Vanilla Moon: Awakening

by Airiel Hawkins

  I didn't sleep well that night. I wanted to be out there with the pack and hated the thought of being stuck at home without them. I wouldn't have gone to begin with, but I wasn't going to miss the twins' induction for the world. I stayed in the house, snuggled my baby brother and Wolfgang's sister, watched a movie, and waited. The three of us fell asleep on my bed. Mira snuggled up to me on one side and I protected Killian from her wild tossing and turning on the other. It was odd, yet somewhat comforting, to find myself surrounded by children as I slept.

  When the first rays of sunlight woke us up, I sent Mira upstairs to get dressed as I readied both myself and Killian for the day. He got a bottle while I figured out how to juggle that with changing my shirt. When we were ready, we hopped into the truck and made our way to the resting grounds. I had clothes for Wolfgang, Riley, the twins, and all four parents.

  The Resting Grounds were at the opposite end of the Hunting Grounds. If tracked on a map, the pack's path would show as a semi-straight line from the mouth of the forest to the campgrounds. There were bodies everywhere and most of the snow had been dug out. As the sun rose, those bodies began to wake and most of them were hungry and frozen.

  The pack dressed as the expecting moms started working on breakfast. We all contributed and grilled up about six pounds of bacon, eight-dozen eggs, at least a thousand pancakes, and more hash-browns than should exist at one time. Luckily, we had cooked most of the food at the diner where the stoves were always hot and only needed warming. We had gallons of orange juice for those who were thirsty, and plenty of tables to sit at.

  Wolfgang stepped up and kissed my neck as I poured another glass of orange juice. We'd set breakfast up like a buffet for convenience. He also waved at Killian, who was slung around my shoulders in a sling carrier thing that my mom made sure to give me. She walked up a few minutes later and relieved me of my babysitting charge. Mira and the other kids started playing in the snow, eager to be outside and filled with what I could only term as Full Moon Energy.

  Three days later, on the day before my parents' flights home, we decided to go out on the town once more. Riley and Luke came with us and even offered to drive a second vehicle with the twins so that we had more space. We insisted on the van because we could hold everyone without cramming, including the extra boys. Riley sat next to Selena and the two of them didn't stop whispering to each other. I noticed that Luke and Sophia did the same thing. Wolfgang grinned at me after he caught glimpse of them and we both chuckled. None of the four of them ever noticed.

  For lunch, we made our way to the Vanilla Moon. Walking into the diner reminded me that I hadn't been here since the morning of the snowstorm. That morning had led to the most erotic week of my life and the discovery of what I am. I looked at the faces of the staff and recognized them from the hunt. Everyone here was Lycan.

  We sat down in a large booth and waited for the waitress to come and take our orders. Our waitress walked up, looked at all of us, and dropped to her knee next to Wolfgang, head bowed, and neck exposed. The scent of wolf was strong enough that she had no doubt that we were all Lycan. From the wideness of her eyes, I knew that she could tell that each of us were stronger than she was.

  Wolfgang touched her shoulder and she stood before she took our drink orders. She left and was quick to return with the drinks and asked if we were ready to order. We were, and she wrote down everything we asked for before dashing off to the kitchens. Wolfgang chuckled as she left and shook his head. He met my eyes and reached for my hand. "She hasn't been around this many powerful wolves before," he said. "She was even worse when my parents and I came in for dinner a couple of months ago. She dropped everything and spilled my dad's soda all over him. We terrified her."

  I laughed because I knew how terrifying Leon could be. He was an amazing man and leader, but there were moments when he looked at you and you remembered exactly what he was and what he could do.

  Still, even in my laughter, I couldn't ignore the feeling that something was wrong. I kept brushing it off as we ate. I smiled and laughed with everyone else. Wolfgang seemed to notice that I wasn't as involved as I should have been. The cloudy sense of foreboding made me wonder if the other shoe was going to drop. After all, it had been far too quiet since my first full moon.

  When we left the diner, we made our way back to the house. As Wolfgang drove, I was sitting sideways in the front seat and looking back at everyone so that I could talk with all of them. When I felt Wolfgang's emotions go from calm to tense, I stopped speaking in the middle of a word and looked at him. With a speed I couldn't have imagined possible when I was human, he unbuckled his seatbelt and wrapped his body around me. He protected me from the impact of the car that hit us going faster than any car should have gone in this small of a town.

  It was like slow motion. When I realized what was coming, it was half a second before we heard the first part of the impact. Fiberglass crumpled and tore. Metal scraped and groaned. Glass shattered and rained down on us. People screamed...

  Wolfgang pinned me to my seat, protecting me with his body in a way that airbags never could. He held me steady, his eyes never leaving mine. Glass shattered all around us as the car pushed the van a few feet before we hit the soft shoulder and flipped. We rolled three times before coming to a stop on the roof.

  We didn't have a chance to recover. A blast took my door off and another one destroyed the buckle of my seatbelt, causing both Wolfgang and I to fall to the roof of the van. All the sudden, arms were dragging us out of the van. No matter how much we struggled, the impact had left us slowed and disoriented. We were the target, we were easy prey, and it didn't matter that there were six other Lycans in that van. I didn't even get a chance to look at who my captors were before my world went black.

  I knew the shoe was coming....

  Chapter 30 ~Wolfgang~

  When I came to, I knew immediately that they had tied me up. My shoulders and hips burned with the pain of being unable to move. The ropes were irritating my skin, which told me that there was enough silver in them to both strengthen them and make them hurt. Despite instinct, I had to keep myself from struggling.

  I looked around to figure out where I was and to see if I could find Ceres. I could smell her. I could feel her pain. I just couldn't see her yet. What frightened me and made my heart race was the amount of blood I smelled.

  I followed my nose and realized that they had put her behind me. I strained to look, but I couldn't move far with both my legs and hands tied. I needed to be able to see her.

  Gritting my teeth, I rolled and shifted until I was facing her. I scraped my hands against the concrete underneath me. I could feel blood trickling down from where I'd cut myself on my forehead, but I was facing her. I couldn't see her face, but the scent of her blood was much stronger now that I was facing her.

  Her jeans had turned red with blood. She was unconscious. She had been bleeding out for an unknown amount of time. I bit back a scream of rage and focused on my bindings. I needed to get untied so that I could get her out of here and to the hospital.

  When my fingers brushed against a screw on the ground, I thanked whatever gods had been paying attention and grabbed it. I began cutting away at the ropes and prayed again that I would get through them before they came to check on us. I wondered what happened to the others and if they'd gotten to help in time. Did my father know what happened? Did anyone?

  I couldn't think about that right now though. My priority needed to be getting Ceres out of here and to the hospital. Maybe, just maybe, we could save our baby....

  It took longer than I would have liked to get through the rope, thanks to the silver strands. When I finally had my hands free, I almost cried out with relief. The only thing that stopped me was that I didn't know if someone was within earshot of me. I couldn't let them discover me yet.

  I untied my legs and heard someone coming. By the time they had the door open, I was hiding in the corner thanks to some drapery and a table.

  Two
men walked in, looked at Ceres on the ground with my empty ropes. They swore as one of them bent to pick up the one I'd cut through. The second rushed to the door and found me standing in the way. "What the—" he cried before I reached up and snapped his neck. His shortened outcry caused the other man to look over as the first's body fell to the floor and he found me there instead. I growled low as I walked up to him. This man had hurt my mate. It was the only thing I needed to know. It pushed away the fear for Ceres's life and propelled me forward with an unprecedented sense of rage. My wolf demanded blood. I demanded blood.

  I let the fear fill his eyes and almost lost myself in the intoxicating scent. In one fluid motion, I struck. My hand turned into a claw as I moved, and I slashed his throat. He gagged and sputtered as blood gushed down his front. He held his hands over his throat, trying to save his own life, but it was too late. He was already dead. I'd cut him deep enough that I’d severed his vocal cords. He couldn't even scream.

  Within seconds, he fell forward, dead.

  I turned to Ceres and started untying the ropes that bound her. Once I had her free, I was careful as I picked her up and felt blood ooze onto my arm. She was far too pale. Her lips had lost their color. Her eyes didn't even flutter. I couldn't feel her heart, but through the link created when we mated, I knew she was still alive. I had to remind myself not to panic and focus on just getting her to safety. If I panicked, she would die. I rushed out of the room they held us in and found that we were in the same house as before. They had put us in the room across from our old cell this time. Unfortunately for them, bringing us back to the place we had already escaped from meant that it was easy for me to plan our next move.

  I walked up the stairs and listened for any movement. When I heard a door burst open and people start shouting, I realized that the cavalry had arrived just in time. I burst through the basement door, stopping someone who had been trying to move toward the fighting. When I looked around the door, I found Addie lying there. She looked up at me holding Ceres and stood with a grin on her face.

  As she moved to stand, I kicked. I hit her nose and she flew back a few feet. I had just enough time to put Ceres down before Addie came after me again. I dodged her ball of Witchfire and waited for her to come close again. When she reached me, she produced a silver dagger. I dodged her attacks with it, but she cut my shirt, just missing my arm. I punched her in the gut. She cried out and doubled over. I brought my knee up and slammed it into her head, hitting her jaw hard enough that she bit off her own tongue. Blood gushed from her mouth. I hit her with another punch, this one to her head, and watched her fall backwards to the floor, unconscious and bleeding. Considering that was how Ceres was dying, I felt it fitting.

  I didn't want to risk her being alive in the morning, so I knelt and punched her sternum with every ounce of strength I could muster. The bones shattered under the force of my fist. I pried her ribcage open, relishing in the snapping of the bones and cartilage. I saw her heart flutter twice before it no longer moved. I reached for that precious organ, ripped it from her chest cavity, crushed it to a mushy pulp, and threw it at a nearby window. It splattered against the pane and chunks slid down, leaving a trail of thick blood. I couldn't help but smile with an eerie sense of satisfaction.

  "NO!" I heard a voice rage behind me. I stood and looked. Alan stood at the mouth of the hallway, his eyes on Addie. I had to get between him and Ceres, and I had to do it before he realized that she was there. I leaped to cover her body with my own. I could feel her heartbeat weakening. I just needed her to hold on until I could get her to safety.

  Alan moved to attack me as I neared him. The silver dagger materialized in his hand as his fist came down toward me. I braced myself for the impact because I couldn't stop it. I was too close.

  That didn't stop Lynn's hand from knocking Alan's away.

  He turned to her with a glare. After a heartbeat, he recognized her. "What are you doing in my house?" he demanded.

  Lynn smiled at him before she slashed at him with deadly claws. He tried to fight her off with the dagger, but she was faster. After a few rounds of blows, her arm went through his chest. She grabbed his heart. "Visiting my daughter," she replied. His fear-filled gaze locked onto her and she pried his mouth open with her free hand. I watched her rip his jaw off and fling it aside. She brushed his hair out of his face with a sadistic grin. "You can leave her alone now," she said. She ripped pulled her hand out of his ribcage with a gush of blood and other fluids. His eyes widened in fear and I realized that she had shredded his lungs.

  I felt relief flood me, but I knew that I couldn't stop. My mate was dying and if I didn't get her to the clinic, I would join her. I couldn't heal this, and I couldn't make her shift.

  I picked up Ceres and felt more blood seep out of her again. Lynn saw how dire the situation was and stared at me in horror when she saw how limp her daughter was in my arms. She swore and my father looked at us. He paled before he rushed through the door and I followed. He opened the back door of his car and I climbed in with Ceres as he jumped in front. We rushed to the hospital and I focused on sending energy to Ceres through our bond. If I could keep her alive long enough to get her to the clinic, I knew we could save her even if it was too late for our baby.

  When we got there, they couldn't keep me away from her. Even if they had wanted to, it wouldn't have been a good idea. In situations like these, the closer the Lycan was to its mate, the better its chance of survival. I held Ceres's hand like it was a lifeline. I was sitting behind her head because it was the only place for me to be where I wasn't in the way. I put my head down next to hers, closed my eyes, and prayed as tears rolled down my cheeks.

  "You can't leave me, Baby," I whispered. "I don't care what happens, you can't leave me."

  I don't know how long they worked on her. I don't know how long I sat there whispering those words to her so that only she could hear me. I don't even know what they did to save her life. She was my sole focus. She was the only thing that mattered in that room.

  When they stabilized her, Dr. Cyrus put her hand on my shoulder and nodded. "She'll be fine," she said. "But the baby...."

  I nodded. "I know," I said with a rough voice.

  "She'll wake once the anesthesia wears off," she promised. She sighed. "You should clean up," she said. "We're going to put her in a room, and you'll be able to take a shower. I'll bring you some scrubs that you can wear."

  I nodded and swallowed the lump in my throat. "Thank you," I whispered.

  They guided us to a room and set her up in it. I walked into the bathroom and saw that someone had already brought the scrubs and towels in so all I had to do was shower and change. I hurried through the shower and was back at Ceres's side in a matter of minutes.

  My father was our first visitor. He stepped into the room and saw me sitting by her bed, holding her hand, head resting against the bar of the bed. He placed his hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him with tears on my face. "I don't know how it happened," I whispered. "I don't...." I shook my head because I couldn't wrap my head around everything yet.

  "C'est bon, fils," my father said. It took a moment for my mind to process the French. "You don't need to explain."

  "Je suis désolé," I whispered.

  He nodded. "I know," he said before he kissed the top of my head. Here, in this moment, he wasn't my Enkidu. He was my father. I was grateful because I couldn't have spoken to him as the Volsunga in that moment. I was a helpless man who had almost lost a wife and did lose a child. I felt devastated. All the plans, all the conversations just to help Ceres become more excited about what was happening in our lives... Her conversation with the twins that finally made her realize why she should get excited... It all seemed like a waste of time. It seemed like torture. Fate was dangling a good future in front of us. It made us forget for a moment that there were people out there who wanted us dead.... Like a cruel mistress, Fate hit us hard. It brought us back to a reality where our war was too hot, and this baby co
uldn't have tried to come at a worse time. My only solace was that she was still alive, and Alan and Addie were finally dead.

  "What happened at the house?" I asked, needing to focus on something other than my wife's condition. I looked up at my father and watched him as he sat down. I continued to run my fingers through Ceres's hair.

  Dad cleared his throat. "Riley, Luke, and the twins came back to the house with the baby. They told us that there had been an accident and that some people had taken you and Ceres. Lynn and Derek were already on their trail and called us with an address. I called on the Guardians and brought the four of them. We attacked right away because we didn't know how we would find you. I instructed them not to leave anyone in the house alive. I want this war over."

  I nodded. "Me too," I whispered.

  That was when Lynn and Derek entered the room. They rushed to their daughter's side and looked at her, seeing the IVs and monitors that Dr. Cyrus had hooked her up to. The IVs pushed life-saving fluids into her system. The constant beeping of the heart monitor reminded me that we weren't in the clear yet. Lynn was crying as she kissed Ceres's forehead. She looked at me. "What happened?" she whispered.

  I shook my head. "All I know is that she lost the baby," I whispered. Lynn and Derek looked horrified. "I don't know if it was the car accident or something that they did to her or what...." I let my voice fade as I tried to gather my thoughts. "When I came to, they had us tied up and she was bleeding. I found a screw on the floor and used it to cut through my ropes. I hid when two people came down to check on us and I killed them before I made a run for it. You know the rest from there."

  Lynn shook her head and sighed before she turned to Derek for support. He held her and stared down at Ceres. I couldn't quite read the expression on his face. I knew that it caused him pain to see his oldest child lying in a hospital bed with machines making sure that she stayed alive. I knew that he had to maintain strength for Lynn. I knew that he wanted to kill the people who did this and the fact that we already did that didn't give him any comfort. I knew all of that, because I felt the same way.