“Ivar?” Makenna pleaded “You still with me?”
I tried to grunt, make any kind of noise, but it came out small and pitiful. I wasn’t sure she’d even heard me when she started moving. I heard her throw the car into park and then her door opened before slamming shut again. Cracking an eye open, everything was blurry, but I could tell we were pulled over on the side of a road, not far from where my cabin stood.
Fear gripped me as I could practically hear the Valkyrie’s wings beating as Death drew nearer. It couldn’t be. I refused to accept that end. I’d lived too god damn long and through too much to die just as I met Makenna.
“Come on, big guy,” she said, tugging me from the car and supporting as much of me as she could.
I could smell the lake water and see the glimmer of the sunlight reflecting off the surface through the gaps in the trees.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, letting my head fall to the side so I could look at her when I told her what I needed to. The fear that I might not ever get to tell her that I wanted to pick her was becoming more real with each beat of my heart, draining what was left of me away from my body.
“Shhh,” she hushed, dragging me forward through the small stand of trees separating me from the life-saving waters of Sapphire Lake.
The forest floor was covered in decaying leaves, spongy moss, and the occasional fern or sapling fighting its way to the sparse sunlight. A large maple tree had fallen in one of the spring storms and was blocking the path forward.
“You can’t be going and saying goodbye to me yet, but I need to know, the lake…will you be able to heal?” Makenna asked, leaning me against the tree trunk so she could nimbly hop over before attempting to help me. “Come on.”
Clutching the sweatshirt to my stomach took too much effort and I would need my hand to just get to the water. My breaths were coming quicker as I fought to drag enough air into my lungs, but they simply wouldn’t cooperate. Dropping the cloth, I grabbed the trunk and half-fell, half-flopped over the tree trunk, feeling something tear or stretch a little with the movement.
“Shit, Ivar,” she hissed, noticing the fresh increase in my bleeding, but I couldn’t get up. “Come on, let’s move. It’s not far now, just a little further,” Makenna urged.
I couldn’t. Simply couldn’t.
Opening my mouth to say what I’d wanted to from the moment I’d spotted her in that group meeting. She deserved to know I picked her now and every day forward, even after I was gone.
“Makenna,” I whispered, feeling my throat tighten and begin to close as the full moon’s phase ended just before the sun would reach its peak. When I tried to speak, no sound would come, nothing more than a choked gasp.
“Oh, shit. No, you don’t,” Makenna gasped as she jumped into action and tugged my arm around her shoulders, hoisting me up to my feet.
The movement tore at the stab wound just under my ribs, but even despite my rigid protestations and mentally slung profanities, she wasn’t having any of it and hauled me along with her. My legs and feet were numb under me and every step was taking a real chance of being my last. Darkness had begun to creep in around the edges of my vision and my whole body felt like I was made of marble, heavy and sinking into the ground. I could barely keep up with the pace she was setting.
The lake was no more than twenty feet away when we emerged from the tree line and my knees knocked together as I fell in a crumpled heap. The tingle in my skin had turned to a burn and I felt like I was on fire, only to have it combated with the impending cold of death. No matter how hard I tried to force my body to obey my commands, it refused. The blackness was inching closer and I knew my time had come.
It was too late. If I didn’t tell her now, I wouldn’t get the chance.
“Makenna, I-I-” I gasped, trying to pull in more air but my throat clamped down hard, closing my throat up tight.
The full moon was over, and I hadn’t made it back to the lake. I didn’t have the strength to get there. I’d lost too much blood. I was out of time. No noise would pass my lips no matter how hard I tried to force it and I focused on her lips as they moved but I heard no sound. Tears were streaming down her cheeks freely. I couldn’t even feel her touch anymore, the cruel twist of fate. To send a man to death without the comfort of his love’s touch was the worst kind of punishment…one I’d earned a hundred times over for the things I’d done for my people. My muscles tensed jerkily, and my lungs burned with their oxygen starvation and then, I was cast into the darkness and ripped from my mate’s tender embrace.
9
Makenna
Ivar’s body went limp and his eyes rolled back into head. He didn’t have more than seconds left before even getting him to the lake would be too late. I screamed to the heavens, begging them to spare him. I wasn’t ready to let him go, not yet. There was still so much for us to share together, he couldn’t leave me alone before we ever got the chance to know how good we could be.
“Ivar! God damn it, no!” I sobbed, trying to pull his massive form over the rocks and toward the water.
Dead weight, especially a man Ivar’s size, was ten times heavier than if he’d been awake and able to help me get him there. The sound of splashing water and larger waves slapping the shore caught my attention. Something was coming toward the shore; the ripples of its wake disturbed the glassy surface of this secluded corner of Sapphire Lake. It was practically blind to all unless you were on a boat in the middle of the lake, an outcropping of land along the shore gave us the privacy we needed, but it also meant there wouldn’t be any witnesses if something happened to me.
Fight or flight kicked in and I had to fight, for Ivar. He needed me. Grabbing him by both feet, I held firm and started marching very slowly toward the water’s edge and the coming creature. Ivar had at least a hundred pounds of muscle and man on my own frame, no matter how quickly I tugged him along, it wasn’t fast enough. He needed to be okay. When I had reached the water’s edge, I froze as two yellow eyes the size of softballs stared at me from under the surface of the lake. It had the face of a snake and if I hadn’t been running solely on adrenaline, I might’ve needed a change of shorts.
I looked down at Ivar’s unconscious form and hauled him closer before I braved the lake serpent. My arms and legs screamed in protest when I tried to push him closer, yet I was so exhausted by getting him as far as I had. The blood ran from the puncture in his abdomen and mingled with the lake water lapping at the stony shore. The serpent could smell the blood and I was afraid the snake would take it as me offering him his next meal, however something Ivar had said made me wonder otherwise. The serpent was there to protect the Cursed Ones from humans.
“Please, help him. I can’t lose him too,” I sobbed, dropping to my knees and gathering my mate’s shoulder’s and head to my breast.
My hand went to his wound, trying to keep him from bleeding out.
“Please, I’ll do anything, just make him okay,” I begged, kissing his hair like I’d wanted to since I’d touched his scaled mate marking.
Breathing in his scent, I committed it to memory, needing to capture everything about Ivar I could before he was gone. Pine and sandalwood, it became my new favorite. My tears came hot and fast and I was so lost in my despair I didn’t notice the serpent breach the surface as its massive body lifted from the water and slithered toward us. It opened its massive mouth to reveal rows of razor-sharp teeth and I flinched, sure we were both goners. Instead of striking or coiling and constricting either of us, it hooked its teeth onto Ivar’s jeans and dragged him back toward the water, pulling him from my arms. I was on my feet and scrambling into the water after the lake serpent and Ivar’s limp body, but the creature moved fast. One moment it was there and the next it was gone. So was Ivar.
The image of his unconscious form slipping beneath the waves and out of sight was burned into my brain. I waded into the frigid water until I reached a steep drop off and submerged into the lake. Panic set in until I realized this might be m
y only chance to find Ivar. Instead of kicking to the surface, I dove deeper. The lake was crystal clear, but there were shadows cast by the trees and underwater rock formations which made it impossible to see more than ten feet in any direction. My lungs began to burn, and I knew there was no other choice; I had to turn around.
As I broke the surface, I kicked toward shore until I could touch the bottom and I strode onto the rocky beach. I sat down hard on the rocks, my body was sopping wet, and I felt like I’d been gutted. Every joint ached and my stomach cramped. I clung to the hope he was okay. Maybe, just maybe, he’d held on long enough to make it into the lake. He could heal quicker as a merman than as a human, but there was no healing the dead and I wasn’t sure if I’d just saved the love of my life or fed him to the legendary lake serpent.
I sat there for hours, staring out over the glassy surface as I searched for any glimmer of hope Ivar had made it. He’d let me know if he was okay, wouldn’t he? I really hoped he would because the alternative was that he couldn’t and that just wasn’t acceptable. The sun was on its way down and the temperature had begun to plummet. My damp clothes stole every bit of warmth away from me as the summer evenings in Aurora Falls were cool. Curled into a ball, I waited for some sign until a noise other than the chattering of my teeth caught my attention. From behind me, Latham- the mystery man from my group meeting, came through the brush I’d dragged Ivar through and came to a stop beside me.
“Did he make it back in time?” Latham asked, his voice quiet and sympathetic.
I didn’t want to answer him. If I did, everything that had happened would become too real and I wasn’t sure I was ready to face the possibility of a life without Ivar.
“How did you know where to find me?” I asked, not even recognizing my own voice.
“It was parked on the side of the road and anyone who’s lived here long enough knows about the lake. Some people might not admit it, but they know something isn’t quite normal about it,” he simply shrugged and stuffed his hands into his pants, taking my topic change in stride.
With the sun behind me, I had to squint to get a good look at him before the sun fell low enough to be blocked out by the trees at my back. He wore scuffed, weathered jeans and a black t-shirt which appeared like it had to have been painted on. The lower half of his face was covered in a dark beard. He was ruggedly handsome by most women’s standards, but he wasn’t even ranking in my books. Looking at the ma a hard second time, I had to wonder if there was more to his story than I originally thought.
“Well, you found me,” I simply answered, stating the obvious and not caring a bit.
I didn’t want company. Well, I did, it just wasn’t Latham’s that I craved. The moon was just beginning its ascent in the sky as the sun was going down behind me. I glared at it, hating that fucking rock for stealing away him away from me. It was ridiculous to loathe it, but I couldn’t help it. I was hurting so damn bad and it felt better than blaming myself. Why hadn’t I been enough for him to choose right off the bat? I’d practically thrown myself at him and told him to take me, but he’d turned me down flat.
Sure, he had his baggage. Everyone did. However, he wouldn’t give himself the permission he craved to move on with his life. He’d been paying for his part in the curse for a thousand years and the guilt of leaving a family behind had eaten him alive. He didn’t think he deserved to have another crack at it, I could understand it, even if I didn’t agree and thought the whole thing was bullshit. Call me selfish, but I wanted a chance at a happily ever after.
I’d been looking for a reason for my life, a reason why I survived war when so many others didn’t. I’d failed those men when I couldn’t do my job and keep them alive until we could get out of dodge and now, it seemed like I’d failed Ivar too. I’d spent the better part of a year looking for the okay to live my life and in the span of three days, I’d found it.
Oh, had I found it.
Ivar was unlike any man I’d ever met. He was fierce and intense, and he built walls around his heart that could’ve given the Chinese a run for their money. There was another side to him that I’d gotten to see, when he wasn’t paying attention, he was the most caring man I’d ever seen. It hadn’t escaped my notice that when my anxiety got a little too high and I would begin to tense up, he would offer a simple touch on a shoulder, arm, hand…anywhere platonic, but it was always just enough to remind me to breath; I wasn’t alone anymore. He wasn’t the barbarian his people were known to be. Ivar had proven himself to be nothing less than a gentleman when I’d had my accident. He’d stripped me down to nothing knowing full well that I was his mate and our coupling would break his curse and he hadn’t so much as touched me. He’d opened up and shared a side of himself I was sure he didn’t show to others. That was trust.
“I know how tempting it might be to sit here for the next month, waiting for him to come back, but you really should head home. Nothing is going to happen tonight. Trust me,” Latham urged, extending a hand to help me up.
I stared at his fingers for a moment, before I reached up and took hold of his offered palm. As much as I hated to admit, Latham was right. There was no telling what would happen. I would just have to hold out hope and wait. The aches of our strained mate bond during out separation gave me hope that he was still alive. Surely if he’d passed on, that would’ve been broken. Or so I hoped.
My body was stiff, and everything cracked and popped with the movement as I got to my feet and stretched the life back into my limbs.
“Where do I even begin? I’m so lost,” I sighed, my voice quivered with emotion.
“The beginning might be a good place to start. If I remembered correctly, you’re an out-of-towner. Maybe get your affairs in order and figure out where you want this to go,” he suggested, turning to head back toward the car.
The full moon came around once a month and spanned three days. One month. That was doable.
We walked back to the car and the entire stroll was done in silence. Even the forest was unusually quiet around us. This time, the keys to the car were still in my pocket after I’d inadvertently gone for a swim.
“Latham? I don’t know how I could ever repay you for your help today. Thank you,” I said, my fingers finding my key as I got the words out as painlessly as possible. Thinking of my mate just confirmed his absence.
“You want to thank me? Don’t be afraid to go after your happily ever after and don’t let that one get away from you,” Latham answered.
One side of his mouth lifted with a sympathetic grin before he turned and headed toward his truck which was parked on the opposite shoulder of the road. He didn’t stick around or wait for me to climb into my car and leave first, he simply drove away having already done his part.
One last time, I glanced back into the woods and sought out the crystal blue water. I wanted more than anything to go back to the water’s edge and wait for him. Was this how a military spouse felt when we left for deployment? No, I wouldn’t wait by the shores of Sapphire Lake. That wasn’t the sort of woman I was.
I was, however, the sort of woman who had a long list of things to get done and a month to make it happen. Latham had said to settle my affairs and I was going to do just that.
10
Makenna
28 Days Later
Two days after Ivar had been stabbed, I returned home to Maine. The sudden change in my attitude had my mother worried, but ultimately, my family just wanted to see me happy and they wanted to meet Ivar as soon as we were settled and comfortable with a visit. I had left out the bit that he could be dead at the bottom of Sapphire Lake thinking it would garner more questions than anything else.
The ache in my middle was like the lake is was linked to, ebbing and flowing from time to time, overwhelming me some moments and leaving me entirely in others. Sometimes it downright hurt like a bitch, but I was grateful for it. It was the sign I needed to know I was doing the right thing. I was clinging desperately to the hope that our bond was still int
act, and he hadn’t left me for good.
The sun was setting, and the full moon phase was set to begin soon. The entire week I’d spent a good chunk of my time arguing with myself over whether or not I would go down to the beach and wait for Ivar on the shores, but Sapphire Lake was huge and there was no telling where he’d come out. No, I wouldn’t go to the lake and wait for him. I’d stay put and try not to set my hopes so high that if they weren’t met, I wouldn’t be able to recover from it.
As the minutes slipped into hours, I tinkered and rearranged several of my newest additions. I hoped Ivar didn’t mind. As the time wound down and the moon had risen high into the sky. I’d set a timer on my phone for the exact moment the full moon began. At precisely eleven forty-two, the full moon phase began. The shrill beeping of my alarm went off on schedule and the waiting game began. I’d timed out the walk from the lake to the cabin. It shouldn’t take more than ten minutes and I’d padded another ten for his shifting. In truth, I’d become a little obsessed with knowing whether he was okay or not. I’d even considered going for a swim to see if we just so happened to cross paths. Then, I’d remembered what Ivar had said about the lake serpent and I thought again.
The minutes ticked by and I caught my eyes watching the clock every few moments, worrying every second that he wasn’t walking through that door. As each minute passed, it became harder for me to tell myself that he was still coming. Maybe he hadn’t made it. Maybe he wouldn’t be coming back. Those were the darkest thoughts which had crept in on my weak moments and I was watching as they were slowly becoming my reality.
I didn’t know what to do. I hadn’t prepared for this. Ivar, he’d been larger than life and seemed so invincible to me. He couldn’t just be gone, not that easily. The clock on the wall read half past midnight. Forty-five minutes had passed since the full moon had risen. Still, there was nothing.
Warrior’s Kiss- Mountain Mermaids Page 8
