Prologue
There was a girl…
There was a vampire…
And there was a prophecy…
Chapter One: Help Her
Jonathon
She lay there unmoving. Fragile. Broken. So… human. I felt responsible. It was my duty to protect her and I had failed. Because of me her life was hanging on a thread. In any other circumstance I would just turn her but that’s not what she wanted and I wouldn’t go against her wishes. I wondered if she knew she was dying if she would change her mind. I couldn’t think like that. It would kill me. Our tide was just starting to look up and then this had to happen. I could still hear her screams echo in my head as her body moved around the car like a pinball. I remember thinking at the time that her seatbelt should have stopped her but I guessed the car had turned and twisted too much for it to do any good. I had put my arm out to hold her back but then her head hit the glass and she had blacked out.
“Kylie, stay with me. Oh my God! Please stay awake! There’s so much blood! If you can hear me just keep listening to my voice! Don’t go to sleep! I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I love you! Please, don’t leave me!”
I ripped my way out of the crumpled car and tried to get to her. I could already hear the high pitched squeal of police sirens and an ambulance. I ripped the passenger door off. I didn’t care who saw. Kylie was more important than any witness of my herculean strength.
The man had come out of nowhere. He looked familiar but ghostly like an apparition or something but Kylie had seen him too. While I tried to tend to her another part of my brain was trying to figure out whom the man was and if he had even been real.
I felt for her pulse and couldn’t find one. I became panicked. This was bad. Worse than bad.
“Noooooo!” I cried into the night. I was too late she was gone.
But then there, that moth wing’s flutter, her heart beat. Her heart was still beating. By some miracle her heart was still beating but it was getting fainter. I had to act fast. Blood ran down her face and from her mouth. Cuts lacerated her fragile body. I couldn’t believe this had happened. I bit my arm with my teeth and held up the blood dripping freely from the cut to her lips. She didn’t move. I had to get her to swallow some of it so it could start the healing process. Time was of the essence. Her physical damages were significant and I didn’t want to think about the internal ones. I wiped the wound on my arm with my fingers and held my trembling fingers to her unyielding lips. I coated her beautiful, pouting, lips with my blood. Her tiny pink tongue flicked out and licked some of the blood.
“Good girl, get some more,” I whispered running my hands through her blood matted hair. I couldn’t believe this had happened. I was still in shock and I hadn’t known it possible to shock a vampire. Her delicate lips took some more of my blood but not enough. Someone grabbed me and pulled me away. I was too surprised to fight back. “Kylie!” I screamed as the officer pulled me away. “Kylie! Stay with me! I love you! Kylie!” I started to pull away from the weak pathetic man holding me.
“Son, we’re trying to help,” he said in Italian.
“I can help more,” I spat in Italian back at the man. He was short with a dark mustache. He was normal and unmemorable.
I ran back to the car. “Kylie!” I screamed.
“Sir, get back, back. You need medical attention! We will help her!” he said again. I could see a man coming with some kind of cutting instrument.
“No!” I yelled and he continued his futile attempts to pull me away. I was no longer surprised and not so easily thwarted. I ripped at the seatbelt and yanked it free. The man gasped. I gently pulled her out of the twisted metal that was once my car. I held her to my chest. She looked so broken. I held her to me and kissed her forehead. “Stay with me, principessa. Stay with me. You’re strong I know you can do it.” I tried to discreetly slip some more of my blood between her lips but found to my dismay that the wound on my arm was already gone and the persistent cop was trying to pull her from my grasp. I wanted to rip his neck open. How dare he try and take her from me. I could already feel my teeth elongating.
Then I heard the one thing that snapped me back to reality, “Jonathon,” said Patrick sharply. It wasn’t the voice I longed to hear but it was a welcome one. Somehow they had seen what happened and come. I saw Amelia standing slightly behind him. Her and Diana’s faces showed pure horror. Danny and Mason looked shocked and Joseph looked like he was trying to keep it together but I knew he was just as horror stricken as the rest. They all loved Kylie and for this to happen? I wasn’t the only one hurting. If I could cry I would be sobbing and I knew they would as well. Patrick was trying to look fatherly and put together. “Officer,” he said, “this is my nephew.”
The officer let out a breath, “Good, maybe you can talk some sense into him. This young lady needs medical attention immediately.”
“I agree, sir,” he said, “Jonathon, why don’t you carry her to the ambulance,” he nodded to the waiting ambulance.
“No,” I said.
“Jonathon! Now!”
“Patrick, don’t make me do this! I can’t lose her!” I said. I saw that several police officers had already made a line around the car wreck keeping pedestrians back. My family was standing behind that line speaking to me. I saw Patrick say something to one of the officers and the one next to me said something and suddenly Patrick was coming towards me.
He came to stand next to me and whispered in my ear, “The humans are already involved. There is nothing that we can do. We have to let them take her.”
“Patrick,” I said pleadingly.
“Stop. It has to be this way. We’ll do what we can once she’s at the hospital. You’re wasting precious time. She’s fading. You have to be feeling it.”
There was nothing else he could have said for me to relinquish her to the humans. “I’m going with her,” I said to the officer. He nodded. They opened the back door of the ambulance. I placed her on the small pallet of a bed. A man and a woman immediately began fussing over her. They placed an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose. It took all my self-control not to push them out of the way and tend to her myself. I was surprised when Amelia climbed in beside me. I was a mess and I could see that she was beyond worried. She squeezed my knee in reassurance and kissed my cheek.
“She’ll be okay. She’s stronger than you give her credit for,” she said but I could see that she herself was worried.
“She’s so breakable,” I said as the ambulance started to move towards the nearest hospital. “What am I going to do? I thought everything was finally going to okay and now this?”
“That’s life, Jonathon. It’s unpredictable. Never take advantage of the time you have because you never know when it might be your last. Even for us,” she said.
Now I was sitting outside of Kylie’s hospital room with my head in my hands and my leg moving rapidly up and down. I was trying so hard not to burst through that door and turn her right then and there. She wouldn’t want that and I would follow her wishes even if it killed us both. I loved her that much. I loved her more than anything. Patrick was right; I could feel her life inside me and it was burning weakly. This was my fault. I overreacted and my mistake might kill her.
The doctor was in the room with her now. Patrick was staying with me by her room while the others waited in the lobby. I don’t think he trusted me to be by myself. Quite frankly I didn’t trust myself. This was far worse than when I rescued her from Selena so many months ago. I could save her then but now I was helpless. I wasn’t sure if she had gotten enough of my blood to do any good and the more time that passed the less I would be able to help her. I had to get in there.
I stood and suddenly Patrick’s rock hard hand slammed into my shoulder sending me back into my chair.
“Jonathon, control yourself,” he said harshly. He meant business.
“You don’t know what I’m going through. Nothing like this ever happened to you and Amelia so don’t act so superior, u
ncle,” I slurred. Patrick and I had never fought but there was a first time for everything. I hung my head in my hands and dry sobbed. I couldn’t cry so instead I sobbed. My eyes burned with the tears that I couldn’t shed. I felt like my body and soul was being ripped apart. I wanted to throw up.
The door to Kylie’s room opened and the doctor came out. Patrick and I both jumped up.
“You can come in now,” he said and held the door open for us.
I immediately rushed in to her side. She was asleep but the steady beeping of her chest reassured me. Tubes were everywhere and I was careful not to disturb them. I rubbed her hair and kissed her forehead, “I’m sorry, principessa.” I pulled a chair over to be as close to her as I could and sat down with her small unresisting hand nestled in mine. Her skin was cold and clammy. Her normally olive complexioned skin was pale and unhealthy looking. Her chest rose and fell with short shallow breaths.
Patrick came over and laid a reassuring hand on my shoulder.
“Will she be okay?” I asked.
“She’ll be fine. Her ribs are bruised and she hit her head pretty hard. We’re keeping her sedated because of the pain but it could have been a whole lot worse. It’s as if something stopped her from moving around in the car. It’s nothing short of a miracle. But she’s in a slight coma-,” he said before I interrupted.
“Coma!” I said standing.
“It’s nothing to worry about. She should wake up in a few days.”
“A few days!” I shouted.
“Yes, young man its normal and nothing to worry about I promise you. Who do you think you are speaking to me like this?”
“I’m her fiancé! How dare you speak to me in such a way.”
“Jonathon,” said Patrick warningly.
“I’m sorry sir. You both just seem so young.”
I ran my hands angrily through my hair and sat back down. I wanted to rip this man’s throat out. I was so angry and everyone seemed to be making me angrier. It was taking every inch of self-control I possessed not to snap. I was at my limit.
He cleared his throat and said the words I was not prepared to hear, “I do have some bad news, however.”
I stood again. I couldn’t breathe. Patrick put an arm around me in comfort. He looked at me sympathetically. The doctor then said words I was even more unprepared to hear.
“It appears, well, in the wreck, I’m sorry to say, well she lost the baby.”
“What baby?” I said.
Patrick’s grip tightened in shock.
“I’m sorry. You didn’t know? She was pregnant. About six weeks I’d say.”
I put my head back in my hands. This was just getting worse and worse. I hadn’t told Patrick that Kylie and I had made love. Quite frankly I thought it was better left between the two of us and was no one else’s business. But I guessed it was too late. I wiped my face.
“Jonathon?” said Patrick shocked.
“Later,” I said.
The doctor looked between the two of us. “I’ll leave you for now. I’ll be back to check on her later,” he said before making his swift exit.
I sat down and took her hand in mine bringing it to my lips in a kiss.
“Jonathon?” said Patrick. “What is going on? What baby?”
I hung my head. “I’m sorry, Patrick. I am. But we did it. We made love. I know you told me to wait. But, well, she can be pretty convincing when she wants something and I’m not saying I’m an innocent party because I wanted to do it too even though I also wanted to wait and do it right. I guess my self-control isn’t as good as we all thought.”
“When? When did it happen?”
“The night of the battle after I proposed.”
“Jonathon,” he said and just his saying my name spoke volumes.
“I know.”
“If she hadn’t lost the baby she would have died in childbirth.”
“I know, Patrick,” I growled. I didn’t want to hear this. I hated him knowing how much of a failure I was. I couldn’t keep it in my pants and look where it had led us.
“I’m not judging you Jonathon. You have to pave your own way and make your own mistakes.”
“It wasn’t a mistake,” I snapped. “Nothing with Kylie has ever been a mistake. I don’t regret any of it.”
“I’m not saying you should,” he spoke softly.
“Aren’t you?” I said looking at him and away from Kylie’s frail body.
“Jonathon,” he said, “you’re a good man. I love you like you were my own son and I love Kylie like a daughter. You both have to have your own life. You have to do what makes you happy. But this Jonathon. This was a big risk you took.”
“I know. I told her everything you told me but it didn’t matter. We were ready.”
“But were you ready to be parents? Were you ready to kill yourselves?”
“Stop it, just stop it, Patrick. I don’t want to think about it. To think about that would be to think about her dead.”
“But that’s what would have happened if she had the baby. It would have killed her and you would have been left alone devastated with your child.”
“I would have went crazy like Selena. You would have to kill me.”
“Don’t you dare, Jonathon, don’t ask me that.”
“I have to Patrick. Please, if anything happens to Kylie,” I swallowed. “Please kill me. Don’t let me become a monster like Selena. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
Patrick looked stricken. “If I have to I will,” he spoke softly.
“Thank you,” I said. “I’d rather you did it.”
“I can’t talk about this anymore,” he said looking forlorn. We had had this discussion before. With Kylie choosing to stay human it meant my death. If she died, when she died, be it today or eighty years from now, I would lose my mind. Losing your soul mate meant a death sentence for a vampire. It was rare but it happened like with Selena. Kylie’s and mine’s situation was completely unheard of. The human always wanted to turn after they found their soul mate. Not Kylie, she was different, we were different.
I turned back to Kylie. I couldn’t believe this had happened. It was like fate was trying to tear us apart. I put my head on the hospital bed. I was far from exhausted thanks to being a vampire. This was the worst night of my immortal life. This was worse than the night I became a vampire, the thought of losing her, my soul mate, tore me to pieces. We had had so many close calls already. Just when I thought I had her fate decided to show me that she was far from mine. She was human and she was fragile.
“Do you want me to stay with you,” Patrick asked.
I shook my head, “I’ll be fine.”
“I’ll stay.”
“Patrick,” I growled.
“You need me Jonathon.”
“Then why did you ask.”
“I wanted to be polite,” he said a smile playing on his lips. “I’ll go tell the others her condition and send them home.” He started towards the door.
“Patrick?” I asked. He stopped and looked back at me with a raised eyebrow. “Could you not tell them about the baby and the um… other stuff.”
“Of course,” he said and ducked out the door.
I settled in beside Kylie for the night. I wouldn’t leave her side until she woke up. When I had been in my hibernation after I killed Selena she never left my side and I would do the same for her. I loved her with every inch of my being. I hated being away from her. It killed me when I had to leave her to lead Selena away and it killed me even more when I saw her and Isaac together. I thought nothing could hurt me more than that did but I was wrong. This was hell, my own personal torture. I hated seeing her in pain and I hated the unknown. The doctor seemed convinced she would be okay but that wasn’t good enough for me. I had to hear her say it. But she was out cold and I had no idea how much longer she would be asleep.
One day passed, then two, three, and on the fourth day she finally opened her eyes.
“Principessa?” I whispered.
Everything is about to change for Sophie Beaumont. Sophie has moved her entire life; never staying in one place too long. She didn’t understand why… until now. Sophie is a shifter. A wolf shifter and she has a lot to learn. About being herself, being a wolf, and being what she needs to be to protect her pack. On top of that, her intense feelings for the pack’s Alpha, Caeden, threatens to ruin everything. Especially if the rival pack, the Grimm’s, find out that Sophie is not the human she claims to be.
prologue.
It was amazing how your whole life could be split apart by a few simple words. Everything that I had known to be true was anything but. They were asking me to believe in the impossible. Not only that… they were telling me that I was a part of it. I didn’t want to believe. Stupidly I thought that if maybe I blinked my eyes rapidly this would all go away. But this wasn’t a dream. It wasn’t even a nightmare. It was harsh reality. It was real. Deep down in my soul I knew what they spoke of was the truth. I was a werewolf. No, that wasn’t the correct term. Shifter. I was a shifter.
But there was something else that I knew that I didn’t want to admit to myself.
Caeden.
Caeden Williams was my mate, my destiny, my future. The love I felt for him frightened me more than the harsh reality that I was shifter. I wanted to deny my affection, to fight it, but fighting it was impossible. Thoughts of him consumed my every waking hour and even the ones when I was sleeping.
But to accept being a shifter meant I had to accept Caeden as my mate. Accepting Caeden as my mate meant accepting my destiny as a shifter.
Was I ready for that commitment?
My heart and soul screamed yes while my mind said no.
What does one do? Follow their heart or run from it?
one.
“Daddy, I’ll be fine really. It’s not like you’re sending me to live with Satan. This is Gram. Everything will be fine. You worry too much,” I said as my dad loaded my last suitcase into the back of my brand new white Honda Pilot. It was a gift from my parents for always putting up with moving. My dad was in the military and all we had ever done was move. We were back in the states now, Indiana, but my dad was being transferred to Germany. We had lived so many places they had started to blur together. I had been born in France, then we’d moved to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, and Japan just to name a few. I had friends, which were more like acquaintances, all over the world. We didn’t stay in one place long enough for me to make a lasting friend. But this time was different. My parents knew I was sick of moving all the time and decided since it was my senior year that I could move in with Gram. My Gram lives in a small town in Virginia. I had been there a few times and it was just a quaint little place surrounded by larger cities. In other words it wasn’t very exciting but it would be a steady solid home and that was just what I needed.
Forbidden (Fallen Series Book 2) Page 28
