The Awakening: Aidan (20 page)

“Oh, my God,” she whispered. “This is why you won’t let me touch you. It’s sending the
Drall
into overdrive.” She stepped toward him. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“And let you know the mighty Aidan was weak, and give you yet another reason to push me away? Never.”

“I never would’ve done it had I known.”

He gave another harsh laugh. “Of course you wouldn’t have. You wouldn’t do anything that’d encourage a possible eternity with me. You know what, you were right. This trip was a bad idea.” A sneer came to his lips that made her step back. “On second thought, it was a blessing in disguise, because I now wish I’d never laid eyes on you.”

Chapter Eleven

Thunder boomed, rattling the house and the boards of the deck underneath her feet. Lightning streaked across the sky. Flinching, Jaylin frantically searched the darkened beach for any sign of Aidan. All she saw was the ominous sway of palm trees as the wind picked up speed. Fear twisted her insides, making her fingers tingle and her chest tighten in panic.

Where was he?

Right after saying he wished he’d never laid eyes on her, Aidan had stalked off into the night without a backward glance. He hated her. Knowing that had filled her with such pain, she’d curled into a ball and cried, until thirty minutes ago when she’d heard the first warning rumble and seen the flash of lightning far off in the distance.

The pacing had started then.

With each passing minute, those rumbles had grown closer and louder. The lightning had gone from white flashes off in the horizon to white splintered streaks that webbed across the sky, brightening the house with each bolt.

No matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise, she now had to face the truth.

Aidan wasn’t going to return.

He’d rather take his chances with the storm than be safe in the house with her.

The intercom buzzed before Rafael’s “Miss Jaylin?” echoed throughout the living room speakers.

Of course. A hysterical laugh bubbled from her lips as the tension left her in one quick whoosh. She’d gotten herself so worked up, she hadn’t even thought of Rafael’s cottage.

Aidan was safe. Not with her, but at least safe.

Hurrying inside, she crossed the living room to the intercom mounted on the wall and pressed the buzzer.

“Yes?” she replied.

“This storm looks like it’s going to a pretty bad one. I’d suggest that you and Mr. O’Connell move away from the windowed rooms and into one of the interior ones. Okay?”

The tension returned full-force. “Wait. Aidan isn’t with you?”

“No, Miss Jaylin. I haven’t seen him today.”

She pressed her hand to her mouth, her gaze automatically drawn to the storm brewing outside. Fear for Aidan consumed her. He may be a shifter, almost invincible, but he wasn’t immortal. Anything could happen to him out there. Something that could take him away from her forever.

Just when she’d been ready to open herself up to the possibility of a “them.”

Wouldn’t it be what she deserved for being so shortsighted and continuously denying him?

“Did you hear me?”

She blinked, her attention slamming back to the box. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“It’s getting closer. Go on now. Don’t worry about Mr. O’Connell. He can take care of himself.”

“Right.”

Not worry. As if.

As she stepped away from the intercom, a gust of wind whipped through the room and sent magazines scattering to the floor. She quickly closed the wall-sized shutters and stepped back. She couldn’t see outside, couldn’t search for Aidan. She’d locked him out. Again.

Such an irrational thought, but the wall towered over her, becoming a symbol of every wall she’d put between her and Aidan.

Claustrophobia pressed on her chest.

No more walls. She’d no longer protect herself at his expense.

It was time to weather the storm, both literally and figuratively.

She yanked one side open and slipped out onto the deck. The wind whipped her hair across her face and flattened her robe to her body. Hurrying down the stairs onto the sand, she called his name, hoping if he heard her, he’d know she was worried about him and at least come back inside. She didn’t care if he went into another room and completely ignored her, just as long as he was out of danger.

Howling wind carried her voice away as if she hadn’t even spoken. The first droplets of rain hit her face. Within seconds, the skies opened up and a torrential downpour ensued, soaking her through in seconds.

“Aidan! Please! Answer me!”

As she surveyed the wall of trees, she pushed her drenched hair away from her face. He was in there somewhere. Her mind went crazy with possible scenarios. Hurt? Trapped? Dying?

What if she never got to make amends and he died thinking she didn’t care for him? He died hating her?

Her throat tightened in terror. Oh God, she had to find him. Tell him how she felt, so there was no longer any doubt.

“Please be okay. Please be okay.”

She stepped into the woods, wincing as the earth shook beneath her feet as another round of thunder boomed overhead.

“Aidan! I’m so sorry! Please come out!”

She took a dozen more steps before a shadow moved out from underneath a dead tree about twenty feet away.

A cougar.

Aidan.

He transformed and shouted, “What the hell are you doing out here?”

Relief almost brought her to her knees. He wasn’t hurt. Dying. He was whole.

All her misgiving left, leaving her feeling liberated, truly free.

She loved this man.

She stepped toward him, wanting to wrap herself around him and never let go. Orange sparks followed by a sickening crack stopped her in her tracks and she ducked, covering her head with her arms.

Everything slowed to a crawl.

The crashing sound of the branch hurtling toward her, Aidan roaring her name as he stumbled forward, the gasp of realization that the split second she’d needed to move was gone. The thick limb crushed her to the ground. A moment of pain ricocheted throughout her body.

Then she felt nothing.

…

“No!”

Aidan shoved the huge limb aside as if it weighed no more than a piece of paper, and he knelt beside her. Terror made his body tremble, leaving his beast momentarily stunned.

It’d happened so fast. One moment he’d been trying to convince himself that love hadn’t just softened her face, the next he’d been running toward her in a blind panic. Her body crumbled beneath the weight of the wood.

And now she lay on her side. So still.

“Jay—” his voice cracked, and he cleared it. “Jaylin?”

Hands shaking, he gently turned her over. His throat constricted. Blood mixed with rain, creating a watery red trail from one corner of her mouth to across her cheek. Aidan moved over her, protecting her head from the downpour, as he pressed two fingers into the side of her neck.

Faint, but there. He closed his eyes in relief.

Another boom of thunder shook around them, then hail pelted his naked skin with sharp needle-like pricks. He huddled closer to Jaylin, wrapping his arms around her head, blinking the water out of his eyes as he calculated the distance to the house.

Moving her was a horrible idea, but the danger out here was more threatening. After gathering her in his arms and tucking her as close to him as possible, he sprinted across the beach and into the house. She made no noise, no movement. Her body limp.

As he carried her through the house, he used the light to take a quick inventory of her injuries. No broken bones that he could see. No gaping wounds. Minor scrapes on her arms and neck. Nothing surface. His throat tightened further, fear he hadn’t known a person was capable of gripping him.

When he reached the bedroom, he gently laid her on the middle of the bed, horrified at the labored way she’d started to breathe. He opened her robe and moaned. “No. No. No.”

Dark purple stained her torso. Internal bleeding.

There was nothing he could do. Nothing.

A pained groan came from her as her eyes fluttered open. Aidan crawled up beside her, brushing the wet strands from her face. Fear shone in her eyes as she looked up at him and she gasped for breath.

He shushed her, tears scalding the back of his. “Don’t
you
die on me.”

“Ai—” A gurgle, then more blood slipped out of the corner of her mouth.

Her struggle to speak almost undid him. He shot off the bed, tearing through the room desperate to find anything to help, knowing it was futile. A blow like this was fatal.

His eyes landed on her briefcase. Or was it?

Jaylin had said the red flash device was used to bring a half shifter’s latent shifter DNA to the surface during extreme injuries.

She’d thought she was going on a working trip. Had she brought it?

He stumbled forward, hand shaking as he undid the latch on the case. On top of the fake Biggerstaff file sat the device, along with her stethoscope, a tape recorder, paper, and pens. She’d been prepared to work.

He glanced at Jaylin lying helplessly on the bed, her chest fighting to just take a breath. This never would’ve happened if he hadn’t tricked her into coming here. She’d be healthy, full of life, not fighting for it—and slowly losing the battle.

Aidan looked back at the contraption. A new fear churned his gut, remembering his beast’s anger even with him in the next room away from the flash. What would happen if he were in the same room?

It was the only chance she had, though. Even if he called the mainland, it would be at least an hour before help arrived. She didn’t have that much time.

This was the only hope they had.

Device in his hand, he moved back to the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress. “Jaylin?”

When her eyes slowly opened and shifted toward him, he held up the instrument. “How do I use this?”

The fear in her eyes grew as her gaze darted between him and the device. She slightly shook her head.

“It’s the only way.” He took her hand. “Show me where to put it.”

She silently refused his request by clenching her hand closed.

“Show! Me!”

She turned her head away, staring in the opposite direction, again denying him the chance to save her. It infuriated him that she’d rather die than let him help. Aidan hurried around the bed and bent close to her face, curling a hand around one of hers and holding tight, as if that alone would save her.

“Y-you’re going to
die
.” He squeezed her hand as emotions clogged his throat, but he forced himself to speak. “Jaylin. Please. Live. I’ll walk away. You’ll never see me again. Just live. ”

Tears illuminated her brown eyes. One slipped from the corner and trickled down her temple into her hair. Slowly she opened her fingers and touched the area to the side of her left breast right under her arm. Then she held up two fingers.

“Twice?” He swallowed.

Once he was almost certain he could handle, but twice? They sent shifters out of the room when they used this thing. What if something happened to him after the first shock? What if his beast emerged before he could do the second shock? What if it turned its anger on Jaylin?

She squeezed his hand back. “I-t…o…k.”

It wasn’t okay, nothing about this was okay.

He looked around the room. He didn’t have long—he was either going to do this or let her die. And he sure as hell couldn’t do the latter. The wind howled outside, rain slammed against the windows. He went over and touched the window encasing the private balcony.

Double paned. Tempered. Not easily shattered. Built to withstand the forces of a hurricane. Even one created by a raging beast.

He dragged over one of the nightstands and then opened the door, the force of the wind almost knocking it from his grasp. He used the nightstand to prop the door open enough where he could slide through. He didn’t know what would happen once he clicked the device, but he sure as hell didn’t want to take any chances.

Aidan walked back over to Jaylin, her breathing even slower than before. A gray pallor ate away her healthy glow. With shaking hands, he placed the device where she’d instructed.

Please give me the strength to do this.

He hit the switch.

Red flashed into the room and her body jerked. His beast sprang forward. A white explosion went off behind his eyes and he doubled over, feeling as if a red-hot poker had skewered his insides. He dropped to his knees as the snarling animal pummeled from within, slashing and clawing its way to the surface. Agony encased his body as his nails blackened and lengthened, his teeth elongated, and fur sliced through his pores like razor blades.

Never had he felt the change as he did now. Never felt the beast so out of its mind with madness, ready to maim…rabid.

He looked at Jaylin, her eyes round in terror as she stared at him and he grasped the full extent of why she hadn’t wanted him to use it to save her. The beast would hurt her, a shocking discovery, considering it would kill to protect her as Aidan would. He had to get away from her. Ensure that she was safe from the beast.

Crawling forward, he shoved the device into her side once again and clicked.

The beast caterwauled, charging forward. Aidan bellowed through clenched teeth, dropping the device as he landed on his side on the floor, clutching his midsection. The pain so intense he was certain at any moment his skin would split wide open. Bones began to snap one by torturous one. His energy waned.

Get out. Now.

Belly-crawling, he used his arms to pulls his weight toward the door. Halfway there, his knees and elbows dislocated and bent into feline legs as more fur carved through his skin, making him howl in agony. His nose and jaw cracked, stretched. Long claws clacked on the floor as he used the last bit of human he had left to drag himself the remaining few feet.

Kill.

His lips pulled back on a snarl.

Kill.

Half-animal, half-human, a contorted mess of fur, flesh, fingers, and claws, he turned around and took one step toward Jaylin, eyes locked on the white flesh of her throat. Bloodlust consumed him. Then she moaned, speaking to the last bit of human remaining in his shattered body.