Make Him Mine

by Lia Bevans

  “I do.” Evie cast her eyes to the floor. “But... there is one catch.”

  “What is it?”

  “One dose is going to last for twenty-four hours. You’ll be completely human with no prompts from your wolf. It’ll be like you never became a shifter in the first place.”

  “Okay...” Chantal dipped her head. “I’m glad that it’s temporary. What’s the problem?”

  “You remember the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, right? They both get a chance to shine and so will your wolf.”

  “You’re saying I won’t be in control after a while?”

  Evie nodded. “When you separate from your wolf, it’ll ache to come out and it will have a chance to. Anything can happen. It may choose to remain in wolf-state or... it may use your body in human form. There’s no way to predict it.”

  “Is that all?” Chantal blew a raspberry. “Will I know when the wolf is taking over?”

  “You’ll feel sleepy,” Evie said. “You’ll black out and won’t be conscious of what you’re doing. At all.”

  “I don’t see a problem here. I’ll take this serum during the day and when I feel myself getting sleepy, I’ll take a pill so that my wolf can’t use my body at night.”

  “It’s a huge gamble.” Evie exchanged a look with Mae. “But it will give you the answers that you’re seeking.”

  “Thank you for getting this for me.” Chantal plucked the medicine from Mae Ling and walked over to the cupboard. “I’ll take it when things calm down. My feelings aren’t the priority right now. You should have seen the way Lucien had those teens last night...” She shuddered at the vision that popped into her mind. “I can’t afford to not be in control.”

  “You’re right.” Evie closed the cupboard door and led her back to the table. “I heard Lucien’s back. We’re all going to be extra-vigilant. Don’t you worry. If he’s dumb enough to strike again, we’ll catch him. We all got a bone to pick with that man.”

  “Thanks, guys.”

  “Hurry up and eat.” Ralph slid her plate of toast closer. “I’ll drive you to the hospital.”

  Chantal shoveled her food down and sprinted up the stairs to get ready for her day. As she rode to the hospital, she marveled at the total peace in her heart. She was no longer conflicted about Blaez. No longer concerned with picking through what was real and what was fake.

  He was her man. Plain and simple. Whether that was because of her wolf’s desire or her own, the matter had faded in importance. She was sad that Evie had gone to so much trouble, but Chantal wouldn’t be concerned if she never used that serum to uncover the truth.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  BLAEZ STARED AT HIS reflection in the bathroom mirror. Tired eyes ringed with dark bags and hair in desperate need of gel caught his attention. He ran his hand down his chin. Instead of skin, his fingers rasped a thick, black beard. Three days worth of living in the hospital had resulted in this.

  Before he took guardianship of Caldon, Blaez wouldn’t dream of letting anyone see him this scruffy or tired. He was always the immaculately groomed guy with the name-brand clothes and kicks. Women dug that and even when he had sworn dating goodbye, Blaez was always looking out.

  Kids changed things. A lot.

  “Blaez?” Chantal’s voice carried through the door. He could smell her scent. It twirled around him. Caused his heart to thump painfully. He’d decided to pretend that she wanted him. Chantal the human, not Chantal the wolf. But he was too smart for that and their every interaction was bittersweet.

  “Yes?” He gripped the sink tight. “Is he up?”

  “No.” She sounded sorry. Hesitant. “Not yet.”

  He sighed. The doctors said the blood transfusion had gone perfectly. There was no problem with Caldon’s body. He just... refused to wake up. Nothing Blaez could do but wait and pray his brother decided life was worth living.

  Everyone was on edge. Especially Hazel. The alpha needed Caldon’s testimony to figure out Lucien’s plan. He knew a part of Chantal was hoping for Caldon’s help in taking down the monster too. All Blaez wanted was to see his brother open his eyes.

  “I brought breakfast,” Chantal said. “Evie insisted on making festival. She said you seemed to like it last time.”

  Blaez’s stomach grumbled at the mention of Evie’s delicious Jamaican dish. It was the strangest thing. His body requested food but when he ate, he might as well be biting into ash. Nothing appealed to him. He only bothered with breakfast because Chantal forced him to.

  She knocked again and called softly, “Blaez?”

  He opened the door and pulled her inside, locking it behind them. Blaez knew what he was signing up for by taunting her wolf with the promise of privacy, but he needed to be close to Chantal right now and having her get excited was a risk he’d have to take.

  “What are you doing?” she asked, eyes wide and staring at the doorknob.

  He took her by the waist and hefted her onto the cramped counter. Her breath let out a little gasp and he tried to tamp his own reaction to the sound. Caldon was sleeping right outside the bathroom. That should be enough to keep him in check no matter what Chantal’s wolf tried.

  “Talk to me,” he said, backing up against the wall that separated the sink from the toilet.

  “Talk to you?” Her eyelashes fluttered. “About what?”

  “Anything. Everything.”

  Blaez closed his eyes, leaning into her presence. He was so far gone now that if someone pinched Chantal, he was almost certain that he’d feel it. Connor had seen the truth long before he did. She’s your entire world, the kid had said.

  Yeah, well, Blaez was trying hard to forget. To Chantal, he meant nothing.

  CHANTAL FELT EVERYTHING the moment she looked into Blaez’s eyes. It was a shock to her, a new level of infatuation that she hadn’t thought her wolf capable of. It went deeper than basic attraction—though she loved Blaez’s beard and mussed hair almost as much as she did his more put-together look.

  It was a matter of priority. Before this moment, Blaez had ranked somewhere below her sisters, her friends at the farmhouse, special clients at the hospital and nursing homes and other random people who had helped her through the years.

  Now, he was battling for prominence—right up there with Hazel, Terry, and Evie.

  As she talked to him about the past week at the center, about the funny joke Petra had cracked and the two year old with brain cancer who had smiled for the first time in weeks after Ralph put his snout to her hand and sneezed, Chantal felt peace.

  Blaez listened keenly, hanging on her every word like they were golden. He grunted once in a while and chuckled when she mentioned Ralph and the tiny patient. His eyes were swollen from his late nights washing Caldon’s face and hands and reading to him, but they still managed to sparkle at her.

  Stranger still, she didn’t hear a peep from her wolf. Almost as if it had fallen asleep, lured by the contentment of sitting on a bathroom sink sharing her thoughts with Blaez. The desperate need to tear her clothes off and go wild until Blaez was on top of her had faded in importance.

  Not that the attraction was gone. She still found him drop dead gorgeous. Admiration snapped through her body when she caught his lips tilting up in a smirk or when she got a whiff of his crisp winter scent.

  The desire to be physically closer to him hovered in the back of her mind, but it didn’t fight for prominence as it usually did. It almost seemed like she could sit and chat with Blaez all day and choose when she wanted to turn things up a notch. An odd realization.

  Had her wolf matured or had she grown strong enough to control it?

  “And Cecil?” Blaez asked after she’d finished her recount of Mae Ling following the scent of a plush toy she’d mistaken for a rat. “She’s the only one from the house who hasn’t come to visit me and Caldon.”

  “Cecil is keeping her distance from me too.” She recalled the way the older woman had tiptoed around her that morning. “But Evie insists she’ll co
me around soon.”

  “I hope she does because...”

  “Blaez?” A knock sounded at the door and they both froze. “Could you open up? I gotta pee.”

  Blaez’s eyes burst open and Chantal hopped off the sink. They raced to the door and yanked it free, staring in awe at the teenager who swayed on his feet. Caldon’s dark hair was a sharp contrast to his extra-pale skin. The hospital gown hung off one gaunt shoulder.

  “You’re up,” Blaez said, his voice filled with awe.

  “Yeah. Yeah.” Caldon shoved his way into the bathroom and weakly pushed them out.

  Blaez grinned wide and pressed his ears to the door, listening to the sound of his brother relieving himself. Chantal stepped back but couldn’t help rejoicing with him. They’d been so lost in conversation they hadn’t even heard Caldon shuffling around.

  A few minutes later, Caldon opened the door and spotted Blaez standing right in front of it. He sent his brother a dark glare. “Can’t a guy have some privacy?”

  “How do you feel?” Blaez asked, taking his brother’s arm to help him to the bed.

  Caldon brushed him off and limped there himself. “Like someone hit me all over with a baseball bat.”

  “I’ll call the doctor,” Chantal said.

  Blaez nodded, staring at his brother. She grinned again and headed for the door when she heard Caldon ask, “Whatever happened, I’m not staying here for long. I’m going back to my crew. They’re probably waiting for me.”

  Her steps slowed. What?

  She heard Blaez’s fear when he said, “What are you talking about? Your crew?”

  “They’re going to make fun of me because of you. Nobody else has a brother as nosy as mine. They get to do what they want without someone pressuring them all the time.”

  Chantal’s heart raced. She flew to the nursing station and demanded a doctor. A minute later, the physician entered the room and checked Caldon over. The boy grumbled all the way, acting as if Blaez had dragged him from a function with his friends rather than a machine that was sucking out his blood.

  “What’s wrong, Doctor?” Blaez stopped in the middle of the hallway and leaned in. “Why is Caldon acting as if he doesn’t remember anything?”

  “We need to run some tests...”

  “Tell me what you know.” Blaez leveled him a hard gaze. “What happened to him?”

  “Your brother may have amnesia.”

  “Amnesia?” Chantal touched her temple. “Isn’t that acquired when there’s blunt trauma to the head? Or a mental illness?”

  “You said there was nothing wrong with him!” Blaez ran a hand through his hair, his fingers shaking in agitation. “You said he was fine. That all he needed to do is wake up.”

  “Calm down.” The doctor started sweating and shuffled a little away from Blaez. “We can’t predict everything. I’ll need more tests to say for sure, but the reason for his amnesia could be psychological. Maybe there’s a traumatic event that Caldon would rather forget.”

  “Is he going to get better?” Blaez asked.

  “Well...” the doctor pulled his collar, “I’ll need to—”

  “Run some tests,” Blaez finished. “How long is that going to take?”

  “A few hours.”

  “Thank you.” Chantal stepped in. The doctor looked like he was about to wet himself. Blaez’s bull-doggish expression probably wasn’t helping matters. “Please do your best and get back to us as soon as possible.”

  “I will.” He dipped his head and scurried off. Chantal watched him go and then turned to Blaez. Without a word, she stepped closer and hugged him. It was one blow after another, but she’d hold him up anyway she could.

  BLAEZ FELT CHANTAL’S arm around him, but it registered somewhere in the back of his mind. He was too busy thinking to return her embrace. She clung tighter and he acknowledged her effort with a grunt, but his mind still rushed with shock.

  Amnesia. His brother had amnesia. He knew a little bit about the term from reading books and magazines and watching movies. Depending on what kind it was, Caldon could be stuck without his memories forever.

  He wasn’t sure what outcome he should root for. Though Caldon had been under the influence, the fact that he had killed his own friends wouldn’t change. He would forever wrestle with the guilt. Or maybe not.

  If his memories never returned. If he lived hating Blaez until eternity, he could live with that. He’d protect his brother. Forbid Hazel and the rest from mentioning Caldon’s part in Lucien’s plan. Then Caldon would live in freedom.

  Yes... amnesia was good. Even if they told Caldon what had happened, without his own experience to draw from his brother would be relieved of a terrible burden. Knowing something in theory and walking it out were two hugely different things. Caldon would not suffer. That was all Blaez wanted.

  “Are you okay?” Chantal whispered. She grabbed his face between her hands. “Do you need a minute?”

  He nodded.

  “I’ll wait outside. Make some calls and update the others. If you need me...”

  “I’ll call.” He held the hands on his cheeks, removed them from his face, and kissed them. “Thank you.”

  She nodded and walked away. He watched her go and then took a fortifying breath before reentering his brother’s room. Caldon was on his hands and knees—butt high in the air—when Blaez walked in.

  He choked. “What are you doing?”

  “I’m looking for my phone.” Caldon pinned him with a stare. “Did you take it?”

  “No. It wasn’t on you when we... when you were found.”

  “Speaking of found, how exactly did you locate me? We moved right after you came to visit me that day.”

  He arched an eyebrow. “Is that the last thing you remember? Talking to me at the abandoned subway station?”

  “What is that supposed to mean?” Caldon snorted. “That was yesterday. You’re getting old, Blaez.”

  “Where did you move to?”

  “Like I’ll tell you that?” He groaned and touched his side. “Did we really get attacked by the Coyote crew? I told Timmy we shouldn’t mess with them.” He started grumbling about his friends and how they never took him seriously.

  Blaez nodded and put his brother back to bed, determined to play along with Caldon’s skewed memories for as long as he needed. All that mattered was that Caldon was safe. He wouldn’t be greedy and ask for anything else.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  “IS HE UP?” HAZEL ASKED, her voice rising with excitement. “That’s great. We’ve had no luck finding Lucien. It’s like he’s disappeared. I’ve been waiting for a breakthrough in this case. Everyone on the Council is getting antsy. How soon can I question him?”

  Chantal bit on her finger and turned to face the blank wall. Since this was a secret facility, not a lot had been invested in ward décor. She sighed. “That might be a problem.”

  “What do you mean?” Hazel chuckled. “Blaez is being overbearingly protective, isn’t he? I knew it from the moment he wanted to take Caldon’s punishment. The man does nothing half-way. Tell him I won’t shake up his brother. I’ll be as gentle as possible when I talk to him.”

  “That’s the thing,” she whispered. “Caldon doesn’t remember.”

  “Doesn’t remember what?”

  “Anything about Lucien or the dritoquilin or the fights. The doctors think its amnesia.”

  “Amnesia?” Hazel gasped. “No. He can’t have amnesia. We need him!”

  “Hazel!” she hissed. “This isn’t just about your investigation. Imagine how Blaez is feeling?”

  “I can do more than imagine.” Her sister blew out a troubled breath. “Do you think I’m tearing this city upside down, using all the Council’s resources for myself? The lunatic who killed your foster parents and tried to come after you is out there right now pumped up on Lord knows what and I have no idea where he is or what his plan is.”

  “I know you’re worried about me, but you don’t have to be. Ev
ie implemented the ‘Buddy System’ so someone is with me at all times. I can’t even go out to hunt alone anymore. Ralph drives me everywhere. Mae and Evie stick to me like glue when I’m not with Blaez...”

  “Do you think Lucien cares? No. We have to get Caldon to remember.”

  “That’ll be kind of hard.”

  “Why? I’ll send the best psychologist we have on staff. I’ll call in a favor from my college friends if I have to. We’ll try hypnosis. Anything.”

  “I don’t think Blaez wants him to remember.”

  “What?”

  “You should have seen the look in his eyes,” Chantal said, the memory of Blaez’s face popping up as she spoke. “When he first found out... he was shocked, even outraged. Then I saw relief. If you want to get to Caldon, you have to get through to Blaez first and I don’t think it’ll be easy.”

  “So why don’t you get him out of there.”

  “Is that supposed to be a joke?”

  “Do you think Lucien will rest knowing someone can identify him? Say we leave Caldon to remember on his own. Who knows how long that will take? If Caldon runs away again and Lucien finds him, he’ll die. Do you think Blaez would want that?”

  “Why don’t you let me talk to him? I’m sure if we present the facts like that, he’ll be more understanding—”

  “Or he may not let Caldon out of his sight. He trusts you, Chantal. He cares for you. You’re the only one who can convince him to leave Caldon for a bit. Which is better? Following Blaez now and Lucien killing Caldon or recapturing Caldon’s memories and finding Lucien before he hurts us all?”

  Chantal winced. Hazel had a point.

  “I FEEL FINE,” CALDON said. “When can I leave?” He plucked at the tubes in his wrist and glared at the wall. “I’m bored.”

  “Stop that.” He placed a hand over Caldon’s arm. “You can’t go yet. The doctors have to run some tests.”

  “I told you. I’m perfectly okay.”

  Blaez tried his best to not let his frustration build. He was starting to remember why he and Caldon had always clashed. “Caldon, if you keep fighting me, I’ll strap you to that cot like a criminal, do you understand?”