When I pictured the clinic, I expected to see a big white building with big windows and flower pots sitting on the window sills and sliding glass doors. Nope, the clinic was a double wide, brown house with flowers planted under small square windows and a regular brown door that you have to open.
I must have walked past this place over a hundred times, thinking it was a type of storage building the last time I was here. There was no sign indicating what this building was. The inside was a little chilly for my taste.
The only few things on the light brown walls were tacky, black and white pictures of the woods and a big round clock. Would it hurt them to add a little color to the place? Caden and I stepped up to a desk that held a lamp, printer and a way out dated computer. The woman looked up from the book she was reading.
“Can I help-Oh my god…Caden!”
“Hello Carol.”
“It’s been so long.”
“Yes it has.”
They went on and on and I just stood off to the side like what the fuck. Wait, was that a hint of pink to her cheeks? Was she blushing? How the hell do they know each other? A million thoughts raced through my head and none of them were good.
The fire stirred within me and I tried my best to keep a lid on it. I need to find a way to keep control of my hybrid side, especially if it’s going to rear its ugly head at the first taste of jealousy. I concentrated hard on my breathing and for a few seconds, that’s all I could hear, was the air sawing in and out of me.
I snapped myself to focus at the light touch of Caden’s hand on my shoulder. It took me a minute to realize that he was talking to me. I mentally shook myself.
“I’m sorry, but what did you say?”
He looked at me with concern. “I asked if you were ready.”
“Oh, yeah…ready as I’ll ever be.”
My voice didn’t sound convincing, even to my own ears. I followed Caden and Carol past the waiting room, down the hall and into a room on the left. There was an uncomfortable looking bed with a type of paper laid over it.
On one side of the bed, there was a computer looking thing with a small screen and a bunch of knobs and buttons. A small built in table hung off the side with a type of gel sitting in what looked to be a warmer. Next to that, there was a thing that looked a lot like a hand held scanner, the kind that cashiers used at grocery stores.
“Alright Cora.” Came Carol’s high, pitched girly voice. “I’m going to need you to sit up on the table, lay back a lift your shirt up above your belly.”
I did as I was told. The bed/table was a lot more than just uncomfortable, but I couldn’t place a name for it. I looked everywhere but at the girl. I jumped a little when I felt something cold on my stomach.
“Sorry.” She said apologetically. “It’s cold at first.”
She picked up the scanner thing and sat it on my belly with a little bit of pressure and started moving it around.
“Let’s see what we have here.”
She moved it up, down and around each side before going back below my stomach. It was a few more minutes before she spoke.
“There it is.”
I looked at the screen and saw something that looked like a shape of a peanut, only bigger. She turned back to me smiling.
“That’s your baby. You’re about a month along.”
She tapped some buttons, zoomed in and tapped more buttons before printing out a black and white picture. She handed it to me and I took it with shaky fingers.
“Congratulations to you both.”
“Thank you.” Caden said with so much joy in his voice.
After she left, I just half laid and half sat there staring at the picture. What was I going to do? I’m not ready to be a mother. You better buck up, because you’re going to be one, came a voice in the back of my mind. I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or cry. The crying won out in the end. When Caden wrapped his arms around me, I clung to him like he was my life line.
Chapter 13: CORA
I don’t know how long I sat there, crying and holding onto Caden. Eventually the tears stopped and I was able to look at him through puffy red eyes. He looked at me with so much love in his eyes, the tears threatened to fall yet again but this time, I was able to hold them back.
We left the clinic in silence, the picture was still clutched tightly in my hand but not enough to ruin it. Caden had his arm around my shoulders, holding me closely to him. I was thankful for that, he was my rock.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Kevin making his way towards us. I tried to hide the picture, but his keen eyes saw it before I was able too. His eyebrows flew up practically to his hairline and a smile broke out over his face.
“Does this mean I’m going to be a brother?”
I looked at him confused. “Brother?”
He rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. Uncle.”
“That would be great.” Caden said. “Our baby would be lucky to have an uncle like you.”
Kevin smiled. “Hell’s yeah, I’ll spoil him/her rotten.”
I couldn’t help but to smile, Kevin’s smiles were always contagious. I held out the picture so he could get a better look at it. His smile got bigger, if that was even possible.
Together the three of us walked back to Caden’s place and I was a bit surprised to see Rex about ready to knock on the door. He turned around when he heard our feet scraping against the ground.
“Oh, there you are, I was just coming to find you.”
“What do you need cousin?” Caden asked.
“Your friend Kevin here, said there was something we need to talk about.”
“Is that so?” Caden turned his stare on Kevin.
Kevin looked away and started to whistle, acting all innocent. Caden cleared his throat and looked back at Rex.
“We need everyone gathered in the dining hall.”
“T-the dining hall?” I stammered.
“Yes love, it is the only place big enough to fit all of us.”
I think I paled a little bit. I haven’t been in the dining hall yet, not since I killed Cole there.
“Very well.” Said Rex.
“We will see everyone in twenty minutes.”
“Alright.” Rex stepped past us, stopped and looked at us over his shoulder. “By the way, I’m glad you guys are back.”
Yeah, we were back, but we weren’t sure for how long, well I wasn’t sure anyway and I couldn’t say the same for Caden. After we ate some food, we headed over to the dining hall. I fidgeted the whole way and kept getting odd side glances from Kevin. I didn’t say anything as we walked through the doors.
Everyone that lived here took up all of the tables and I noticed that there were more here than the last time. My eyes strayed away from the shifters and guardians and lingered on the spot that I took Cole’s life. I couldn’t look away. I remembered it as if it happened yesterday. The dagger sank into his flesh as if it was like butter. Shock was written all over his face and I don’t think he actually thought I’d do it.
Caden squeezed my shoulder as he walked to the front of the room and claimed everyone’s attention. He was about to dive into the reason why we were here until there was a commotion outside.
“What the hell?” I whispered as Kevin and I made our way towards the doors. We almost reached them when they were being kicked in. I let out a surprised gasp to see Ash standing there, surrounded by day light.
His eyes locked on me and he smiled. It wasn’t one of those I’m-happy-to-see-you smiles. It was one of those I’m-going-to-hurt-you-bad smiles and also kind of smug. He slowly backed away with his arms spread wide.
“We have a score to settle love.”
Kevin took a step forward but I grabbed him by the arm.
“I’ve got this.”
“Cora?”
“I’ll be fine.”
I looked over my shoulder to see Caden trying to elbow his way through the crowd of people that stood once they here the commotion. I gave him a small smile before turnin
g back towards Ash and stepping outside.
Chapter 14: ASH
I watched her make her way towards me and even though it’s been a couple days since I’ve last seen her, she still looks as beautiful as ever. To me, it looked like she was glowing, but that could just be the hybrid side of her.
My heart sputtered in my chest just looking at her. Now that I was here and looking at her, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to do what I came here to do. I was expecting Caden or Kevin to come out here with her, but somehow, she managed to shut the doors and keep them closed.
I could hear people banging on the doors, calling her name and trying to get out. Her eyes darted around the square and my lips tipped up in a bigger smile.
“I can assure you, I came alone.”
Her eyes landed back on me. “Do you think that was wise?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “Does it really matter what I think?”
She shook her head. “No, not really.”
We stood there staring at each other.
“What are you doing here Ash?”
My pulse kicked up at the sound of my name on her lips and my steps faltered. I stopped moving as she bounded down the rest of the steps, stopping an arm’s length away. I took a deep breath through my nose and let it out slowly through my mouth before answering her.
“You killed my cousin.”
Her eyebrows went up.” He attacked me first.”
“So I’ve heard.”
She laughed humorlessly. “So you came here to do what exactly, kill me?”
“Either you or one of the people you love.” I shrugged again. “It doesn’t really matter to me.” I said dryly.
She smiled. “Then what are you waiting for? I’m right here.”
“Yes you are.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Then let’s stop this yammering and get on with it.”
I didn’t really want to hit her, so I stood there with my hands balled into fists at my sides. One side of her mouth quirked up.
“If it makes you feel any better, he didn’t scream.”
I could feel the color drain from my face and I know that she was taunting me. But I still didn’t want to hit her. She took a step closer.
“I can tell you how I did it.”
I knew what she was trying to do, she was goading me into making the first move.
“I stepped over him, placed my hands on his chest and watched the fire consume him. It didn’t take long for him to burn to a cinder.”
I clenched my teeth tightly. Every muscle in my body screamed at me to attack. That half, cocky smile she had plastered on her face was what did me in. I swung at her and she easily danced away from it. Of course she did, I didn’t put all I had into it because I didn’t want to hurt her. But I knew, deep down, that she would be the one to hurt me, possibly even kill me.
I originally came here looking for a way out, but seeing her now, I just couldn’t. I noticed with each and every hit or kick I delivered, she would protect her stomach. Could she possibly be pregnant? Fury burned its way through my veins and each of my hits and kicks became harder, connecting with her body more. But all the while, that damned smile was still plastered on her face. I edged off on my attack because I wasn’t one to hurt a soon to be mother, so you could imagine my surprise when she ran at me. She jumped on me, wrapping her legs around my waist and bending backwards and throwing me to the ground. She sat astride me and that’s when I saw it.
I saw the fire dancing in her eyes. I could feel the heat starting to surround her body and I knew that her hybrid side was close to the surface. She looked down at me with her hands inches away from my chest
All the fight within me dissipated as I stared up into her abnormally, beautiful amethyst eyes. My voice came out as a whisper.
“If you do this now, you’ll be following in the footsteps of Levi.”
To get my point across, I looked at her stomach and back up to her eyes.
“Is that what you want for your unborn child?”
Something flashed in her eyes before she slowly rose off of me and standing to her feet.
Chapter 15: CORA
Ash’s words stopped me from killing him and I slowly rose up to my feet, never taking my eyes off of him. I could still hear pounding on the wooden doors of the dining hall. The fire within me receded back to its place just below my rib cage.
The dining hall doors burst open and everyone filed out. Caden found me and wrapped his arms around me tightly. I could feel him shaking. I wondered how close he was to shifting.
From the corner of my eye, I could see other guardians surround Ash with their swords pointed at him. I was able to find my voice.
“Don’t!”
They all looked at me.
“Let him up.”
They all backed away from him slowly, but they still had their weapons by their sides, ready for another attack if need be. Ash climbed to his feet and dusted the dirt off his clothes and skin. I unwrapped myself from Caden and stood next to Ash, looking at everyone.
“It’s time we had a truce with Ash and his people. It’s time we put the fighting behind us. I understand that it may be hard for some of you to do because this is all you’ve ever known. It’s finally time to be safe at last. We all deserve it and so do Ash and his people. I think that if we try to get along and hang out and get to know each other, we’ll see that they aren’t that bad. We are pretty much the same, the only difference between us is that some of us can shift. Other than that, we are all human.”
I heard murmured voices among my people. I caught Caden’s gaze and he stood there smiling at me. I looked at Kevin to see a wide smile on his face. One by one, the people around us nodded their heads in agreement.
After all the excitement dwindled down, we explained to them that we’d take baby steps and see where it goes from here. Ash had his own input and to my surprise, the other guardians and shifters listened.
We spent weeks with the Swiftstrikers. Ash’s friend Caleb took one of the guardians as a girlfriend and I’ll admit, they did pretty well together. At first it was kind of iffy. A few fights broke out but they all ended in laughter and a handshake. I honestly think that this will all turn out great in the end.
EPILOUGE
May 5th, Two years later.
Everyone moved out of the safe haven to move on with their new lives, all except Caden, Kevin, Kevin’s wife Joann and I. We took most of the units out, cleared some of the trees and built bigger houses.
Every once in a while, Ash, his wife Carol and their three kids would come over to visit. Caden and I had offered for them to stay here but Ash insisted that living in his mansion was fine.
It has been two years since the truce between our people, everything was perfect for the time being.
I was sitting on the bench by the small pond, watching Caden and our two children play. They were twins so we named the Jacqueline and Jack, after my parents. I loved the three of them to pieces.
Caden swaggered his way over to me and sat down, taking my hand in his as we watched our children play.
“They are perfect, just like their momma.”
I smiled. “No, just like their father.”
Caden captured my mouth with his before he went back to chasing the kids around. His laughter echoed around me, tugging at my heart strings. We have never been happier.
I stood from the bench and caught my son around his middle, lifting him up into the air and spun around. He erupted in a fit of giggles, making me laugh along with him. I smiled upon my family. I’m not sure how long this truce will last but for now, we were all safe at last.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Shannon Schoolcraft lives in Northern Michigan with her three children and long term boyfriend. She enjoys reading, long walks, writing stories, imagining life as a vampire and stalking wolves. If you would like to learn more about her books, please visit her here.
Https://www.facebook.com/pages/ShannonSchoolcraft/
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You can find her other books here.
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