The Pull

by Amber Lynn

Events of the last day were a little hazy for me. There was something in my room that sounded like it didn’t belong, a little ticking kind of noise that made me think of a bomb. I remembered having issues with my senses, and I hoped my ears were just trying to catch up.

  Overall, there was something off about me. I felt different, but I couldn’t figure out what caused the sensation. I highly doubted Jack would be relaxed next to me if we were in some kind of danger, so giving my senses a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt anything.

  “I didn’t see the body firsthand, but I am assured that after you decapitated him and blew up the car, he was cut into little pieces and buried in ten different places. They evidently wanted to make sure there was no chance he’d bother us again.”

  “Good. I don’t want to think about all the things that thing did during his life, but I’m sure there’s a special place in Hell for him. Hopefully catching him on fire was only a prelude of things to come.”

  I felt better knowing that hadn’t been a dream. There were a lot of questions I had about what had happened after the explosion, and my mind worked to line them up in a reasonable order. Since Jack wasn’t there, I didn’t know how helpful he’d be with answers, but I imagined his sister was around somewhere.

  “You didn’t answer my question about how you feel. I know when Paul went through the change, he was off for a few days. It wasn’t anything too crazy, but he said it took him some time to get used to the increased senses and another voice in his head.”

  I really wanted to get a look at Jack, because I worried his head hadn’t been screwed on quite right during the healing process. I didn’t have any voices in my head, and I wasn’t sure what change he was talking about.

  “I feel fine, but I’m still worried about you. Why would you think there were voices in my head?”

  “Not voices, a voice. Nikki was vague when she told me exactly how things went down, but I assumed she told you what she was doing.”

  “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. There were comments about a reboot or something and supposedly something was happening. I do remember her telling me she was going to kill me. I’m guessing she wasn’t successful?”

  As I remembered more about the car ride, my head started to hurt as I tried to figure out exactly what was going on in the car. Things were too hazy to put the puzzle pieces together.

  “Well that makes this a little weird. We’ll go with the basic approach, since I have a feeling you’re going to have a lot of questions along the way, and getting too technical will just make things worse.”

  “Can I see you before you start explaining things? I love feeling you next to me, but yesterday was a tough day and I’d feel better being able to look into those green eyes of yours.”

  Jack chuckled. It reminded me of a girl I knew as a kid who always had this specific laugh when she had a secret and someone said something that would reveal it. I didn’t know why his laugh reminded me of it, but I instantly drew a connection.

  “First, I should let you know that it’s November, so what you remember as yesterday was actually four months ago.”

  “What?” I tried to sit up, but continued to be restrained by his arms.

  “Shh. Let me get you caught up, and then you can ask all the questions you want about the time you missed. I missed almost a month myself, so you aren’t the only one who needed to be caught up. I never thought a neck break would take that long to heal. Now that I know, I promise to not get my neck broken anytime in the future.”

  Well, that was a good thing to hear. I hoped we didn’t come across any crazy psychopaths that felt the need to snap necks ever again.

  “So, I went down for the count, but Nikki, Vik and Paul had already realized something was going on and were on their way. Once they verified my heart hadn’t been cut out and my head was still attached, they went after you. Apparently, the satyr was as horrible company as we all assumed he would be, and you had decided you’d rather kill yourself than spend another second listening to his stories.”

  “The stories weren’t horrible, because they filled in a lot of the blanks I had about the past. What I couldn’t live with was the fact that he had more power than me, and if he decided to pull off at a rest area because he was feeling a need to boost that power with my body, I wouldn’t have been able to stop him. As it was, he almost stopped the fire from happening.”

  Jack kissed me under my ear and nuzzled my neck with his nose. I felt a little growl grow in my chest and let it out. His amused scoff let me know he liked it, but I was a little surprised by how authentic it sounded.

  “I thank you for making sure that didn’t happen, but you almost killed yourself in the process. If Nikki hadn’t been close behind you, you would’ve died. I guess even though you have all those goddess powers dwelling in your body, if your brain can’t focus on them, they don’t do you a lot of good.

  “The human part of you was pretty much dead, and only the piece of your mother inside of you kept you breathing. As powerful as I like to think my sister is, it’s impossible to heal something like that without taking the human part out of the equation. So, on the way back here, she did just that.”

  “What do you mean she did just that? How do you make a demigoddess a goddess? That’s what I’d be if there wasn’t human DNA running through me.”

  “That would be a trick, but it isn’t the one Nikki performed. She simply replaced the human part of you with wolf, because your injuries were ones a wolf would instinctively try to heal. When I woke up, parts of your skin were pink and fresh, but most of it was still so badly burned that I did nothing but cry and pray the wolf inside of you would be strong enough to heal it all. I’d never seen anybody that severely damaged come back, and I didn’t even see you when they first brought you in.”

  Jack paused before he continued. I didn’t want him to think too much about what I’d looked like, because the break in conversation gave me a chance to think about it. I remembered the remarks about gelatin and missing skin, so it wasn’t something I really wanted to think about.

  Thankfully, Jack had more to say, and it was only a second before he continued.

  “Anyway, you did heal, and now we’re even more compatible than we were before. I’m not sure why your wolf hasn’t tried to introduce herself, but I’m sure she eventually will. You did shift the last time the moon was out of the sky, so I knew you were getting stronger and that you’d be waking up soon.”

  “How long ago was that?”

  The idea that they’d changed me into a werewolf wasn’t hard to comprehend, or maybe it was and I just decided to go with the flow. What had my mind at war was that I’d managed to shift into something else and I hadn’t been conscious when it happened.

  There were also questions about whether that meant anything when it came to the powers I’d lived with my whole life. I didn’t have a great idea for testing it, so it went on my list of things to do. It should’ve been more important to me, but being alive in Jack’s arms was all I really cared about.

  “Four days ago. I changed too, and like all the other times since you’ve been asleep, I stayed right here with you. My wolf wouldn’t leave his mate, even when the pull to get out and run was at its strongest.”

  “I hope that doesn’t mean the reason you won’t let me turn around is because you’ve neglected to eat and have wasted away to nothing. Wait, maybe it’s the fact that I haven’t eaten and you’re afraid to see my skeletal face.”

  That didn’t seem right, because I didn’t feel hungry, or like I was nothing but flesh and bones. Jack’s hand on my hip didn’t feel like he was in contact with bone. If anything, it felt like he had more hip to grab onto than the last time we’d been in my bed together.

  “Nikki and Abbie both come over every day to make sure that isn’t the case for either of us. I imagine they’ll be here in an hour or so. It’s only five o’clock, and the sun hasn’t come up yet. It will be fun to see if the change in you adds a de
sire to eat a little heartier diet.”

  “I suppose Abbie’s happy to hear there was a reason why she stopped being able to read my future. She said she can’t read werewolves, and I guess I’ve gone and become one. What exactly does that mean for us? You liked me when I wasn’t a wolf, but now that I’ve changed, maybe you won’t like me as much.”

  The puny little growl I’d let out was nothing compared to the warning one that came out of Jack’s chest. I felt the vibration along my back and down to my toes.

  “I didn’t like you when you were just a demigoddess, I loved you. I marked you as mine, and you will be mine until the day we die, which better be timed down to the exact second, because I will not live without you.”

  I’d hoped that would be his reaction, but four months could change things, and I needed to be sure. For all I knew, he could have fallen in love with Nurse Abbie.

  “I’m guessing I don’t still have the mark I added because of the whole skin peeling off my body issue.”

  I wanted to touch my skin to verify it actually existed, but something made me hesitate. Jack had my hand under the pillows tied up with his, so I couldn’t move it. The other one felt heavy on the bed where it rested.

  For wanting to see Jack, I hadn’t even opened my eyes. It was like I was in sort of a dream sequence, and I was afraid opening them would end that. Ready to face the reality of the world around me, I slowly opened my lids, realizing they were just as heavy as my arm, and the weight was more than likely the reason I hadn’t bothered verifying the world around me existed.

  I was facing the closet, so there wasn’t a ton for me to see, other than the fact that no one had painted my room in the months I’d been asleep. The white walls were as boring as ever.

  “You don’t have the paw print anymore, but I like to think you still wear my mark. I have the one you gave me, which you neglected to tell me you did. When I woke up, Nikki freaked out about that. Guys don’t tend to get a mark, even though Vik has one.”

  “Do you want me to remove it?”

  I didn’t know that I would, but I thought I’d ask. I hoped he was going to give me my own new, real mark as soon as the opportunity arose.

  “Of course not. It’s a symbol of your love for me. I doubt you would’ve put it there if you didn’t plan on keeping me around for a while.”

  “Well, I suppose I could probably find some use for you. Do you know what that noise is? I keep hearing a weird ticking noise and it won’t stop. You hear it, right?”

  “I’m pretty sure I do, which means I should probably finish telling you what you’ve missed since you’ve been gone. There’s kind of a big thing that I’ve been trying to come up with the right way to tell you.”

  My stomach sank when I heard the hesitation in his voice. He’d gotten through the explanation that I was magically a werewolf, and yet there was something more to tell. I was sure there were many more things to actually tell, but there was something big still left to say.

  “So, I guess we need to talk about the birds and the bees for a second. You’ll recall that when two people really love each other, sometimes they decide they want to show that love by having babies. And you may recall that some of the last activities we partook in were designed to see if we could prove the curse that supposedly you couldn’t carry my child wrong.”

  Jack took a second to wait for my brain to fill in some blanks. I didn’t need to fill in anything when my arm that had previously seemed too hefty to move went straight to my rounded stomach.

  “The ticking is a heartbeat?”

  It ended up being a question, but in my mind there was no question. It didn’t sound like Jack’s solid, slow heartbeat beside me, but the little flittering was a beating heart.

  “The ticking is our son’s heartbeat. Evidently, the surefire way to override a curse that you can’t have a baby with a particular species, is to turn you into that species. Nikki tells me there was at least one very persistent little swimmer that waited out the storm until you were a werewolf. I suppose that was really only a matter of hours after I put him in you, but the logistics seem a little sketchy to me.”

  “Are you questioning whether the baby is yours? If you think the idea is sketchy, that makes me think you have questions in your mind.”

  I’d mentioned the satyr refueling his power with me as a battery, but I hoped that didn’t make Jack think it had really happened at one point. Jack rolled me over, finally, and I understood why he’d kept me still for as long as he had. The rolling process wasn’t exactly as easy as I remembered it.

  Seeing Jack’s eyes full of worry made tears prick at my eyes. I wanted to lean in and kiss him, but I was a little scared of how he’d react.

  “I’m going to chalk that question up to the fact that you’re just coming out of a coma and have learned a few things that you probably didn’t expect. I already said it was our son’s heartbeat, and there’s no question in my mind whether that’s true. I told you the second you started seeing babies in my future that they were yours.”

  Not bothering to give me any warning, his lips collided with mine. Hearing his words, the tears in my eyes didn’t bother holding back. I threw my arms around him and gave him everything my still waking body could give.

  Time was irrelevant to me, and I thought he felt the same. We sat there holding each other, his hand often caressing my stomach, until a throat clearing from the doorway brought us out of our trance. I wanted to ignore it, but Nikki decided she had things to say.

  “I guess we won’t be needing any IVs today. I’ll get you something to eat, and hopefully by the time I’m back you two will have covered up. The pregnant body is beautiful, but I could’ve gone my whole life without seeing my brother naked.”

  I listened as she walked away and laughed.

  “Tell me you haven’t been naked the whole time you’ve been waiting around for me to wake up.”

  “Of course not,” he said, kissing my nose. “I sleep naked, and usually have enough time to throw on some shorts before she gets here, but I was distracted this morning.”

  “I love you, Jack. I hope you know that. I don’t think for a second our meeting was by chance. It’s weird, but I kind of think I had a guardian angel making sure my life eventually led right to you at the right time. If we would’ve met ten years okay, I’m sure we wouldn’t be lying here in bed together thinking of baby names.”

  “I would’ve been a teenager ten years ago, and in my ‘I hate anything that isn’t a wolf stage.’ We would’ve killed each other.”

  He could joke about it, but I knew someone was watching over me. I supposed I always felt her keeping track from the edges as I made a mess of my life, and then finally sweeping in to help guide me. Whether or not my mother had a body to call her own, her spirit lived on in me, and I was going to carry her legacy with pride.

  I was born into a world I didn’t understand, because I simply hadn’t belonged. It took over fifty years, but I finally had a place I fit in, and a man I loved to help me when the feelings of being an outsider crept up. I didn’t think my life would ever be easy, but I was ready to finally start living.

  THE END

  Other books by Amber Lynn:

  Argonauts’ Adventures

  The Witch’s Web

  The Dragon’s Fire

  Daughter of Gaia Series

  Daughter of Gaia

  Queen of Aquima

  Nightwalker Saga

  The Nightwalker Knocks

  The Nightwalker Teaches

  Twisted Fates Series

  The Call

  Unlucky in Love series

  Calypso in Love

  Nani in Love

  Rhea in Love

  Hermia in Love

  Desma in Love

  Nyx Slaughter series

  Night Calls

  Night Marks

  Night Bites

  Night Howls

  Night Lurks

  Night Finds

  Night Rises


  Nyx Slaughter: Books 1-7

  Avery Clavens series

  Not in My Job Description

  Just Another Day at the Office

  Working Through the Weekend

  Another Day, Another Dollar

  The Harder I Work, the Luckier I Get

  All in a Day’s Work

  More Books

  Searching for Home

  Between Blood