Blood Yellow (Blood Series)

by Ashley Nemer

  Zayn understood why she was angry, but her tone, so spiteful and full of anger, cut him through to his heart. “You don’t understand, Adara, I had to. Let me come see you; let me talk to you and explain where I have been. Please?”

  She didn’t want to see him at all. She had started to show, and she looked sickly. Not eating and being unable keeping things down for a few weeks did that to a girl. “I can’t meet you, Zayn. I have somewhere to be, and I won’t have time to see you.”

  “I’m at your place. Just open the door,” Zayn said, praying that she listened to reason and talked to him.

  Adara was shocked and couldn’t believe what he just said. He’s here, at my home.

  “Zayn, you can’t just show up whenever you want.”

  “Actually, I can. I am still your king. Now please open the door.” His voice was no longer pleading for an audience but firm, powerful. He didn’t want to play that card, but he wasn’t going to stop until he saw her.

  She didn’t know what to do; she couldn’t run, but could she hide her illness? She looked around the room for a sweater. Yes, a sweater would cover up the weight she had gained. She slipped into a bright pink one and headed to the front door. Breathing deeply, she opened the door and gasped.

  “Zayn, you, you’re so thin. What is going on? You look sick! Come in.” She pulled him inside, shutting the door quickly and bringing him close to her body. She ran her hands over his face, no temperature. His arms felt like mush; he looked like he hadn’t even been working out.

  “Adara, stop. I have not fed on anything since I left. I vanished into the woods and tried to die. I just couldn’t live with myself for what I caused Nikole to go through and what I put you through.” Looking away from her, he was unwilling to let her see the shame that he felt. He’d left everyone, let them all down. He moved his hand over to hers, letting it brush her softly before she pulled it away.

  “Zayn…”

  “Adara, please. Please I am so sorry for leaving you the way that I did.”

  She didn’t want to be that close to him, she couldn’t be without getting sick. She took her hand to his chin and turned his head to look into her eyes. She saw the sadness, remorse, and regret displayed all over his countenance. As she opened her mouth to say something, she quickly realized that she was going to throw up. Fleeing from the couch and heading to the bathroom, she didn’t have time to shut the door to give her the privacy she craved.

  Left sitting on the couch, Zayn quickly stood up and followed her. Unsure of what to do, he simply knelt down beside her, holding her hair back from her face as he stroked her back softly. “Baby, is everything okay?”

  “What does it look like?” she spat out between dry heaves. When she felt her stomach lighten up, she stood and moved to wash her face. She was not happy to have him staring at her; he didn’t deserve to be here. “Leave, Zayn, just leave.”

  “I can’t leave you when you’re sick. I will not to leave you again.” He watched as she pushed away from the sink to leave the bathroom. He followed after her until he saw her open the front door. He stopped in the hallway and started to shake his head no. “I’m not leaving you when you are sick, forget it.”

  “I’ve been sick for three months, and you have not been here, so get out. King or no king, you are no longer welcome in my home. Leave.” She left the door open for him and walked off to the kitchen to find something to settle her stomach. As he walked past her, she looked up to him and couldn’t help but let a tear fall down her cheek. She was really sending him away.

  With her back to him, she missed seeing him come around the corner. Her only focus was on the water she was pulling out of the refrigerator. Taking a few deep breaths and letting them calm her nerves, she opened a bottle of water. She was taking a sip, then suddenly felt his hand on her back. Slowly, she set the water back down and closed the refrigerator door before turning to him. His hand grazed her body as she turned around, jumping back when it reached her stomach.

  “I told you to leave, get out now!”

  He watched her push past him, her shoulder hitting his chest. He did not understand what was wrong with her; he had never seen her like this in all the years they had known each other. “Adara, come on, talk to me. Tell me what’s got you so sick and upset.”

  She headed to the bedroom and slammed her door, locking it shut. She just couldn’t be bothered with him. Why couldn’t he understand she was hurting and didn’t want to see him?

  “I am calling your okht. If you won’t leave me alone, then she can come and get you.” The sound of him pounding on the door trying to get in was driving her nuts. She even saw the wood start to give a bit as it started taking on a concave form. “Zayn do not even think of breaking my door, you hear me?! I’m dialing.” She wasn’t; she was too sick to call anyone. She just wanted him to go away. It was at that moment she heard the crack that broke the door into pieces. She watched as the wood came at her, and she moved as fast as she could in an attempt to evade it.

  Zayn watched as half of the door he’d broken came at Adara, knocking her out cold. He saw her body drop to the ground, the wood lying on top of her frame. He rushed to her side and tossed the wood across the room. He heard something break, but he didn’t pay attention to it. “Adara, wake up, baby, please. Oh Gods please, please wake up!” He shook her, trying to get her to stir, but nothing happened. What did I do?

  He stood up and started to pace back and forth. Come on, Zayn, think. He rubbed his temples while he paced through her room trying to decide his next move. He saw what the door had broken when he had come through it and went to pick up the glass that had fallen on the ground. It was then that he noticed the book on the floor. A pregnancy book. He reached over picking it up and looked at the chapter she had book marked.

  He read the title out loud, “Week 12-16: What Your Body is Going Through. Holy Shit."

  CHAPTER THREE

  “You know, I could make a law that says we are never allowed to leave this bed.” Nikole laughed out loud as she rolled off of Alec. Finally, she’d sampled a piece of the delectable male who’d saved her life. How good his body felt pressed up to hers, the way they moved together when they made sweet love.

  “We need to get you home, Princess. Come on, let’s pack your things.”

  She watched him leave the bed and walk to the closet. He pulled out a drawer and started to fold her shirts. Her shirts, not their shirts. “Are you coming with me?” she asked, hoping that the answer would still be yes. He didn’t reply as he kept the focus on the items he was folding.

  She got out of bed and went to the closet, putting her hand on his and stopping him from reaching for the next item. “Alec, you are coming with me, are you not?” She could see it in his face, and the reaction he was holding back. “Alec?”

  He turned away from her and walked to the back of the closet grabbing the other suitcase. “I don’t belong there, Nikole. That’s not my home… this is. You need to go back for your subjects, but I need to stay here for myself, for the solitude. I can’t be around everyone in the king’s army, and please don’t ask me to be.” He kept packing and tuned her out.

  Where did this come from all of a sudden? Nikole felt hurt and confused, as he hadn’t even given her a reason.

  “I thought you and I… I thought we connected. What’s changed? Are you ashamed to be around me publicly?” She put herself between him and the suitcase, holding his arms in her hands and staring up at him. “Alec, what the hell? Why can you not come home with me? You owe me a reason, after everything we have been through. Fuck!”

  Alec wouldn’t look her in the eyes; he refused to let her know he was a traitor to their race. Maybe if she was mad enough at him for this, then he wouldn’t have to tell her the truth about what had happened 300 years ago. Maybe he could just let her know the little that she knew now and that would be it. “Nikole, let’s just go to bed. This is our last night together, and I do not want it ending badly. Come, let’s just go to
bed.”

  Taking her hand, he pulled her back to the bed to lie down but she resisted him.

  “No, I’m not going to just lie down. You tell me what is going on. What reason do you have for saying no?”

  “Princess, does there always have to be a reason? Can’t it just be ‘cause it is?” he said, looking at her. He didn’t know why she couldn’t just deal with this. He’d never promised her anything. He’d never told her they would be together forever.

  “No, I need a reason. I have to know why.” She took a few steps away from the bed; she didn’t want to be this close to him, not if he didn’t want her. “Why don’t you want me?”

  “I never said I didn’t want you, did I? You said that. I just said I couldn’t live in the mansion with you. Please just drop it.”

  “No, no I can’t drop it, Alec. Tell me now. What did I do?” Nikole felt her face flushing; she knew the fire inside her was itching to escape. She tried to focus on the curtains to distract her from the man she…the man she loved, rejecting her. The tears started to roll down her face as she asked, “What did I do? Please.” She turned her back to him, unable to look in his direction any longer. The fire started to burn at the top layer of her flesh. She knew she couldn’t cry; when she cried the fire started.

  “Nikole, stop! You didn’t do anything, it is me. Now come to bed.” Alec let his feet drop to the side of the bed and watched while her body caught on fire. He knew how hard it was for her, controlling the emotion. Standing up, he started to walk toward her when she turned around and looked at him.

  “I’m done. I can’t do this.” She flashed out of the room and onto the porch, away from his sight. The cool night air calmed her skin as she attempted to control her anger. Was she not enough of a woman for him? She had been living with him for months with no problems, not even a single argument. Maybe she didn’t please him in bed just now? Fuck, she didn’t know. Did it matter? In the end, he didn’t want her.

  She opened her eyes. The tears continued to roll down her cheeks. Her hands were growing warmer, and the fire was igniting at her fingertips. Closing her eyes, she allowed the pain to surge through her veins and then out through her arms. When it surged past her fingers and onto the trees in front of her, she watched as the front row of trees burst into flames.

  The warmth of the burning drove her energy further, pushing the flames higher and higher. She heard the branches start to crackle and snap. One fell to her feet, causing the grass to catch on fire. She let out a cold and wicked laugh while watching it burn. Yes, this was what she wanted. She wanted something to feel the pain she was feeling right now. The fire danced across the trees, jumping from one trunk to the next, forming a circle around her.

  She felt him standing there behind her; his blood inside her warmed when he was near. “What do you want?” she spat out. What did he want? To humiliate her more? To make her feel even lower about herself? “You already rejected me, so just leave me the fuck alone!”

  Alec opened his arms and started to channel Nikole’s flames, feeling their heat and power deep in his cells. Her blood inside him started to sear through his body. He felt her anger as he started subduing the fire.

  “No, Alec, no! Let me have my fire, I order you!” He threw his hands together, watching as the fire extinguished itself in one sudden movement. He turned his head and looked into her eyes.

  “I told you it wasn’t about you, didn’t I?” He turned around and headed inside his house, shutting the door with a firm slam. She stared at where he was standing then looked around at the trees. Gone, the fire was just gone. She moved her body to go toward the house, taking one step at a time. Marching up the stairs and then through the front door, she stopped in the living room and stared him down.

  “You did not tell me why. You just said it wasn’t me. What the hell am I supposed to think if you give me no alternative? Am I just supposed to believe that, oh it must be something else? I mean, I don’t see anything else stopping you, but if you say it isn’t me, then by damn it, it must not be me.” She walked over to him and faced him square in the chest, not letting her hurt break her into tears in front of him again. She couldn’t believe that she’d fallen for him, another man to let her down. She’d thought she had learned her lesson the first time. She should have known Alec better and known he wasn’t different. Adara was right. Men were just useful for one thing, feeding.

  “Nikole, do you always have to over react to every situation? Do you really think it is my goal to hurt you? Can you please just come sit down and stop acting out?” Alec moved behind the couch, trying to let his nerves calm before he said something that he was just going to regret. “Nikole, please. Please, let’s stop this fighting.”

  She was unable to express how hurt she felt. All Nikole wanted was for him to join her in the home she had to return to.

  “Don’t you think I would stay with you if I could?” Alec asked her, the tone of his voice obviously remorseful.

  “Then why don’t you?” She looked at him as she spoke those words softly.

  “Because I just can’t.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Zayn pulled out his phone and in a panic dialed Nasir’s number. He hadn’t spoken to him since he’d left, but he knew Nasir would come help him. His heart raced as he saw her lying on the floor, still, unmoving.

  “Pick up, damn it, PICK UP!” He could hear the sound of Nasir’s voicemail answering. Where the fuck was Nasir? “Nasir, it’s Zayn. I’m at Adara’s and she has passed out. Come here fast..”

  He moved beside her, kneeling down to her body. He placed his hand on her stomach over where he believed his child was. It had to be his child. Right? Maybe she was with someone else while he was gone, or maybe with someone else in the weeks before him. Fuck no. This child is mine! No one would be raising a child with her but him. He softly started to stroke her skin, picturing the baby inside her womb. His child. No, their child.

  Zayn let his fingers run over her stomach. He was a total asshole, leaving and never considering checking in with her. He contemplated how much he had let the woman he loved down. Were his actions even forgivable, knowing what had been at stake? And now look at her, unconscious on the ground, pregnant with his child. He had turned into someone he didn’t even know or recognize anymore.

  “Adara, I promise, if you wake up, I will take such good care of you. You will want for nothing, and I’ll make you my queen. I’ll never leave you again.”

  Nothing, no movement, and no indication she heard him, just nothing. Zayn stood up and went into the bathroom, taking a washcloth and dampening it with cool water. Coming back to her still body, he wiped it along her brow, trying to help give her some comfort. He leaned over her body and placed his ear right above her chest; he could see shallow breaths being taken. He felt the rush of relief knowing that hope was still there. He hadn’t lost her, lost someone else he loved.

  Zayn took the washcloth, and as he continued to blot it along her face, he started to smell something very familiar. He looked up and down her body in a confused and nervous demeanor. Blood, he smelled blood. He knew that smell. Where was it coming from? He gently lifted her arms to inspect and didn’t find any cuts. He got a small cringe in his stomach as he started to roll her onto her side. That’s when he saw the sliver of wood sticking out of her back.

  “FUCK!” He moved her body and positioned it where he could pull the piece of wood out. Zayn put his hand around the wood, pulling as carefully as he could while aiming it down and to the left. He heard it snap, and only part of the wood came free from her body. He looked at the wound and could see the pieces still lodged inside her. Setting her back down, he began to look around for something to pull the splintered wood out with. He remembered that he had seen a nail kit in the bathroom. Thinking there might be something in there he could use; he stood up and went to grab the pedicure kit. Kneeling down beside her, he fumbled, opening the container and pulling out a pair of tweezers and cuticle trimmers. While hover
ing over her back, he started to retrieve the splintered pieces of wood from inside her. He pulled them out one by one until they were all gone.

  His attention was broken when he heard the front door open and close. He grabbed the washcloth he was using for her forehead and placed it on the back wound.

  “Zayn, Zayn!” Nasir called out as he rushed through the different rooms of the house.

  “Back here, Nasir. I don’t know if she is going to be all right. She has such shallow breathing, and I had to take the wood out of her back.”

  Nasir looked around her bedroom as he crossed the threshold, noticing the broken door and debris lying around. “Zayn, what happened?” he asked while coming to kneel on the other side of Adara. He couldn’t help but notice how thin and frail his king looked. “How long have you been back?

  Zayn didn’t want to talk about him just yet; he had more important things to tend to, like his beloved lying on her floor unconscious. “That’s not important; we need to get her help. Just help me take her to the hospital.”

  Nasir gave Zayn a nod and they both put their hands under her body. As they slowly lifted her up, Adara let out a soft moan, one indicating pain. “Put her down, put her down!” Zayn said frantically as they both started setting her back on the floor.

  “Zayn, we should call an ambulance and get her taken into our facility in town.”

  Zayn watched as the floor started to pool with more blood. He knew she would not be able to take too much of the loss and be able to survive. “She can’t die; she’s going to have our baby, and you have to help save her, Nasir,” Zayn said as he looked at her face, still and unmoving.

  Nasir listened to Zayn’s words, knowing the ramifications of what he was saying. “We will save them, Zayn, we will.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He punched in the seven digits to the emergency Algula line he had set up when the infrastructure was first established in Colorado Springs.