Malcolm gasped and then shuddered as the bond between them snapped into being, her offering of naming rights the final link, a bond of trust and commitment that she could never step back from. The fury of the sensation took her breath away as everything he was came into sharp focus inside her and the strength of his feelings for her banished all her worries into the dark from whence they came.
He was hers.
She was his.
That was all that mattered.
Malcolm kissed her, wild, unabashed bliss in the touch of his lips and tongue against hers, but too soon he pulled back, ever mindful of the babe. ‘Abigail,’ he said, touching the babe’s back. ‘Giving of joy.’
Bridgette smiled. It was perfect. ‘Abigail,’ she whispered, kissing her daughter’s head. She looked up at Malcolm. ‘I love you.’
‘I know. As I love you, mo ghrá.’ He kissed her daughter and then kissed her, covering her with a blanket. ‘Now both of you sleep. I will sit here and keep guard over you. I will always be here. I willna leave your side. Ever.’
Bridgette closed her eyes. Never had she felt so secure and loved. The Darkness had lifted from them all. She had only room for happiness in her heart.
***
‘I love you, Eloise. Come back to me.’ She was too still for his liking. Her breathing was even, her heart strong, but she should have opened her eyes by now.
‘Iain, you should get some rest.’ Jason’s hand was on his shoulder.
‘No. I won’t leave her side.’
‘You’ve been up for three days straight.’
He hunched his shoulders, claws slicing out, as he glared at his Alpha. ‘Would you leave your mate?’
Jason shook his head as he turned to look at Skye. She was on the other side of the room trying to reach out mentally to Cordy, who lay in a stupor, unresponsive to anything. The look on his face as he gripped Iain’s shoulder and moved back to his vigil by Adam’s bed made Iain’s anger slide into guilt. Jason had barely been able to spend time at his brother’s side. He’d had to take care of pack matters without two of his most trusted lieutenants. He’d also helped the McClune Pack deal with their loss. He’d been stoic, as a good Alpha always was, holding two packs together despite his own worry and grief. He’d lost an ally and friend three days ago. And he’d almost lost his last remaining brother.
By some miracle, Adam hadn’t died from his wounds, but Bron had been unable to fully heal him, despite her remarkable talent. Something about the wound Cain had given him continued to fester and she couldn’t get the skin to knit back together. He was breathing though, his heart pumping ever so faintly, machines helping to keep him alive while Bron rested. She’d exhausted herself hours before on Adam and the wounded Were who had come back from chasing Cain before River had dragged her off to bed to rest.
Cain.
The bastard hadn’t been caught. Somehow, he’d slipped through their guard—after leaving some deadly traps behind—and managed to get out of the old tunnels and mines. By now, he could be with Morrigan. Who knew what havoc they would create together? They’d already almost succeeded in destroying a pack. Marcus’ death had brought his pack to its knees. Cordy’s grief wasn’t helping. She might be silent, but that silence was a tearing scream. Her pack needed her, but in her current state, she wasn’t capable of dealing with their need.
To see such a strong woman brought down…
His fingers clenched on Eloise’s hand. Cordy had lost her mate. Nothing would ever be the same for her again. Most Were didn’t survive long after the passing of a mate. He knew that from personal experience. Despite the problems his mother and father shared, his mother hadn’t lasted long after his father had taken his life. Not even her children could keep her here—and Cordy didn’t have children to hold her tight to this world.
Iain had raged at his parents’ deaths, but even then, he hadn’t felt it like this. Not as close as this. Despite the fact that Eloise had only just accepted their mating—they hadn’t had time for the pronouncement in front of pack, or to each other in private, to bind it. They were connected by the thinnest of threads—however, if she died, so would he. He couldn’t live without her. His heart would simply stop beating. He understood Cordy’s agony. Was astonished her heart did still beat. Perhaps it was her strength showing through. Like Malcolm when Bridgette had severed her soul from her body to protect him and her family and coven. He’d wanted to go with her, but he hadn’t. He’d stayed alive until the children were old enough to look after themselves. Twenty long, achingly empty years he’d lived after her death and he’d done it to look after those she loved. Perhaps it was the need of her pack keeping Cordy here—the need to be there for those Marcus had loved. Whatever it was, he didn’t envy her the life spread before her without her mate. Empty. Lonely. Endless.
He clenched Eloise’s hand again, his thumb sweeping over the back of her palm. She’d lost so much blood. Come so close to death. But he’d held her here with the force of his love; the force of his need and passion for her and the spark of life within her that had become so essential to his own. ‘Don’t leave me, Little Bird,’ he whispered, leaning over to place a kiss on her lips as he’d done a thousand times in the last few days. ‘I need to tell you I love you. I need you to believe me and accept that you are my mate. My soul. Come back to me.’
Nothing. As there had been nothing for the last few days. She lay so still, the bandages swathing her wrists hardly whiter than her skin, her fine features as pure as carved porcelain, her tawny hair a halo around her head and shoulders. If not for the beeping of the machines and the slight rise and fall of her chest, the steady patter of her heart, you could be mistaken for thinking she was dead. But she wasn’t dead. He wouldn’t allow her to die. Her spark—that unique spark that had drawn him to her from the first—would never extinguish if he had his way. He could feel it now, deep inside him, nestled next to the faint strand that was the mating bond.
‘You are mine and I am yours. That is all that matters,’ he whispered to her.
There was a change in her heartbeat. A little skip that made his heart hold for a beat. Her fingers moved slightly against his. Her eyelids fluttered. ‘Eloise?’
‘Iain.’ The merest puff of sound.
‘Eloise!’ He grabbed both her hands, his voice ringing around the usually quiet room. ‘Eloise. Can you hear me? Eloise.’
‘Iain.’ That whisper of sound again, a hint of confusion.
‘Yes, Eloise. I’m here.’
‘Iain?’ He didn’t turn at the sound of Shelley’s voice, the sound of feet drawing near. His attention was wholly centred on the woman who stirred on the bed before him.
‘Come on, Little Bird. You can do this. Come back to me.’
‘Iain? What is it? Is she waking up?’ Skye asked.
‘Shelley—can you feel anything?’ Jason said.
‘I think someone should go and get Bron,’ Shelley said at the same time.
‘I’ll go,’ Patrick said. Iain hadn’t known his brother was there. But then he was gone and it didn’t matter. All that mattered was the fact that his precious love’s eyes were finally opening.
‘Eloise. I’m here. You’re safe.’
She winced. ‘My head hurts.’
He smiled at the soft complaint. ‘Yes. I know.’
‘Then stop shouting at me.’
He laughed. He couldn’t help it. Just as he couldn’t help lifting her into his arms, holding her close, his lips showering kisses across her face as her eyes fluttered open.
‘Iain. Be careful of her drip.’
He didn’t need them to tell him. He might have been almost dizzy with happiness, but he would never do anything to hurt his precious Eloise. Hands reached in to try to straighten some of the cables, and he let them, but he didn’t loosen his grip. He was never going to loosen his grip on this remarkable woman again.
‘Iain. You’re crushing me.’
Well, maybe just a little. He laughed, pullin
g away so he could look down at her upturned face. ‘You came back to me.’
Her mouth trembled. ‘I felt you calling to me.’ Her gaze caught his, filled with such grief. ‘Oh, Iain. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. What have I done?’
‘It wasn’t your fault. It was Cain. You did everything you could.’
‘I should have done more. I should have …’
He pressed his lips against hers to stop the words from spilling out of her mouth. ‘No,’ he said, pulling back when he felt her still under him. ‘You did everything you could possibly have done.’ He closed his eyes. ‘Almost too much. Why did you do that alone?’
Her trembling fingers touched his cheek. ‘I didn’t want you to be hurt.’
He shook his head. ‘Don’t you know that if you hurt, I hurt? If you die, I die?’
She nodded, lips trembling. ‘I’m sorry.’ Her voice was the barest choked whisper, but he heard it.
‘Don’t be sorry. Just be here.’
She squeezed her eyes shut, lips pressed together, and then nodded again. ‘Okay.’
He frowned. Even though she said the words, there was something in them that he didn’t believe. Something she was worried about. Something she was hiding. ‘Eloise …’
Her eyes snapped open, her gaze meeting his, unflinching. ‘I love you.’
The universe opened up inside him, bright with the lights of a million suns. ‘You do?’
She nodded, the happiness in her eyes dimming a little. ‘But what if it’s not enough? I’m still a danger to you and yours. Cain and Morrigan are after me. They want my power. They almost got it.’
‘But they didn’t. You were too powerful. You drove them away.’
‘I did, didn’t I?’ There was some dawning pride in her voice. ‘But I’m not sure how I did that. If I could do that again.’
‘I am.’
She huffed out a laugh. ‘You can’t just say that because you wish it to be true.’
‘I’m not. I know it’s true.’
‘But what if Cain is in me? What if he makes me turn on you? I couldn’t stand it.’
‘Shh,’ he said, kissing away her anguish. ‘I’m not wrong. He’s gone.’
‘How can you be certain?’
‘Because nothing that dark could live inside something filled with such light.’
She stared up at him. ‘I want that to be true.’
‘It is. You’ll see.’ He could tell she wanted to protest but didn’t have the strength yet to do so, her eyelids too heavy to keep open. ‘No more arguing. You need to rest.’
‘Stay with me,’ she managed to say as her eyes closed.
He repositioned himself so he was lying on the bed with her cradled against his chest. Peace filled him, and for the first time in days, he felt like he could sleep. He looked across the room. Skye was crying, but happiness brimmed in her eyes. Jason’s mouth quirked in a proud, relieved smile. And Shelley nodded at him, a faint smile on her lips, before she turned away to stare at a space beside Adam’s bed, her face flashing to a pissed-off frown.
Sleep claimed him before he could worry about what that meant.
Chapter 27
A week had passed since Eloise had almost died when bringing her brother back. Marcus’ body had been given up to the light like Gabbie’s had, but unlike after Gabbie’s funeral, there was no sense that a healing had begun. Instead, the suppurating wound of his loss, of Cordy’s continued retreat into some dark place nobody could reach, leached out and touched them all.
‘They won’t recover from it,’ Iain had said when she’d asked him about it a few days after the funeral. ‘Not until a new Alpha comes forth.’
‘Isn’t there someone to take his place?’
Iain shook his head, the sorrow in his eyes making her heart ache. ‘No. Alphas are born and there have been none so far. The pack was hoping that Marcus and Cordy’s child would be it.’
‘Oh Goddess! She’s pregnant?’
He closed his eyes briefly, and she knew. The loss of it made it difficult to swallow. ‘She lost the baby?’
‘The shock of loss, her grief, it was too much. Bron couldn’t save it.’
‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’ She clenched his hand, her squeeze so weak, but he seemed to take comfort from it none the less. His fingers tightened around her hand, his thumb stroking the back of her hand, taking comfort and giving it in the way of the Were. She leaned against his chest, kissed his neck, knowing instinctively what he needed from her. After a long moment of holding and being held, she whispered, ‘What are they going to do now?’
‘Liam, the strongest lieutenant, has stepped forward in the interim, and Jason is helping as much as he can, but unless one of them Becomes, they’re going to be without an Alpha until one is born.’ He swallowed hard. ‘I have to go back to Melbourne. Jason needs to stay here with Adam—he’s too unstable to move. Besides, the McClunes need whatever strength he and Skye have to give them to help them go forward as a pack and help their coven restructure without Cordy to lead them. He needs me in Melbourne to maintain the stability in our pack.’
‘Of course.’ She looked at him and realised he was telling her he had to leave her. Panic seized her at the thought. ‘I’ll come with you.’
‘I don’t know if that’s a good idea. You’re barely strong enough to walk by yourself. Besides, you’re safe here.’
‘I would be safe with you. And besides, it’s not like I have to walk back to Melbourne.’ That made him smile. She was grateful to see his smile. Sadness wrapped around him, and she hated to see it. To feel it to the depths of her soul. ‘Besides, I need to get out of these caves.’ She shuddered. ‘I can still feel Cain here. I don’t think I’ll start to feel better until I’m away from that feeling.’
‘Okay. If Bron says it’s okay, we’ll go tomorrow.’
Bron was fine with her leaving as long as she promised not to exert herself. ‘You can stay at my place. But you aren’t allowed outside for at least another week and then only out into the gardens until I have a chance to check up on you—which might not be for a couple of weeks depending on how long I’m needed here. Deal?’
‘Deal.’ Eloise would have shaken hands with the devil to get out of this sad, horrible place.
‘At least you can start to study something about your powers while you’re down there. I’ll let Shelley know that you’ll be wanting to look at the diaries in a week or so, but not before.’ She held up a warning finger, wagging it at her. ‘You must be fully recovered before you start using your powers again. Understood?’
‘Yes, sergeant,’ she said, doing a sloppy salute.
Bron laughed—the first laugh she’d heard from the usually bubbly woman since that horrible night. ‘Good. Now rest up. The trip back to Melbourne tomorrow will probably be a drain, even though it’s a short one.’
She was right. Eloise was so exhausted when they reached Bron’s home in Templestowe that she fell asleep the moment Iain put her to bed and slept through the next day as well.
She got all the rest she would ever need over the next few weeks, with Iain ensuring that she barely lifted a finger when he was there, and when he wasn’t, he had his brother, Patrick, watching over her. It was a little maddening. She’d never been so cosseted in her life. After a week of it, she began to feel edgy. Especially given Iain was barely there, and when he was, the sadness and worry that emanated from him was so great, she didn’t feel like she could push him about it—about her need to spread her wings, her need to change and run free. Her need to explore her new powers and learn more about them. And most of all, her need to talk with him about their new mating, and how it had come into being—forced by her to save her life and stop Cain and the Darkness from getting her powers.
She wanted to tell him that she loved him again. She wanted to hear from him that he loved her. But most of all, she wanted to know if he forgave her for forcing the mating in that moment, for taking the choice out of his hands, to know that she hadn’t s
omehow damaged his Lone Wolf soul. She wanted to tell him that she wanted him in her bed—and not in the next room where he wouldn’t disturb her sleep during the night if he was called out on pack duties. She needed him to touch her like he’d touched her that night—not like she was likely to turn into dust and blow away in the wind. She needed to touch him in return, share her desire, the passion and fire that built inside every time he came into the room—hell, every time she thought of him. But if she did that, then she’d have to face the fact that she might have to let him go, to wander, because he was Lone Wolf, and he couldn’t be pinned down to any one place. Not even by his mate.
‘You’re behaving like a coward,’ the voice she now knew was Bridgette whispered in her mind.
‘No.’ She shook her head. She wasn’t a coward. She just didn’t want to add to Iain’s burdens. Not right now. Not when everything was so difficult.
‘Yes you are. Iain’s sadness isn’t what’s stopping you from asking him. You’re afraid to know the truth. Just like you’re afraid to know if you can control your powers. You should have called Shelley and asked for her to bring some of the diaries over. You should address the fact that you feel power building inside you every day, tingling under your fingers. But you ignore it. Why?’
‘I did ask.’ She’d brought it up briefly with Iain the day before. ‘Shelley is using the diaries. Iain said she barely comes out of the study, she’s so busy with her research of them. I don’t want to disturb her.’
‘Excuses. You don’t want to find out that the power you used to defeat Cain was just a fluke. You aren’t truly sick anymore. You could ask for help, but you haven’t.’
‘There’s nobody to ask.’ Bron was still at the mines with Adam, who was still too sick to move. Shelley was locked up with the diaries and Skye was, of course, with her mate, helping buoy the energies he was giving to Adam, his pack and the McClune Pack.
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