Vanilla Moon: Acrimony

by Airiel Hawkins

  "Mate," Sophia replied. "And he is very lucky to be alive. She's bounced between him and the front desk since we told her that he was up for visitors. He lost his arm though, so I don't imagine things will get any easier for them."

  "Have we lost any more lives?" I asked. The words lost his arm didn't seem to compute with me. How could a Lycan lose an arm? It didn't make sense to my addled brain, so I chose to ignore it… for now.

  Sophia shook her head. "No, thank the gods," she replied. "The youngest survivor had a few tense moments, but he's pulling through."

  "Good," I said with a nod. "I'd like to visit with them. Get their stories."

  Sophia nodded, giving me her permission. I walked passed her to the back area. The maze of hallways reminded me more of an emergency department than it did a clinic. Of course, just because we called it a clinic didn't mean it was one.

  I looked down the hallway to where my father's room was but decided against going there just yet. Instead, I looked at the list of patients for their room numbers.

  The first room I visited held the boy who was now our youngest Lycan of shifting age. His name was Alex and he was just twelve years old. He looked small and frail, the hospital bed dwarfing him. His face had two long, jagged slashes across it from the upper left side of his forehead to the lower right side of his jaw; like the scars my father had from when he fought to reclaim the pack. Alex would lose his left eye for certain. The damage was too severe to save it.

  He had other injuries as well. Claw marks shredded his skin. Dr. Cyrus had to stitch many of them back together. The poor boy had to be in an unimaginable amount of pain….

  His good eye opened as the door shut behind me. When he realized who I was, his pupil dilated, and I smelled his eagerness. This boy had something to tell me.

  I saw him struggle to sit, so I held out my hand. "Don't," I said. "You'll hurt yourself and you'll be no good to me if you do that." He hesitated a moment before he nodded.

  "Do you mind if I ask you some questions?"

  Alex gestured to his mouth. The claw marks across his face split his mouth in half. He couldn't talk to me. I could work with that though. I had enough questions I could ask the right way.

  "They'll be yes or no questions," I explained.

  Alex nodded so I grabbed a chair and moved it closer to him so that I could sit down. "Do you remember what happened?" I asked.

  He gave me another nod.

  "Was it after changing back?"

  Nod.

  "Did your entire body shift?"

  Alex shook his head and held up his hands.

  "Just your hands?"

  He nodded.

  "Did they surround everyone?"

  Nod.

  "Were you able to control your actions at all?"

  He shook his head.

  "Did it take a long time?" I asked. "Do you know?"

  Alex pointed to a notepad and pen nearby. I grabbed them for him. He scribbled something down and showed it to me.

  "What?" I gasped, staring at the word. My body felt numb and I'm pretty sure my heart stopped beating for a moment.

  Alex nodded.

  I stared at that word and didn't know how to wrap my mind around it. I fumbled out of the chair and into the hallway in a daze. Seconds, he wrote. That much damage in seconds. I couldn't fathom how it was possible.

  I let out a shaky breath and tried to clear my head before I moved on. I don't think I'll ever be able to understand what he told me.

  I let the door close behind me as I left the room of another survivor. Everyone gave me the same information. Everyone said that the attack lasted for only a few seconds. The Witches surrounded them. They had no control. They don't know how they managed to survive.

  I looked at the door of the last person on the list before my father. The one who told us that the pack was in danger. I almost hated that it was her. It proved that she was stronger than the average wolf in our pack. It also meant that I owed her a debt. She saved as many lives as possible, just by saving herself.

  I sighed before I walked into her room. She was pale. The natural bronze skin that first attracted me to her had turned white with her blood loss and pain. Now that her skin was clean, I could see that she didn't have any injuries on her face. Dr. Cyrus had bandaged her arms. At some point during the attack, she suffered a deep laceration on her thigh. No wonder she didn't quite make it to the house.

  She looked up at me as I shut the door behind me. I noticed the sheen of sweat on her forehead. The room stank of blood, infection, and pain. "So, this is the only way to get you into my bedroom?" she asked, her voice low and raspy. "I'll have to find my death bed more often."

  I chuckled. "Try not to make a habit of it," I requested.

  "No promises," she replied. "I kinda liked you being in my room."

  I pulled a chair over and sat down, not giving her the response I knew she wanted. It was as if I could just look at her and see her for the first time after all these years. Before Ceres, she was the object of my fantasies, even after we broke up. She was fiery, exotic, and had all the right curves in all the right places. Now, I saw her for who she really was: a young woman trying to get more out of life than she deserved.

  "Party pooper," she grumbled. She shifted in her bed and let out a gasp of pain.

  I gave her a smile that I hoped was both apologetic and sympathetic. "Wanna tell me what happened?" I asked.

  She let out a grunt of disgust and looked away from me as she rolled her eyes. "That's what you want to talk about?" she asked. "I can think of thousands of better subjects."

  "True," I agreed, "but this is the most important one right now. I have to stop it from happening again."

  "You can't," she replied, glaring at me. I gave her a calm stare in return. "Fine," she sighed. "The fucking brujas circled around us and used their magic to make us fucking kill each other. Is that what you want to hear?"

  "How did you escape?" I asked. "No one else can walk."

  "Yeah, I had that problem too," she said, gesturing to the gash in her leg. She gave me a hard stare and held it for a moment before she backed down with another sigh. "Look, I don’t know how I got away. I started running and, before I realized it, I saw your house, so I started screaming for help. I knew someone had to be awake and hear me."

  Every inch of her was tense and ready to fight, even though she knew she would lose. Her anger wafted of her. Her pain added a sharp, sour scent to the air and made me want to get away. Instinct said that if one of us was in this much pain, there was danger nearby. One of her injuries smelled infected, which surprised me since we were at the clinic. I decided to send the doctors in to check on her.

  I stood and pushed my chair back to the wall. "Get better," I said before I started for the door.

  "Are you fucking serious?" she snarled.

  I stopped and looked back at her, my hand on the doorknob. My heart ached for her in a way it never had before. It wasn't longing that I felt for her anymore. I looked at this sad, miserable woman who wanted nothing more than to rise above her place in the pack, and I felt sad for her for the first time.

  "How did you run?" I asked.

  "Excuse me?" she asked.

  "How did you run?" I repeated as I let my hand fall from the knob. I knew she was lying, and I needed to hear the truth from her.

  She shrugged. "I just did," she snapped. "After a few seconds, I could control myself again, so I just took off."

  I shook my head and turned back around. I didn't believe her. I left her room and faced the one I was avoiding. I paced outside of the room before I sighed and walked back to the lobby. I couldn't face my father's condition right now. It was too real for me. It reminded me that anything could make me the Enkidu. Anything. I wasn't ready for that. Capable, yes, but not ready.

  Bree was back at her station when I came out. I walked over to her. "I heard that your new mate is one of our very lucky survivors," I said.

  She nodded and I could
smell the relief, guilt, and fear she felt. "We're only two weeks mated," she confessed. "It's still new enough that everything is different and I'm so afraid of him dying that it's making me sick. Well… sicker than the baby anyway."

  "I'm glad he survived," I said. "I'm glad you did too."

  Bree nodded. "Same," she chuckled. "You came very close to becoming the Enkidu today."

  I nodded. "Trust me, I know…."

  "Your mom called Ceres here," she said. I gave her a curious look, wondering why she volunteered that information. "You just seem anxious and upset," she said. "I'm sorry if I overstepped, but she's here because the Skaapie requested her."

  I nodded. "I know," I said. "Where's Riley?"

  "In the back, talking to Dr. Cyrus about the survivors," she told me. "He decided that he wanted to get as much information from her as he could so that he could at least feel useful."

  I nodded. "Thanks," I said before I walked to the chair next to Cynthia and sat down. I rest my head against the wall behind me and closed my eyes.

  Chapter 9 ~Wolfgang~

  Ceres woke me, shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes to the harsh lighting of the waiting room and Cynthia smiled beside me. I hadn't realized that I'd fallen asleep. Ceres held her hand out to me and pulled me up to my feet. Without a word, she wrapped her arms around my waist and held tight. The tension in her body reminded me of a spring ready to come undone. All I could do was hold on tight and hope that she wouldn't injure me when the spring snapped. I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and did my best to shield her.

  "How long have you been here?" she whispered.

  "About an hour," I replied. "I talked to the survivors and decided to wait for you. Where's Riley?"

  "In the car, on his way back to the house. Selena called him home."

  I nodded and kissed the top of her head. "Let's go then," I said. I looked at Cynthia. "Can you set up a schedule with Richard so that there's someone fresh here at all times?" I asked.

  Cynthia nodded. "Sure thing," she said. She stood and walked over to Richard, who stood by the doors. I hadn't even noticed him earlier.

  I wrapped my arm around my mate's shoulders and walked her out of the clinic. I noticed that she dragged her feet a bit as we neared my truck. I stopped and looked at her, not understanding why she was so hesitant. "What's wrong?" I asked.

  She gave me a nervous look before she shook her head. She pulled away from me and trudged up to the door. I stepped in front of her to keep her from opening it. "Talk to me," I urged.

  "Can we just go?" she whispered. She refused to look at me. "We have more pressing worries right now."

  "Ceres…."

  It was all I needed to say. She looked up at me and I saw the tears and pain in her eyes. She looked ready to cry at a moment's notice. It surprised me to see her like that as she was usually so together and kept her emotions in check. "Get in the truck," she whispered. I gave her a look to tell her that I wouldn't budge until she fessed up to what was wrong. "I'm not talking about it in the middle of the parking lot," she insisted. "Get in."

  Her request was reasonable, so I opened the door for her and helped her up before I made my way to the other side. Once we were both in the cab, I turned the engine over and cranked up the heater. I could sense that the sun was trying to warm us up, but the clouds were too thick for it to work.

  I looked over at her as she shivered from the chill in the cab. "Talk to me," I said.

  I watched a tear fall from her eyes and turned in my seat to face her. Between the steering wheel and everything else in the cab, my comfort level zeroed out, but that wasn't important. What she was going through, whatever it was, was my priority.

  "I don't know if I can do this," she whispered.

  I reached out and tucked her platinum hair behind her ear. "Do what?" I asked.

  "This," she said, holding her hands out as if she held a platter with all our problems on top of it. She shook her head and looked away from me through the window. "I want to go back to New York."

  For a second, I wasn't sure I heard her. When I realized she really had said it, I felt as though vice grips clenched my heart and squeezed. The air left me in a rush, and it was like my strength vanished in an instant. My hand dropped from her shoulder.

  She looked at me. "I want you to come with me," she said, softening some of the shock.

  I shook my head. "I can't," I said. "My place is here, and I know yours is here with me. Why?" I asked. "What happened with my mom?"

  Ceres cleared her throat and stared ahead. "I brought her the book from your dad's nightstand," she said. I nodded because it was information I already knew. "We talked for a little bit before she explained that I'm not good enough for this pack…." She clenched her eyes shut and more tears fell down her cheeks. My stomach plummeted through the floor of the truck. How could my mother say such a thing? "I'm putting you in danger," she continued, her voice shaking. "All because Alan and Abigail decided to take our baby instead of just killing me…. It makes me appear weak… and that makes you weak."

  "You are not weak," I insisted, my voice breaking with emotions I couldn't name.

  "Prove it to them," she whispered before she bit her lip to keep herself from crying.

  I reached over and turned her face to me. Even with red, swollen eyes and blotchy cheeks, she was still the most beautiful woman I'd ever laid eyes on. Some of her white-blonde hair escaped her messy bun and framed her face. "Every day" I promised. I leaned in toward her and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. That was when I noticed she chewed on them enough to make them bleed.

  She responded the way I hoped she would and leaned into my kiss. The primal beast inside of me wanted to take her here and now and make another baby. I didn't know if she was ready for that. I knew I wasn't, but instinct was something stronger than both of us. Stronger than our needs. Stronger than our desires.

  The more I kissed her, the thicker the scent of our arousal became. It wasn't just her. Pheromones drove me wild and I needed her. I needed to be inside of her.

  I managed to pull away from her long enough to drive us around the block and into a secluded alley. I laid her down on the bench seat and covered her body with my own. She reached up, fingers tangling in my hair, and pulled it free of the ponytail. Her tongue danced with mine and made everything within me stir. I responded to her like she was the air I needed to breathe.

  Her hands fumbled at my waist as she worked on unbuttoning my jeans. I helped her out of hers and we shoved our clothes onto the floor. My mouth was on hers again and a moment later I slid into her body. I groaned into her mouth as she moved against me. My hands found her hips and I held them still as I thrust into her. Her hands clenched around my hair and pulled.

  The cab filled with the sounds of our breathing, moaning, and grunting. My grip on her hips tightened as she let out another moan. I left her mouth in favor of pushing her shirt up and capturing a dusky nipple in my mouth. She cried out and arched her back, grinding her body against mine.

  I kissed my way to her neck and latched on over the scar that formed the perfect impression of my teeth. I wanted to mark her again. I wanted everyone to know, without question, that she was mine.

  Her cries intensified until she let out one long, guttural sound and I felt her walls constrict around me. I thrust into her one more time and spilled over with a growl. I held her amber eyes with my own and prayed that we would succeed. I pulled her in for one long, slow, passionate kiss before I gathered her up in my arms, shifted the way we lay across the seat, and held her tight.

  "I love you," I whispered in her ear. "Nothing in this world will ever change that. I know that you're afraid that the pack may see me as weak because of what the coven did to us, but you will prove them wrong. I know you will. When this is over, if you still want to go to New York, we'll look at the options and see what we can do. Right now, though, I have to be here, and I need you at my side. There's no running away and hiding right now. We will have to
stand up and face the things that are hurting us."

  She nodded against my shoulder. "Okay," she whispered.

  "Okay?" I asked, pushing back far enough to meet her eyes.

  She nodded and kissed me again just in time for my cell phone to ring. I sighed as reached over her so that I could dig through my pocket for my phone. "Yeah?" I asked as she started pulling her pants back on.

  "Hey," Riley replied. "Luke and Hunter are back. They have the info you're looking for."

  "On our way," I said before I ended the call. I fixed my own clothes and put the truck in gear again, this time heading home. As I drove, I tucked Ceres under my arm and had her send Cynthia a text to tell her that I needed either her or Richard back at the house.

  We arrived almost twenty minutes later. Once inside the house, I led Ceres, Riley, Luke, and the Guardians into the library. Selena and Mira were still there. With a single look at us, Selena nodded and ushered my sister out of the room. She reentered a moment later, without Mira. I found it easy to believe that she and Sophia would be the first in line to become Ceres's Guardians when the time came.

  I looked at Luke and Hunter. "What do you have for me?"

  Luke handed me a printout with some highlighted names and addresses. "Witches," he said. I scanned the list and saw a lot of names, most of them around the same ten addresses.

  I looked back at my best friend. "That's a lot of people in small places," I said. "It isn't like them to be sitting ducks like that."

  Luke shrugged. "Considering they expected to wipe us all out last night, I'm not surprised they're clustered," he said. "That's everything registered in the database right now. Those are the addresses of every surviving member of the coven. People who are in town have reported those addresses as their temporary locations. Some of them are looking for more permanent addresses, but not many."

  I remembered the map the Vampire gave me as he and Clive left. I pulled it out of my back pocket and unfolded it. The map was Adamsville, and there were ten locations circled. After a quick check, I realized that I'd had the locations of the Witches for just over an hour and I hadn't done anything about it.