Marabella wiggles around on him for a second, getting comfortable. Her ear presses against the center of his chest like she is listening to his heartbeat. She yawns, and I go to grab her bottle.
“I will make her bottle and come get her so you can sleep.” I announce, about to jump off the sofa.
He shakes his head. “She won’t need it. Can you pass me her blanket, please?” Kyan asks.
I don’t know what to think about him ordering me around, but at least he said please. I pass him her pink blanket and tuck Eziah’s back around him after he kicks it off.
“Now sleep, Ella,” Kyan says, yawning as his hand rests on her back.
I sit down in the armchair, so I am close in case she rolls, planning to take her off him when they are both asleep. “I will just close my eyes for a second,” I tell Sierra, who is just as exhausted in my head.
It is meant to be a few seconds, and I jolt awake to hands grabbing my shoulders. Andrei is hovering above me. He holds a finger to his lips and points to the couch.
Shit! Marabella. I lurch to my feet, and relief floods me when I see she hasn’t rolled off and is still laying with Kyan, though her back is against the couch and he has rolled on his side on the edge of the couch.
Her head props on his arm, next to his face as they both sleep peacefully. I tuck the blanket back around them when I pause, noticing her un-mittened hand is on the side of his face. My heart skips a beat, and I shake his shoulder.
He stirs, looking at me over his shoulder. “What?” He says groggily, his eyes half-open.
“Did you take her mittens off?” I whisper.
“She can’t hurt me,” Kyan mutters, and I look at Andrei, who just shrugs.
“Just leave her. She is fine, and Kyan is alive,” Andrei says as I reach for her mittens.
“Please leave her, you will wake her, and she will scream again,” Kyan says, leaving his eyes closed as he turns his face toward hers.
“See,” Andrei says, and I nod.
“Coffee?” I whisper, and Andrei nods, following me.
“Yes, please, I had the worst sleep,” he says, yawning, and I feel my eye twitch.
The man has no idea, no damn idea, how many times I got up to Marabella. I want to strangle him.
I don’t know how Kat does it, how any of them do it, how Mateo has so much energy all the time. I have her one night and feel like the walking dead. Kat said Mateo mostly watches the kids at night, but Kat is more erratic at night when the moon is out.
I feel terrible for her. The moon used to heal her, and recharge her, but ever since she said it makes her antsy, it feels like she is waiting for something.
“Kat said last night she would be here by lunchtime.” Andrei tells me, and I nod, resting my arms and head on the countertop while I lean over the counter.
Sage
One Week Later
Sweat glistens on my skin as I wait for Jonah to get home from school. It is sweltering today as I wait for the bus that would drop Jonah at the end of the entryway into the pack.
Laying on the grass under the shade of a tree, I sit up when I hear the bus coming down the road. The blue and white bus pulls up just as I get to my feet.
“Momma,” Jonah squeals, jumping down the bus steps and skipping to me with a picture in his hand. I smile down at him as he shows me a picture he has painted.
“Oh wow, it is lovely,” I tell him, taking it from his little hands as the bus pulls away, leaving.
“Do you like it?” He asks, and I nod before reaching down and hugging him, his scent soothing after the boring day I have had.
Andrei has been busy in the city helping Lucas, but he rang me a few hours ago to tell me he is on his way home. I am expecting him back any minute. He is trying to get home before Jonah finishes school, but must have gotten stuck in the evening traffic.
“Can we stick it on the fridge?” Jonah asks excitedly.
“If we can’t find a room, we might have to put it in dad’s office. The fridge is running out of room,” I tell him. He nods happily, taking my hand, and we start the long walk back to the pack house.
Halfway back, I pull Jonah off to the side of the dirt road, needing to have a break. I’m sweating profusely and feeling light-headed.
“Are you ok, mom?” Jonah asks as I flop down on the grass.
“Yes, I am fine. It is just boiling today,” I tell him, and his brows scrunch together.
“It’s not hot, I have goosebumps, look,” Jonah tells me, holding his arm up to show me.
I blink twice before looking up at the sky. The sun is out yet looking at Jonah, I notice his lips are blue, and he is covered in goosebumps. Confusion sets in, though I thought it was odd earlier that I saw Zane in a sweatshirt.
“Maybe you’re coming down with something,” I tell him, reaching up and cupping his forehead with my hand. Yet, I can’t feel his temperature at all against my clammy hand.
“Your face is very red,” Jonah tells me, and I observe him, his lips trembling slightly.
I feel like I am burning up. Maybe I am coming down with something. Standing up, Jonah grabs my hand as I sway slightly, dizzy from standing up too fast. The feeling doesn’t leave, though, as we slowly trek back to the pack house. My vision blurs, and I become hotter. My skin is burning, and my mouth is dry.