Strigoi Redemption

by Hall, K R

  “It’s okay,” Victor said soothingly, noticing Alana was wearing an anguished expression. “You’ll probably remember more things, given time.”

  “Do you know if the baby is still okay?” Tears welled up in Alana’s eyes. “I don’t know what I’d do if anything bad has happened to her. I tried my best to protect her. I love her, Victor. I am looking forward to being a mama.”

  “I know,” Victor said, bending forward and embracing her while trying to hold back his tears. “We just have to pray that she’s okay.”

  Victor stayed for another hour, watching Alana sleep. The answers to what happened that night were locked up there, in her head, but would she ever be able to retrieve them? Maybe it was best if Alana never remembered that night and her kidnapping.

  ~ ~ ~

  After spending six weeks in the hospital; the effects were devastating. Alana had lost all feeling in her legs and was paralyzed from the waist down. She lost a significant amount of muscle mass and she wore a cervical collar and brace around her spine and chest that she called her “turtle shell.” She thought she might spend the rest of her life in a wheelchair.

  The ensuing recovery was gradual. Unable to walk or do anything physical, she worked with various therapists before she was moved to a rehab hospital two weeks after she came out of her coma.

  During her stay at the rehab, Alana began to experience involuntary leg movement and some feeling in her legs returned. In daily sessions, Alana relearned the most basic activities. How to stand. How to walk. How to shift her weight while taking a step. Some days, she participated avidly; on others, he had no focus and tended to nap.

  The physical rehab started with the therapist, April, lifting a limb and asking Alana to try to resist. This exercise progressed to sitting in a chair, even though she had to be lifted and placed in the chair. After a long illness, even that could feel like a marathon.

  ~ ~ ~

  “She is having some issues today, but nurses and I are taking great care of her,” April said to Victor. “Every muscle needs to be strengthened, so things like squeezing a rubber ball for hand strength, shoulder shrugs, lifting her arm, can be feats of strength that become milestones to recovery. It’s all about baby steps.”

  “I literally need assistance in doing everything, such as rolling over in bed,” Alana said. “I am completely reliant on the help of others.”

  “Soon, you will be well enough to come home, but in the meantime, please continue doing your best,” Victor said.

  “I will never give up,” she said, her words coming slow but sure. “I wouldn’t give up on life.”

  “That’s my girl,” Victor said smiling at her.

  Chapter 26

  Alana wheeled into the house smiling ear to ear, checking out all the rooms when she said, “I’m home.”

  Once home, she continued work with her rehabilitation physician and then her home health physical therapist, April. Her next breakthrough was when she moved the toes on her right foot.

  She had begun to walk with a walker and climb a few steps but still struggled with cognitive tasks. Friends and family helped Victor build a wheelchair ramp to the back door of their home and the dining room was converted into a temporary fitness center.

  Alana was unhappy with how she was allowing her life to unfold and she knew that she did not want to die this way. She promised herself, and God, that if she survived, she would do everything that she could possibly do to become physically and mentally strong and to live a fulfilling, happy life.

  After three weeks at home, Alana transitioned from home care to the outpatient physical therapy facility run by April, which she visited several times a week. There, she attempted to walk while supporting herself on parallel bars.

  ~ ~ ~

  “There’s something about struggling and falling, and getting back up again,” Alana said. “You realize you’re stronger than you thought you were when you started. I am so thrilled that I was given a second chance. I couldn’t help but be happy and keep a smile on my face, despite the incredible pain I was enduring.”

  “I am pleased to see the progress you have made, Alana,” said Doctor Nathaniel Hartley.

  The doctor stopped by to see how Alana was progressing through her physical therapy. He laid his left hand on her head and his right hand on her belly to check on the health of the baby.

  “Alana, your baby is doing well. She is the right size for this stage of your pregnancy. I do not detect any residual effects from the coma and medications you were on,” Doctor Hartley said.

  “Thank you, doctor. I am now living more of the life I had before and April helped to improve the quality of my life drastically,” Alana said. “I will forever be grateful to April and everyone else at Bay State PT.”

  “Both occupational and speech therapy helped you achieve your goals in physical therapy,” he said of his therapists’ collaboration. “April will push you to reach your goal to walk again. Due to your new healing abilities, you have regained about eighty-five percent of your function in the month since you have been home,” Doctor Hartley said.

  “April helped get me from a wheelchair to a walker, from a walker to a cane, and now I walk without a cane. She also taught my family how to help me recover my physical ability, which was crucial to my overall recovery,” Alana said

  “One of the most important lessons was not to let yourself get emotionally devastated when a goal was not achieved by a specific time, which could derail you completely,” he said. “You had to keep going, knowing that it would happen, as long as you kept at it.”

  ~ ~ ~

  To further motivate Alana, Victor would draw upon the family’s motto: “Nu renunțați niciodată, nu vă predați niciodată.”

  “Never give up, never surrender,” Victor told Alana when she asked for a translation.

  Alana’s parents pushed her in a wheelchair to the nearby pond, where they would throw bread to the fish and ducks.

  While Alana was out with her family, Victor removed the outdoor ramp that once helped a wheelchair-bound Alana access her house.

  When Alana returned an hour later, she shouted in delight when she saw the ramp removed. Slowly, she rose and climbed the few steps onto the back patio. Victor looked at her with pride. After several months of physical therapy and her healing capabilities from the mating bond, Alana was one hundred percent back to good health and the baby was healthy.

  Chapter 27

  “What name have you chosen for our daughter?” Victor asked.

  “I want to stick with a Romanian name. I looked at meanings for baby names. The name Inima means heart. It creates individuality, independence, self-confidence, initiative, and an inclination to physical activity. What do you think?”

  “Inima is perfect,” Victor agreed.

  He kissed Alana soundly and helped her to the guest bedroom on the first floor. She had been staying there while she recovered. He had wanted to sleep in the same bed as Alana, but the first night had been painful for her each time he moved in the bed. After ensuring she was settled in her bed, Victor went to the master suite and turned in.

  When Victor awoke and opened his eyes, it was dark. There was a strange warmth penetrating his back and sending tingles up his spine. When he had fallen asleep, he was alone— an arm and hand wrapped around his midsection holding him as a body curled up with him. Victor sniffed the air and was pleased to realize that Alana was spooning him as she slept.

  Victor’s heart began to beat in rhythm with hers. He felt the energy that pulsed from her hand directly into him. Her breath was so warm with a hint of her minty toothpaste. The warm moisture grazed the nape of his neck, sending a charge of erotic electricity throughout his body. Her breasts smashed against Victor’s back. Alana’s breath rose and fell evenly, indicating that she was in a deep sleep. He laid there for a moment just to experience the intimacy of a loving couple.

  The closeness was sweet and comfortable as well as increasingly stimulating. Though he
wanted to stay with her like this, he was all too aware of the sexual energy that swept over him between each of her breaths. Victor raised Alana’s arm as gently as possible and attempted to get out of bed without waking her. He breathed a sigh of relief when she remained asleep. He then made his way to the bathroom to relieve himself and then took a cold shower.

  “I will never leave your side again.”

  Two months later

  Victor scooped Alana up into his arms and carried her to his bedroom. Standing beside his bed, he gently lowered her to her feet and held on a moment longer so she could gain her balance. Then he sat on the edge of the bed. He kept his legs open and pulled her closer for a kiss.

  A half-smile made her pussy clench. Feeling the warmth spreading through her body, her resolve weakened. He bent his head and nuzzled the side of her neck. If she didn’t know better, she would think he was trying to scent her. That’s what she had seen other shifters do to the women that had allowed it, anxious to see if any of the handsome shifters in attendance were indeed their mate. He placed a kiss against the side of her neck and her eyes floated close.

  His kiss sent a shudder of want through her. She reached up to caress his face. When her fingers brushed the stubble on his cheek, he pressed into her hand. She wasn’t dreaming this time. Alana quickly undressed, leaving just her thong on and crawled onto Victor’s lap.

  Her sex was sopping wet, dripping down her folds. He spanked her bare bottom, hard.

  “Ooh,” Alana couldn’t prevent the moan escaping her lips as a wave of desire crashed over her.

  Beneath her, Victor froze. He cursed.

  “Alana,” he said. The single word was laden with guilt. “What am I doing?”

  His beast seemed to have retreated after hearing her moan. Did he think he’d hurt her? He wouldn’t let her get all hot and achy and then stop, would he? If he rejected her now, she would lose it. Alana closed her eyes and waited to find out what he was going to do next.

  Come on, Victor, do something. Don’t leave me like this.

  “I’m sorry,” he said as he smoothed his palm over her ass cheeks.

  Alana shifted under his touch, nudging her legs slightly farther apart. He rubbed her as if soothing the ache he just caused, but all his soft caresses did was heat her blood more. She silently begged him to touch her where she ached.

  Please. Feel me. See how wet I am. Anything.

  He paused. Had she said that out loud?

  “Victor, please.” There, she’d done it. No question about it. She just begged Victor to touch her.

  His erection pushed against the tight confines of his jeans. He gently laid her on the bed and slipped her underwear off, then he walked to the end of the bed, never moving his eyes from hers.

  “Open for me,” he urged. “Let me see you.”

  Alana’s eyes widened, but she spread her legs.

  “Lift your knees,” Victor said. Her breath quickened as she followed his command.

  “I want to see you there, ready for me,” he whispered. “You don’t know how many times I’ve tried to imagine this moment.”

  Her cheeks darkened, but she did as he asked. Her gorgeous pussy turned up toward him. Her juices coated her folds and a fresh wave of her sweet fragrance hit him again. He licked his lips. He couldn’t wait to taste her and feel her quiver under his tongue.

  Victor crawled from the foot of the bed, forcing her to lay flat on her back again, and inhaled deeply. A low growl rumbled out of him, making her throb even more. Ever so slowly, his hand slid over the plump roundness of her bottom toward her swollen nub. The throbbing in her pussy quickened to a staccato rhythm of short, sharp pulses.

  She held her breath.

  “Come with me,” he whispered against her skin. “Let me taste you.”

  She gave a full-body shiver.

  “Let me make love to you.”

  With the first brush of his thumb along her folds, she shuddered and exhaled with wicked pleasure. Her panting breaths fell to the dark silk of his comforter. He whispered her name. When his finger slipped through her wetness, they both groaned.

  He pulled back and she wanted to weep. Or grab his hand and drag him back to her body. He didn’t push her way, though. Still, she tried not to move. Somehow, if she acknowledged this, she feared the moment would unravel and she would break this tenuous step they were taking.

  He groaned and held her still, one hand pressing on her back as his other skated up the back of her thighs. As he neared her sex again, her blood raced through her veins. Then, his long fingers probed her eager flesh again. She curled her hands into his blankets and let out a shuddering sigh.

  “Alana. My beautiful Alana,” he murmured. He stroked her until the room was filled with wet noises. She opened her legs wider, encouraging him to do more.

  Her breath rushed from her lungs as he slipped another finger into her aching hole. He stroked her deep inside until her whole body quivered. With his fingers still in her, he managed to nudge her clit with his thumb. He thrust in and out of her, each time rubbing against the bundle of nerves until she was writhing against him.

  “Victor. Oh, yes. Just like that.” The sound of her panting breath vibrated through his bedroom. She sounded desperate, achy.

  He pushed harder with exquisite precision.

  Sexy. Had she done that to him? His hand plunged into her faster, harder. He shoved his free hand into her hair and grabbed the strands in his fist. The sharp sting made her gulp, but then her orgasm roared over her. She shook under his hands as fierce waves of bliss crashed through her.

  “Fucking, perfect,” Victor muttered.

  She frowned. He wasn’t serious, was he? Her belly was round with their child. She felt like a blimp.

  His hand shook as he removed his shirt. Oh, what she did to him. He looked back at her face, her beautiful blushing face. Her skin was turning red from her blush.

  When he reached for the zipper and button on his jeans, her eyes dropped to his crotch. His cock pushed against the thick denim. He pulled his pants and briefs down with one motion and kicked the clothing aside. Her gaze was riveted to his length. He didn’t think it possible, but his body hardened even more at the way she rubbed her lips together.

  “I’m yours,” Victor said.

  Her eyes flashed up to his. He was ready to claim his mate. She opened her arms to him, inviting him to join her on the bed. He bent forward, lifted her foot, and pulled her toe into his mouth. She gasped when he sucked on it. Her body shuddered.

  After her toe popped out of his mouth, he set her leg down gently on the mattress again, spreading her wider. Then he did the same with her other foot until she was wriggling erotically before him. Then Victor leisurely kissed her leg, following the smooth flesh up higher and higher. He licked the inside of her thigh to the soft bit of skin that transitioned from her leg to her body. The scent of her arousal coated his senses and he breathed it in deeply. He pressed his nose against her folds, covering his face with the wet juices of her pussy. Alana curled her hips off the mattress toward him. He darted his tongue into her hole, plunging it in and out until she whimpered.

  Her sweet nectar flowed over his lips. His cock jolted and pre-cum bubbled on his tip. He bucked against the blanket but didn’t move his mouth from her core. He wanted to give her another orgasm before he took her.

  He traced her folds up one side with open mouth kisses; then his tongue circled her clit. When she jerked and thrust against him, he smiled. Victor couldn’t help it. The idea that he was able to give her so much pleasure and anticipation was almost reward enough. He savored this moment, extending it as long as he could. Pulling away from her tight little pearl, he moved back down the other side of her pussy, swallowing her slick wetness as he went.

  “Victor,” she whispered his name, but the tone was begging him for more. She wanted this. She wanted him. And he wouldn’t disappoint her.

  As he slipped his fingers into her again, he looked up at her. Her e
yes, dark and wild, were trained on him.

  He lowered his mouth to her hardened clit, never breaking eye contact with her. When he closed his lips over her hardened nub, she gulped and clutched at the bedding. A fresh wave of her creamy juices gushed over his hand. He stroked her inner channel and her muscles squeezed against his intrusion in time with the rhythmic way he sucked her.

  She writhed against him, her face tensing as he drew little circles around the soft cushion of her G spot. She threw her head back and arched her luscious breasts into the air. Her elongated nipples thrust upward as if teasing him to move up her body so he could taste them next. He rubbed his lips and flicked his tongue across her faster. His nose was lost in the heavenly soaking of her delicate curls. He could do this all day and never get tired of it.

  She gasped and a garbled sound rolled out of her throat.

  Then he pushed one more finger inside her. As he scraped his teeth gently over her nub, she broke under him. She screamed as she convulsed with her release. Her inner muscles tightened around his fingers, milking them as her orgasm thundered over her.

  After she fell limply to the mattress, he gave her pussy one last lick. Then he crawled a little higher and spread kisses over her round belly. His erection grew harder, pressing against her entrance and she couldn’t stop herself from twisting against him.

  “Don’t kiss my fat,” she said as she squirmed.

  He looked up at her. “I’ve already told you; you are perfect. You have the body of the goddess. Besides, it’s not fat, it’s our baby.”

  She blinked at his words, but she didn’t refute him. He went back to adoring her abundant curves. He wanted to lavish her dark pink nipples with the same care he paid to her pussy, but his desire to be in her was gripping him hard. He’d never experienced such a crushing need before.

  Alana leaned forward and pressed her lips to Victor’s. She wrapped her hand around his neck and pulled him down to the mattress with her. He could have resisted, but she felt so inviting, so perfect, like home.