AN: Yet again, I have to thank all of you for the reviews and Annette Curtis Klause for fantastic characters that I can work with. This chapter has a bit more violence than I normally use, but I don't think it qualifies as enough to have me change the rating... And sorry for the one day delay on this one, its Labor Day Weekend.
Chapter 5
Vivian awoke to find herself strapped to a hospital bed in a room with bouquets of herbs and other plant stems hanging from the rafters. There were medical cuffs around her wrists. Aunt Persia's house? Some woman must've been in a lot of pain, because she could hear a distant scream somewhere.
Just then, the tranquilizers wore off and she felt it. Searing pain like one hundred thousand needles were pricking into her skin all over made her eyes water. Her pelt was coming off, and was being replaced by skin.
She realized three things at once. She was changing back from a loup-garou to a human, but it wasn't fast or pleasurable like usual, it was slow and the worst pain imaginable. The person screaming was herself. And no one was around to help her or make the pain go away. Gabriel? Mom? I need you! Finally the burning got so bad her brain refused to recognize it any further, and she passed out.
She couldn't remember falling asleep or waking up, or anything. Her thoughts were replaced by a constant burning feeling. She could tell from the light through the window that a day had passed, and she was clean and dressed. Those thoughts were lost as felt the horrid pop of her spine straightening itself back into place. Vivian screamed for five minutes straight and lost consciousness caused by a lack of oxygen to her brain.
Again another day must have passed, because Vivian awoke to a new pain. Her teeth gritted themselves together as she fought to control her now constant screams, and tears ran down her cheeks. Her claws and teeth were slowly retracting back to normal. Vivian wished someone could come in and make the pain stop. Violent sobs racked her frame, and she pulled against the cuffs strapping her down.
A new noise reached her ears, just above her own sobs. She could hear a man's voice shouting at an elderly woman's. He stormed into the room, throwing the door open and knelt down by her side. She could see his tears streaming down his chiseled face. But she couldn't care less. Every fiber in her body wanted him dead. He's left me in this pain for three days. He's dead to me. She couldn't think again as a violent sob escaped her lungs. Gabriel placed his hand on hers and squeezed it tight. "I love you, baby." He jabbed a needle into her arm and she winced with the pin prick.
Through her burning flesh a liquid as cold as ice water streamed down. Her veins felt this sweet liquid rushing to her spine, wonderfully numbing everything in its path. Morphine. She looked up at this one marvelous man, this kind man who had taken all of her pain away. "I want to have your babies" she whispered, and his eyes shone and he kissed her tears, and eyes, and lips.
"We can talk about that when you're better." Her vision became blurred and she fell asleep.
----------------------------------------------------They had removed the cuffs, and Vivian awoke in the arms of her beloved. Or rather, in one of his arms, as the other was heavily bandaged in a cast cradled to his chest. She studied the cast carefully, trying desperately to remember what had caused this injury. Her study was interrupted by a pair of brilliant blue eyes opening, and smiling.
"Good morning, sunshine."
"What happened?"
"Long story. There are a few people downstairs that are better at explaining than I am." She shot up, but was pulled back down and kissed thoroughly. Then she could get up and get dressed, and wrap fresh bandages around her wrists. I knew I was at Aunt Persia's. Until just now, she had not known her aunt had chosen her new home in the most remote part of the reserve.
The group in the kitchen consisted of the Five, Esmé and Tomas, Uncle Rudy, Aunt Persia, the red headed mother, and baby Katherine, who was sound asleep.
Esmé couldn't stop fussing about her own daughter, and forced Vivian to eat several pieces of toast and chug glasses of orange juice, and try some more herb teas from Aunt Persia. "Please, mom! I just want to know… what happened to me?" Aunt Persia got up from her place by the stove, and sat down holding her queen's hands.
"You are the best leader any of us could've asked for."
"Thank you."
Uncle Rudy spoke up, and finally filled in all of the gaps. "Katherine is a half-child, as you know. None of us in the pack knew that, but that man somehow found out. When you're loup-garou, bloodline means everything. So you got shot. And, those weren't tranquilizers. Those were a primitive method used a long time ago to keep rebel loup-garoux in line. In small doses, the victim is forced to change back to a human against their will, like you were; in large doses that stuff can kill."
Vivian gasped and held on to Aunt Persia's hands for support, and searched the woman's eyes for answers. "What do you mean? What are you saying? I'm a human now?"
The minutes and seconds paused in time. All waiting for an answer. Vivian felt shudders racing up and down her spine. She was afraid.
"No baby, you're stronger than that. It will take a lot longer for you, and the therapy will be intensive, but you will go back to the form you were meant to be just as easily as always. However, there's also the matter of your selflessness. You alone would take that kind of pain as our own. That dose was intended to kill Katherine. This whole pack is indebted to you."
"No, the pack owes me nothing. That's what I do as a leader. I just want to know now, about the man. He's … is he…?"
"He's dead. And he was lucky Ulf and Gregory got to him before I did. That was his only blessing." Gabriel growled and smacked his cup down onto the counter.
"So what happens now? Will any others come looking for us? For Katherine?"
"No. The word has spread. Everyone knows we have this child here, and we will protect her as one of our own. This won't happen again." Finally Vivian sighed, and she could breathe easy at last.
--------------------------------------After breakfast, Gabriel walked outside with his mate, sitting her down on his lap on a deck chair. They looked out at this unfamiliar part of the forest.
"Your arm… that was me wasn't it?"
"You're my mate. I would have you break my arm in three places again if only you didn't have to suffer as much pain as you did." Her mind had a flashback; one of our own could've taken the blow. She sighed and rubbed the cast with her fingertips, trying in vain to get her heart rate to slow back down.
"You know, I meant what I said back then, after you gave me the…" Vivian blushed furiously but focused only on his smiling blue eyes.
"I know, and it would make me the happiest man in the world if you had my children. But -"
"- but?"
"But it's not my choice. You still need to decide what you want. You can go to college, or get a job, or-"
"I know what I want. Sure I can have the job and the steady salary, and the college degree, but what if that's not for someone like me? What if I know this is for me. This pack… this land... this inn… you."
"Oh, Viv" he kissed her passionately, and once again her skin was on fire, but this time, so was her heart.
----------------------------------------------------It was an outdoor ceremony, and the sun was hot against her skin, and her face. Vivian could pick out a lot of faces in the crowd. There was Esmé, smiling and crying silently, and there was the Five, dressed formally, their unruly hair slicked back. She blushed, and they blushed and winked at her. She could see Katherine sitting down on her mother's lap, smiling, and Aunt Persia had tears running down her face, and Uncle Rudy was looking like her father might have looked, all that pride showing on his face. The whole pack had come today.
She could barely focus on the words of the elderly man talking to her, and the ends of her white dress were swishing against her knees as the wind blew softly. She looked across the aisle and saw Gabriel's beautiful blue eyes, and he was grinning, and his eyes looked so full of desire and pride, and it was all for her. Then Vivian walked down the aisle, shook the elderly man's hand… and...
And she graduated.
When the crowd cheered, she could tell her pack were trying their best not to howl, but make a more human "whooo" sound instead. Vivian couldn't have cared less. She howled and laughed and ran into Esmé arms, and wiped the tears from her mothers face and kissed her eyes. "Come on mom, you're ruining your makeup." I love you. Her mother was still at a loss for words, so she kissed Vivian's cheeks, and pushed a strand of her daughter's gold hair back behind her ear. The Five all walked over to her, wearing their caps and gowns, and laughing and teasing each other. They all congratulated her, and kissed her cheeks, and talked at the same time.
"Can't wait 'till college, huh?"
"I'm hungry, where's the buffet?"
"We're going to party hard tonight, right?"
"Nice one Vivy couldn't have done it without you." Vivian looked at sweet Willem, and kissed his cheeks again, and gave him a big hug. Then he walked away to find some more of the pack.
She was about to go find Gabriel, when a giant pair of arms encircled her waist and pulled her close. The way her body fit next to his like a jigsaw piece let her know who this was. She turned around and tangled her fingers in his hair, and kissed his lips and the tears from his eyes, before anyone else could see them. "I've never been more proud of you Viv," he whispered into her ear, before kissing her.
"It's only high school!"
"But it's just the beginning. What's next for you, my queen?"
"…College, for a few years, more renovations for the inn, probably some kids later on, and a dog." He snorted and his sapphire eyes were full of laughter.
"A dog? Really?"
"Yeah, why not? That's what normal people get anyway." Vivian thought of normal people for a second, and decided there was someone she really needed to go see. Gabriel looked into his lover's eyes, and they spoke without speaking. He let go of her hand, and watched her get lost in the crowd, before turning and walking over to Ulf and the Five.
The young man was talking to his parents, or rather, they were talking to him, and he was staring very intently at the ground, his face all red. His dad shot Vivian a look that would've sent Gabriel up the wall, but she ignored him. "Hey, Aiden? Can I talk to you for a minute?" She held out her hand, and pulled him away from his parents.
"Vivian, thank you again. I mean, seriously. Thank you, for that, and for inviting me, and everything."
"It's okay. I just need to let you know, you have nothing to be afraid of. I… my people won't be bothering you ever again. I've made sure of it." He looked at her, searching her eyes, and memorizing her face just one last time.
"So, I won't be seeing you around anymore?" She paused, and checked her heart for a minute. The bruises were gone, and the veins and arteries were all there, re-grown from the last time he ripped her heart out, and there was Aiden, in a special place in there, but just as a friend.
"No, you'll be seeing me around." He wrapped his arms around her, and gave her a small squeeze, then turned and held Kelly's hand, and walked away somewhere into the crowd. Vivian was once again at Gabriel's side, lacing her fingers in his, and talking with the rest of the pack. My family.
----------------------------------------------Gabriel watched as Vivian walked up to him, and then walked past him. He growled playfully and set off to catch up with her. But this time, she didn't turn around when he pulled her close to him, and she didn't smile. He exhaled and let go of her, and she flopped herself down onto the grass and looked up at the sky. Things weren't looking so great in paradise all of a sudden. In the mornings, she would be working at the inn, and in the evenings, during any free time, she would be working on her rehabilitation. The process was much more slow and tedious than either of them had anticipated, and Vivian lost her patience with Gabriel more frequently.
"What's wrong baby?"
"Don't baby me. And don't look at me like that. You know that's what you're doing."
"Alright, and suppose I wasn't, would you tell me how you feel?" She looked up at his face, the anger bright in her eyes.
"Speak to me Viv; I need to know so I can help you."
"There's nothing to be helped! The problem is me. I'm the problem. I can't do this any faster. I just can't."
"We've been over this before. Remember?" He bent down and scooped her up in his arms, and murmured into her ear to revive some of the memories. "Remember? I can help you."
"Gabriel, please. I just need to be alone." He looked at her, and she could tell he didn't like this plan. Not in the least. But he sighed, and kissed her cheek, and got up and walked away into the woods.
Vivian got up and reached her hands straight up in front of her, and pulling them up above her head as far as they could go, arching her back and getting up on her toes. Then she bent all the way down to grab her ankles and rolled back up and stretched out into the splits. Yeah, I can do this but I can't do what should come naturally. Great. The therapy was intensive, and she was more toned and ten times more flexible than she was before, but she couldn't change at the drop of a hat like she needed to.
She crouched down low, and focused on her pelt first. It wasn't painfully itchy or prickly on its way out anymore, and pretty soon she was covered in beautiful fur. Then she worked her way down, into her stomach, into her insides. Her spine was getting tighter and tighter, and Vivian clutched to her middle. A sudden wave of nausea made her blanch and stare down at the grass, taking deep breaths. Come on girl, you can do this. She breathed in through her nose, and out through her mouth, and bent her back forty five degrees from her waist, still clutching. The nausea crept up, and she was really getting sick now. She felt herself become lightheaded, and her eyes became blurry as the cramps in her stomach became stronger. Come on, come on. She tried the secret push, but it wasn't working.
Suddenly, a pair of hands was stroking her, and pulling all of her hair back. Gabriel rubbed circles into her shoulder blades, and the nausea was leaving. Then she zipped the hoody she was wearing off, and changed fully. The whole episode took all of three minutes. But when you're a loup-garou, that's far too long. Gabriel nipped at Vivian's neck, and licked her muzzle, willing her to be happy, but she just looked at his stunning eyes and growled softly, as if to say, it's still not fast enough. They ran together for a long time, long enough for Vivian to feel refreshed, and to get her hopes up.
Afterwards, they got back to the clearing where they had been before, and dressed, and ran as humans in the darkness, getting Vivian's physical abilities up. Even as a human she was still ahead of him by a bit, and still he caught up to her, and waited for her. Gabriel's body had much improved, as had Vivian's, but his muscles didn't seem to be any bigger; he was just more toned… if that was possible.
He sprinted up to her, and called her name so she turned around, and took her up in his arms, her legs around his waist, her hands locked on his neck, and ran home. She liked working out, and sweating, and getting gritty, like when one came back from the beach, and she liked Gabriel's taste, the salt on his cheeks contrasting the sweet from his lips. "I love you" she murmured, and willed his lips to be just as unyielding.