Waken (The Woods of Everod Book 1) (32 page)

BOOK: Waken (The Woods of Everod Book 1)
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Her grip on me vanished and she hovered above me, gazing into the water, staring around me, through me.
Her hands plunged into the water, waving frantically as if searching for me, though I was right there. Confusion, then fear widened her eyes.

Fire ripped apart my body, tearing at my muscles, tightening them until my joints popped. Numbness consumed me and all I could do was at her through the haze that had turned to shades of grey.

A muffled boom echoed and Elin jerked up. Blood shot out from her shoulder even as disbelief flooded her face. She slumped forward into the water, floating for a moment before the water from the falls pushed her deeper in. Her body jerked as she began shifting, the movements rippling the water above me, swirling the dark blood into thin rivulets. Black and white material floated between us. My mother was gone and in her place was the white wolf.

Elin’s wolf bore no wound and the fear that had been on my mother’s face was gone. She surged toward me, her muzzle snapping at something black in the water. Pain shot through my arm and I realized she’d bitten me, though I couldn’t see my arm in her mouth.

My muscles twitched and the growing weight in my chest pushed me down. I twisted away from her, but her grip was too strong. I tried to use my hands and legs to push her away, but I had no control over their movements, as if they were foreign limbs attached to me. I no longer felt human, though I could sense my body struggling to survive.

Her white fur was everywhere and an instinct I didn’t dare question took hold of me. The water slowed my lunge, allowing me to find what I was aiming for. I sank my teeth into her neck, shaking my head, then sinking my teeth in deeper as she struggled to free herself. The water surrounding us washed the thickness of her blood away.

Her struggles stopped and I loosened my hold on her neck. I pulled away and my whole body arched in agony, muscles twisting, and I screamed silently. The pain ended as abruptly as it began and the need to end her consumed me. I gripped her head with my hands and yanked. Her neck offered little resistance against me, and with a final twist in the opposite direction, her head tore from her body. Blood billowed around us, darkening the water.

My fingers slid from the fur that lengthened into the blond locks of my mother. The touch of her limp hand on my face shocked me, propelling me upwards. I pushed her aside and stretched toward the sky.

Bursting out of the water, I gasped for air, but my lungs were full of water and I sank back below the surface before bobbing up again. I tried for air once more and still my body rejected it. A hand grasped mine and I panicked, straining with what little strength I had left, but the hand tightened on mine and pulled me from the water. The haze that surrounded me darkened. Hands roll me over and I stared at the sky as Davin had before my eyes drifted closed.

 

 

 

Chapter 30

 

Light seeped through my eyelids and I rolled over, feeling the cushioning of my bed beneath me. Sucking in a deep breath, I was rewarded with a burning sensation in my lungs. I swallowed and took a shallow breath; less pain. I squeezed my eyes closed. I didn’t want to see the sunlight. I didn’t want to face the day knowing that Tristan wasn’t there to keep me warm, to crinkle his eyes as he smiled, to use his awful vampire voice.

My skin tingled as I thought of him. I lay still, relishing that sensation, wishing it would last, that it would be real. The prickling grew more intense as I lay there, just as it had the first day I’d met him. I forced myself to keep from moving and breaking the spell. I felt tears seep from my eyes, sliding through my hair to fall on the pillow.

The touch of a warm finger on my cheek was so heartbreakingly familiar, I almost didn’t respond. But the heat of the skin grew and I reluctantly opened my eyes.

Tristan knelt beside the bed, his face only inches from mine. I was dreaming. I had to be. I ached to reach out and touch him, but I refused to risk it; seeing him was too precious. His eyes crinkled and I watched his perfect lips curve into a gentle smile.

“Rise and shine, beautiful.” He sounded so real, his voice rich and smooth. I rolled to my side so I could see his image better. Tears continued to fall. “What’s wrong? Are you in pain?”

I shook my head, too fearful to speak. I stared into his deep blue eyes. Eyes that reflected our love. I was dreaming. He was dead. No heartbeat, not breathing, his neck broken. Maybe I was dead and this was my heaven, to be with him into eternity.

“Janie...” he whispered as he leaned in. His lips pressed lightly against mine. The sweet scent of his breath as he kissed me was so real. He was real. I never thought my heart would burst with joy, but it bordered on it as I grabbed at him. My fingers pushed into his hair and I crushed my mouth to his.

He came closer, levering himself over me, before relaxing his weight on top of my body. His hands framed my face, angling me so he could deepen the kiss. I ran my hands down his back then burrowed them under his shirt. His skin was wonderfully hot. I tugged at his shirt and when he pulled back to take it off, I yanked my own off. He pressed back down and the touch of his bare chest to mine was incredible. With each breath we took, we came closer together. The pounding of his heart matched my own.

I must have made a sound, because he stopped his kisses and hovered over me.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I said softly.

“You’re still crying.”

“I can feel your heart beating. I thought I’d never feel it again.”

“Ah, Janie... how could my heart not beat while yours does?”

His words were so sweet and so close to what I had asked myself when I had seen him lying dead at my feet. I reached up for him again, but a sound stopped me. Sighs of frustration came from both of us as footsteps in the hall broke our privacy.

Tristan reluctantly stood, picking up his shirt. I arranged the sheet over me. Before the person could knock, Tristan cracked open the door. A flash of pink hair told me it was Lisa.

“Everyone is waiting downstairs,” she said expectantly.

“We’ll be down in a bit.”

She gave a small cough. “Umm, Lukas is getting a little anxious.”

Tristan groaned with a mix of frustration and embarrassment. He closed the door and turned to me. He still held his shirt at his side and I marveled at how perfect he was. He had a scar on his chest, a remnant of his first experience with his body’s healing ability, but it only added to his human perfection.

Tristan tossed my shirt at me and it landed covering my head. After I put it on, I got out of bed and walked to him. Putting my arms around him, I hugged him tightly.

“How is this possible?” I finally asked.

“I’m not sure I can explain.” He rested his head on my head. “I remember being on top of Kas, I’d almost finished him then I felt Helena’s hands on my head. Then nothing, until the pain started. What happened, Janie?”

I swallowed the bile that crept up my throat at the memory. “She broke your neck. You were dead. I know you were dead. You had no heartbeat. You turned cold so quickly. I kept trying to bring you back.”

“What do you mean?”

“In my dream, when I kissed you, you sucked the life out of me. I tried, but it didn’t work. I cut my lip trying.” I lifted a hand to my mouth. My eyes filled with tears again, I blinked rapidly to clear them.

“Something worked, Janie, because I was dead. The pain I felt was not my body healing itself. It was something more powerful.” He lifted his head and looked down at me. His fingers trailed along my lip where I’d been cut. “You brought me back to life. Somehow your blood must have brought me back.”

“If my blood healed you, if you’re still Lycan then I’m not the cure.” Disappointment rose as I realized Elin was right.

“No.” He kissed me again then said, “You’re more than a cure. If you had been the cure, Janie, then I would still be dead.”

My disappointment dissolved. As much as I wanted to be the cure, to make Tristan and the other Lycan normal, I wanted Tristan alive more.

“Elin said I wasn’t a cure. She’d infected herself with my blood a few years ago.”

“But if she knew then why didn’t she kill you before? Why wait?”

“She said she was waiting to be sure before she got rid of me.” I ignored the squeezing of my heart. I didn’t want to care. I wouldn’t. “She was so strong, Tristan. She crushed my wrist...”

I raised my hand and stared at it, incredulous. There was no pain, or bruising, only creamy skin covering normally formed bones. Tristan grasped my hand and smoothed his fingers across my wrist.

“You healed yourself,” he whispered and tugging me back into his arms. “You really are the Wolf.”

I could hear the conflict in his voice. As relieved as he was that I wasn’t about to die for some cause, his dream was gone. He’d never have a normal life.

Yet it was nothing compared to what I was feeling at the realization of what I was. Those moments in the water, I had become an animal. An acrid taste burned my throat at the memory of Elin’s blood flooding my mouth. The Wolf inside of me had bitten Elin, had tried to kill her.

But it hadn’t. I had done that with my own two hands. And that scared me. Not only had I had the strength to decapitate her, but…I killed her. With my bare hands.

I looked at my hands trembling in my lap. “Tristan, I…”

“Lukas shot her.”

Our eyes met and in the silence that followed, I understood what those words meant. He and I may know the truth, maybe Lukas knows as well, but to everyone else Lukas killed Elin.

Relief flooded me. Maybe I should have felt bad that my mother was dead, but in all honesty, I wasn’t sad in the least. She had made her choices and she had paid for them.

“What about Kas? He was going to kill Seth,” I said.

“When he got to the clearing he saw me alive, so he ran. Seth wanted to follow him, but it was more important to get to you and get help.”

I pulled out some clothes from my bag and noticed that the clothes I’d worn the day before weren’t there.

“What happened to my clothes?”

“Umm, I’m not sure.”

“Okay.” I tugged on a pair of jean shorts and gave him a strange look at his hesitant response. “Maybe your mom put them in the laundry.”

“I doubt it.”

I turned my back to him and pulled off the white t-shirt I’d been sleeping in. “You’re being really cryptic.”

“It’s just that when I pulled you from the water, you weren’t wearing anything.”

“Oh.” There was no way he didn’t know about me shifting. “I liked those jeans.”

We made our way to the kitchen. The last time we’d all gathered here, we learned that Elin was Helena. This time they would learn I was the Wolf.

“Hey, little girl,” Justin said from his position at the stove. The smell emanating from the pan brought dread that he was making scrambled eggs a la Tim.

“Morning,” I mumbled a general greeting to everyone.

Lisa and Justin came at me from both sides, hugging me until I was sure a rib popped. Laughing at my groans, they let me go.

“Damn, girl, we thought you were dead!” Justin said as he returned to stirring the eggs.

“We’re so glad you’re okay, Janie,” Lisa said.

“Thanks.” I nervously brushed a piece of hair behind my ear.

Lukas sat next to Katrina, sipping his coffee. I cleared my throat, and waited for him to look at me, hoping that he would hear the true message within my words. “Thank you, for what you did at the falls.”

“How could I have done anything else? I’m not the best father in the world, but I’m not a monster.”

I shifted uncomfortably. “I did listen when you told me about your family. I listened and I tried. I fought her, but I wasn’t strong enough.”

“You’re wrong, Janie. You became the healer,” he gestured to Tristan, “and the warrior. Whatever you did in the water scared Helena, scared her enough that I was able to get the shot.”

“What did you do?” Tristan asked me. “I couldn’t even see you in the water. Everything was black and I just reached in hoping. Then suddenly there you were.”

“I…I don’t know. One second she was holding me and the next, it was like she couldn’t see me. I couldn’t focus. The water…” I closed my eyes against the remembered pain that had suffocated me and the horror of what had followed. How could I tell these people what I’d done, when I could barely admit it to myself?

Tristan wrapped his arms around me from behind. I opened my eyes. “She said I was the Wolf.”

“She was right.”

An immediate quiet settled over the room as everyone’s eyes turned to the doorway where Ericka stood holding onto the wall for support.

“Ericka, what are you saying?” Adam asked.

“Janie’s not the cure. She never was.”

“You lied to us? How could do that? We all trusted you.” Adam shifted from foot to foot. Katrina laid her coffee down and lifted a hand to rest on his arm.

“Did you know that Helena had infected herself with Janie’s blood? Did you know what kind of effects it would have on her?” Tristan voice boomed over his father’s and Ericka focused her gaze on him.

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