by Kyla Riley
“You mean someone left it empty?”
“Apparently,” she confirmed.
“She’s got a feisty temper too. Was she mad?”
“No, but she did chastise all of you and called you an old fart,” Holly saw Niall’s face split with a warm, loving grin. “Show me which one is Aisling?” she asked suddenly, pointing at the photos, and listened enraptured as they stood there for the longest time as he explained and introduced his family. Each photo held a memory and gave him a tether to his family. She could see just how important it was to Niall as his eyes watered a bit, touching one of the frames gently. “Conn and I are the closest but I try to keep in touch with all of them.”
“It sounds like that all of you are doing the best you can to be a family and remain close to each other.”
“It’s hard, but yes.”
“Why don’t you show me the rest of the house and let’s unpack,” she invited, lacing her fingers with his. The main room was a combination of kitchen and living room. There was a large bedroom on the back of the cottage and a small bathroom that opened to the bedroom and the living room. Winters could be quite cold here, but the house was small and cozy so the fireplace and generators could keep it heated. Walking through the house, she saw several bags on one of the yellow, dated kitchen counters.
“What’s that?”
“Groceries,” he commented, looking surprised that she’d asked. “We’ll get hungry sooner or later.”
“Oh,” Holly laughed in surprise. “I didn’t realize you’d brought some in.”
“When I called for the plane, I called the boat dock and asked them to load me up. They’ve been working with us all for years and know to prepare a few staples for us. We try to stay away from town since we aren’t aging. It makes it easier and less explanations.”
“Must be nice not to age,” Holly muttered under her breath and saw Niall frown.
“Not really,” he said flatly. “Everything passes you by, people and friends you make- you have to leave behind and it hurts when they are gone and you are frozen in time. I won’t age, Holly, and it will kill me to watch you wither away.”
“Is that why you’ve been pushing me away?” she asked knowingly.
“I don’t know what it’s going to do to me when you grow old and…” Niall grew quiet and turned away. Holly watched him swallow several times and felt tears spring to her eyes. She walked over and immediately hugged him, laying her head on his chest and listening to his heartbeat.
“I will never be ready to say goodbye,” he breathed in her hair, kissing the top of her head.
“Then don’t,” she countered. “Don’t push me away because you are afraid. Let’s enjoy this time together and figure it all out. If Cairene cursed you, maybe she could do it to me or may…” Holly yelped as Niall’s fingers dug painfully in her upper arms when he yanked her away from him.
“Don’t you say that! Don’t you even think it! You don’t know what horrors I’ve had to go through or how much it hurts,” he said tightly and released her. “I’m sorry.”
“No, I get it but don’t you think it hurts me too? I hate seeing you grow distant or looking at me like I am going to break any moment.”
“You are so fragile, so precious to me…”
“And you are too,” she interrupted hotly. “Don’t lessen what I feel for you or brush it aside. We are in this together. Now, since we are here together and this feels like a honeymoon? Let’s put away the groceries and see how comfortable that bed is,” Holly said suggestively, pulling him towards the kitchen.
“I think the food can wait,” Niall picked her up instead and headed towards the bedroom with a tender look in his rust colored eyes. He whispered, “It does feel like a honeymoon, doesn’t it?”
“Not yet, but it will soon,” she said huskily, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him tenderly.
16
“Is there no way to break the curse?” Holly asked, tracing her fingers across Niall’s chest and stomach. “I mean, can the stepmother-from-hell make you normal or make me like you?” He lay his hand atop of hers and held it still. She heard his breath catch in the silence of the bedroom.
“When I changed, it hurt so badly, and I don’t want you in pain like that,” he whispered aloud. “I don’t know if Cairene can undo what she has done and frankly, I don’t trust her with your life or mine.”
“But if you had a chance to be close to your family again…?”
“I am close to them- from a distance.”
“But if you could hug them and hang out with them,” Holly was interrupted by Niall and his voice had a slight edge to it. She knew she was pressing an uncomfortable subject for him and one that could be for her as well.
“There is a lot I don’t know about what Cairene can do or what she did to me. We had no one to teach us, help us, and frankly I won’t jeopardize your life or your safety, Holly. Don’t ask me to. I barely can get by knowing that I could hurt you unintentionally by drinking too much of your blood or losing control during a transformation. What if me touching you gives you some disease and the sneezing was the first indication? There is no rulebook on what to do. All myths, lies, and legends all start with a bit of truth- something I won’t put on you or jeopardize your safety.”
“But…”
“Holly, can you be happy with me for who I am? Can you accept that I will be here for as long as I can be?” he asked painfully. “Right now, I know I can’t watch you die from old age but maybe fifty-five years from now, perhaps I can’t leave your side and will be strong enough to hold your hand as you fade away. I can’t face being alone again now or in the future. I can’t answer- but I only know deep inside that I need you here now and can’t let you go.”
“I love you too,” she whispered in the darkness and felt his arms tighten around her tenderly. He kissed her forehead and whispered for her to rest, that he would protect her with his very life. Holly shut her eyes and listened to his heartbeat, knowing that each thud was another affirmation that he loved her.
Early the next morning, Holly made a pot of coffee and padded around the house silently looking around. Each photo, each memory, made her remember what it was like for her to grow up in a loving home. She hated that Niall didn’t have those moments or that they were so long ago that he’d shut himself away from it…from feeling again. She could understand him being worried or concerned. She could barely fathom what it was like to have everything he’d known or loved taken away in the blink of an eye.
Sipping on her coffee, Holly wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and stepped out the front door of the cottage. She could see why they had this place. The solitude and peace were almost overwhelming in its perfection. There was a faint fog kissing the turquoise waters that lapped at the island and she could see other dark smudges, islands, in the distance. It was glorious in its majesty and simplicity.
A single bird call in the distance and a splash carried on the air as she stood there looking at the coastline off in the distance as the fog moved on and off the water like drapes brushing the floor. She almost giggled aloud as she pictured what she would say or do if Loch Ness popped up out of the water. It was no more ridiculous than a vampire/werewolf half breed – was it?
“Help me” she heard softly in the air and heard faint splashing nearby. Had someone fallen? The voice sounded like a young boy or girl and as Holly reached the front door to get Niall, she heard it again.
“Help…” just moments before it faded away or was cut off. Instead of opening the front door, she did an about face and ran down the dock. Yanking off the rope from the post where it was anchored, she quickly stepped inside and heard the splashing intensify. It was coming from one of the islands nearby.
Awkwardly taking up the paddles, she began to maneuver the boat as if it was like moving in a dream. The more she paddled, the slower the boat seemed to move. The fog seemed to be getting thicker and colder as she propelled the boat sluggishly through the
water. Holly heard the voice again and went to yell but couldn’t. No sound was coming out of her mouth. She was so very cold and scared now. Something was seriously wrong and she couldn’t put her finger on it.
Niall rolled over to hear his phone going off annoyingly next to the bed. He’d had such a deep and contented sleep, something he didn’t get very often, and attributed it to Holly. Smelling the coffee, he smiled lazily with his eyes shut and answering the phone unceremoniously. He didn’t care who it was, he was in heaven and nothing could shatter it right now.
“Where’s Holly?”
Nothing… except those words. Niall heard Brion’s terrified voice through the phone as he repeated over again.
“Where’s Holly? Is she with you?”
“She’s here, I can smell the coffee and we’re on the island. There’s no place…” Niall’s voice drifted off as he got up out of bed and saw the cottage was empty. Opening the front door, he saw the blanket and her coffee cup on the dock. The old boat was missing.
“Where is she?”
“The boats gone,” Niall said blankly, staring horrified at the idea of her being alone in the cold morning air or something happening to her. And then he saw it- Holly’s bright blonde hair floating in the water off in the distance.
“HOLLY!” he roared and dropped his phone, racing to the end of the pier and diving into the frigid waters. His arms pumped through the water as he dragged his body to hers quickly. Turning her over, he saw her lips were bluish and her skin was pale.
“Holly, baby…open your eyes, sweetheart,” he crooned and saw there was no response. He could feel her pulse at her throat but it was faint and matched her breath. Wrapping his arm under her chest, he dragged her back through the water to the cabin and pulled her into the house. By this time Niall was shivering against the temperatures and knew she had to be frozen.
“Wake up, baby,” he whispered, rubbing her skin briskly with a towel. “I need you to wake up sweetheart. You can’t leave me here alone,” he pleaded and got angry at the lack of response.
“Holly Baines, no more playing around,” he growled, feeling himself losing control as his temper flared. He’d just found her and was losing her? No! He was a selfish bastard and wouldn’t let the perfect woman for him slip through his fingers.
“Wake up!”
Niall stared at his hands that held her limp shoulders as her pale face lolled limply. Her pulse was slowing down even more and he could hear her heart stumble as it struggled to pump. She was beyond hypothermia. How long had she been in the water?
The sight of her so unresponsive broke his heart and he let out a terrible roar of anger. His hands, wrists and forearms were getting thicker with muscles and hair as he felt the transformation come upon him. He was nearly out of his mind with fear and desperation. She lay there in the bed with heavy shadows under her eyes and his heart hammered with the knowledge that he might never see that laughing smile again.
His fists clenched as he arched his back against the pain. It wasn’t time for him to become a wolf, but he couldn’t fight it. The thought of losing her was crippling. No more shy glances, no tender touches or morning runs together. There would be no savoring the exquisite taste of her or the way it felt when he took her. She was his perfect mate and he hungered for her unlike any other.
“Don’t leave me,” he breathed tearfully, closing his eyes against the truth and tore open his wrist instinctively, putting it against her mouth. Niall was terrified that he’d killed the only woman he’d ever loved in a thousand years. “I don’t know if this will do anything for you or make things worse but I’m lost without you. If you go, I will find a way to be with you always.”
Niall lay down beside her still form and simply let his essence drip into her, each droplet a silent prayer that she would awaken. He hoped that his body would warm hers enough and combined with the blood, she’d return as good as new – but nothing was happening.
17
Her skin was on fire.
That had to be it.
Holly had been so cold one moment and now felt like she was burning from the inside out. Maybe she was having another allergic reaction to whatever pet dander that her favorite doggie, Niall, put off. She’d been on allergy shots for quite a while but this felt more intense than a reaction… it felt…
“Arghhhhh!” Holly groaned as her body bucked of its own accord, trying to fight the severe heat in her. She saw Niall’s horrified gaze turn into one of broken joy and then fearful yet again.
“What? What is wrong? Am I swelling or something?”
“You’re alive,” he breathed.
“Of course, I am, sasquatch… and you’re one hairy beast! Did you give me rabies?”
“No,” he replied and looked like he wanted to cry and laugh at the same time. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I am on fire everywhere,” she retorted and then screamed as something in her gave a horrible wrench inside her torso. Holly patted her stomach to make sure nothing was going to burst out of her chest cavity like a horror movie. “What is wrong with me?”
“I found you in the water, unconscious. I don’t know how long you were out there. What happened? Why’d you swim out there?”
“I didn’t! It’s November, remember? I took the boat when I heard the girl crying out… oh my God! Did someone help her?”
“There was no one else in the water.”
“You wouldn’t have seen her because of the fog.”
“There was no fog when I found you- and no one else.”
“I could hear her screaming help me and I couldn’t get to her,” she said horrified, with a distant look in her eyes. “The more I tried to move the boat, the slower it moved and it was cold… so cold and dark. I tried to call out to her but nothing…”
“Were you dreaming? Was it your voice you heard?”
“No,” she argued and then stopped, feeling heat building in her body again. “I don’t know, maybe? It was like a dream where you are running but not moving and nothing is happening but you know in the back of your mind… that it is happening and it is doing so without you.”
Holly stopped and looked at him in shock and horror. “It was my voice from when I was a little girl but how…” she began and moaned. Her head spun as the wave of heat and pain washed over her. “I need to lay down before I pass out. What’s wrong with me?”
“I think I gave you too much blood. I’m so sorry, Holly.”
“Like a transfusion where I get blood from someone and … OHHH!” she screamed as her body contorted painfully, and then violently emptied her stomach on the floor beside the bed. “I am so sorry,” she breathed heavily with her eyes shut pitifully.
“It’s me who should be apologizing to you,” Niall said. “I never wanted you to feel this pain or go through the change.”
“Will it make me like you?”
“I think so.”
“And we can be together forever?”
Holly’s body spasmed again yanking her off the bed as she ran into the wall uncaringly trying to fight the pain she was in. Crying out, she looked at Niall for help silently and saw he had reddish tears streaming from his eyes. Her strong man was crying because of what she was going through.
“I’m fine.” she bit out between gasps and opened her mouth in shock as she felt her incisors painfully descend for the first time. “Gimmie a mirror!” she ordered awkwardly as it came out sounding like she’d said thimmy de miwar!
Fascinated, she took the mirror from Niall and saw his remorseful smile as he knelt beside her. He wiped a tear from his face and caressed her hair as she giggled and touched her own teeth. She felt the surges and flashes of heat in her body but her mind was utterly distracted by the pleasurable feelings she got in having her tooth touched.
“This is pretty kinky,” she admitted and laughed with Niall. She had such a slurring lisp with her new teeth, and it made what she said barely decipherable.
“It does have its ups and
downs. Unfortunately, this is still the beginning stages of the change. I will be right here with you as your body adapts to its new needs. We’ll do this together.”
“Always?”
“Forever, my love,” he swore, kissing her forehead as she felt a wave of pain wash over her again. For Holly, the pain lasted almost seven hours as her body contorted and tried desperately to fight what was happening to it. Her muscles were tearing down at the very fibers, or so it felt, as she felt herself healing rapidly. A wave of hunger would hit her, followed by a bout of nausea, and then another overwhelming bout of pain.
That was her whole world that day – and Niall. He stayed with her the entire time, putting cool washcloths on her head when he could get close to her. Other times she was out of her mind with terror and her body wracked with pain, lashing out at anything or anyone that got near. When the crest finally passed and the waves came less and less, she could feel herself blossoming and healing into a new being.
A new Holly.
A woman that hungered.
Her teeth sprang painfully, grazing her lip as she suddenly smelled Niall’s blood nearby. Was this what it was like for him? Is that why he’d hit on her at the race, because of the overwhelming need that came with breathing in the scent?
“Niall,” she said, feeling like a gangly teenager waiting for her first kiss. “I think I need to bite you or someone. I’m hungry and baby…you smell like a Big Mac to me.”
“I guess it’s better than a wet dog,” he chuckled, “Come here baby and let’s do this together. Now, the first time it’s overwhelming. You are hungry, thirsty and drinking from the right person can be very… uh… stimulating.”
“You mean it turns you on.”
“Yes.”
“Do you get that with other women?”
“No, it always felt perfunctory – just like a chore… until I met you. With you, feeding is phenomenal. Now, you want to smell the neck and you can tell where the blood is.”
