Fated (Forever Book 2)

by Regan Ure

  It was like taking a gamble with her life and I wasn’t sure I could do it. But looking at her lying in a bed, unable to breathe for herself, was heartbreaking. A tear slid down my face and I brushed it away hastily.

  “What do I do?” I echoed my thought.

  Keri was fierce and independent. She was strong and I knew deep down that this wasn’t the way she would have wanted to live. Even when Curtis had first suggested switching off the machines there had been a small part of me that had known he was right when he’d said that she wouldn’t have wanted to live like this.

  There was only one option. It hadn’t been an easy-to-reach decision, but I knew that even though I was scared it would have been the decision Keri would have made. There was a chance and I had to hold on to that. I couldn’t allow myself to think of what could go wrong, I had to concentrate on the slight hope that Curtis was right and by switching off the machines it would make her body start to heal.

  I had to get her back.

  “I love you,” I whispered to her as I took a few moments to calm my emotions so I could tell Curtis my decision.

  I stood up and leaned over to kiss her. I held on to the peace our touch gave me as I left the room in search of Curtis.

  Curtis, Cade, Scarlett and Kyle were waiting patiently outside her room. Kyle had a solemn expression on his face when his eyes met mine.

  “No,” he said firmly as he could see the decision in my eyes. “You can’t do it.”

  “Curtis is right. She wouldn’t want to live like this,” I began to explain, but Kyle wasn’t listening. The only thing he was concentrating on was the fact that I was going to switch off the machines.

  “You’ll be killing her!” he shouted at me as he launched himself in my direction. He got in one good hit before Cade pulled him back.

  “Calm down!” he ordered Kyle, shoving him against the wall.

  “Stop it,” Scarlett shouted at her brother.

  My cheek throbbed where he’d hit me. I could have stopped him, but maybe I’d let him hit me because I thought I deserved it. I looked to Curtis with resignation and sadness.

  “Switch off the machines.”

  Curtis hesitated for a moment, unsure if he’d heard me correctly.

  “Don’t! You’re going to kill her!” Kyle yelled from behind me as I turned to face Curtis.

  “Stop it!” Scarlett yelled at her brother while he tried to wrestle free from Cade, but Cade refused to release him.

  Curtis’ eyes flickered from me to the commotion going on behind me as I tried my best to ignore it.

  “Switch off the machines,” I ordered him for a second time, and he gave me a nod before he turned and disappeared back into the hospital room.

  I ran a hand through my hair and took a deep breath to keep from falling apart right there in front of everyone. Closing my eyes for a moment, I drew strength from the imprint of Keri in my mind before I faced Kyle.

  He was breathing hard as his eyes met mine. Fury was mixed with defeat in his features. Cade and Scarlett stood between us, facing him, ready to stop him if he tried to attack me again.

  “We all love her,” Scarlett said with the emotions clear in her voice while she put her hand to her head for a second as she struggled to keep it together. It was affecting all of us in different ways. Cade put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and she looked up to her brother. She was taking the decision I’d made as hard as both Kyle and I were.

  “Blake is her mate and you need to respect the decision he has made. Out of all of us, he has the most to lose…”

  Her voice hitched on the last word and I felt her pain.

  “He loves her and, trust me, until you find your mate you have no idea how much,” she lectured her brother. She paused for a moment and looked at me over her shoulder before she faced her brother again. “This decision wasn’t easy for him to make. Even if you disagree with it, you need to respect it. Do you understand?”

  Kyle’s shoulders sagged as his eyes found mine and the anger that had been in them was gone. In its place was sadness. He gave a nod.

  “I just promised her I would always look after her,” he revealed. “And I failed.”

  I understood his guilt because I felt the same. Being her mate, it was my responsibility to keep her safe. It didn’t matter that I had been here when she’d made the decision to fight Richard; it didn’t absolve me of my guilt. In some way we all felt we’d failed her.

  “I’m ready to switch off the machines,” Curtis announced solemnly from the doorway of her room.

  My feet felt like lead as I walked into the hospital room and the sounds of the medical machines echoed in my head. I stood beside her and took her smaller hand into mine. My thumb brushed over the softness of her skin, taking comfort in the relief our link gave to me.

  You have to pull through, I told her through the mind-link. Please, baby, I can’t live without you.

  Standing there beside her as Curtis switched off the machines was going against every cell of my being. The love and protectiveness I felt for her rushed through me as he removed the machine that breathed for her. The urge to make him put her back on it was overwhelming, but somehow I stopped myself.

  The only sounds echoed from the machine keeping track of her vitals and when it began to slow down, I looked up to see the stats start to decline. I clenched my free hand while I watched the worst-case scenario start to play out.

  Scarlett pressed her hands to her mouth as she watched Keri stop breathing. Cade wrapped an arm around her and pulled her into his side, giving her comfort and strength.

  Please, baby, I begged inside as my eyes dropped to Keri.

  Curtis stood beside her, watching the monitor and then looking back at Keri.

  Time began to slow down as I held my breath, hoping and praying this was going to work and her body would start to heal.

  I couldn’t help but think about the life she’d had. Having a father like Victor had ensured her childhood had been full of pain and sadness. The memory I had of her mother made me squeeze my eyes closed for a moment as I held the bridge of my nose. If Victor had continued to live he would have done the same to Keri and just the thought of it was enough to make anger ignite inside of me.

  It was so unfair. Just when she had the opportunity to live the type of life she wanted, without the cruel monster to make her life a living hell and the sadness of seeing her mother waste away had been lifted from her shoulders, we were losing her.

  I’d been ready to take her hand and lead her into a new life where she would only experience joy and happiness. We were werewolves so there would always be a need to fight and there was always an element of danger but I would have done everything I could have to keep her safe and protected.

  Watching it all unfold in front of me reminded me of how I hadn’t been able to save my parents either. There had been an attack on us by another pack and my mother had been killed. My father had been unable to carry on living without her and he’d taken his own life.

  I’d never understood how he could have taken his life and left me without a parent. Luckily I’d been old enough to take over the alpha role and that had given me something to focus on. It had pulled me through a dark time. It was only when I was on the verge of losing Keri that I understood my father’s drastic actions.

  There had been no time to show her just how much she meant to me. She knew I loved her but she had no idea how much. It was too soon. I needed more time with her.

  The moment her vitals dropped below the safe levels, the machines started an alarm that made my heart start to race. I was starting to second-guess my decision but it was already too late. Living with the consequences of the outcome was something I would have to deal with if she didn’t make it.

  This can’t be happening, I kept thinking over and over again. Then she flat-lined and I felt air lock in my lungs as I fixed my eyes on her still form.

  Panic and fear began to set in as every second that ticked past took her fur
ther away from us.

  “Breathe,” I whispered, trying to will her into action.

  Silence. I felt eyes on me but the only person who mattered at that moment was Keri.

  I leaned closer to her. There was no giving up without a fight.

  “You need to fight,” I commanded her as desperation leaked into my voice.

  Curtis watched the machine anxiously.

  "I need more time with you...I don't think I can live without you," I revealed to her. There was no way to know whether she could hear me or not, but I had to put what I was feeling into words.

  "Come on. You can do it," Curtis encouraged as he glanced down at her. Gone was the facade of the doctor and I got a glimpse of the friend in him that was just as scared as we were of losing her.

  "Can't you do something?” Kyle asked Curtis as he crossed his arms to try and keep them still. Cade pulled a tearful Scarlett closer into his side as a sob tore through her.

  "There is nothing I can do. She needs to pull through on her own," he said softly, still with his eyes fixed on the machine.

  "I can make you happy," I whispered as I leaned closer, taking in her beauty for possibly the last time. Scarlett began to cry softly.

  Curtis looked at his watch and I knew that he'd expected her heart to start beating already.

  "Fight to live and I promise to love you every day for the rest of your life. I promise you I will make you happy and give you everything you ever wanted,” I promised, meaning every word with everything I was.

  We all wanted to hear the sound of the machine beating with her life, but instead it gave us the silence of her death.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Keri

  The darkness comforted me. It swirled around me and kept the pain at bay. Somehow through the thickness surrounding me, I could hear his voice. It soothed me and it made me feel safe.

  I held on to the sound of his voice like a lifeline. I don’t know if I was locked in my mind or somewhere else but I was fighting my way back. I wanted to open my eyes and break free from the hold that it had on me.

  “Wake up, Keri,” Blake said softly. I wanted to wake up for him but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t move. The darkness kept me in its clutches, refusing to let me go.

  Blake, I screamed in my mind, but he couldn’t hear me.

  “What?” Blake said.

  Even through the haze I could tell he was anxious, even a little scared.

  “Just spit it out,” he demanded of someone.

  Something was wrong.

  “Every day that she remains unresponsive…her odds of waking up decrease,” I heard another voice say softly with sadness. I knew that voice.

  It was Curtis. It was hard to form thoughts but after a few moments I realized he was talking about me. I wasn’t waking up and they didn’t think I would.

  “No,” Blake said, and I could feel a slight pressure on my hand. He was touching me because our connection gave me peace.

  “You love her,” Curtis said. “Love her enough to let her go.”

  No! No! I didn’t want him to let me go. I wanted to come back.

  “Keeping her alive like this isn’t for her, it’s for you,” Curtis said with a voice filled with sadness. “Let her find the peace she deserves.”

  I didn’t want peace. I was willing myself to open my eyes but there was no light to break the dark. Unable to hold on, I drifted away and there was nothing.

  The next time I came around I heard Kyle ask, “What’s going on?”

  “Curtis is talking about turning off the machines,” Blake revealed.

  No! I began to panic. They couldn’t switch off the machines. I was still alive even though I was confined to the prison in my body.

  There was a moment of silence.

  “Over my dead body,” Kyle swore.

  I felt relief. The disorientation took over and I couldn’t hold on anymore.

  Slowly the sound of the machines that were keeping me alive pierced through to me and I awakened.

  “Get me a knife,” Blake instructed someone. What did he need a knife for?

  I felt a dull pain and I wanted to pull my hand away. I didn’t understand why Blake was cutting me.

  “What are you doing?” Curtis asked.

  “I’m joining your pack,” Blake answered. It had already been the plan and I felt a swell of pride for a moment that he was joining my pack. I just had to wake up and we would have everything we wanted. My pack was safe and we had each other.

  “Look, I’m sorry about before,” Curtis said as my head started to become fuzzy and it was hard to concentrate on what was going on around me.

  “The part of me that is her friend doesn’t want to lose her and I can’t imagine my life without her, but the doctor in me knows that things aren’t looking good at all. As a friend, I keep hoping she will wake up, but as a doctor I know the chances are she won’t.”

  I will wake up, I screamed inside my mind, trying to break free so I could shout it out loud.

  Please don’t give up on me, I begged, trying to will the thought through to Blake through our mind-link.

  “What’s going on?” I heard a female voice ask.

  “Curtis wants to switch off the machines,” Blake explained, his voice laced with anger.

  I heard a scuffle.

  “Calm down, Scar,” Cade’s voice pierced through to me.

  Scarlett was here. I felt mixed emotions. She’d been my friend even though I’d been deceitful.

  “If you touch those machines, I will kill you,” she threatened in a deadly tone.

  I felt my heart swell at her words. It wasn’t just Blake who was trying to hold on to me, they all were. All through my life there had been a shortage of people to care about me but things were very different now.

  The darkness closed around me again and the voices were lost in the echo of my mind.

  When I awoke again, I could hear voices again.

  “Werewolves are different from humans although most injuries sustained by werewolves are treated the same way as we would a human. But the werewolves aren’t humans. We heal faster and we’re stronger.”

  It sounded like Curtis.

  “Spit it out,” Blake demanded. I don’t know if it was because he was my mate that his voice was clearer than anyone else’s.

  “The machines are breathing for her, they are keeping her alive…I think it might be the reason her body isn’t healing itself.”

  “How sure are you?” Blake asked.

  Curtis was a brilliant doctor but even he couldn’t be one hundred percent sure.

  “Well, the thing is…I’m not sure. There is no way to know for certain if that is the case. It’s just a hunch I have,” Curtis replied.

  “So you think switching off the machines is going to do what?” Blake asked calmly.

  “I think if we switch the machines off, her body will be forced to heal itself.”

  I heard a growl.

  “Shh, Scar,” Cade soothed.

  “What happens if we switch off the machines and you’re wrong?”

  “If her body doesn’t heal itself, then she will die.”

  I felt my initial nervousness begin to turn to panic.

  “What do you think will happen if we keep her on the support?” I heard Blake ask.

  There was a heavy silence as I waited for the answer.

  “She will stay in a coma and she won’t wake up.”

  Blake let out a frustrated sigh.

  “What do you think?” he asked someone.

  “I don’t know,” Scarlett replied in a hoarse voice.

  I wanted to tell them not to, but they wouldn’t hear me.

  “I need a minute alone with her,” Blake asked.

  I felt the warmth of our connection spread through me from his touch on my hand.

  “Hi, baby,” Blake whispered hoarsely. My heart felt the pain in his voice.

  “You need to wake up,” he pleaded with me softly.
>
  I’m here, I tried to tell him.

  “I don’t know what to do,” he admitted.

  Please don’t, I begged silently inside of my mind as I felt my emotions begin to swirl inside of me, pushing away any logic. I was alive.

  “What do I do?” he asked.

  No matter what I wanted to say to him, he wouldn’t hear it.

  “I love you,” he whispered.

  I love you too, I told him and felt an emotional pain tear into my heart.

  There was a soft pressure on my lips and I realized he’d kissed me. I wanted to hold on to him and never let him go, but my arms refused to obey my command.

  There was a vague noise coming from far away.

  “I’m ready to switch off the machines,” Curtis announced solemnly.

  Oh. My. God.

  Please don’t, I shouted, but no one could hear me. I’m here—I’m alive.

  I felt someone holding my hand, but I knew instinctively from the way I felt that it was Blake. Something probed my conscious mind but I couldn’t decipher it. Then suddenly, I couldn’t breathe. I tried to gasp for air but my chest didn’t rise. Outside, somewhere beyond my panic to stay alive, I could hear machines beeping. I tried to inhale again but there was no air and I felt my lungs start to ache.

  Alarms sounded around me as I began to suffocate.

  “Breathe,” Blake whispered through my panic. I was slowly dying and I couldn’t do anything about it.

  “You need to fight,” Blake commanded me as desperation leaked into his voice. “I need more time with you...I don't think I can live without you."

  "Come on. You can do it," Curtis encouraged but they didn’t know that no matter how hard I tried, I wasn’t able to fight my way back.

  "Can't you do something?” Kyle asked Curtis, and I heard someone sob. My lungs began to burn from the lack of air as I struggled.

  "There is nothing I can do. She needs to pull through on her own," Curtis said softly.

  "I can make you happy," Blake whispered as I began to suffocate.

  "Fight to live and I promise to love you every day for the rest of your life. I promise you I will make you happy and give you everything you ever wanted,” Blake promised me desperately as I tried to fight to stay alive.