Harmonizer's Evolution (Balancer's Soul cycle) (37 page)

His
sister grinned. “That’s right
.
Y
ou haven’t been over to our place since the Mélange meeting last year. Yes that was the painting that I made when we had the costum
e dance. I painted it just before
painting your picture
when we got home
from the meeting
.”

After that
,
Mark
led
Kara
to
her private art room that didn’t have any windows because sunlight sometimes distorts and warps paintings. Then
he led her
to
the fully stocked kitchen. The bathroom and even the washroom w
ere
made from pure tile and stainless
steel
. Finally Mark led Kara to their master bedroom. It was the largest room in the entire house.

After the h
ouse tour was complete he led everyone
outside once again.

Mark
the
n
stood with his back to the
joining
garage. “Kara, since we have only one vehicle and it is hard to always pretend that you’re human and need to be picked up,
this is the final gift I have for you.”

A
ll
became
silent as he raised up the garage door.

Kara squealed
in delight
and ran up to kiss Mark on the lips. “Honey, you got me my own Van? And you picked my favorite color!” Sure enough
,
there was a bright pink minivan sitting stationary inside the garage. She then explained to
everyone
why she
became
so excited. “A van is much better to transport my paintings. There is more roo
m
and it is climate controlled
too.” She turned her eyes on M
ark and wrapped her arms around his
large
torso. “Thank you,
Honey,
thank you, thank you! I love you so much.”

“I’m glad.” Mark said while stroking her sandy blonde hair.

Soon after she calmed down
,
they
had
a
filling barbeque party.
As Mark and
Connor
grilled the racks of ribs, Kara ripped open the
housewarming
gift. Sarah bought
his
little sister a
dehumidifier. Kara
seemed
confused until
Sarah
explained that it would be perfect for her artwork.
Humidity wasn’t a painter’s best friend.
When
Kara
read the instructions
,
Sarah was hugged repeatedly.

The party lasted well into the night.
They
had to go because Darrel and Pearl needed to g
o to bed. Soon after Sarah and Connor
made love
and
went to sleep.

While having a calm, relaxing and dreamless sleep,
Sarah
bec
ame aware of her
surroundings. It felt like it’s only been an hour after finally falling
asleep. Something had awoken her
, but what was it
?
Her
eyes tried to focus, but it was black as pitch and nothing could be seen
in her
room
besides
still
shadows.
She
felt around
for a familiar warmth and solidity,
but Connor wasn’t in bed.

She
d
idn’t know why she
did this, but
she
sat up and crawled out of bed and found the l
ight switched. With a flick of her
finger, the
light
t
urned on. It was then that her
eyes found
her
mate.

Connor
laid
on the floor.

She
rushed up to him
, knelt by his side
and realized that he was sleeping, but something
felt
different. It was like he was having a nightmare. Underneath his lids, his eyes were darting at an astonishing rate. Connor’s massive muscles were twitching
and layered in sweat
as he tossed and turned on the hardwood floor
, almost in spasm
. His face
looked
pained and that was enough. Sarah
bent closer to touch his broad chest to find that his skin
felt
sickly hot
.

Waking someone like Connor from this
state
would be foolish.
She
had to try something first. With the strength of
her
mind, it
projected
and made contact with
her
mate’s. It was then that
she
became
assaulted from the images of his
immense
nightmare.
All
she
was able to witness
in that moment
was fright and seeing teeth and claws trying to
kill her
.

She
ripped
her
mind back because it was too frightening.

“
Connor
! Connor
,
wake up!” She
began pushing on his shoulder and it worked.
The change of his solitary dream ended.

Connor’s eyes flas
hed open and he sat bolt
upright. His right hand hooked into claws as he placed it over his
racing
heart. He
began
panting heavily and his eyes were wide
with
fright. The brand on his chest looked to be exploding from each rapid breath. Even from the side of his thick neck one could see how rapidly his heartbeat
raced
.

As
Sarah
spoke his wide eyes remained focused on the ground. “Connor, what is it? What’s wrong? Don’t worry, you’re safe here.”

Connor’s clawed hand moved from his heart along with his left hand. Both hands went to his hair
as he grasped
his head and he began to shake.

His entire body quivered uncontrollably.

There was only one thing she could do. She
moved
around to his back and wrapped her
arms around his
sticky
neck. It wasn’t a restraining move, but an embracing gesture. His body continued shaking violently and he remained silent unlike his heavy breathing.
She
did
her
best to comfort him for over an hour
giving off soothing emotions through the link
.

It happened gradually, but his convulsions were beginning to subside.

Soon he quit twitching
and removed his hands from his head
, but his breathing
remained
heavy.
Sarah finally unwrapped her
arms from his neck and moved around to sit in front of him. Connor still sweat
ed profusely
and his eyes were unfocused, but at least they weren’t wild. It
as if
he was seeing something no one else could.

She
then tested out
her
voice
to gratefully find it
comforting. “Connor, are you back?”

Five silent minutes passed before his hazel eyes finally found
hers
. His voice
sounded
quiet and hollow. This was a voice
she’s
ever heard
before
nor will ever want to
hear
again. “Sarah? I… I don’t know?”

She
placed a hand on his calf muscle. “You’re safe… Tell me what is going on. You’ve never acted like this before.”

“Princess, it
’
s hard to explain.” He then looked around
and realized where he was
. “Why am I on the floor?”

“When I woke up, this is where
I found
you were having that nightmare.”

“Oh,” his frightened eyes found
hers
again.
“sorry about that. Something’s wrong, but I’ve never
felt
so strange before. I feel afraid, but why would I?”

“Connor, what was with that
nightmare
?”

“I’m not sure. It felt like I was in the fight of my life and everyone was out for my blood. Everything felt so…
hopeless
. It feels like it did last month when the tsunami killed so many innocent lives
, hopeless and weak
. Something feels very wrong all of a sudden and the answer is still just out of my grasp.”

She
stood up and he watched
her movement
. “How about we go outside and get you some fresh air.”

He quietly followed her
outside
, into
the
cool night
air
. After a few silent minutes she
could visibly see
her
mate begin to relax. He sat down in the grass and
she
sa
t between his legs and rested her
back against his broad chest. His breathing evened and his eyes slowly focused into that of a hunter again. “You were right. This was exactly what I needed to calm my nerves.”

Since it was such a nice night and
she
was wearing pants and a nightshirt
they
decided to spend the rest of the night outside. After what Connor looked like earlier, it
became
impossible for
her
to fall asleep.
Her
husband didn’t sleep for the rest of the night either because he
slowly
petted her
head and ran his fingers through
her
hair throughout the entire night.

When sunlight finally revealed the dawn
,
Sarah
broke the silence. “Connor, whatever happened last night will be kept quiet between us
for now
.
Nevertheless, if it happens again we’ll need to get the others opinion.”

“Alright.”

Luckily the rest of the day went on without a hitch. Pearl and Darrel were both
fed and had a lecture on mannerisms
. They
then went by Kara’s again and everyone gathered for another day of fun. No one ever suspected something frightening happened last night
with them
.

Three weeks have passed since that frightening night.
They found themselves
into
the
late
middle of
April and Kara pulled a perfect April fools on her brother
almost
three
weeks
earlier
. Somehow she was able to work around his instincts and slimed him. Pearl giggled the entire day.

It was the weekend and
everyone
found themselves
off from work so they
had a
Major Le
ague Baseball game party. So their
family started having the party at Kara’s house since their TV screen almost make
Sarah
feel like
she’s
at the game
her
self.
She’s
not as big of a fan as the boys are, but it is enjoyable to be around everyone. Sheriff Bu
rrow and his wife canceled on them
today
or else they would have joined
in the festivities
. Whenever
Sarah’s
arms were free from holding one of
her
babies
she’d
help Jenny in the kitchen to prepare snacks for everyone.

They
were having a great time together. Everyone
sat
inside now because the game was so close
to the end
and thrilling
.
Sarah
sat on Connor’s
large
lap
,
finally getting into
the fast-paced
game when suddenly he went rigid.
She
turned
her
head to see his penetrating eyes narrowed.