Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
Maverick
I watch my son follow Addie, carrying her twin back to the village.
We killed Sam, but it cost Addie her life and her sister’s.
I’ve never envisioned this happening, and I can’t believe I fell asleep.
I was listening for her return, but exhaustion took over me, and now it was too late to fix that mistake.
Porter comes over to me, looking down at Addie’s sister, shock registering on his features as we walk back toward the village.
“You need to send someone to retrieve Emery. She is with her boyfriend Calum,” I tell Porter, and he nods.
“Anything else?” he asks.
“Have someone open the stables so I can lay this one’s body down, so Addie doesn’t have to see until we figure out what to do next,” I tell him. He nods, jogging ahead.
Stepping into the fields, Addie is standing in the middle of the field, staring around.
It has to be hard to be fine one minute and lose everything the next, only to be awoken to a world that looks different.
Everything sharper and more defined. The bond will be ten times stronger for her now.
She looks lost, like she doesn’t know what is going on, only knowing pain.
She looks at me as I got closer, her eyes on her sister in my arms. Cyrus now has the baby in his arms, and despite just shifting, losing her sister has put her under shock.
She should be trying to rip into everyone’s veins right now, not just standing idle.
Eli tries pulling her in the direction of the house, but she either doesn’t hear him or is ignoring him.
Any other time, and if she weren’t my daughter-in-law, I would be worried about having a newborn vampire within my pack, but she is family, and Eli and Cyrus are better men than I ever was or could be.
I know they will protect her from herself, protect their son, something I couldn’t do.
My biggest regret is believing the insanity that was my wife.
I see Claire open the stables and light one of the torches on the wall as I approach. Walking into the stables, I walk over to one of the hay bales before placing down her sister’s body. I roll her on her side. I pull the tire iron out of her stomach through her back before rolling her flat.
“I will get a blanket or something to cover the body,” Claire tells me, and I nod to her, watching the redhead run out of the stables.
I tug her blouse down, making her a little more presentable, when I notice the wound from the tire iron looks smaller.
I push it back up. Blood coats her stomach, and I realize it must be from the tire iron being pulled out when Claire returns.
She passes me a green woolen blanket, and I am about to toss it over her body when I see the hole is now completely closed.
I roll her on her side.
“What is it?” Claire asks.
“The wounds healed,” I mutter, rolling her onto her back.
Addie steps in, her scent wafting to me, and I spin around to face her. Eli behind her clutches her arms, trying to pull her out of the stables. I look back at the girl before seeing her finger twitch.
“Did you see that, too?” Claire asks me, and I look at her.
“You saw that?” I ask her, and she nods, pointing to her hand.
“What is it?” Addie says behind me as I lean over her sister and place my ear to her chest.
I hear nothing, making me stand up, before I hear one thump. “Addie, did your sister have vampire blood in her system?”
“Not that I know of,” she says, rushing over.
“Dad?” Eli says, and I open the girl’s eyelids to find amber, reflective eyes, making me gasp.
“What? What is it?” Addie says, clutching her sister’s arm.
“She is transitioning,” I whisper, and Addie looks at me.
“She is a vampire?” Addie asks, and I shake my head before looking at Eli.
“No, she is turning into a Lycan,” I say, shocked.
It is rare, very rare. Humans usually don’t make it to this phase at all; she is technically dead, yet her body is still fighting, even though her heart has stopped.
“What? How? She is human and hasn’t been around Lycans to ingest their blood,” Eli says, checking her eyes himself.
“Taylor said Pete gave her something to wear off the compulsion,” Addie says.
Her tears stop as she stares hopefully at her sister.
“Only thing resistant to compulsion is Lycans,” Eli says, and I look away guiltily.
I swallow another misdeed on my part. We have been supplying our blood to Pete to help the hunters so they can’t be compelled. Maybe something good has come out of it, after all.
“You were giving blood, weren’t you?” Eli growls, and I nod.
“I will take care of Pete. I am not waiting for the supernatural council to do their investigations,” I tell him.
“Crap, I forgot I needed to warn my mother. Taylor told me Pete has been staying at home,” Addie says, looking up at Eli. He nods to her.
Cyrus walks in with the baby wrapped in a blanket. “Addie, you okay?” he asks, and she turns, looking back at him.
“She is still alive,” she says, hopeful, and I look at Eli worriedly.
“Addie, she may not survive the shift,” he tell her softly, but Addie shakes her head.
“No, she is tough. She will survive. She has to,” Addie says, looking back at her sister before brushing the hair from her sister’s face.
* * *
Adeline
I thought she was dead. I watched her die, and yet she is still fighting as I peer down at her. I remain by her side, and time ticks by agonizingly slowly. The sun is starting to come up. Time passes by, yet she remains unconscious.
“Addie, you need to feed,” Eli says, but I shake my head.
“I am not leaving her,” I tell him, though the burning is terrible. My entire body feels like it is burning.
“I don’t understand how she can fight it,” Cyrus says, looking at me.
“Maybe because she was drinking it while pregnant,” I hear Eli whisper to him.
My hearing is so much better; I can even hear their hearts beating in their chests, see the grains of dirt on the ground, the perspiration in the air, everything is sharper, and it is a little distracting.
Hearing my son make a sucking sound behind me, I look over my shoulder at Cyrus. Our son is bundled up in his arms, drinking a bottle.
“Can I hold him?” I ask. They glance at me nervously.
“If you feed first,” Eli says.
“I’m fine,” I tell him.
“You won’t be for long, Addie. Just feed, and I will let you hold him,” Eli says, and I look at my son in Cyrus’s arms, drinking a bottle that is tinged red. I can smell the blood in the formula.
“Where did you get the formula?”
“Off one of the mothers here,” Cyrus says, and I nod, holding my hands out for him.
“Please, feed first,” Eli says, coming over where I am sitting on the hay bale next to my sister’s body. He crouches in front of me. “Please, Addie. You don’t want to harm him, do you?” he asks, and I shake my head.
Eli bites his wrist, his blood making my mouth water. A growl escapes me, and I place my hand over my mouth. My fangs elongate painfully, tearing through my gums, making my eyes water. I shake my head.
“Addie, I will force you if I have to,” Eli says, biting into his now healed wrist again before standing.
I sigh, standing up. “What if I can’t stop?” I can smell my sister’s blood, but it smells funky because she is technically dead and not appealing at all. But Eli’s is mouth-watering.
“I will stop you,” Eli says, and I nod, getting up.
Eli sits on the hay bale before pulling me down on his lap.
I watch as he bites his wrist; I can feel he is nervous but also happy I am going to feed on him.
I grab his wrist, a menacing noise leaving me as I sink my fangs into him, his blood flooding my mouth, warm and soothing the ache in my throat.
His other hand brushes my hair from my face before he kisses the side of my face, and I jerk his hand away from me.
I feel his blood run down my chin, and I shake my head, trying to control the urge to keep feeding away.
I run my thumb over my lips before sucking the blood off of them.
My eyes dart to our son, and Cyrus is watching me before stepping closer.
I try to get up, but Eli pulls me back down on him as Cyrus approaches me. He places my son in my arms, and I pull him closer, taking the bottle from Cyrus that I can tell has Eli’s blood in it. I shake the urge to feed away on his blood, enticing my senses now that I can actually smell his scent.
“You okay? Or do you want Cyrus to take him?” Eli asks behind me.
“I am fine. I won’t hurt him,” I tell him, and I feel him put his chin on my shoulder, looking down at our son in my arms.
He has Cyrus’s caramel-colored eyes with a tinge of red running through the pupils and black hair like Eli. I pop the bottle in his mouth, his eyes changing to a red color as he peers up at me, sucking on his bottle, his little fingers wrapped around the index finger of the hand holding the bottle.
Leaning down, I feel Eli tense, and Cyrus steps closer as I press my lips to his little forehead before sitting back up and looking at my sister, who still lies motionless, though she has a heartbeat—faint, but there.
When he is done feeding, I hand the bottle to Cyrus before placing him on my chest and rubbing his little back.
He eventually falls asleep, and Cyrus and Eli both relax when they realize I won’t eat my own son.
I don’t know how long we wait in the stables when Taylor sucks in a sharp breath, her eyes flying open, burning brightly before turning black.
She screams, making me jump. Cyrus takes our son from me, and I rush over to her.
Her back arches off the makeshift bed, and I hear terrible cracking as she screams loudly.
Maverick runs in and goes to her side. I try to hush and soothe her, but she screams louder and louder when her spine starts snapping.
“Taylor?” I cry.
“Eli, take her out. She shouldn’t stay,” Maverick says, and I shake my head.