He looked at her with wide eyes. “I didn’t tell you because I don’t intend to do either, so there was no reason to worry you about it.”
“Why don’t you want to change me?” she asked and waited nervously for his answer.
Jesse studied her face and wondered why she was asking him that. “Well, it’s a long story but the short version is that I don’t believe in changing humans. It changes who they are and some can’t handle the change. It makes them crazy and they hurt themselves or others. To take someone away from the only life they know and throw them into a new one they never even knew existed...it’s not right.”
Lacey nodded in understanding. “But what if a human knew about werewolves and chose to become one of their own free will, would you change them then?”
Jesse didn’t waste any time in answering her. “No. It’s still not right and no one in their right mind would willingly want to become a werewolf. Why are you asking me this? What’s going on?”
Lacey looked away so that he wouldn’t see the pain on her face. All the hope she had that he was going to change her was slipping away. She knew if she told him about her tumor that he would change his mind. But she couldn’t do that. She didn’t want him to go against his principles just to save her.
Lacey tried her best to hold back her tears as she thought about just giving up and letting the tumor kill her. But she was too afraid of dying to do that. Her only hope was Cole and she already knew what he wanted in exchange for changing her. She closed her eyes and a tear slid down her cheek. She didn’t want to leave Jesse again but she didn’t have a choice, not if she wanted to live. She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. “I love you so much” she whispered.
“I love you too, Lacey. And I want you to tell me what’s going on. Why all the questions about changing humans? Did Cole change someone in front of you?” he asked.
“No, I was just curious, that’s all.” She hugged him tighter. More tears threatened to spill from her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. Now was not the time to be weak minded, she needed to be brave. “Let’s go downstairs. I’d like to see everyone.”
Jesse gave her a worried look. “Are you sure you’re up to it?”
Lacey smiled to hide the fact that her heart was breaking. But if tonight was going to be the last time she was ever going to see the people she loved, then she was going to make it one to remember. She smiled at Jesse. “I’m sure. There’s nothing I want more than to spend time with the people I’ve come to think of as my family.”
Jesse scooted to the edge of the bed and stood up with his hand out to her. She took it and he helped her up from the bed. He reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out the choker he had bought for her.
Lacey’s eyes grew wide when she saw what he had in his hand. “What’s that?” she asked surprised.
Jesse smiled then held the choker up in front of her and eased it around her neck. “This is what kept me going the whole time you were away. I knew how much you liked it and every time that I started to lose hope of ever finding you, I’d look at this necklace and I was reminded of how beautiful you looked the day you saw it in the window of the thrift shop, the way your eyes sparkled. I knew that I couldn’t give up and I never did.”
Lacey wrapped her hand around the green heart pendant. The choker meant more to her than Jesse could possible know. It was going to be the only reminder that she had of him and the love they shared because very soon she was going to have to leave him forever. “Thank you” she whispered and kissed him with everything she had in her.
Way too soon, Jesse broke from their kiss. “Do you still want to go downstairs?”
Lacey gave him a small smile and nodded. “Yes” she said weakly.
Jesse took her by the hand and led her downstairs.
*****
Lacey was having the time of her life as she sat on the couch, laughing with her friends. Tonya was the first to fill her in on the news that Kindal and the new guy, Steven, were seeing each other. And that Kyle was jealous about it.
And after talking with Kyle for a little bit, Lacey quickly realized who he was. He was the grandson of the man who had given her a ride to Carol Springs. Jerry had told her that he had a grandson named Kyle. But it wasn’t until Kyle told her that he had been captured by Sasha while he was out looking for the girl his grandfather had dropped off at the bus station that she realized who he was. And when she did, she felt horrible.
She had promised Jerry she would call his grandson so he could give her a tour around the city and she never did. And if Kyle hadn’t been out looking for her, he wouldn’t have been caught by Sasha, and he wouldn’t have had his human life taken from him. Knowing that he was a werewolf because of her made Lacey sad but she couldn’t dwell on her guilt. She didn’t have the time to.
Scotty was being his usual self and cracking jokes on everyone. Devon and Tyron kept the place alive as they banged on their bongo drums to the beat of the music that filled the warehouse. And Trevor was all smiles as he told everyone about his plans to build his own house deep in the woods. No one said anything, but Lacey had the feeling that he and Tonya were ready to start a family and wanted some privacy.
Hour after hour passed as everyone talked and laughed together. Lacey laid her head on the back of the couch and let the sound of her friends laughter seep into her mind. She had intended to just close her eyes for a minute but fatigue claimed her and before she knew it, the sounds from the room faded and she fell asleep.
“Lacey?” Jesse called her name. She slowly opened her eyes to see him staring nervously at her. “Are you alright? If you’re tired, I can take you upstairs” he said and touched his hand to her face. Her skin still felt cold.
Lacey looked around the room at everyone and smiled. “No, I want to stay down here as long as I can.”
The worried looks that everybody were passing to each other and the concern on their faces, warmed her heart. She knew they all cared for her and she hated that she was going to have to leave them.
*****
Another hour passed and Lacey couldn’t take her eyes off of Tonya and Trevor as they held onto each other and slow danced across the room. It was obvious that they loved each other. And Lacey couldn’t help but feel a little jealous. They were going to spend the rest of their lives together and she’d be lucky if she could just spend another couple of hours with the man she loved.
Jesse saw Lacey watching Tonya and Trevor dance. He stood and held his hand out to her. “Will you dance with me, Lacey?” he asked and gave her a smile that made her heart skip a beat.
Lacey knew that she was too weak to dance but she couldn’t say no to him. She took his hand and let him help her from the couch. She eased her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest and listened to his heart as it raced. She tried her best to stay on her feet as Jesse moved her around the room. They almost made it to the end of the song before her knees gave out and she went limp in his arms. He looked down at her, alarmed.
“I guess it’s time to call it a night, huh?” she whispered.
“Lacey, you’re not getting your strength back like before and you look so pale. I think I should take you back to the hospital” Jesse said, worried.
She shook her head. “No...I’m fine. I just need to rest, that’s all” she insisted.
Jesse didn’t believe that for a second but he didn’t want to upset her. He escorted her back to his room and laid her down on the bed.
Before he could get in bed with her, Lacey asked him to get her a glass of water from downstairs. After he left the room, she grabbed the phone and pulled out the paper with Cole’s number on it. She stared at it for a minute before picking up the phone. She was running out of time. She could feel herself slipping away with every minute that passed and she was terrified.
*****
Lacey laid in bed beside Jesse, he had been asleep for almost an hour. She glanced to the clock on the wall, it was three in the morning a
nd it was time for her to leave. She knew that Cole was probably already waiting on her outside. She eased out of bed and looked down at Jesse. She wanted desperately to kiss him one last time. But out of fear that he would wake up, she didn’t.
She opened the drawer on the nightstand and pulled out the letter she had written for him earlier and placed it on her pillow and started for the door. Without looking back because it hurt too much to do so, she opened the door and tiptoed out of the room.
When she got to the stairs, she had to stop and take a deep breath as exhaustion claimed her. Normally, when she was trying to sneak in or out of a place her heart would be racing in her chest, but now it was barely beating at all. She held onto the metal rail of the stairs for support and prayed that she was strong enough to make it down without falling. Five minutes later and completely drained of energy, she opened the front door. The cool night air hit her face and made her shiver.
*****
Cole was leaning against the hood of his Tahoe when the door to the warehouse opened and Lacey stepped out. She was holding onto the door like it was the only thing keeping her on her feet. He started toward her and got there just in time to catch her before she hit the ground. He looked down at her and was shocked to see how much worse she looked now than she did when he saw her in the hospital.
Lacey could barely form the words to speak as she looked up at Cole. The walk down the stairs had drained her of what little energy she had left. “Change...me...now. No...more...time” she gasped through ragged breaths as she struggled to pull air into her lungs.
Cole quickly picked her up and ran back to his Tahoe. He put her inside and hurried away from the warehouse. He wanted to wait until he got her back to his place before he changed her but one look at her and he knew he didn’t even have the twenty minutes it would take to get there. She was dying. Cole turned down a dirt road a few miles from the warehouse and parked in the woods. He helped Lacey from the Tahoe and laid her on the ground and stepped away from her so that he could change into his wolf form. A few seconds later, he approached her on all fours.
Lacey looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Do it.”
Cole lowered his head in agreement and bit down on her arm. Lacey didn’t scream or make any sound at all. Instead, her eyelids fluttered closed.
Cole stood over her and watched, waiting for her to make some kind of movement but she didn’t. He immediately worried that she was too far gone for the change to happen with just one bite. So he bit her other arm and then each of her legs. She barely flinched with each bite that he gave her. Fear that he was too late gripped him. He walked into the woods and changed back into his human form. After he got dressed, he knelt down beside Lacey and tried to get her to talk to him.
He had to fight against the lump forming in his throat at the thought of losing her. “Lacey, talk to me! Say something. Do you feel like you’re getting your strength back?”
Nothing. Lacey just laid there motionless. Cole was so distraught that he did something he had never done before. He closed his eyes and prayed. He prayed that Lacey would make it because the thought of her dying caused a pain in his heart so intense that he didn’t know how he could live through it.
After trying one last time to get some kind of reaction from Lacey, Cole picked her up and put her back in the Tahoe and headed out of town. He didn’t want anyone near her, not even his pack. And he definitely didn’t want Jesse to ever find her again, so he decided to take her to the one place no one would ever think to look for them, his parent’s house.
The drive to the mountains of north Georgia was about eight hours long and Lacey didn’t wake up or move an inch the entire ride there. But Cole knew she was alive, and he knew that she was no longer human. He could smell it. Her human scent was slowly being washed out by a very distinct wolf scent and her heart beat was returning to normal. He looked over at her and smiled. She was his now and no one was ever going to take her away from him.
*****
Jesse reached across the bed, searching for Lacey. When he didn’t feel her beside him, he opened his eyes and sat up in bed. He glanced around the room. “Lacey?” he called out to her to see if she was in the bathroom but no one answered. He got up and checked to see if maybe she fell asleep in the tub, but she wasn’t there. He walked back to the bed and grabbed his shirt from the mattress and saw the piece of paper on the pillow. He smiled, thinking that it was a note telling him she was downstairs. He picked it up and started reading it. He sat down on the bed when he realized what the note really was...a goodbye letter.
His heart shattered more and more with every line that he read. By the time he was at the end of the letter, his eyes were full with unshed tears. He dropped the note to the floor and ran downstairs and out the front door. He dropped to his knees on the ground and yelled Lacey’s name until his throat grew sore. The pain of knowing that she was dying tore him apart. He had held her in his arms just a few hours ago and now she was lost to him again.
Jesse’s pack ran outside and crouched down beside him, trying to find out what was wrong but he ignored their questions. The words from Lacey’s letter kept repeating in his mind. She was going to let Cole change her. Jesse cussed at himself for not realizing last night why she had been asking about changing humans into werewolves. He should have known something was seriously wrong. He saw how weak she was and he did nothing to help her. But he wasn’t going to sit back and do nothing now. He jumped up and ran toward his jeep.
“Jesse, where are you going?” Trevor asked.
Jesse paused before opening the jeep door. He looked over his shoulder and said in a deathly tone, “I’m going to do what I should have done a long time ago, I’m going to get rid of Cole once and for all. Then I’m going to find Lacey and bring her home where she belongs.”
To be continued...
Follow Lacey on her journey as she learns to adapt to the new life she has been given and tries to honor her agreement with Cole. Will she ever be able to love him or will her feelings for Jesse stand in the way? Did she lose her powers when she lost her human life?
Find out in the next book of the Lacey Hannigan Series
“Change”
Available Now
Growl Page 24