by Niles, Abby
What if she never got to make amends and he died thinking she didn’t care for him? He died hating her?
Her throat tightened in terror. Oh God, she had to find him. Tell him how she felt, so there was no longer any doubt.
“Please be okay. Please be okay.”
She stepped into the woods, wincing as the earth shook beneath her feet as another round of thunder boomed overhead.
“Aidan! I’m so sorry! Please come out!”
She took a dozen more steps before a shadow moved out from underneath a dead tree about twenty feet away.
A cougar.
Aidan.
He transformed and shouted, “What the hell are you doing out here?”
Relief almost brought her to her knees. He wasn’t hurt. Dying. He was whole.
All her misgiving left, leaving her feeling liberated, truly free.
She loved this man.
She stepped toward him, wanting to wrap herself around him and never let go. Orange sparks followed by a sickening crack stopped her in her tracks and she ducked, covering her head with her arms.
Everything slowed to a crawl.
The crashing sound of the branch hurtling toward her, Aidan roaring her name as he stumbled forward, the gasp of realization that the split second she’d needed to move was gone. The thick limb crushed her to the ground. A moment of pain ricocheted throughout her body.
Then she felt nothing.
…
“No!”
Aidan shoved the huge limb aside as if it weighed no more than a piece of paper, and he knelt beside her. Terror made his body tremble, leaving his beast momentarily stunned.
It’d happened so fast. One moment he’d been trying to convince himself that love hadn’t just softened her face, the next he’d been running toward her in a blind panic. Her body crumbled beneath the weight of the wood.
And now she lay on her side. So still.
“Jay—” his voice cracked, and he cleared it. “Jaylin?”
Hands shaking, he gently turned her over. His throat constricted. Blood mixed with rain, creating a watery red trail from one corner of her mouth to across her cheek. Aidan moved over her, protecting her head from the downpour, as he pressed two fingers into the side of her neck.
Faint, but there. He closed his eyes in relief.
Another boom of thunder shook around them, then hail pelted his naked skin with sharp needle-like pricks. He huddled closer to Jaylin, wrapping his arms around her head, blinking the water out of his eyes as he calculated the distance to the house.
Moving her was a horrible idea, but the danger out here was more threatening. After gathering her in his arms and tucking her as close to him as possible, he sprinted across the beach and into the house. She made no noise, no movement. Her body limp.
As he carried her through the house, he used the light to take a quick inventory of her injuries. No broken bones that he could see. No gaping wounds. Minor scrapes on her arms and neck. Nothing surface. His throat tightened further, fear he hadn’t known a person was capable of gripping him.
When he reached the bedroom, he gently laid her on the middle of the bed, horrified at the labored way she’d started to breathe. He opened her robe and moaned. “No. No. No.”
Dark purple stained her torso. Internal bleeding.
There was nothing he could do. Nothing.
A pained groan came from her as her eyes fluttered open. Aidan crawled up beside her, brushing the wet strands from her face. Fear shone in her eyes as she looked up at him and she gasped for breath.
He shushed her, tears scalding the back of his. “Don’t you die on me.”
“Ai—” A gurgle, then more blood slipped out of the corner of her mouth.
Her struggle to speak almost undid him. He shot off the bed, tearing through the room desperate to find anything to help, knowing it was futile. A blow like this was fatal.
His eyes landed on her briefcase. Or was it?
Jaylin had said the red flash device was used to bring a half shifter’s latent shifter DNA to the surface during extreme injuries.
She’d thought she was going on a working trip. Had she brought it?
He stumbled forward, hand shaking as he undid the latch on the case. On top of the fake Biggerstaff file sat the device, along with her stethoscope, a tape recorder, paper, and pens. She’d been prepared to work.
He glanced at Jaylin lying helplessly on the bed, her chest fighting to just take a breath. This never would’ve happened if he hadn’t tricked her into coming here. She’d be healthy, full of life, not fighting for it—and slowly losing the battle.
Aidan looked back at the contraption. A new fear churned his gut, remembering his beast’s anger even with him in the next room away from the flash. What would happen if he were in the same room?
It was the only chance she had, though. Even if he called the mainland, it would be at least an hour before help arrived. She didn’t have that much time.
This was the only hope they had.
Device in his hand, he moved back to the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress. “Jaylin?”
When her eyes slowly opened and shifted toward him, he held up the instrument. “How do I use this?”
The fear in her eyes grew as her gaze darted between him and the device. She slightly shook her head.
“It’s the only way.” He took her hand. “Show me where to put it.”
She silently refused his request by clenching her hand closed.
“Show! Me!”
She turned her head away, staring in the opposite direction, again denying him the chance to save her. It infuriated him that she’d rather die than let him help. Aidan hurried around the bed and bent close to her face, curling a hand around one of hers and holding tight, as if that alone would save her.
“Y-you’re going to die.” He squeezed her hand as emotions clogged his throat, but he forced himself to speak. “Jaylin. Please. Live. I’ll walk away. You’ll never see me again. Just live. ”
Tears illuminated her brown eyes. One slipped from the corner and trickled down her temple into her hair. Slowly she opened her fingers and touched the area to the side of her left breast right under her arm. Then she held up two fingers.
“Twice?” He swallowed.
Once he was almost certain he could handle, but twice? They sent shifters out of the room when they used this thing. What if something happened to him after the first shock? What if his beast emerged before he could do the second shock? What if it turned its anger on Jaylin?
She squeezed his hand back. “I-t…o…k.”
It wasn’t okay, nothing about this was okay.
He looked around the room. He didn’t have long—he was either going to do this or let her die. And he sure as hell couldn’t do the latter. The wind howled outside, rain slammed against the windows. He went over and touched the window encasing the private balcony.
Double paned. Tempered. Not easily shattered. Built to withstand the forces of a hurricane. Even one created by a raging beast.
He dragged over one of the nightstands and then opened the door, the force of the wind almost knocking it from his grasp. He used the nightstand to prop the door open enough where he could slide through. He didn’t know what would happen once he clicked the device, but he sure as hell didn’t want to take any chances.
Aidan walked back over to Jaylin, her breathing even slower than before. A gray pallor ate away her healthy glow. With shaking hands, he placed the device where she’d instructed.
Please give me the strength to do this.
He hit the switch.
Red flashed into the room and her body jerked. His beast sprang forward. A white explosion went off behind his eyes and he doubled over, feeling as if a red-hot poker had skewered his insides. He dropped to his knees as the snarling animal pummeled from within, slashing and clawing its way to the surface. Agony encased his body as his nails blackened and lengthened, his teeth elongated, and fur sliced through
his pores like razor blades.
Never had he felt the change as he did now. Never felt the beast so out of its mind with madness, ready to maim…rabid.
He looked at Jaylin, her eyes round in terror as she stared at him and he grasped the full extent of why she hadn’t wanted him to use it to save her. The beast would hurt her, a shocking discovery, considering it would kill to protect her as Aidan would. He had to get away from her. Ensure that she was safe from the beast.
Crawling forward, he shoved the device into her side once again and clicked.
The beast caterwauled, charging forward. Aidan bellowed through clenched teeth, dropping the device as he landed on his side on the floor, clutching his midsection. The pain so intense he was certain at any moment his skin would split wide open. Bones began to snap one by torturous one. His energy waned.
Get out. Now.
Belly-crawling, he used his arms to pulls his weight toward the door. Halfway there, his knees and elbows dislocated and bent into feline legs as more fur carved through his skin, making him howl in agony. His nose and jaw cracked, stretched. Long claws clacked on the floor as he used the last bit of human he had left to drag himself the remaining few feet.
Kill.
His lips pulled back on a snarl.
Kill.
Half-animal, half-human, a contorted mess of fur, flesh, fingers, and claws, he turned around and took one step toward Jaylin, eyes locked on the white flesh of her throat. Bloodlust consumed him. Then she moaned, speaking to the last bit of human remaining in his shattered body.
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 rec
orded 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.