She was lying on the floor, her hands, feet and a part of her face muddy. And she was wearing Dimitri’s t-shirt.
What the the happened? I rushed to her side, helping her up.
She screamed, “no!”
No for what? I cupped her face and wiped away her tears, resting her head on my lap. And then she let out a small moan. Huh?
“Do you have fever, Nat?” I caressed her back, hoping to sooth her. She was extremely hot. Her tanned body was red because of her high temperature. And she was crying her heart out.
I have never seen her cry.
There was no sign of injury on her body so I suspected that something happened to Max.
“Did something happened to Max?” I panicked. A freaking war is going on! Is he hurt? Please tell me no. “Nat?” Tears rose in my eyes seeing her cry so much. She looked like she was in a lot of pain. And not the kind she liked.
I immediately mind-linked him, ‘Max! Are you okay?’
‘A little busy killing dead witches but otherwise I’m fine. And glad to know you’re back, Avalyn,’ he replied with his usual charm but his voice sounded tense. ‘Did Talia come back? She’s hurt, Avalyn.’
‘Yes,’ I whispered, incredibly relieved that he was okay. ‘But she has fever, Max. And she’s crying a lot. I’m very worried.’
He was silent for a second. ‘Fuck,’ he swore. ‘She doesn’t have fever. She got her heat. It’s been six months.’ He sounded like he was freaking out.
Heat? I knew the basics. She-wolves got heat after six months of mating. It was nature’s call meant to indicate the pair to try for an offspring. And the woman going through it had to be separated from the pack for two because she gave out a scent that enticed her mate along with other men too. It could cause bloodshed.
Thank Goddess the west wing was bare of all supernaturals.
That was where my limited womanly knowledge ended. I never had anyone to tell me more about these things. I panicked, ‘what do I do?’
‘I’ll try to get home as soon as I can. But it’s bad here, it’s going to take time. Keep her away from other people. Get her to cool down underwater and whatever happens, don’t touch her, it will hurt her more.’ He sounded frustrated. Frustrated because he was unable to come here. I wanted to use my magic to bring him back home immediately but I knew I was too weak to do it. I would drop him somewhere in the middle and I knew for a fact that the situation outside was not good. The last thing I wanted was for him to end up in the middle of enemies.
‘I already am touching her, Max. She’s…’ I looked down at Nat who let out another soft moan, ‘she’s moaning.’
He remained silent for a second. ‘Please take care of her for me. Until I can come there and do it myself,’ he requested softly before he shut the mind link.
Of course I would take care of her!
“Is she okay?” Eliyah came near us, a glass of water in his hand.
“She will be once Max gets here,” I whispered, took the glass of water from his hand and put it against Nat’s lips.
She drank it like she was severely dehydrated.
“Bring us some more water, Eli. I’m going to give her a bath,” I said before I closed my eyes and gathered as much strength as I could.
“I can take her to her room, you’re not in the right sta-”
“You can’t touch her, it’ll hurt her. She has her heat.” I whispered, feeling my body get drained of power as I gathered it all in my mind. And then I used it all to teleport us to Nat’s bathroom.
My head spun for a second but I held on to the bathroom counter, not wanting to fall. Nat had fallen down again and was crying in pain. “A-Av..”
“I’m right here, Natalia.” I whispered and helped her up.
Their bathroom was the exact replica of us but they had decorated it differently. I tore off the clothes she was wearing before I led her inside the pool. The water felt cold on my skin but I knew Nat would feel better so I endured it.
She let out a soft sigh when we were standing in the water. My arms were wrapped around her as I held her up, her head resting on my shoulder.
The temperature of her body wasn’t going down but the water was growing warmer by the minute. And then she started whimpering again. “M-Max…”
“He’s on his way, Nat.” I whispered. “What can I do for you?”
“It-it… everything hurts,” she cried out. “P-please….”
Tears formed in my eyes seeing her in so much pain. I had no idea what to do, how I could help her. For a second I thought that maybe I could use my powers again. But I didn’t have enough of them, I felt like the thing brewing inside of me was using them all up. I also knew that I shouldn’t mess with a natural phenomenon of the body so I shouldn’t use that power.
And then Natalia was crying again, thrashing around in pain. Her fist landed a blow on my stomach and I felt all the air escaped my body.
My hands automatically went to my stomach as I breathed through the pain. Damn this woman has strength. I opened my eyes to find Nat underwater.
I quickly pulled her out.
“You need to get her out of there,” Eliyah appeared with a couple of water bottles in his hands. “You’ll both get hurt.”
He’s right.
But getting her inside the pool was easy, getting her out was going to be difficult. She wasn’t even in the state to stand up on her own. “Pl-pleasee…” Nat cried.
A spark shot up in Eliyah’s eyes before he dropped the bottles on the floor. He rummaged through the cabinets before he pulled out a towel and then jumped in the water.
He wrapped a towel around her body before he picked her up, so he wasn’t really touching her.
“Thank you,” I whispered, knowing I wouldn’t have been able to do it myself.