by R. A. Boyd
Nev’s scream caught in her throat as a bright blast of light rocketed into the driver’s side of her car. The earsplitting squeal of the metal of her car bending as something tore through it filled her senses. Glass from the front and side windows shattered, raining down onto her left side as she tried to brace herself. She shouted as she heard her mother chant, Hold on, Baby. Just hold on, over and over. Nev even tried to grab hold of her mother’s outstretched hand but sobbed helplessly as her fingers passed through the cold whisp of air.
She couldn’t breathe. Her head jerked to the left as another force hurtled into the passenger side of the car, this time sending it into a roll until it landed on its side. Nev’s shoulder slammed into the door as her head jerked, setting off flashes of light behind her eyelids.
Just as quickly as it started, it stopped.
Aside from Nev’s panting and low groans of pain, everything was quiet. Everything was still.
She moved to shove open the door but was shocked to see the pavement staring back at her through the window. The car was on its side. A dull ache bloomed in her belly, and she felt blood stream down the side of her body.
“Mom,” she croaked, reaching over to take off her seatbelt. The danged thing was stuck.
God, her body ached all over, and the salty taste of blood coated the back of her throat.
Why had mom changed her appearance like that? They both knew the dead could control how people saw them. Mom chose to shock the hell out of her by looking like that just so Nev would stop the car. No. Her mother would never do that on purpose. Not that she ever thought her mother was ever anything but lovely, even in her final weeks of life. It just startled her.
Mom’s angry voice broke through the fog of pain coursing through Nev’s body. She sounded frightened. And pissed. And desperate.
“You get the hell away from my daughter. It’s not her time. I’m not going with you, and neither is she, so you can fuck right the fuck on off.”
“Relax, Gwendolyn,” a soft, melodic voice said. It was full of humor. And snark. “I’m not here for either one of you. I’m here to keep them away. They will take her if I don’t.”
Who the heck was mom talking to? And who was talking back?
Dang-it. Concussion. It had to be. There was no way in the world Nev believed for a minute that her mother’s conversation was anything more than her battered brain trying to figure out what happened.
“Nev! Fuck. Simon, help me turn this over. Nev, can you hear me?”
Bastian. Bastian was here.
Oh, that made her feel so much better, and she didn’t know why, but it didn’t matter. Despite her heart trying to beat its way through her breastbone, warm relief flooded Nev’s body at the sound of Bastian’s voice.
She cleared her throat and worked to release the lock of the seatbelt. “I’m here. But I’m stuck.” The sound of her voice throbbed in her head. She winced when she touched her temple and frowned at the warmth gathering on her fingers. She was bleeding there too. “And I’m bleeding. Is the other person okay?”
That had to be it. She must have slammed into another car at the surprise of seeing her mom look so different.
Was it a blue motorcycle? Or maybe a deer?
Whatever it was must have been flying. It was fast. And then there had been a second hit.
The sound of shoes on broken glass echoed from the broken window of the car.
Bastian’s worried voice sounded growly as he spoke. “Get that side. We’re going to lower the car slowly. She may have a broken bone.”
“What hit her car?” another voice said.
“We’ll figure it out later. On my count. One. Two.”
“On three or after three?”
“What the fuck, Simon?” A snarl ripped through Bastian’s voice, effectively scaring the crap out of Nev. “After three. One. Two. Three.”
The world tilted as her vehicle turned right side up. Pain shot through Nev’s neck, and she let out a ragged scream as heavy fire erupted in her belly. She looked down at the front of her blue and white work shirt and took in a sharp breath. She instantly regretted it.
Dark blood steadily oozed through the fabric of her shirt. There was something more there beyond the bloodied material. Nev was too afraid to look. That much blood meant a large, open abdominal wound. She’d seen them before, and right now, she didn’t feel the need to look at her own insides.
“Mom,” Nev cried out, eyes darting around the car. “Please. Mommy. I— I’m dying. Come back.”
Tears blurred her vision as she tried to slow down her breathing. That would only make her bleed out faster if she started hyperventilating. Gut wounds were slow to kill, and if she was able to calm herself, she might make it until the ambulance showed up and took her to the hospital.
She couldn’t move her head to look around. It hurt her neck too much. Mom wouldn’t abandon her now. Not now.
Bastian’s face appeared in the broken driver’s side window. “I’m going to get you out, okay? Just…” His words trailed off as his gaze went down her body. His beautiful blue eyes turned to burning golden orbs. “Shit.” He ripped the door from the side of the car and knelt beside her. “I’m going to look. It’s okay. Okay?”
All the adrenaline drained from Nev’s body, and exhaustion crashed over her like a clear ocean wave. Her limbs were growing weak, and despite her attempts to slow down her breathing and heart rate, her heart raced in her chest. She was losing too much blood.
Nev knew the signs. She’d studied this stuff and helped take care of people who pulled through. And the people who didn’t.
Where was Mom?
“Bastian.” Nev couldn’t keep her head up straight, and it fell back against the headrest of the seat. “I’m sorry I told you I wouldn’t go out with you until this weekend. We should have done it tonight. I’m sorry.”
“No,” he said, giving her a faint smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “We’ll still hang out this weekend. Just probably from your hospital room.” He tried to laugh it off, but Nev could see the apprehension on his face.
Mom’s voice whispered in her ear from the back seat. “Ask him what you are to him, Nevada. And say yes to the question he asks. You are going to get a big group of people who will always be there for you, baby.”
What the hell was she talking about? Well, she didn’t have much longer, so she might as well finally do what her mother wanted. That may give them a little bit of peace before it was all over. They’d bickered too many times to count, her mom usually ending the argument by saying, ‘Can’t you just do what I tell you to, Nevada?’ Welp. Mom was finally getting her wish.
“Bastian. Who am I to you?”
Her eyes rolled closed, and she couldn’t see his face now, but she could hear the surprise in his voice. “How did you know?”
“I don’t. Just say it, and say it quick.” Dang-it. She couldn’t pry her eyelids open.
This was it. How horrible was that? Well, she worked a job that meant the world to her, and she’d progressed until she owned the place, and then sold it, making it possible for her to retire early and travel. That had been so, so exciting. And fulfilling.
All the fun she could have had with Bastian flitted through her mind like falling pictures. Wow. The old saying was only partially correct: her life flashed before her eyes as she slowly passed into the next world. But all the things she never got to do popped up in her head, too.
Bastian paused for a moment, but she could hear his breathing, feel the warmth of his breath against her cheek. “I’m a Ghost shifter. Do you know what that is?”
“Mmm-hmm.”
“And you’re my mate. Do you know what that means? I really hope the hell you do?”
“I know what it means.”
“Nev.” His voice cracked. He sucked in a gulp of air and rested his palm against her face. “Let me bite you. It’ll save you. This,” he rasped, and she could feel his touch as he lifted her shirt. The tortured groan that e
manated from deep in his throat broke her heart. “This is bad. I can hear the ambulance. They’re close, but this is bad, and you’ve lost so much blood. Let me claim you, and then we can go on that date, or you can tell me to go fuck myself.”
He gave a sorrowful laugh and kissed her on the cheek. Man-oh-man did his touch make her feel everything.
Mom’s words played over and over in her head. And say yes to the question he asks. How did mom know?
And say yes to the question he asks.
Everything began to slip away. It was getting dark. How was it getting dark so fast?
And say yes to the question he asks.
“Yes,” Nevada whispered. “Bastian. Yes.”
Chapter 5
Bastian watched in horror as Nev’s face crumpled. Her breathing grew shallow, and her heartbeat slowed to a dangerous rhythm.
“The fuck are you waiting for, Bastian?” Simon gritted out. “She’s losing blood.”
Blood. Blood was everywhere. It pooled in the car seat and dripped on to the floor. Her intestines were ruptured, and she was going into cardiac arrest from bleeding out.
He prayed to the Creator that she was too far gone to feel him wrench her body from the twisted car. Her body was torn, and the contents of her belly were slowly seeping out from the gut wound.
Bastian wasn’t a fool. A spell had hit Nev’s car and damned ripped the thing in half. There was no other vehicle or large animal that could have collided with the car. This was magic. Someone had sent an energy blast at Nev to hurt her. To kill her.
Did Remus already know that Bastian had found his mate? There was no way in hell he could have found out this soon.
Cradling Nev’s broken body close to his, Bastian turned to Simon. “Call the others. I’m going to run to the woods over there,” he said, motioning his head toward the wooded area behind Audra and Melinda’s pub. “How fast will I turn after I bite her? How fast will she turn?”
Simon put his hands on his hips and leaned backward. “You’ll be lucky if you get two minutes. Jace said he had to fight like hell to control his change, but fuck that. The others will be here soon. I’ll see who's on the ambulance tonight. We might get lucky and have it be a shifter who’ll understand. They can kiss my ball sack if they don’t. I’ll fucking fight each one of them if they come after you. Go.”
He couldn’t lose her. They hadn’t even had the chance to get to know each other. Fear froze Bastian’s guts as he thought of her hating him for biting her. She may have spoken out of dread. Impending death made people say things they really didn’t mean.
Nev cried out in agony as Bastian tripped over a parking strip. Damn-it. He needed to pay attention. Bastian tried his best to run without causing her more damage, but maybe the added pain was what she needed to keep breathing. She had to stay awake. She might not wake up if he let her sleep.
Stepping into the line of the trees, Bastian looked around, hoping he could go a little farther into the woods before he bit her. He didn’t know how much of his head would be with him for his first shift, but he had to be sure that neither of them wandered into town in their saber-tooth form. Her car was already covered in blood, and they would have to explain it to the local police.
After he moved about fifty yards past the tree line, Bastian lowered Nev’s limp body onto a blanket of dead leaves and dried grass.
Her eyes were glossed over, and her skin looked pale and ashen. She was still beautiful.
Bastian lifted her head and shoulders, resting them on his thighs as he knelt on the forest floor. He pulled her shirt down to expose her shoulder. Fangs that hadn’t made themselves known in centuries burst free from his gums. It hurt like hell, but he didn’t care. He would take every ounce of pain for her if it secured Nev’s life.
The fangs weren’t as long as the tusks of his saber-tooth, but they were long enough to pierce Nev’s skin and give her a beast to call her own. A beast that would heal and strengthen her. He leaned down and clamped his teeth into the smooth skin just above her collarbone.
Nev’s body jerked as she whimpered his name. Her arm came up and wrapped around his neck as if urging him to keep going. Bastian’s gums tingled as his teeth lengthened, growing deeper into her skin.
A warm rush of her blood filled his mouth as he bit down harder. She had so little to spare. A series of spasms coursed through her body, and then she stilled beneath him as her arm fell from around his neck. The rustling of leaves echoed in the distance, and he could hear Jax yell out, We’re coming.
His brothers and sisters would be here to keep them safe. To keep them steady.
Bastian pulled back to look down at Nev. The blood had already stopped seeping from the wound. With her eyes closed and the soft pout of her full lips, she looked like a fairytale princess. Bastian prayed to God that he’d delivered the kiss of life that would bring her back to him.
“Come on, Nev. Come on.”
The moments dragged along as he waited, and Bastian wondered if his bite didn’t take. He’d wasted too much time getting them far enough into the woods to have privacy. The driver’s seat in her car had been saturated in blood, and he knew without a doubt that a trail of it followed them into the woods.
A low snarl streamed from Nev’s lips.
“There you go, Nev,” Bastian muttered, tucking a dark coil of hair behind her ear. “Say hello to your new best friend.”
Nev’s body bowed from the ground, and her lovely chestnut eyes sprang open, revealing the gilded churn of a shifter. It was the same glow Bastian had seen so many times in his reflection.
Her hands scrambled in the grass around her, digging her fingers into the dirt as if looking for something to hold on to.
“It’s burning,” she choked out, gasping as she lifted her shirt to look at her stomach. Just before she had a chance to inspect the wound, she lifted one hand to her face. “Ew. Is this dirt? I don’t like being in the dirt.”
Without meaning to, Bastian belted out a laugh and shifted to place more of her torso over his legs. There wasn’t too much he could do about moving her right now. He cared about her with a desperate longing, but she didn’t need to be in his arms when she shifted for the first time. She would rip him in half and crush him without meaning to.
“I know exactly how she feels.” Emma’s voice was sympathetic. “It’s gross. Feels weird under your nails. Yuck.”
Bastian looked up and saw Emma, Jace, and Jax. Aiden and Paige strolled toward them from the other side.
“We’re here,” Jax stated, looking back and forth between Bastian and Nev. “We’ll make sure you two have enough space to shift, and keep the locals clear of this area. Simon told us what happened. Paige brought clothes for both of you to change into afterward.” His eyes darkened as he looked down at Nev’s stomach. “Is she healing?”
Nev’s head reared back as a deafening roar ripped from her mouth. Animals scurried away, knowing a new predator was clawing its way into the world.
Bastian’s body reacted as Nev’s beast called to his. No. It was too soon. He’d wanted to be here for her when she shifted. Wanted to tell her that it was okay and not to be afraid. In his shifted form, he’d have to communicate with her through touch, but she might not understand. His saber-tooth was ready, and there was nothing he could do to stop it from happening.
The sounds of bones cracking and reshaping filled the air. Fuck. He forgot just how much Changing hurt. It didn’t matter. Nev’s first shift would be pure agony.
Just a little longer. Bastian closed his eyes and focused, trying like hell to keep his beast at bay. She’s our mate. Two minutes more, he thought, hoping he could hold off long enough to tell Nev he was here and talk her through her first Change.
By some miracle, his body stopped shifting. He reached out and grasped Nev’s hand as she pulled her shirt off. Her stomach was healed. And God-damn, she was sexy as hell. Full, heavy breasts confined within her blue lacy bra, a rounded belly he could nibble and hold on to, and
a tattoo of an Aries symbol on the back of her right shoulder.
Nev turned over onto her hands and knees. She growled and muttered curses about mud being between her fingers.
“Nev.” Bastian’s throat felt as if he’d swallowed a shot glass full of sand. He didn’t sound much better. “You’re going to be all right. Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”
She looked up at something in front of her, focusing as if listening to a voice he couldn’t hear. If his suspicions were right, Nev’s mother spoke words of comfort.
She nodded and looked over at him, pain etched over her face. “I’m your mate, right?”
“Yes.”
“Are you trying not to shift because of me?”
“Yep.” Fuck. It hurt like hell to keep the beast inside. It understood the need to be here with Nev, but it needed to free itself from Bastian’s skin.
Nev arched backward as her nails dug into the ground, lengthening into snow-white claws that could rip a man in half. “You don’t have to. We can talk later.” Her words tapered off into a feral roar as a detonation of power broke free from her body.
A blast of energy smashed into Bastian, forcing his beast to tear through his skin and take him over. Nev’s permission to Change was all he needed.
Energy surged through his entire being as his saber-tooth broke free of its prison. Flesh and bone reshaped and molded into something bigger, stronger. Deadly. The force of the shift lifted him into the air, and when he landed, his paws sank into the earth beneath him. His body ached all over, but he breathed a sigh of relief. He’d waited centuries for this moment.
Woozy, he staggered forward and lost his footing. He’d have to learn to get around in this form again. Something warm brushed against his side, keeping him upright. As Bastian’s vision cleared, he saw orange fur with brown and black spots against his own blonde coat speckled with dark brown spots.
It was Nev. She was supporting him, making sure he didn’t fall.
At least, he thought she was. She lifted her paw and made a low rattling sound in her throat. Caked mud was caught between the light brown pads of her front paw. She must really have a thing with dirt touching her.
