Chapter Nine
After making use of the rest stop facilities and loading up on coffee for her and Cyrus and orange juice for Adam, along with sandwiches, pastries, muffins, chips, and candy bars, they’d hit the road.
They’d fallen on the food like a starving horde until only the packaging remained.
Then both she and Adam had fallen asleep.
Vinnie yawned, rubbed her eyes, and peered out the window, trying to figure out where they were. “How long was I out?” She pitched her voice low, to not wake Adam.
“Around four hours.” Cyrus showed no signs of exhaustion. He looked as he always did—big, tough, and ready for anything. The man was a machine. He’d run for hours with her on his back before setting out on this drive. If anyone had a right to be tired, it was him.
She, on the other hand, felt as though someone had beaten her. Every muscle in her body ached and the long nap hadn’t made a dent in the fatigue dragging at her. After days of trekking through the woods, she was grungy and dirty. A quick wash in a rest stop bathroom wasn’t going to cut it.
She rolled her head from side to side to work the worst of the kinks out of her neck.
Her boots were hot and heavy on her feet.
Removing them wasn’t an option. She likely smelled ripe enough without the aroma of sweaty socks added to the mix.
“How’s he doing?” She canted her head toward the back seat where Adam was sprawled, his head tilted at an awkward angle, his mouth slightly open.
“He’s stirred a few times but stayed out.” She noted the way his fingers tightened around the steering wheel. The fact he was worried, but trying not to show it, kicked her anxiety up a notch.
“You think he’s going to shift into...”—she swallowed heavily—“a wolf?” Saying it sounded absurd, but she’d watched Cyrus change before her eyes.
“Damned if I know.” A muscle in his jaw flexed. “I think he’s going to try.”
“What happens if he can’t?”
“I don’t know.” That he was as much in the dark as her was downright scary. “Whatever happens, I’ll be with him every step of the way.”
She prayed, for all their sakes, it would be enough. “What can I do?”
“You’re his mom, his alpha. Your presence will help. Trust your instincts.”
There wasn’t anything in any parenting manual to cover a situation like this. Vinnie rubbed her damp palms over her jean-clad thighs and nodded. When it came down to it, all of them were flying blind.
“And what happens if he doesn’t shift? If he’s a normal hybrid?
” It felt weird and wrong to be talking about her son like this, but there was no escaping reality.
Once they were through this there’d be time to sort out the rest of their problems. And they would get through it. Any other outcome was unacceptable.
“Then we figure things out. I’m still his dad. I want a relationship with him.” His voice was rough, his dark eyes filled with sensual promise. “With both of you.”
Her stomach flip-flopped, and heat climbed up her cheeks before arrowing downward to more intimate parts of her body.
She wasn’t ready to consider a relationship of any kind with him, but he was Adam’s father.
She couldn’t deny either of them that bond, especially since her son was .
.. special, for lack of a better word. He’d have questions only Cyrus could answer.
“We’ll figure it out.” A low moan had her twisting in her seat. “Adam?” Sweat beaded his forehead. “Adam? Wake up!”
“Shit!” Cyrus muttered and pushed his foot down harder on the gas. “We’re running out of time.”
The sun was sinking lower in the sky, dusk creeping in. “How close are we?”
“Not close enough. We’re about forty minutes out.”
Adam suddenly doubled over, crying out. He lifted his head, brow furrowed and eyes filled with pain. “It hurts.”
Cyrus started to slow down, but she shook her head. “Don’t stop.” Unlocking her seat belt, she climbed over the seat and into the back with her son. It was dangerous, considering their speed, but it wasn’t her safety she was worried about. “What hurts, baby?”
“My stomach. My jaw.” He clamped his hands to the sides of his head and released a sound that raised the fine hairs on the back of her neck and arms. It was more animal than human.
Not knowing what to do, she wrapped her arms around him. “I’ve got you.”
Cyrus pulled around several vehicles and kept going. “Hang on. We’re almost there.”
Adam threw his head back and released a howl that curdled her blood. “Breathe through the pain,” she ordered. “That’s it,” she praised when he managed one. “Another. You can do it.”
Eyes locked on her, he began to take deeper breaths. Long minutes passed as he rode out the storm of agony spiking inside him. She tried to take his hand, but he shook his head and clenched his fingers into fists. “I might hurt you.”
She didn’t push him, giving him as much control over the situation as possible while offering encouragement.
“That’s it.” She brushed his damp hair off his forehead.
He was burning up, his fever spiking dangerously high.
“I’m here with you.” Vinnie had thought she understood the meaning of helplessness when he’d been missing, but seeing him like this, being unable to help him took it to an entirely new level.
She met Cyrus’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “The moon isn’t up yet.” Why was this happening now?
“I know. It won’t be for hours.” His grim reply sent a cold shiver down her spine. Adam couldn’t survive hours of this torture. They both knew it. “Hold on.” Not slowing, he took a turn she recognized from her previous trip here.
Adam’s entire body jerked and he began to shake. “I think he’s having a seizure.” She gripped his head, holding it tight so he didn’t hit it against the side window.
“Keep him steady.” Cyrus engaged his phone. Like last time it was answered on the first ring. Before the person on the other end could speak, he did. “We’re coming in hot. Adam is spiking a fever and having a seizure.”
There was swearing on the other end of the line that she recognized as Josiah. “Zach has been digging but can’t find any useful information about hybrids online. We’re on our own.”
“Be ready to run to the lower meadow. I’m going to try to make it to the house, but if I can’t, that’s closer to me but still far enough away from town that no one should see or hear us.”
She was glad he’d thought of that because her entire focus was locked on her son.
Tears burned in her eyes, but she forced them back.
“You listen to me, Adam Evan Grant.” She turned his head so he was facing her, unable to tell if he understood a word she was saying.
“You’re going to fight this and you’re going to win.
Do you hear me?” Resolute determination settled over her. She would not lose her son.
“Keep talking to him.” Cyrus hit the narrow mountain road doing eighty. The speedometer continued to creep up.
“As soon as you’re feeling better, I’ll make a huge pan of macaroni and cheese.” Food had always been a big motivator and that was his favorite. She wasn’t a great cook, but she had a few dishes she’d mastered, and that was one of them. “If you don’t wake up, I’ll bake you a cake,” she threatened.
A groan was followed by a pained laugh. “Anything but cake.”
Vinnie laughed and wiped her cheek against her shoulder, refusing to admit she was crying. “You saying I can’t bake?”
It was a long-standing joke between them that while she was a passable cook, she sucked as a baker.
The one and only cake she’d baked had been hard as a rock.
Her cookies tended to be either burnt or raw.
And they weren’t going to talk about last year’s Thanksgiving pie disaster.
Vinnie’s mom had been the baker in the family.
Adam was ghostly pale, the only color in his face the black of his eyes. “We both know you can’t.” His voice was thready and weak. “Hot.” His head lolled to one side.
She grabbed the partial bottle of water in his cup holder, unscrewed it, and held it to his lips.
“Drink. Slowly,” she cautioned when he tried to gulp.
“There you go.” A clean rag would be nice, but she didn’t have one available.
Improvising, she stripped off her shirt, dampened the cloth, and laid it against his forehead.
The heat radiating from him intensified. “He’s burning up.”
“Almost there.” It occurred to her that she trusted Cyrus more than anyone else in her life, more than the men and women she’d worked alongside for the past seventeen years. She wasn’t sure what that said about her life, but she was glad to have him on her side right now.
Something rippled beneath her son’s skin. Vinnie jolted but bit back the automatic shriek. “Cyrus, something is happening here.” Adam’s eyes were closed and he was panting, much like an overheated dog. Sweat trickled down his face and stained his shirt.
“Get his boots off.”
Vinnie attacked the laces and tugged at each boot until the heavy footwear and socks were gone. “What about his shirt?” He was strapped in his seat, but she could maneuver around the seat belt.
“Do it.”
As she reached for the hem of the shirt, Adam’s eyes popped open.
They were totally black, the whites of his eyes completely swallowed in darkness.
Sharp fangs replaced his normal teeth. She’d just registered the change when he lunged at her.
She barely had time to duck out of the way of the snapping jaw.
The SUV made a sharp turn and slid to a stop. Cyrus bailed out, yanked open the back door, and pulled her out of harm’s way as Adam released a deadly snarl.
****
Vinnie trembled in his arms. That had been too close for comfort, but she was safe. Under normal circumstances Adam would never hurt his mother, but he was no longer in control of himself. The wolf inside him was battling for dominance.
She shoved out of his arms and stared at their son. “How can I help?”