Lyric
“What the hell do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said, Thane.” Leviathan snaps at my mate. “I can’t bring your brother out of this. No one can because he doesn’t want to wake up!”
Leviathan has been trying for the past ten minutes to help Tristan wake up. But nothing has happened. Leviathan pressed his hands to Tristan’s head, closed his eyes, and chanted in a language I didn’t understand. I held my breath, hoping and praying whatever Leviathan was doing would work. But it didn’t work, and now everyone is even more disheartened.
“Nothing is going to work. Is it?” Brody asks sadly.
Xale clasps Brody’s shoulder and shakes his head. Brody’s shoulders sag in defeat. He does want Tristan; he just didn’t realize it until now. Brody doesn’t deserve any sympathy for being a jerk to Tristan. But they are mates, and I don’t even want to imagine what this would feel like. If the mate bond doesn’t work, nothing will.
‘Maybe if Tristan had been marked, Brody would have been able to wake him.’
‘I was thinking the same thing, Aspen!
“There has to be something else we can do, Leviathan.”
“Pray to your deity, Thane. Only he can help you now.”
Thane snarls and growls at Leviathan.
Leviathan smirks and folds his arms across his chest.
“You could always evoke an audience with Selene. Perhaps she’ll have an answer for you. I wouldn’t hold my breath, though.”
I don’t know much about Fenrir; I haven’t done much research. Terrible of me, but I just never seem to have the time. I know Selene made werewolves, but every wolf knows that. I read in a book in the library that Fenrir made Lycans, and Thane confirmed that to be
true.
I’m not a Lycan, so I was never taught about their deity when I was a kid. But now that I’m here, I at least know that Lycans worship Fenrir and that he’s their deity. Lycans do pray to Selene also, which I don’t understand, but whatever.
My mate is getting angrier, and I’m worried. Though I know, Thane is incredibly strong. Being King affords him powers others could only dream of. However, even the Lycan King wouldn’t stand a chance against the Dragon deity. ‘Thane, calm down. Leviathan is trying to get a rise out of you, and you’re letting him.’
Thane’s angry eyes snap to me. ‘Do not tell me to calm down! This is nothing to do with you!’ He screams at me through the mate link.
I take a step, shocked by the way he just spoke to me.
‘Nothing to do with me? Is Tristan not my family too?’
Thane’s eyes widen, then narrow in anger. ‘Pull back the attitude, Lyric. I’m not in the fuc.king mood!’ He turns away from me, cutting off the link so I can’t yell back.
Oh, my Goddess!
I know Thane is upset, but he has no right to speak to me like that! I’m his mate, not one of his subordinates! Goddess, I am so angry with him.
Just who does he think he’s talking to?
“What do we do now?”
“I don’t know what to suggest, Brody.” Xale shakes his head.
I look at Thane. He’s breathing hard and fighting his Lycan. Jagger wants to take over, and if that happens, someone is going to get hurt. I don’t know how to calm Thane when he won’t let me anywhere near him, and I feel like the worst mate in the world. Why am I so stupid?
‘You’re not stupid, Lyric. I know I keep saying that Thane is going through a lot, but he doesn’t mean to hurt you.
‘Aspen. Please, just stop making excuses for him. Don’t give me a load of spiel about the mate bond, either. I’ve given Thane some leeway due to Starr’s passing, but I’m not a verbal punchbag for the Lycan King. So don’t ask me to be.’
A colossal gasp and a scream have all eyes turning to Tristan, now sitting up in bed.
What the hell?
“Tristan!” Thane rushes over to Tristan, pulling him into his arms as the room fills up. Everyone is talking at once, but Tristan looks out of it. He’s not responding to anyone, and his eyes are darting all over the place. “Everybody take a step back and let the boy breathe.”
All eyes shoot to Leviathan, who raises his eyebrow. Before anyone can respond, Tristan pushes Thane away from him, jumps off the bed, and bolts from the room. Tristan is wearing nothing but sweatpants, no top, not even socks on his feet. Everyone rushes after Tristan, wondering where the hell he could be going. Too many people are yelling after Tristan, and he isn’t responding.
Did these people believe that if Tristan woke up, everything would be normal with him?
That there wouldn’t be some issues with Tristan’s mind?
His ability to think clearly?
I know everybody has been praying for this, staying by Tristan’s bedside and begging him to wake up. But Tristan was never going to come out of this unscathed. I don’t know much about Status Sleep, but I know from what the elders said that if Tristan ever woke up, he might never be the same.
“Tristan, what are you doing?” Lucy tries to grab Tristan’s arm, but he turns and growls so threateningly the ground shakes. “Oh, my Goddess. What’s happening to him?”
“I don’t know.” Thane mumbles while everyone else takes a few steps backward, giving Tristan and his now visible through his eyes Lycan some space.
“Tristan?” Tristan’s black eyes turn to Brody. Brody takes a step closer with his hands held up in surrender. “Tristan, it’s okay.”
“Tristan?”
“Esme, go back to your room!” Thane yells, causing Esme to startle and Tristan to growl even louder.
More yelling, more growling, and this whole thing is a fuc.king sh.it show! Guards now surround us, here to protect their King, even from his brother.
“Back off!” I warn them. Bolton tips his head, then motions for his crew to wait for his command.
Goddess, this could turn very nasty very quickly.
“Tristan,” Esme touches Tristan’s hand with no fear in her eyes though I see much sadness.
Tristan instantly sucks in a deep, harsh, rattles the chest breath. Dropping to his knees, he grabs Esme and pulls her into his arms. He cradles her head while rocking her from side to side and crying. I can’t help the tears in my eyes for this sweet moment. “You came back to me! You didn’t leave me, Tristan!” Esme sobs.
“I will never leave you, Esme, never ever. I’m so sorry, baby girl, I’m so sorry.”
I swallow my emotions and wipe tears from my eyes, watching brother and sister. This family has so much love that I can’t believe it sometimes. There was love within my family, but it was never this intense.
“Move!” Moria literally shoves Theo and Tane out of the way to get to Tristan. Not that I can blame her; she’s been desperate for this moment. Dropping to her knees, Moria wraps her arms around Tristan, sobbing and kissing his head over and over again. “My baby boy. Oh, Goddess, I thought I’d lost you too!”
“I’m so sorry, Mama, I’m so sorry.”
I watch Ronan crouch down on the other side of Tristan, hugging him close. I look over at Thane, but he doesn’t spare me a glance.
I turn and walk away, needing a moment to myself.
‘Maybe we should go back to our room?’
‘I’m fine, Aspen. I just need some fresh air.
‘Yeah, but…
‘No, buts, Aspen. I just… nothing!
I cut my wolf off and take off into the forest. The air is calm tonight, and it feels good to breathe it in. I smile when a rabbit pops out of its burrow and runs across the forest floor. Winter is coming, and soon the forest will be void of wildlife that hibernates. I wonder if the Bear King hibernates in the winter. I laugh at the absurdity of what I’m thinking.
Brody hibernating?
He’s a Bear shifter, not an actual bear!
But what if Brody’s bear sleeps through the winter?
Would that make Brody human for the winter months?
‘I think you’re losing the plot, Lyric!
‘Why? Have you never thought these things, Aspen?’
‘No, Lyric, I haven’t. Maybe we should turn back now. I can feel your pain.
‘It’s just a twinge, Aspen. I’m fine.
‘You’re not fine. Stop pretending this isn’t happening! You lied to Harmony earlier, and you know it! What are you going to do when Aurora’s head slips out of you? Pretend it’s not happening?’
‘Of course not, Aspen. Why is this happening now? Why couldn’t she wait a while longer?’
‘Babies wait for no one, Lyric. They come when they are ready, like it or not!
I shouldn’t have lied to Harmony, but I wasn’t ready to admit this might be happening. I thought I was having practice pains, but I’m not, and I should have told Thane.
But how could I do that when he’s done nothing but talk to me like sh.it for days?
I blow out a shuddering breath as a contraction shoots through my body. Aspen is right; babies come when they want, not when we do. But I’m scared it’s happening too soon. Too much has happened lately, and I haven’t had time to breathe. Now this, and I’m terrified of all that’s to come afterward. I am so scared that what Astro told me about taking Aurora the moment she’s born will come true. I know Harmony said she wouldn’t let anything happen, but I worry that no one will be able to stop him. ‘Thane?’ I call through our mate link more than once. But Thane doesn’t answer me, and I don’t know what to do.
On shaky legs and clutching trees for support, I slowly make my way back to the castle. The place seems to be deserted, and it doesn’t make any sense. Where the fu.ck is everyone?
“Oh, ouch,” I clutch the bottom of my back with one hand and my bedroom doorframe with the other. These contractions fuc.king hurt like hell!
I manage to get to my knees and lean against a chair. I can’t get to the bed; I’m in too much pain to move any further.
Goddess, I want my mom!
My mom isn’t here any longer, but someone close to her is.
‘Emori, please help me.