It took a couple of long seconds for what he had just said to register. Leukos looked shocked. “But how? But…?” Then his features twisted in rage and he snarled. “That human. You mounted that human, putting everything at risk? How could you do that?”
Cadon set his jaw. He could say that he had done it to protect her from Magnar. He could say that he had no choice, but neither of those explanations would be true. He took Kerry to his bed because he wanted to. Because yes, in this, he had been a selfish bastard. “Yes, my lord. Magnar had forgotten about my mate. I didn’t think that—”
“You are right!” Leukos shouted. “You didn’t think, at least not with the head on your shoulders, and now Ekon will be scrambling to find a female of his own. If he succeeds before me, he will be able to take back the throne.”
“Our males are loyal to you, my king. Ekon could try but he would fail.”
Leukos laughed. “And you don’t think they were loyal to my brother once upon a time?” He didn’t wait for a response. “Of course they were and they all still turned on him, as is tradition. I can’t take that chance.” Leukos turned, striding away.
“Where are you going, sire?”
“After I bathe and eat, I’m headed for human territory. I will bring back a mate.”
“You’re going to kidnap a human female?” Cadon frowned.
“You’ve forced my hand.”
“It won’t work. We’ve tried that route and it didn’t work.”
“It will work this time,” Leukos growled. “My crown depends on it.”
“It is still yet to be seen if a human can even bear a clutch and survive.”
“Again, I have been forced into a corner. I have no choice. We will soon have an answer to that question as well.” Leukos was mid-shift when a screech came from above. They both looked up.
Was that…?
Still a speck, growing larger. Yes! It was Worth. Ice shards splintered in his veins. Why was Worth there?
The male landed and shifted. His chest heaved and his body glistened with sweat.
No!
“What happened?” Cadon shouted. “Where is she?”
“I’m sorry!” Worth pushed out between ragged breaths. “It’s all my fault. I took my eyes off her for a few seconds. We were in the hospital. Amongst so many humans. I never—”
“What in feather happened? Tell me now!”
“That male got to her. He beat her.”
Cadon roared, wanting to charge Worth. Wanting to hurt the male. “How is she?” he shouted.
Worth shook his head. His face grave.
His feathers rubbed. His fur did too. “If she dies. If…”
“Kerry will be fine. It is the baby.”
Cadon grit his teeth to keep himself from talking. To keep the anger and rage that boiled inside, at bay. A few beats went by.
“Is he? Is…?” Cadon couldn’t say the words.
“He still lives, but it looks like she might have started the birthing process. I couldn’t understand exactly what was wrong. They are giving her human medi-…medi-cines to try to stop the birthing.”
“It’s too early.” Kerry was only just over the halfway mark.
“It is not our concern,” Leukos snapped.
Cadon ignored Leukos. “Take me to her,” he instructed Worth.
“No.” Leukos shook his head. “Enough of this madness. Our focus needs to be on preserving the crown. On helping me find a mate. Do you want Ekon as a leader? It has been many years since he ruled, since he chose to leave. Who knows what his frame of mind is like. Do you want a leader such as that?”
“I serve only you, but I’m sorry, sire, I have to go. Show me where she is.” He locked eyes with Worth.
“What is this female to you?” Leukos yelled. “She is expecting a human child, by another male. It is not your concern.”
“You don’t understand,” Cadon tried. “It is the father of her child who beat her. I—”
“You are not responsible. You mounted her a couple of times. It doesn’t mean—”
“It does. I’m afraid it means just that.” Cadon touched the side of Leukos’ arm. The male was in full regal mode. All business. He needed to instill something into the friend in him. The male in him. Right now, the king was fully present.
Thankfully, something did soften in him. “You have feelings for her?” It didn’t last long. “You would go against me for a human?”
“She means everything to me.” Cadon tried not to choke on his words. “The child too.”
They held gazes for what felt like an age. Leukos finally nodded. “I can see you have made up your mind. You may go, but Worth will stay. I need every male here. We have no idea what Ekon will do next.”
“Thank you,” Cadon said.
“She is at the Alex Peters Memorial Hospital in—” Worth began.
Cadon didn’t wait for him to finish. He shifted and took to the sky, a sense of urgency and dread gripped him like never before.
Chapter 26
Kerry watched the steady rhythm play out on the machine. The beat of life. So strong and true. So healthy. So mocking. Joy and pain wrapped into one. Her son was healthy and alive but only as long as he stayed tucked in her womb.
“You okay?” Susan squeezed her hand.
She nodded, not sure she could trust her voice just then. Too many emotions were surging through her.
The nurse picked up her chart at the end of the bed and paged through it. She clicked on her pen and made a note. “How are you feeling?” she asked. “Pain under control?” She took another look at Kerry’s chart, before peering over the document at her.
“I’m fine, thank you.” That word again. It wasn’t fine. She wasn’t fine. This was as far from damn-well fine as it could get. A tear trickled down her cheek.
“Oh hun.” Susan sighed. Kerry knew that her sister was at a loss of what to do. How to make her feel better. The problem was, she couldn’t make this go away. She tried to smile through her tears.
It didn’t work too well, because the nurse went on. “I’m sorry. This must be hard. Have you tried your husband again?”
“My boyfriend. And yes,” Kerry nodded. “he’s stuck in meetings. His phone is off.” It was a feeble excuse, but it was all that she had to offer.
The nurse gave her a look of pity. “I’m sure he’ll contact you soon. In the meanwhile, you need to try to get some sleep. Let the drugs do their job.” She glanced at Susan.
“I’ll sit here as quiet as a mouse.” Her sister said.
Kerry nodded. She wanted to turn over onto her side but that wasn’t possible. It hurt too much to try to move. She closed her eyes instead. There was no way she could sleep. Forget it! Not with her baby in danger. More tears slid from her eyes, hot on her cheeks. She tried to hold them back, but it was only working up to a point.
She could hear the nurse doing something next to her. Putting something down with a light click and picking something up maybe. The door swished open. Probably a doctor or—
Susan’s hand tightened around hers before she let go.
“Kerry.” His rich baritone both soothed and brought out the fear in her. Every ‘what if’ question collected in her head. What if the labor didn’t stop? What if her son was born early? What if he…?
Kerry opened her eyes and sobbed. “You’re here.” The tears fell freely as she laid eyes on him.
“I’m so sorry I left you.” He rushed to her side and then hesitated. “I don’t know where to touch you.” Kerry knew what he would see. Her face was bruised on one side, her chin scraped open. She had a band around her stomach to monitor contractions and fetal heartrate and an IV inserted in her arm. Her hair was mussed and her eyes were swollen from crying.
“With a cracked rib and a multitude of hematomas, you should be worried. I can’t believe someone would do this to a pregnant woman.” The nurse tsked. “Was he after your purse?”
Kerry nodded, her gaze returning to Cadon. This w
asn’t something she felt like discussing. “I should have ended him,” Cadon muttered under his breath. “Magnar was right. He might be an asshole but, in this, he was right.” He gathered up her hands in his.
“It’s not your fault.” Kerry sniffed.
“Um…” Susan cleared her throat.
Oops! Kerry had forgotten she was there.
“I’m going to grab myself something to eat. I’ll be in the waiting room if you need me.”
“Thank you.” Kerry said, her voice hitching.
“Any time sis.” Susan gave a nod of the head. “You call me if she needs me.” This time she spoke to Cadon.
“Yes, definitely.”
Susan nodded again and left.
“It is. I shouldn’t have left you.” Cadon shook his head. “My priorities were all wrong.” He shook his head, looking pained.
“You press that call button if you need anything.” The nurse motioned to the controller hanging on her bed.
“We will,” Cadon said, not taking his eyes off of Kerry. As soon as the door closed, he buried his face in her hands. “He could have killed you.”
“I’m okay. It’s just…it’s…” She pulled one of her hands away so that she could wipe her eyes. Tears fell in earnest, little sobbing noises fell from her lips. Pain welled in her and not from the injuries. Those were nothing.
“I’m so sorry.” When Cadon lifted his head, his eyes glinted and he was blinking hard. “So sorry this happened. So sorry I was gone.” He grit his teeth, blinking some more. “Is he, is…” Cadon put a hand on her belly. “Is the baby still…”
She nodded. “Yes, he’s still holding on.” Kerry sniffed. “I have something called partial placental abruption.”
Cadon frowned.
“The placenta is what feeds and gives the baby oxygen. It is attached to me and to him. Well, part of the placenta has pulled away. It probably happened when Jeff kicked me.”
Cadon let her go. He turned and growled. The sound low and menacing. He paced away, sucking in deep breaths. When he turned back to face her, his eyes were glowing a bright golden color. “I’m so angry right now. I want to shift. My beast wants control. It wants to kill that male.” His jaw tightened and his chest heaved. “It’s not the time though. I need to be here for both of you.” He walked back over to her and took her hand. “Go on.” He rubbed her skin with his thumb.
It felt good to see how much he cared. Helped soothe some of the pain. The blinding fear. “As long as the placenta doesn’t pull away any more, we should be fine. The problem is that I went into labor. The doctors aren’t sure why. Probably from the trauma, the stress…” she bit on her lower lip.
“It’s too soon.” Cadon swallowed thickly.
“Yes.” She nodded. “It’s too soon. They’re giving me something to try to stop it from happening. So far it seems to be working. They said I’m stable right now. It will be some time though before we’re out of danger. They’re giving me steroids to strengthen the baby’s lungs, but he needs to sit tight for a day or two or the drugs won’t work. Ideally, I need to try to keep him inside me for a week or two more. Like I have a choice in the matter. He would have a far higher chance of survival if that was the case though.”
“So, it’s a waiting game.”
She nodded. “In the meanwhile, they’ve told me not to stress.” She rolled her eyes. It was like telling a thirsty person not to drink. “I need to sleep, to eat something but it’s hard, you know?”
“Besides the stress, how are you feeling?” Cadon pushed some hair behind her ear.
“I’m okay, I guess. Physically…I’m sore but I’ll be fine. My baby though, he might not be okay, he might…” she made a sobbing noise. “I let my guard down. I…”
“It’s not your fault. If anyone is to blame, that person would be me for not keeping you safe.”
“Don’t say that. You’ve been wonderful. You never made any promises. You…”
“Maybe I should have…”
Had she heard right?
“Maybe I should have made a couple of very serious promises.” Cadon took back her hand. “Can I sit on the edge of your bed?”
Kerry nodded, watching as he did so, being careful not to hurt her. “You don’t have to say that. You’re just feeling guilty. It’s fine, I—”
“No, that’s not it. You’re very wrong on that one. This has nothing to do with guilt or pity or any other emotion you might think up.” His Adam’s apple worked. “I was mated. I had a female. We wanted a family very badly. It was at the time when the odd female became ill with clutch sickness. We took our chances and we were wrong.”
“You said you were compelled though?”
“Doesn’t lessen the guilt.” His eyes were stormy.
“She died?” Kerry whispered.
Cadon nodded. “Yes, she did. I tried to save her. I tried with everything I had. Gave it my all, but to no avail.”
“I’m so sorry. I’m sure there wasn’t anything you could do. You’re not a doctor or—”
“The Feral have powers of healing. Only, those powers don’t work on our own kind. It didn’t stop us from trying to save our loved ones however. It was like I was just as compelled to keep trying. Like a fool, I used up all of my power. I wasn’t the only one it happened to. Many males lost most or all of their powers trying to save loved ones.”
“I can believe it. I don’t know if I would be able to stop if someone I loved was dying. I would…I would try anything and give anything.” Her voice broke. She couldn’t help but think of the little one inside her holding on for dear life. She glanced at the monitor, reminding herself that his heart was still strong. He was fine! At least for now.
When she looked back at Cadon, he gave her a sad, half-smile. “So, my mate died and the thing is, we don’t mate again. As a species, if our mates pass on, even very young like mine did, we stay alone for the rest of our lives.”
“That’s awful.” Her heart beat faster. What was he saying though? What did this mean?
“We don’t feel anything for another. We don’t become aroused, we certainly don’t mount. We just don’t.” He widened his eyes.
What was he talking about? She made a snorting noise. “But…” She paused. “But…that would mean that you and I…it should not have been possible.”
“Exactly! It should not have been possible, but my hunger reawakened. I am only the second Feral this has happened to, but what is telling is that only two previously mated males have come into contact with humans. Myself and a male named Talon. Two for two…I think that means something.”
“Humans are responsible for this phenomenon.”
“Not only that. If more of our dormant males come into contact with humans, I’m sure we’ll see this happening more. Possibly even every time.”
“There’s a very good chance of it, I guess.”
“Magnar keeps referring to the Fallen king. His name is Ekon. Now our king, Leukos, was the second-born. We all used to serve Ekon up until eleven years ago.”
“Until he was sent away. You said he…Ekon that is…and the others ‒ guys like Magnar and Hagan ‒ did something bad. That’s why they were excommunicated?”
“Yes, they did.” Cadon nodded. “The queen died, leaving Ekon to spend the rest of his days alone and without heirs or any chance of them. According to our rules, the king must step down if he can’t produce heirs. Ekon refused.”
“Oh shoot! So that’s what went wrong?” It was all starting to make sense.
“Yes, Ekon refused because there were no more females. At that point most of them had died, the last remaining females were sick.” Cadon licked his lips. “He stated that the rule that he step down was obsolete, since Leukos could not have heirs either. Some of the males sided with him but most followed the rules of our species and swore fealty to Leukos, the new king. Ekon swore he would be back, that he would fight for his rightful place on the throne.”
“I see.” She pushed out a bre
ath. “So that’s why Magnar had to rush back to speak with Ekon. There is a chance he could mate again and a chance the Fallen king could have heirs, which would mean—”
“War.” Cadon looked grave. “Leukos and Ekon have come to hate one another. They—”
“Wait a minute.” She frowned. “You shouldn’t be telling me all of this. You said the less I knew the better.”
“That was before.”
“Before what?”
Cadon smiled. “Before I fell totally and desperately in love with you. I know you said you didn’t want a relationship. That it was too soon, and I can’t blame you after a male like Jeff, but I’m in love with you. I’m in love with this baby as well.” His eyes shimmered and he blinked a few times. “You don’t have to say anything or…”
“I want to say something.” She huffed out a pent-up breath. “I’m so glad, because I feel the same way. I only realized after you left. I wasn’t sure you were coming back. I know it’s too soon and…”
“Too soon for humans but it’s taken an age for our species.” Cadon was smiling broadly. “I’m staying right here. I won’t leave your side. I’ll get you everything you need and …” He sucked in a deep breath. “Things will work out, they have to. Life can’t be that cruel a second time around.”
“I’m so scared.” Tears welled all over again.
“So am I. I’ve never been more afraid, but we have to stay strong. We have to stay positive.” He squeezed her hand.
“Yes. You’re right.” She sucked back her tears.
Cadon kissed the palm of her hand. “I’ll never leave you again. Both of you.” He put a hand on her stomach. “If Jeff tries to…” He ground his teeth. “You never have to worry about that male again.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“I’m here for you.”
“I’m glad, because I need you right now.” Her voice hitched.
“Only right now?” He smiled.
“Not just right now, silly.” She licked her lips. “I need you…for a much longer time than just right now.”
Power Awakened (The Feral Book 2) Page 22