Avery cleared her throat, readyingherself for the camera. She had her hair pulled over one shoulder in a thickbraid and she wore her white nurse’s coat which made her look professional. Mymom wore a knee-length teal dress and black heels, looking very much a publicspokesperson for werewolves.
Gavin and I pulled Beverly up onto thesmall white twin bed, readjusting her blanket while my dad washed his hands,and now she looked as if she were peacefully sleeping. The only signs that shewasn’t were the crimson bite marks on her body.
Jaxon made a motion to my mom that shewas live and she cleared her throat.
“Hello, everyone. I’m Aurora, a member ofthe Mount Hood pack. We want you to know that we openly condemn the masskidnapping and slaughter of our people. But … we understand the place you mustall be coming from. Our people do not get sick, so we are not accustomed towatching our loved ones die or feel pain. Some of us were human once, myselfincluded, and so we offer you a truce. We offer only one alternative to savingyour sick.” She paused for effect.
My father came to stand next to my motherand Avery. He wore a tight black t-shirt that showcased his large muscles andhis wild hair was slicked back with water.
“We offer you the chance to bechanged.Bring us your dying, and we will do all in our power to change them into astrong and powerful werewolf where they can live a long life without disease,”my mother concluded, and that’s when Jaxon panned out into the room showing thesick woman on the bed.
“Hello, I’m Avery, a medic in the MountHood pack. Our preliminary studies show that if a werewolf that matches theblood type of the sick human donates one pint of plasma then that is enough toprepare the body for the change so that we can minimalize casualties.”
Wow. Avery sounded so … adult. I knew thepreliminary line was crap but it sounded good. Really good. She even took out astethoscope and checked Beverly’s heartbeat, looking up at my father with asmile and a nod. Jaxon faced my father then, stepping closer to zoom into hisface.
“This offer expires in twenty-four hours,”my father said in a chilling voice. “If our people are not let go, we willassume you are rejecting our offer of a long and healthy life and we areprepared to go to war. We’re in your military, your medical hospitals, and yourschools. If you do not take this offer, then you will meet your death,” my fathervowed and Jaxon cut the feed.
We all stood there for a moment in a bitof stunned silence. “Holy shit! That was awesome,” Jaxon finally told Dad.
My father looked tired as he reached overto put an arm around my mom. “Let’s hope they bought it. The truth is, the humansoutnumber us. They always have.”
Well, damn, if that wasn’t depressing Ididn’t know what was.
My dad straightened and gave Averyinstructions to keep an eye on the patient and report to him with anysignificant changes. Then he laced his fingers through my mom’s and went out totalk to the human media. Jax followed behind him, helmet cam in place.
I hoped this would work, that the humanswould see the opportunity here and take it. Otherwise, there was a grim fateawaiting all of our people.
I turned to Gavin. “We need to talk,” Iwhispered.
He nodded as if he knew the time had comewhere he could ignore me no longer. Avery was busy with the patient, who lookedto be evenly breathing and sleeping peacefully. I hoped she was going to makeit for all of our sake.
Gavin and I slipped out behind thecameras and took a side door that led to the woods. Although the island was big,there was increasingly less free space as wolves were shipping in every hour.Tents were set up, laundry clothes lines, porta-potties. Shamus had officiallyturned the island into Werewolf Island.
Gavin and I walked hand and hand to asecluded spot and sat down next to each other on a large rock. After a momentof silence, I turned to him with tears in my eyes.
“Do you think you’re going to die?” Noone should ever have to utter those words to their mate. My throat tightenedwith emotion and the act of holding in my sob was painful.
Gavin’s face fell and it broke my heartto see him look at me like that. He stroked the material of my jeans. “It’s astrong possibility. Yes,” he answered in a gruff voice filled with emotion.
“No!” I half choked.
“Shh.” Gavin pulled me into him andcrushed me against his chest. I took in his scent letting his arms hold metightly, feeling his body heat.
It made sense now. Why he had been sodistant after speaking with Mama. She told him he was going to die.
I was lying against his chest, about tospeak, when a flapping noise pulled my attention. Right in front of us a redhawk lowered himself to the ground. He was beautiful and frightening. His crownwas white as were the feathers that blended into his chest meeting his wings ina deep rust red. Normally a bird encounter like this would be a cool event forme but after knowing Mukesh could shift into any animal, I was wary. It didn’tfeel evil. The eyes were a golden brown and peered at Gavin with curiosity asit cocked its head to the side. An idea came to me then and I held my handstogether, pushing up slowly from Gavin’s embrace.
Gathering my witch magic, I blew into mypalms. I saw the mist pool inside my palms as my arms tingled with magic.“Reveal,” I whispered, and my palms condensed with a ball of mist. The bird wasnow watching me curiously. I opened my hands and the mist flowed out of themand toward the bird, surrounding his claws for a moment before dissipating. Hewasn’t a shape shifter.
“He’s just a regular b–” Before I couldfinish my sentence, a skull-crushing headache came over me at the same timeGavin cried out. My body flushed with heat and I fell backward on the mossyforest floor, clutching my head. Gavin crashed next to me as well, groaning,and that’s when all hell broke loose. The bird rose up as if our cries hadscared it, but the next second, it came crashing down onto Gavin, pecking athis face, drawing blood. My eyes were watering from the pain of the headacheand I didn’t know what to do because I couldn’t see very much. I tried kickingat the bird but it was fast and flew out of reach. Gavin covered his face andthe bird dove for his arms, taking away a strip of flesh. My eyes were clearingas the headache ebbed the slightest bit. Finally, when the hawk was about to goin for another nip at Gavin’s face, I sat up and roared. I let my bear’s rumblegrow deep in my chest before letting it out in a full-fledged terrifyingscream. The bird took notice then, rearing back, claws and beak saturated withGavin’s blood and it looked at me, stared at me with wide, curious eyes. Thenit flew off.
What the hell?
My headache was so bad I was tempted tocrack the top of it with a rock to release the pressure. Why hadn’t Gavin’swolf protected him or done anything?
I looked down at my mate and saw he wasin shock, staring wide eyed at the sky. His hands, face and neck covered inblood.
“Gavin,” I croaked, leaning forward tohelp him, but the pain became too much then and that’s when I passed out.Crashing hard onto his chest. The last thing I saw was a downpour of white mistsurrounding our bodies.
