The room sways, and I blink, trying to remain conscious; I can feel the blood draining out of me, feel the color drain from my face as sweat coats me. Using a spell like that, with magic like that, always takes a toll on mine and Kaif’s sanity, especially my body. Kaif, unwilling to help, would let me die if he didn’t hurry.
He isn’t of sound mind, and I suppose I wouldn’t be either if I repeatedly lived with my mate dying on a never-ending cycle. I refuse to let that be Marabella’s fate.
There is only one person left in this world that I love and I refuse to lose her. I couldn’t live with the torment of knowing she died because she is destined for me. Our bond is dangerous, and I know that I can never be with her, but I will continue to protect her as I always have. Just from afar.
My hearing starts to fade, I can no longer hear the creaks of the house, just the faint ringing in my ears, my blood stains and coats the tiles, and I feel delirious. Time slows when suddenly I blink; Jonah is frantically grabbing and reaching for me. His lips are moving, but I hear no sound. I blink when his hand connects with my face, my head whips to the side, and my hearing returns.
“Kaif, you big fucking neanderthal, heal him, you fucking oversized hyena!” I try to smile at his words, but it probably looks more like a grimace.
“Jonah,” I murmur.
“Right here,” Jonah says before I’m suddenly moving.
“I came here to kick your ass, not to have it in my face!” Jonah says, tossing me over his shoulder. He treks down the steps, and I feel Kaif fading, his essence dying out with mine.
All because he refuses to heal me. Kaif’s panic bleeds into me a little too late as he recognizes the mistake he has made by refusing to heal me. His panic at dying is like a soft pulse when I am slammed on a table in the conservatory. I stare up at the glass roof covered in vines; listening to Jonah rummaging around.
“Yeesh, what the fuck is that? Is that a finger?” I groan, turning my head to see two of him. My vision is doubling, and he is holding a jar?
“Oh right, saving your ass, so I can kill it myself,” Jonah says, turning back to the shelves and pulling more crap down. “Ah, here we go, so up the butt or down the throat hole?”
I growl, but I make no noise. The growl only vibrates in my chest, never passing my lips. Jonah unscrews the lid and then grabs a pair of gloves from the table drawer beneath me.
“Hang on,” Jonah says, scooping some out with a spoon and tipping it into a glass of water.
I try not to think where he got that water from or how long it was down here. This part of the house I usually avoid, there is too much dust, so I rarely came down here. I fight to stay awake as he mixes the Wolfsbane and Belladonna.
“Bottoms up, bro, I hope it tastes like shit,” Jonah says, pouring the poison down my throat.
I choke as I’m forced to swallow the concoction. My heart beats erratically in my chest, blood pumps in my veins, Kaif is forced to turn, and he shoves forward as the poison works through our system.
My bones snap and stretch simultaneously, making me groan, which turns into a growl. Kaif is thrown forward and forced to merge with me, my body healing, although now I have a new battle as the table gives way under our weight and Kaif takes control. Standing up, we stagger.
Jonah grips my hairy arm to steady me as I get to my feet. Kaif is wired and pulsing through my veins, and I feel high. I need to run, adrenaline is pumping around my body and the need to sink my claws into something, to tear something to pieces is taking over. My vision adjusts, and I can see the heat radiating off of Jonah, his body glows like a beacon.
“So do you feel better?” Jonah asks. Kaif tilts his head to the side, watching him, transfixed on him, as Jonah nods to his own question.
“Good, good,” Jonah mutters. I don’t see it coming, but the next moment, his fist connects with my face as he springs off the ground.
Kaif roars at him, backhands him, and Jonah goes flying into the glass wall. The glass shatters. Pieces and bits of glass rain down everywhere. Jonah gets to his feet, bouncing on the balls of his feet. His eyes are burning with a challenging glint.
“Pussy, that’s all you got, you oversized peanut-brained mutt?” Jonah laughs, taunting Kaif, knowing full well he is about to get his ass beat.
But he smiles, spits blood on the ground and runs at us. Kaif charges at him, and the growl that leaves Kaif makes the glass roof rattle. Jonah shifts just as we crash into each other. Both were ready to do their worst.
Jonah
Kyan and Kaif, in their Lycan form, are barbaric and uncivilized. Jax is completely battered, and our back leg is broken when his fist comes down on our back, then he kicks us.
Air rushes around me, and my vision blurs at the force and speed as we crash through the conservatory wall. The air is knocked out of my lungs with a wheeze. There isn’t much left of this side of the house.
Kyan, I can feel, is trying to fight off the urges rushing through him. He is fighting off instincts as they begin to tire. Neither of them has control in this form, kill or be killed. Kaif can be rational, almost humane in nature when Kyan has complete control, but in their shifted form they become the thing of nightmares.
Glass rains down on us, a large shard slices through my side, and Jax howls in pain. Kaif also howls, pain radiates through me everywhere, but I can feel that Kyan is regaining focus. His consciousness is coming back to him when Lucas walks out behind me.
The growl is more like a roar as Kaif goes to charge at his Uncle and Jax forces himself up again, blocking his way. Lucas, realizing what he has walked into, freezes, remaining completely still.
I try to push on the blood bond, not really sure how it works, but I can feel Kyan through it and he can feel me. His mind is totally consumed with instinct, driven by the darkest parts of Kaif. Their Lycan form is terrifying. I’ve never voiced it, but I don’t have to.