The Secret of Gisborne: A BBW Shifter Paranormal Romance (House of Gisborne Book 1)

by Alanis Knight

  “Gisborne, stop! She will die!” the physician shouted, striking him sharply across the back of the head.

  Gisborne snapped back into reality. He glanced down at the arm upon which he was feeding. He followed it up toward Marian’s pale face. Her eyes rolled back, and she fell backwards into the physician’s arms.

  “Marian!” Gisborne shouted. “Marian, what have I done?”

  “Move!” the physician shouted, and Gisborne leaped to his feet.

  The physician lowered Marian gently onto the floor, testing her pulse.

  “She’s alive, but only just,” the physician said.

  “Well, do something!” Gisborne shouted.

  “There’s nothing I can do!” the physician shouted back.

  “Give her blood back!” Gisborne screamed, biting into his wrist and moving it toward Marian’s mouth. “Give it back!”

  “My Lord, stop!” the physician said, quickly grabbing Gisborne’s arm and pulling it away from her. “It doesn’t worth that way. Humans have to receive blood directly into their veins. They can’t process it the way your kind do. And if you feed her your blood, she’ll... become one of you.”

  He looked down at the fragile human in front of him, her chest barely rising and falling as she sucked in raspy breaths. She was pale, and her lips were blue.

  “So there’s nothing you can do?” Gisborne asked.

  “I will bandage her wound. Then there is nothing to do but wait,” was the answer. “Wait... and pray. She risked her life to save you, you know.”

  Gisborne kneeled beside her as the physician wrapped her wrist with a bandage. Gisborne knew God would never listen to the prayers of a monster like him, but he did it anyway. He took her soft hand into his and bent his head to her wrist while the doctor wrapped her wounded wrist tightly with strips of torn bed sheet.

  “God,” he whispered. “Please listen. I know you don’t care about the request of an abomination like me. And I understand. But I’m not asking for me. I’m asking for her. For the kindest, gentlest person I have ever known. For the only person who has ever showed me any compassion. You can’t take someone like that away from the world. Please don’t take her.”

  “We should get her to a bed where she can sleep comfortably,” the physician suggested.

  Gisborne’s arms swept under her, and he lifted her carefully. He carried her down the corridor and up the winding stairway to the room where he’d first met her. He laid her on the bare bed and kneeled beside her.

  “Please, God,” he prayed, grasping her icy hand in his own. “Let her live. If you’ll let her live, I’ll walk away. You have my word. I’ll walk away from her and give her back to the world. Just let her live. Please!”

  Gisborne held a silent vigil by her bed throughout the night. He continued to pray intermittently, though he was certain the prayers of such a horrid monster as he would never be heeded.

  Then it happened. Sometime in the night, she stirred.

  The physician, who was sleeping nearby in a chair, awakened when Gisborne shook him. He examined her. A rosy blush had filled her cheeks, and her lips had gone from blue to a pale pink. The physician smiled.

  “She’ll live,” the physician said.

  Gisborne nodded. He cast one last longing look at her, and disappeared into the darkness.

  COMING SOON

  The next book in the series is due in early Spring 2017. Sign up for my newsletter on my website, or follow me on Facebook for release notification!

  http://www.AlanisKnight.com

  https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAlanisKnight/

  If you liked this book, please be sure to leave a review. Reviews help authors very much, and make books like this possible!

  Thank you!

  -- Alanis