Blood Yellow (3 page)

CHAPTER THREE

“
Y
ou know, I could make a law that says we are never allowed to leave this bed.” Nikole laughed out loud as she rolled off of Alec. Finally, she’d sampled a piece of the delectable male who’d saved her life. How good his body felt pressed up to hers, the way they moved together when they made sweet love.

“We need to
get you home, Princess. Come on, let’s pack your things.”

She watched him leave the
bed and walk to the closet. He pulled out a drawer and started to fold her shirts. Her shirts, not their shirts. “Are you coming with me?” she asked, hoping that the answer would still be yes. He didn’t reply as he kept the focus on the items he was folding.

She got out of bed and went to the closet, putting her hand on his and stopping him from reaching for the next item. “Alec, you are coming with me, are you not?” She could see it in his face, and the
reaction he was holding back. “Alec?”

He turned away from her and walked to the back of the closet grabbing the other suitcase. “I don’t belong there, Nikole.
That’s not my home… this is. You need to go back for your subjects, but I need to stay here for myself, for the solitude. I can’t be around everyone in the king’s army, and please don’t ask me to be.” He kept packing and tuned her out.

Where did this come from all of a sudden
? Nikole felt hurt and confused, as he hadn’t even given her a reason.

“I thought you and I… I thought we connected. What’s changed? Are you
ashamed to be around me publicly?” She put herself between him and the suitcase, holding his arms in her hands and staring up at him. “Alec, what the hell? Why can you not come home with me? You owe me a reason, after everything we have been through. Fuck!”

Alec
wouldn’t look her in the eyes; he refused to let her know he was a traitor to their race. Maybe if she was mad enough at him for this, then he wouldn’t have to tell her the truth about what had happened 300 years ago. Maybe he could just let her know the little that she knew now and that would be it. “Nikole, let’s just go to bed. This is our last night together, and I do not want it ending badly. Come, let’s just go to bed.”

Taking her hand, he pulled her back to the bed to lie down
but she resisted him.

“No, I’m not going
to just lie down. You tell me what is going on. What reason do you have for saying no?”

“Princess, does there always
have
to be a reason? Can’t it just be ‘cause it is?” he said, looking at her. He didn’t know why she couldn’t just deal with this. He’d never promised her anything. He’d never told her they would be together forever.

“No, I need a reason. I have to know why.” She took a few steps away from the bed; she
didn’t want to be this close to him, not if he didn’t want her. “Why don’t you want me?”

“I never said I
didn’t want you, did I? You said that. I just said I couldn’t live in the mansion with you. Please just drop it.”

“No, no I
can’t drop it, Alec. Tell me now. What did I do?” Nikole felt her face flushing; she knew the fire inside her was itching to escape. She tried to focus on the curtains to distract her from the man she…the man she loved, rejecting her. The tears started to roll down her face as she asked, “What did I do? Please.” She turned her back to him, unable to look in his direction any longer. The fire started to burn at the top layer of her flesh. She knew she couldn’t cry; when she cried the fire started.

“Nikole, stop! You
didn’t do anything, it is me. Now come to bed.” Alec let his feet drop to the side of the bed and watched while her body caught on fire. He knew how hard it was for her, controlling the emotion. Standing up, he started to walk toward her when she turned around and looked at him.

“I’m done. I
can’t do this.” She flashed out of the room and onto the porch, away from his sight. The cool night air calmed her skin as she attempted to control her anger. Was she not enough of a woman for him? She had been living with him for months with no problems, not even a single argument. Maybe she didn’t please him in bed just now?
Fuck
, she didn’t know. Did it matter? In the end, he didn’t want her.

She opened her eyes.
The tears continued to roll down her cheeks. Her hands were growing warmer, and the fire was igniting at her fingertips. Closing her eyes, she allowed the pain to surge through her veins and then out through her arms. When it surged past her fingers and onto the trees in front of her, she watched as the front row of trees burst into flames.

The warmth of the burning drove her
energy further, pushing the flames higher and higher. She heard the branches start to crackle and snap. One fell to her feet, causing the grass to catch on fire. She let out a cold and wicked laugh while watching it burn. Yes, this was what she wanted. She wanted something to feel the pain she was feeling right now. The fire danced across the trees, jumping from one trunk to the next, forming a circle around her.

She felt him standing there behind her; his blood inside her warmed when he was
near. “What do you want?” she spat out. What did he want? To humiliate her more? To make her feel even lower about herself? “You already rejected me, so just leave me the fuck alone!”

Alec opened his arms and started to
channel Nikole’s flames, feeling their heat and power deep in his cells. Her blood inside him started to sear through his body. He felt her anger as he started subduing the fire.

“No, Alec, no! Let me
have my fire, I order you!” He threw his hands together, watching as the fire extinguished itself in one sudden movement. He turned his head and looked into her eyes.

“I told you it
wasn’t about you, didn’t I?” He turned around and headed inside his house, shutting the door with a firm slam. She stared at where he was standing then looked around at the trees. Gone, the fire was just gone. She moved her body to go toward the house, taking one step at a time. Marching up the stairs and then through the front door, she stopped in the living room and stared him down.

“You did not tell me why. You just said it
wasn’t me. What the hell am I supposed to think if you give me no alternative? Am I just supposed to believe that, oh it must be something else? I mean, I don’t see anything else stopping you, but if you say it isn’t me, then by damn it, it must not be me.” She walked over to him and faced him square in the chest, not letting her hurt break her into tears in front of him again. She couldn’t believe that she’d fallen for him, another man to let her down. She’d thought she had learned her lesson the first time. She should have known Alec better and known he wasn’t different. Adara was right.  Men were just useful for one thing, feeding.

“Nikole, do you always have to over react to every situation?
Do you really think it is my goal to hurt you? Can you please just come sit down and stop acting out?” Alec moved behind the couch, trying to let his nerves calm before he said something that he was just going to regret. “Nikole, please. Please, let’s stop this fighting.”

She was unable to express how
hurt she felt. All Nikole wanted was for him to join her in the home she had to return to.

“Don’t you think I would stay with you if I
could?” Alec asked her, the tone of his voice obviously remorseful.

“Then why
don’t you?” She looked at him as she spoke those words softly.

“Because I just
can’t.”

CHAPTER
FOUR

Z
ayn pulled out his phone and in a panic dialed Nasir’s number. He hadn’t spoken to him since he’d left, but he knew Nasir would come help him. His heart raced as he saw her lying on the floor, still, unmoving.

“Pick up, damn it, PICK UP!” He could hear the sound of Nasir’s voicemail answering.
Where the fuck was Nasir? “Nasir, it’s Zayn. I’m at Adara’s and she has passed out. Come here fast..”

He moved beside her, kneeling down to her body. He placed his hand on her stomach over where he believed his
child was. It had to be his child. Right? Maybe she was with someone else while he was gone, or maybe with someone else in the weeks before him.
Fuck no. This child is mine!
No one would be raising a child with her but him. He softly started to stroke her skin, picturing the baby inside her womb. His child. No, their child.

Zayn let his fingers
run over her stomach. He was a total asshole, leaving and never considering checking in with her. He contemplated how much he had let the woman he loved down. Were his actions even forgivable, knowing what had been at stake? And now look at her, unconscious on the ground, pregnant with his child. He had turned into someone he didn’t even know or recognize anymore.

“Adara, I promise, if you wake up, I will take such
good care of you. You will want for nothing, and I’ll make you my queen. I’ll never leave you again.”

Nothing, no movement, and no indication she heard him, just nothing. Zayn stood up and went into the bathroom, taking a washcloth and dampening it with
cool water. Coming back to her still body, he wiped it along her brow, trying to help give her some comfort. He leaned over her body and placed his ear right above her chest; he could see shallow breaths being taken. He felt the rush of relief knowing that hope was still there. He hadn’t lost her, lost someone else he loved.

Zayn took the washcloth, and as he continued to
blot it along her face, he started to smell something very familiar. He looked up and down her body in a confused and nervous demeanor. Blood, he smelled blood. He knew that smell. Where was it coming from? He gently lifted her arms to inspect and didn’t find any cuts. He got a small cringe in his stomach as he started to roll her onto her side. That’s when he saw the sliver of wood sticking out of her back.

“FUCK!” He moved her body and positioned it where he could pull the piece of wood out. Zayn put his hand around the wood, pulling as carefully as he
could while aiming it down and to the left. He heard it snap, and only part of the wood came free from her body. He looked at the wound and could see the pieces still lodged inside her. Setting her back down, he began to look around for something to pull the splintered wood out with. He remembered that he had seen a nail kit in the bathroom. Thinking there might be something in there he could use; he stood up and went to grab the pedicure kit. Kneeling down beside her, he fumbled, opening the container and pulling out a pair of tweezers and cuticle trimmers. While hovering over her back, he started to retrieve the splintered pieces of wood from inside her. He pulled them out one by one until they were all gone.

His attention
was broken when he heard the front door open and close. He grabbed the washcloth he was using for her forehead and placed it on the back wound.

“Zayn, Zayn!” Nasir called out as he rushed through the different rooms of the house.

“Back here, Nasir. I don’t know if she is going to be all right. She has such shallow breathing, and I had to take the wood out of her back.”

Nasir looked around her bedroom as he crossed the threshold, noticing the broken door and
debris lying around. “Zayn, what happened?” he asked while coming to kneel on the other side of Adara. He couldn’t help but notice how thin and frail his king looked. “How long have you been back?

Zayn
didn’t want to talk about him just yet; he had more important things to tend to, like his beloved lying on her floor unconscious. “That’s not important; we need to get her help. Just help me take her to the hospital.”

Nasir gave Zayn a
nod and they both put their hands under her body. As they slowly lifted her up, Adara let out a soft moan, one indicating pain. “Put her down, put her down!” Zayn said frantically as they both started setting her back on the floor.

“Zayn, we should call an ambulance and get her taken into our facility in town.”

Zayn watched as the floor started to pool with more blood. He knew she would not be able to take too much of the loss and be able to survive. “She can’t die; she’s going to have our baby, and you have to help save her, Nasir,” Zayn said as he looked at her face, still and unmoving.

Nasir listened to Zayn’s words, knowing the ramifications of what he was saying. “We will save them, Zayn, we will.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He punched in the seven digits to the emergency Algula
line he had set up when the infrastructure was first established in Colorado Springs.

“This is Emir Nasir. I need someone sent
immediately to my GPS location and bring the emergency first aid units. The king is here and requesting immediate response.”

Zayn watched as her breathing
didn’t change. He held the cloth on her wound, trying to stop the bleeding with the pressure. “How long will it be until they get here? I know she isn’t losing blood fast, but this isn’t good for the baby.” Zayn felt his heart start to slow. He never should have left. Again this was his fault. He had so much to make up for, and so many things to fix. He knew this situation would take a while to repair; that is, if she could ever forgive him.

“Zayn, you have to have faith, and you have to believe that she is going to be okay. If you have that, then you can have the hope. Be brave for her. She will make it; you know we have the best technology around.” Nasir stood and put his hand on Zayn’s arm, trying to pull him to a standing position. “I hear the ambulance. Come on, Zayn.
Let’s give them space to work.”

They stood together just as the emergency workers pulled into the drive way. They could hear the commotion while they rushed into the house. “Back here,” Nasir called out as he pulled Zayn back into the doorframe of the bathroom. The emergency medics rushed in and then stopped instantly as they saw their king. The men immediately kneeled and displayed reverence for the Algula they all had missed.

“What are you doing? Stop kneeling and save her!” Zayn yelled at the two medics. What were they thinking, kneeling at a time like this? “If she dies, I will kill you both. SAVE HER!” Zayn tried to go pace around Adara, but he felt Nasir holding him back.

“They need space to work, Zayn; you have to give them space.”

Zayn shot a glare at Nasir that told him immediately to remain silent. He knew better than to start telling him what to do in front of his subjects.

The emergency workers spent time working on Adara, making sure they removed the remaining shards of wood from her wound and then cauterizing it
so she didn’t lose any more blood. They checked her blood pressure, 91/55; everyone in the room knew that was too low to be safe.

“Sire, we need to get her to the hospital. May we transport her?”
one of them asked the king.

“Yes, but if you hurt her in any way, I’ll hold you responsible for it. She is to be your future queen. You remember that when you are treating her.” Both workers bowed for a moment showing acceptance of the threat. One of them rushed out to bring in the transporter from the vehicle.

Nasir pulled out his cell phone; he had to tell Nikole about all this. He’d begun to dial her number when Zayn saw her name appear on the cell phone screen. “You are not to tell her. I will handle my okht.”

Nasir looked perplexed by this. Zayn
had been gone for three months, and Nikole had taken over in his absence. “Zayn, I gave her my word I would let her know when you came back.”

Zayn
didn’t want to see his okht just yet. He needed to be in a better state of mind for their reunion. “I said no.”

Nasir bowed his head. He couldn’t argue with the king while others were around.

The technician brought the gurney in, and slowly the two workers transported Adara from the ground onto the thick pad attached to the gurney. “We will meet you there, Nasir,” Zayn said as he stepped out of the door frame and followed the workers into the ambulance.