My Second Chance

by Shelley Munro

  “It’s no big deal. Leticia didn’t hurt me. Come back to bed.” Charlie brushed the blood away with the back of his hand, leered and gripped his cock. “We can play some more.”

  Gavin frowned but returned to the bed. “Leticia? What about you?”

  She let her breath ease out, trying to fight a flinch of pain. “No, I really do intend to sleep.” If she was lucky she’d make it through the rest of the night before she gave in to the building pain and had to confess to Gavin.

  Chapter Eleven

  Leticia woke slowly, aware immediately that something was wrong. Every muscle telegraphed pain, nerves singing like an ill-played violin. A hoarse groan emerged, and she dragged in a cautious breath. Even that sent fiery slivers of agony to pepper her limbs and torso. Her face contorted, she her teeth gritted while tears leaked to track down her cheeks. With a groan, she curled in a fetal position.

  “Leticia? Leticia, what is it?” Charlie peered at her through the gloom. He placed his hand on her shoulder and she let out a strangled cry of pure anguish. With a curse, he removed his hand, turning to Gavin who lay on his other side. “Gavin, wake up.”

  “Waz up?” Gavin muttered.

  Leticia groaned as Charlie turned back to her and knocked her shoulder by mistake.

  “Damn, sorry, babe,” Charlie spoke over his shoulder. “Something’s wrong with Leticia. Switch on the lamp by your side.”

  With her eyes clamped shut, the pain swamped her, bombarded her. A drummer pounded in her head, an accompaniment to the demon violinist.

  “Leticia, tell me where it hurts.” Gavin crouched beside her, his face a blur. She couldn’t focus. A knot blocked her throat. She coughed, and even that hurt. Sweat slicked her torso and limbs. A pained moan escaped, then a whimper at the reverberation.

  “Hurts,” she croaked.

  “I know, sweetheart. Let me pull back the covers so I can take a look at you.”

  “It’s an excuse to perv,” Charlie muttered.

  She tried to laugh, but it emerged as a distressed cry. “Hurts.”

  “Tell me where it hurts,” Gavin repeated, tugging at the sheet and duvet she’d burrowed into during the night.

  “Every…where.” She shivered, the pressure on her ribs with each labored breath excruciating. When Gavin tugged on the bed coverings, jolting her, fiery cramps attacked her arms and legs. She screamed, the end of the shriek exiting as a full lion’s roar.

  “Hell.” Gavin fired orders at Charlie. Charlie ran from the bedroom, the thud of his feet firing daggers into her brain. “I know it hurts, sweetheart, but I need to check your stats. Charlie will be back in a sec.”

  “Hurts.” She panted, trying to breathe past the knives stabbing her entire body. More tears tracked down her cheeks. Without warning, she convulsed, her body arcing upward in a tight bow. She screamed, the agony the worst thing she’d ever experienced. Another seizure racked her body and her world faded to black.

  “What the hell are you doing to her?” Charlie thrust Gavin’s bag of medical instruments at him, breathing hard, his features stark with fear. Gavin set the bag aside.

  “I have done nothing,” Gavin snapped, pressing his finger to her neck to check for a pulse. “She started convulsing and blacked out. You’d better ring Lucas and Saul.”

  “Fuck,” Charlie said, pressing close to Gavin. “Are we going to lose her?”

  Charlie’s telltale tremor communicated his fear, and it enveloped Gavin, chasing every bit of medical knowledge from his mind. He froze for an instant, then Charlie stepped back, bursting through his uncharacteristic indecision. “I don’t know. It doesn’t look good.”

  “Right. I’ll ring Lucas now. Is she unconscious?”

  “Yeah, but I won’t know more until I do tests.”

  Gavin heard Charlie leave the room. He muttered a soft prayer under his breath and checked Leticia. She was breathing but seemed unresponsive to every test he administered.

  Charlie appeared at his side, stark anguish in his face. “Lucas and Saul are on their way. They’ll be here any minute. Lucky they hadn’t left for the farm yet.”

  Gavin set aside the pin he’d used to prick Leticia’s big toe, closed his eyes and swallowed. He turned to Charlie, stepping into his arms to seek comfort. Charlie’s arms wrapped around him in a tight embrace. For tense seconds they held each other, united in their pain.

  Finally, Gavin pushed away. “We’d better get dressed before Lucas and Saul arrive.”

  “Yeah.” Charlie grabbed a pair of jeans and stepped into them. A car pulled up outside. “I’ll let them in.”

  Gavin pulled on sweatpants and dressed before covering Leticia to keep her warm. No time to fall apart right now. No time. He had to hold it together, at least while Lucas and Saul were here.

  The low murmur of masculine voices sounded, moved closer. Lucas prowled into the bedroom, his face pale and terrified. “Leticia?”

  “She’s in a coma, Lucas,” Gavin said.

  Charlie stopped beside him and squeezed his hand in silent reassurance.

  “What happened?” Lucas knelt by the bed and stroked his fingers over Leticia’s pale cheek. She didn’t react to his touch. Saul stood by Lucas and gripped his shoulder.

  Gavin stepped forward to stand beside them. “I don’t know. She seemed okay last night, tired but that’s all. This morning she woke in extreme pain. She lost consciousness soon afterward.”

  “Will she wake up?” Saul asked.

  Tension throbbed and swelled in the bedroom while Gavin considered his answer. Grief clutched his heart while they stared at him in silent hope. Searing pain carved his gut, agonizing as if the blade of a sharp knife sliced into him. He’d failed, and their silence struck like blows of accusation. Well, they could get in line. He blamed himself most of all. He’d missed something, some snippet on the net or in medical books that might have helped Leticia beat the bloody disease. Ready for anger and a possible attack, he scanned their faces and told the truth.

  “I don’t know. Leticia isn’t behaving like the other cases I’ve read.”

  “But it doesn’t look good?” Saul asked.

  “No. I’m sorry. I should have—”

  “Fuck!” Lucas’s eyes glowed an eerie gold and his hair bristled, making him appear bigger, more formidable.

  Gavin took half a step back, stumbling when he knocked into Charlie. Charlie steadied him, offering silent reassurance. When he took a deep breath, Charlie’s scent filled his lungs, calming his angst.

  “I hate this,” Lucas snarled. “I’d like to rip the cowardly bastard who did this to her to shreds and stomp on his bloody corpse.”

  “So why didn’t you?” Charlie snapped.

  The sharp anger in his mate’s voice made Gavin realize he wasn’t the only one suffering. Charlie and Leticia were marked mates. It would be harder for him, and selfishly he hadn’t even considered this. Turning, he wrapped Charlie in his arms.

  “I battered his face,” Lucas said in a frustrated growl. “Leticia wouldn’t let me do any more because the feline authorities where we lived would’ve ordered me killed, but he doesn’t look so handsome now, not after I finished with him.”

  “She loved him,” Gavin said.

  “She may have loved him, but she loves us now.” Charlie pulled away from Gavin and strode to the bed. He stared down at her with an anguish that tore at Gavin’s heart. “We’re her mates. We make her happy.”

  “You do,” Saul said. “Lucas and I wouldn’t have left her here with you if we didn’t think you cared for her. We all love her. She’s an amazing woman. What…” His voice broke. “What are you going to do now?”

  Gavin stared at Leticia’s pale face. “All I can do now is monitor her, hook her up to an IV and see what happens. She’s breathing on her own, which is encouraging. Unusual actually, but then I’ve never seen a feline go into a coma before. When we die it’s normally quick.”

  “Quick how?” Charlie asked, a sliver of fear and u
nease swirling across his features.

  “Most felines die of a heart attack. We live long lives, longer than a human and get a flu-like illness, which seems to bring on a heart attack. Once a feline goes down with that flu they never recover. I assumed it would be like that for Leticia. The other FIV sufferers died like that. I thought Leticia would go the same way.”

  Lucas jerked his gaze from his sister, turning to stare at him. “So she might regain consciousness? I mean she’s holding her human form.”

  “I don’t know. I don’t think so,” Gavin said. “If she doesn’t wake, it will be hard to pump enough nourishment into her. You’ve seen how much weight she’s lost.” His chest ached so much he had to stop speaking. He fumbled in his pocket for a hanky, couldn’t find one and swiped the back of his hand over his nose. “The longer she remains unconscious…” He trailed off, unable to grasp his professional mantle when Leticia meant so much to him.

  The truth as he saw it. She was pretty much dead now. They’d lost her.

  Chapter Twelve

  Three Weeks Later

  “Damn it, Charlie. Eat. You can’t carry on like this. I can’t…can’t lose you too.” Gavin thumped a plate of food in front of his mate. He grabbed another plate full of food and sat opposite Charlie. “Eat.”

  “I didn’t think this would be so hard. Until Leticia…I didn’t realize what the bond between mates meant and how adrift I’d feel. Sometimes when I’m sitting with Leticia I want to crawl into bed with her, go to sleep and never wake again.”

  Gavin fumbled the knife he was holding, the stainless steel implement hitting the edge of his plate and thumping to the tabletop, taking gravy and mashed potato with it. He dropped his fork and glared at Charlie. “Don’t even bloody think it. How the hell do you expect me to get through this without you around? I love you, dammit. You’re my mate. I need you.”

  “You keep pushing me away.”

  He thought… Pushing him away. Gavin closed his eyes, enjoying the solid weight of his heartbeat, smelling the bloody scent of rare beef. He opened his eyes again, seeking Charlie’s gaze. “It’s the guilt,” he said, his voice hoarse with emotion. “Logically I know I did everything I could, but the thoughts hover. I keep thinking I should’ve done more, done things differently.”

  “What? What more could you have done?” Charlie glared, his expression mean and highlighted by the light blond stubble shading his head. Gavin almost smiled. He looked like a tough biker with his scowl and the hard glint in his pale blue eyes.

  Gavin shoved his plate away, the beef tasting on par with a spoonful of sand. “You’re right.”

  “We can’t keep on like this, pushing each other away. Leticia wouldn’t have wanted us to do that. It would have pissed her off.”

  Gavin snorted. “True.”

  “I don’t want food. I need you.” Charlie’s taut voice told of his inner pain, his hurt, and Gavin acknowledged again that in his suffering he’d pushed Charlie away. They were marked mates, and he’d ignored Charlie, buckling under stress and remorse.

  “All right.” Gavin stood and held out his hand. “Let’s go.”

  Charlie blinked. “Go where?”

  “To our bedroom, after I do a last check on Leticia.”

  Charlie nodded and stood. After placing their discarded meals in the fridge, they walked down the passage to the spare bedroom. Gavin had to steel himself to enter, as he did every day. It was Leticia, but not the woman he knew.

  “If you ignore the medical equipment and the disinfectant and spicy scent, it’s almost as if she’s sleeping.”

  Gavin wrapped his arm around Charlie’s waist and squeezed. She had the appearance of a sleeping princess, albeit on the skinny side. “She looks as if she might wake at any moment. So beautiful.”

  “She’d look better if she wasn’t so skinny and you didn’t have her on that oxygen machine.” Charlie spoke bluntly. “But her hair’s growing back.”

  A frown curved Gavin’s mouth. “Yeah, it is. It’s weird the way her hair is growing so even. I would have expected it to drop out again. Her blood work is the same.”

  “Is the virus mutating somehow?”

  Gavin issued a frustrated sigh. “I don’t know. I know nothing.” He snorted. “Yeah, what sort of doctor does that make me?”

  “Man, let it go. You’re a great doctor and everyone around here counts on you. You saved Laura’s life.”

  “It’s the ones I don’t save that haunt me.”

  “You’ve done your best, running every test you can. We all see the way she’s deteriorating. Lucas doesn’t blame you.”

  True, but it didn’t lighten the burden of guilt. He’d keep trying to bring Leticia back. She wasn’t dead. Not yet.

  One glance at Gavin told Charlie his mate was stressing again, blaming himself for failing to cure Leticia. With her weight-loss, she couldn’t last much longer. It hurt, knowing she was dying. He’d give his left nut to bring her back. Wasn’t gonna happen. Not in this lifetime. He’d never witness Leticia and Gavin playing in their feline forms or try to run with them. Just him and Gavin now. His breath caught, the swell of pain like a bleeding wound. They couldn’t continue like this, existing instead of living.

  “I’ll be in the bedroom.” His voice emerged stiff and abrupt.

  “I won’t be long.”

  In the bedroom, Charlie stripped and slid between the sheets. His muscles throbbed with fatigue, so bloody tired. Along with insomnia, he’d had late-night call-outs for emergencies. When he closed his eyes, all he could see was Leticia. In his mind’s eye, he saw her as he’d first seen her wearing a hat and a miniskirt, all smiles and attitude. The same night he’d hooked up with Gavin.

  The pad of footsteps and the rustle of clothing had him opening his eyes, and he smiled faintly. His eyes drifted over Gavin’s naked chest, the flexing muscles and wide shoulders. “Hey.”

  Gavin’s answering grin lifted some of the tiredness and stress from his features. The shadows under his green eyes remained. “Hey.”

  He slipped into the bed and into Charlie’s arms. Charlie pressed close, enjoying the steady beat of Gavin’s heart and his soapy scent from the shower before dinner. Their groins brushed and a shot of desire flared to life. He wriggled again and took heart from Gavin’s sharp inhalation and the burgeoning erection pressing against his belly. Their mouths met and they kissed. Excitement and pleasure battled inside, along with relief. He needed the intimacy to affirm their love, to tamp down the loneliness. He used the tip of his tongue to outline Gavin’s lips, nibbled at them, and then licked the sting away. Hunger rippled inside, his body humming to life. Muscles rippled as they rocked against each other in lazy thrusts.

  “Damn, that is good. I’ve missed this so much, but it doesn’t seem right with Leticia…”

  “Yeah. Me too.” Charlie writhed against Gavin again and sucked on the marking site, pulling the blood to the surface. He reached between them to grasp their cocks. Gavin moaned when Charlie pumped them and sought his mouth, kissing him again. So good. He’d missed the physical connection. “Leticia wouldn’t want us to turn from each other.”

  “I’m close already,” Gavin muttered, ignoring the comment.

  Charlie decided to leave it. He’d make sure they didn’t become distant again. They needed to make love. The last three weeks had been weird and although they’d hugged and kissed, they hadn’t made love. That drought couldn’t repeat. He wouldn’t let it.

  “Just let go.” A shiver rocked through Charlie, pleasure building in his balls. Drops of pre-cum eased the rub of his fist over their cocks. Their cheeks rasped together then Gavin spread a trail of kisses down his neck. He worked his teeth back and forth over the mark on Charlie’s shoulder, a shudder arcing to his cock. His heart lurched and an intense burst of heat exploded from him, semen washing across his hands as he came. Charlie released his own cock to concentrate on Gavin. He gripped his lover’s shaft, coaxing a response from him, pushing him harder until G
avin climaxed with a hoarse groan.

  “I love you, Charlie. Love you so much.”

  Charlie hugged him close. “Love you, Gavin. I need you. Don’t leave me alone. Leticia—I need you, man.”

  “I’m sorry.” Gavin pulled away to cup his cheek, frowned at Charlie’s unshed tears. “I never meant to alienate you. You’ve given me so much. Because of you, we had a few weeks with Leticia, and that’s longer than I predicted. I know I’ve concentrated on Leticia recently, but never forget you’re my mate and I love you.”

  “What are we going to do?” The tight sensation in his chest came back with vengeance, reminding Charlie of the huge gap in their lives without Leticia. She’d slotted in so well, knitting the three of them into a close relationship, making them into a team.

  “Take one day at a time.” Gavin sighed, a gust of warm breath against his neck. “That’s all we can do.” He reached over to switch off the light and curled back into Charlie, despite the stickiness. Charlie didn’t argue, content in his mate’s embrace. Yeah, one day at a time might get them through this nightmare.

  Gavin woke from a deep sleep, the best he’d had for weeks. Darkness shrouded the room, the steady rhythm of Charlie’s breathing reassuring and bringing a measure of comfort he hadn’t experienced in weeks. He relaxed into his mate’s body, savoring the closeness. His belly rumbled with hunger. He didn’t move a muscle, preferring to stay with his mate. He could eat in the morning. Thank God Charlie had pushed him. They’d needed the closeness again. They’d needed each other in the way of feline mates. It brought home to him his responsibilities as a mate. Leticia was lost to both of them now. The reality was, she couldn’t lose more weight and live. As a feline, she needed more nourishment than they could pump into her. Nothing to do but wait. At least they had each other. For a while he’d forgotten that. He wouldn’t forget again.

  A thud at the far end of the house slid through his mind, piercing his comfortable doze. He lifted his head, waking Charlie with the abrupt motion.