Chapter 3
Later that night
"Her fever hasn't gone down, and she seems to be minutes away from shifting Tanya", Irina spoke to her sister in hushed whispers. Irina had been closely monitoring the young girl ever since she'd complained about feeling strange earlier that evening.
The coven had been lounging around in the entertainment room, with Irina curled up in a loveseat with her favorite book, Tanya sitting on the couch while scrolling through her phone, and Izzy and Kate sitting on the ground with their backs leaned against the couch on either side of her legs. Each of them was holding a controller, intensely focused on the rather impressive television set as they shouted at one another.
Izzy had abruptly paused the game, garnering a loud "Hey!" from Kate as she excused herself to get a glass of water from the kitchen. Irina simply smirked at the other blonde, "I think you can take a second and catch your breath; she can continue kicking your ass when she gets back." Kate had not taken kindly to this and had reached behind herself to grab a couch cushion, launching it at the taller blonde's head.
"Children, let's try not to break anything this week," Tanya stated, both annoyance and amusement lacing her tone. Irina simply caught the cushion before placing it behind herself and getting comfortable. "Yeah, mom's gonna have a cow if you do; she already wanted to skin Kate alive for the crystal glass set she destroyed", Izzy added from her place in the kitchen. The three blondes could hear the girl shuffling around and the cabinet doors opening and closing.
Huffing, Kate crossed her arms over her chest and jutted out her bottom lip. "I was just trying to see if I could play them like in Miss Congeniality 2, and it worked too."
Irina goes to respond when they all hear a loud shattering noise, the glass of water having fallen out of Izzy's hand when she felt a way of dizziness wash over her. The three blondes flashed into the kitchen to see their mate with a hand clutching at her head and her other hand supporting her body against the fridge.
That had been over an hour ago, and now the three blondes found themselves in the hallway outside the girl's bedroom door.
Kate simply paced the length of the hallway, staring at the door that Irina had emerged from, all of them listening to the alarmingly fast thudding of their mate's heart. Had they not known she was about to shift, they would've gone into a panic at the elevated pulse.
Right now, they were merely worried about the young woman's first shift and how painful it would be for her. They knew that they couldn't do anything to ease her pain, but they also knew that they needed to be there for her, no matter what.
"Kate", Tanya sighs, effectively stopping the taller blonde in her tracks, "call Carmen and Eleazar; they'll want to be here for this." Kate begrudgingly nods, speeding downstairs to the living room and returning only seconds later with her phone held to her ear and her eyes once more glued to the door. Carmen answers the phone only minutes after the first ring, and Kate relays the evening's events to her, with Eleazar no doubt hearing the entire conversation as well.
Tanya turns to Irina, seeing the blonde's brows knitted together in frustration as she tries to come up with a way to ease the discomfort of their young mate. "Irina, we need to get her to the clearing at once; if what Carlisle has said is correct, I'm not sure her bedroom will survive the change."
Her gentle tone works to coax Irina out of her thoughts, the blonde turns to her leader and nods, her face once more stoic as she makes her way to the door and gently eases it open. The moment the door is opened, Irina is met with pained whimpers that nearly rip her heart to pieces, and she feels her mask slip as venom tears start to gather in her eye. Her legs fail to cooperate as she watches Izzy squirm in her bed.
Tanya grips her shoulder and gently squeezes in understanding. Making her own way to the bed in the corner, she lays the back of her hand against the girl's sweaty forehead and looks to her frozen sister with a gentle smile. "Her fever seems to be going down now; we need to move her right this instant". Tanya's calm demeanor and soothing touch help to ease the tension in the room. She knows that time is of the essence and that they need to act quickly to get Izzy to the clearing.
Kate, peering in through the now open doorway, ends the call and walks in, wrapping her arms around Irina's waist from behind and holding her close, whispering gentle affirmations in the blonde's ear as they watch Tanya slowly lift their mate into her arms.
"Don't worry Rina, just you wait and see, Iz is going to be just fine", the blonde presses a kiss to Irina's head and slowly loosens her grip on her waist. Irina leans back into Kate's embrace, feeling a sense of comfort and safety wash over her. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, trusting that Kate's words will come true.
Tanya regards their young mate, smiling softly as she remembers the last time she'd had the young girl in her arms like this, on that fateful night when their lives had changed.
"El and Car will meet us at the clearing; they're saying they'll scope out the place and make sure there are no humans nearby." Kate adds, eyes flitting from Izzy to Tanya before focusing on the young girl once more, "I say we get going and get it over with." Tanya nods in agreement, her mind still lingering on the memory of that night.
An hour later
"Alright, when she regains consciousness, the change will take over, and it's imperative that we all keep our distance," Tanya relays the text she had just received, eyes studying the cellphone in her hand.
Carlisle had been in contact with her the moment she told him that Isadora was suffering from an extremely high fever, the doctor having understood that the girl's change was near.
Clenching her jaw, the blonde feels the phone in her hand slowly crack and continues to read the incoming texts: "She will be in an agonizing amount of pain... but we must not interfere, or else she might hurt us or herself by accident." Tanya takes a deep breath and pockets her phone, her mind racing with worry for Isadora. She knows that they must trust Carlisle's instructions, but the thought of their mate suffering is almost unbearable.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Tanya takes a deep breath once more before her eyes flicker to her two mates. "…Fine…" Irina mumbles, standing motionless with an unreadable expression on her face, her eyes giving away the inner turmoil as she watches their mate laying on the forest floor. Kate, with her arms crossed over her chest and her hands gripping her biceps, stares at the ground. Carmen grips Eleazar's hand, her eyes fixed on her daughter's form, which, like Irina's, is unmoving. "And when she turns?" Eleazar asks, his eyes flitting over his family before coming to rest on their leader.
Tanya looks up at the man, the corner of her mouth lifting ever so slightly. "Your guess is as good as mine." She then turns to face the rest of her family, her eyes scanning each member before settling on Isadora once more. "But we will be ready for whatever comes," she declares with conviction.
The thudding heartbeat that had filled the clearing slowly starts to calm; a soft groan leaves the young girl's previously silent form. If Kate hadn't been going insane with worry over the past four hours, she'd have cracked up at the collective intake of breath from her coven, but as the first scream filled the air, the blonde found herself using every ounce of her self-control to keep from rushing to her mate's side.
'This can't be over fast enough," she thinks, her heart aching as she watches Isadora's back arch off the forest floor as she lets out another ear-piercing, inhuman scream. Kate's mind races with fear and uncertainty as she watches her mate in agony, wondering how much longer she can endure the pain.
Over the next ten minutes, the five immortals watch the transformation with rapt attention, the screams having tapered off after the first five minutes of the change.
The once human form of the young woman was now replaced by a mass of jet-black fur. Every now and then, the hulking creature would emit a low growl or a huff, seemingly catching its breath. However, despite the change finally being over, it had yet to climb to its feet or open its eyes.
"Should she be like that?" Kate asks, her tone laced with worry as she regards her leader, who is simply staring at the wolf with curious eyes. Irritated at the lack of response, Kate growls in annoyance before using a sharper tone, "Tanya! What is going on?" Snapping her jaw shut, the blonde freezes as a pair of obsidian eyes snap open and stare directly at her.