she closed her eyes, drawing on the powers within her. She could heal herself, and he was meant to be a part of her. Somehow, she would heal him too.
The others watched as the wind whipped around them, blowing pine needles from the trees to lash at their skin. Grace's magic shimmered around her in the night, giving her an almost ghostly appearance.
She vaguely heard Nikulas' gasp of hope as the wolves whined and backed away.
Concentrating with everything she had, she let the warmth within her flow through her body. It took her a moment, but eventually she felt it converge into one solid mass, and she pushed it down to her hands.
Now to get it to leave her and go into him.
She began to imagine his body healing itself, and the more she imagined it, the clearer it became until she could feel her power reaching out towards him. Although she'd never had to heal such a severe injury on herself, with her medical background she could
picture the interior of his body perfectly.
Her fingers ran along the cut on his throat, and everywhere they touched she willed his bones to fuse back together, his arteries and tendons to reattach. When she felt the blood start to flow, a surge of excitement went through her, but she tamped it down. She couldn't risk losing her focus now.
She reattached the muscle, and then moved on to his nerves.
He flinched beneath her as the nerves took hold, bringing feeling back. His airway was next, his esophagus, his voice...
The skin under her fingertips began to close and heal.
"Holy shit," Emma breathed.
Luukas bent down cautiously beside her, his eyes lit with amazement. He watched with Grace as Aiden drew a shallow breath. "Amazing..." His voice was filled with awe.
The wolves crept closer again and they all waited as Aiden fought to breath.
Grace raised panic filled eyes to Luukas as she fought not to pass out. The effort of using her magic to such an extent had her seeing spots.
"Can you help him now?" she asked weakly.
He looked from her to Aiden, his upper lip twitching with disdain.
Nikulas grabbed his arm and turned him to face him. "Brother, please. It's Aiden, man. It's Aiden! Not that thing inside of him. Aiden is still there."
Luukas shook his brother off. Taking a deep breath, he raised his arm and sank his fangs into his wrist, opening a wound. When the blood was flowing freely, he pressed it to Aiden's mouth, pausing only for a moment.
She watched with bated breath as the blood flowed from his wrist into Aiden's mouth.
Why wasn't he swallowing?
Luukas pressed his wrist harder to his lips, and Nik inched closer. "Come on, you pain in the ass Brit. Drink."
"Try to help him work it down," Luukas told her, and she moved her fingers where they still rested, massaging his throat. After what seemed an eternity, Aiden swallowed, and a loud sob of relief escaped her.
Reopening his wound, Luukas again pressed his wrist to his mouth, and this time, Aiden swallowed on his own.
Grace removed her hands and laid them flat on his chest as she watched him drink. Her heart thumped so loud in her chest she was sure that everyone could hear it. Even Emma and Keira.
When he moaned and his beautiful grey eyes flickered open, Grace began to cry all over again.
He watched her as he drank a few last swallows, lifting a hand to wipe away her tears. Pushing Luukas' arm away, he tilted his head back, his fangs bared as he inhaled the night air deeply and fully.
In a flash, he sat up. Wrapping his arms around Grace, he flipped her over, protecting her head from the ground with his hands.
She wrapped her legs around him as he settled his hips between her thighs and hugged him as tight as her meager strength would allow.
"Hallo, luv," he mumbled in her ear. "Did you miss me?"
Crying through her laughter, she held him close until Nikulas pulled them both to their feet to give them his own bear hug. Wiggling her way out from between the middle of them, Grace stumbled away, still unable to believe what she had done. One of the wolves slid up beside her, still in wolf form, and offered his back to lean on.
For the first time, she realized they weren't all still changed. One of the wolves was human again, and stark naked. She averted her eyes as he kissed Aiden soundly, and then trotted off to get his clothes from the shelter of the trees.
"Alright, alright," Aiden laughed as they all surrounded him. Wiping his mouth off with his sleeve, he searched for and found her, and his eyes immediately filled with concern. But then he noticed for the first time that she was leaning against a wolf. He scowled and was suddenly in front of her. With a hiss at the wolf, he lifted her into his arms.
"Sod off, Duncan," he grumbled to the wolf, gathering her close. "What's wrong with you, poppet? Why do you need a wolf to hold you up?"
Tired as she was, her eyes lit up with the amazement she was feeling. "I healed you," she told him. "I did it, Aiden. I healed you!"
He arched a brow. "Well, no wonder you look so bloody knackered. Let's go home, luv. Yes?"
"Yes," she agreed.
Not waiting for the others, he turned on his heel and carried her back to the waiting vehicles. But they caught up soon enough.
"You brought the BMW?" Luukas accused Keira. "My favorite car?"
She frowned up at him. "I disobeyed your direct order and all you're worried about is which car I stole?"
He narrowed his eyes at her. "No, witch. That's not all I'm worried about. However, we'll have that discussion when we get Aiden and Grace home."
She noticed Grace watching her worriedly and smiled reassuringly. "He's gonna tie me to the bed again."
Looking at the handsome Master vampire, and how he gazed at his mate adoringly even as he scolded her, Grace thought she could understand why Keira didn't seem overly concerned.
Aiden climbed into the back of the van, still holding her. Nik and Emma and the wolves piled in around them as Luukas and Keira got into the BMW.
Exhausted, she snuggled down into his arms for the ride home.
Chapter Forty
Grace had slept in his arms all the way back to Seattle. Unwilling to wake her, he'd laid her in his bed and left her to sleep while he took a shower.
When he headed out to the kitchen in his pajama pants to find some food for her for when she woke up, he found Nikulas pacing outside the door like a concerned mother hen.
"Nikulas, how long is this going to last?"
"What?" Nik asked innocently as he followed him to the kitchen.
"This hovering."
Nik shrugged and with all seriousness told him, "Couldn't tell ya. A week? A month? I dunno."
"Well, I suggest you clear off and go busy yourself with Emma or something, for when Grace wakes up, I fully intend on making her mine. In every way, shape and form, if she'll have me."
"No shit?" Nik asked with a wide grin.
"Yes, no shit," Aiden repeated. He eyed up Nik's bloody shirt. "And do go clean yourself up, mate."
Nik looked down at himself. "Yeah, I kind of lost it when I saw that bitch go after you with that knife. She got me a few times before Lucian ripped off her head."
"Ah, so it was Lucian." Something strange was going on with that wolf. There being no love lost between him and Aiden, or him and Nikulas for that matter, he highly doubted it was loyalty to them that made him jump at the chance to kill Leeha.
Nikulas nodded at Aiden's unspoken thoughts. "I know, something's up with him." He lifted up his shirt with his uninjured arm. "But look, man! Matching scars!"
Sure enough, Nikulas had a diagonal wound across his gut nearly identical to Aiden's scar.
"I can't believe you copied me," he said.
Nik laughed out loud. "Yeah. Cuz I aimed my stomach at the silver knife just so I could be like you."
"I wouldn't put it past you, mate. You know you've always been jealous of me."
Nikulas laughed again, and to his surprise, engulfed him in another hug.
"Stop, stop. Really, Nik. What is it with you and the hugging?"
Nik gave him one more good squeeze and then released him with a smile. "Goodnight, man. I'll talk to you...whenever you're done in there."
"Night, mate."
Aiden watched Nik stumble off to his room before he smiled, his heart filled with affection for his friend.
Even if he was nothing but a bloody Estonian bastard.
But that was neither here nor there. Right now he had other things on his mind.
Gathering up his bounty of orange juice, grapes, crackers, and cheese, he sauntered back to his bedroom. Closing the door behind him, he had a moment of panic when Grace wasn't in the bed, but a moment later, she came out of the loo.
"Hey, poppet," he said softly as his eyes roamed over her.
"Hey," she answered rather timidly.
"Are you hungry?" he asked. "I brought you some snacks."
She
shook her head, and he frowned. "Poppet, you really need to eat something."
"Aiden?"
He looked at her standing in the soft light across the room from him. She was wearing nothing but the large T-shirt she'd had on earlier, as he'd removed her pants when he'd put her to bed. Her long, shapely legs were smooth and strong, and her breasts pushed against the material. "Yes, luv?"
"Am I dreaming? Are you really here?"
He was across the room in a heartbeat. Cradling her face in his hands, he kissed her softly. "Does that feel like you're dreaming?"
Her green eyes smiled into his. "No."
Running his hands through her gorgeous, auburn hair and down her back, he breathed in her luscious scent as she touched the scar on his neck with her fingertips.
"Thank you for saving me, luv."
She shook her head in wonder. "I can't believe I did that. I still don't know how I managed it."
"Well, you'll have to pay more attention next time," he teased.
That steel rod slammed into her back. "You'd better not ever give me need to do that again." Her lip began to tremble. "When I saw you lying there, with your head nearly cut off..."
"Hey, now. None of that. I'm fine, thanks to you." He tilted his head down until he caught her eyes. "I do have something of great importance to ask you, however."
She sniffed delicately. "What?"
He couldn't believe how nervous he felt, like a young bloke about to have his first shag. "Have you thought at all about what we discussed before you kicked me out of my own room? And before Leeha so rudely pulled me away?"
Stepping back out of his arms, she said, "Yeah. I've thought about it." She cleared her throat. "See, the thing is, it wouldn't just be you I'd be agreeing to be with. You've got a demon inside of you, Aiden."
His heart plummeted in his chest. Was she truly going to refuse him? Whatever would he do?
"And you know," She looked up at him from under her lashes. "I have had some better offers from guys I was with before I met you."
"From whom?" he snarled. The idea of her with anyone else was unthinkable.
"Well, there was Gary, the marketing guy. He wanted me to quit my job and travel with him."