Bound (13 page)

“Bastian?” I ran to his side and dropped to my knees. His arms circled me and he held on to me as he gulped down great gasps of air. It took me a moment to realize that he was crying, sobbing so hard he could barely get air in to breathe past the emotions.

I closed my eyes and held him, instinctively knowing the reason. Somehow, despite the fact that what Donavan had said was beyond simple instructions or words, Sebastian understood that something was wrong with the baby. That the deformation the child now had was because Sebastian took the Nevermore shot.

“Babe,” I took his face in my hands, stared into his yellow eyes, and stroked my fingers across the skin that was becoming as familiar to me as its human counterpart. “It doesn’t matter. The baby will be alive and will be with us. And we will love him no matter how he looks.”

Tears streamed from his eyes as his chest continued to heave and he shook his head, hiccupping hard enough to shake his body. I fought the tears that wanted to join him with his, but he needed me to be strong for him and I could do that much at least. He’d given up so much for me, fought so hard, the least I could do was be his rock now.

19

“Babe,” I whispered. It was the third morning of our stay in the compound. Sebastian grunted and rolled over in his sleep, giving me his back. I traced the yellow lines that made up the shadowy tattoos, the tingle in my fingertips not solely from the scotch broom he carried. I followed the lines down to his hips, swirling my finger over each whirl. Donavan had Lucy take blood from both of us every day, morning and night. I don’t know if it was helping his research, but for the moment we were useful to him and that kept us alive.

Sebastian grunted and scooted away from me. I slapped him hard on the hip, snapping him awake. He rolled over and frowned at me; I glared at him.

“I’m allowed to touch you.”

His frown deepened and he got out of bed.

“I mean it Sebastian.”

Ignoring me he walked to the window and stared out, the view over the harbour something he would watch for hours on end, hardly moving a muscle. I got up and went to stand beside him, to see what it was he was looking at.

What was left of the pack milled about, scavenging for food amongst the docks, staying far from the water. They screamed if even a single small wave splashed against them, which I thought was strange, but was the least of my worries.

I swallowed hard. “Do you miss them?”

Sebastian shook his head, then nodded and shrugged his shoulders. I wondered what it was like for him, living between the two worlds, not really human, not really a Nevermore. I had a feeling that if it took much longer for the cure I would lose him, the pull of his instincts strengthening every day. The call of the pack and the wildness in him was more than apparent as it battled against the love he held on to for me.

I slipped on my clothes and banged on the bedroom door till Lucy came and opened it. Her bedroom was two doors down from ours, so she could keep an eye on us. “What is it?” She asked, her hair dishevelled and her eyes at half mast.

“I need to speak to Donavan,” I said, as I pushed my way past her and ran down, through the long hallway and down the three flights of stairs.

The basement was where the lab had been set up. It was easy to find, even though I’d never been there. Despite the early hour, Donavan was already up tinkering away at his tests.

I began to pace the room. “He’s slipping further away Donavan. I don’t want to wait to see him completely transformed. How soon before you have something ready?”

Donavan smiled, tucked his hands behind him, and paced a small circle around me. “Do you think you’re the only one who’s lost a loved one to Nevermore?” He snapped at me, his grin never slipping, though his tone was far from congenial.

I flushed. “Of course not.”

“Then what the hell makes you think I would go to the ends of the earth for your precious Sebastian? I’m doing this for Juliana, to bring her back to me. If the antibodies he carries can help me find a cure, then he is valuable to me, and only then,” he snapped.

He walked up to me, his face twisted with the jealousy and frustration that must have been simmering for the entire time we’d been here. “The only reason you and Sebastian are being treated as well as you are is that you are my only hope for some sort of breakthrough. If Sebastian is slipping away then he is no more use to me than any of the other Nevermores.”

“What are you saying?” I asked, a whisper of foreboding passing over me.

“If Sebastian is not the link I need to find the cure, then I’ll dispose of him as I have all the other Nevermores. We don’t feed the monsters, Mara.”

“You feed Juliana,” I said, though in fact I didn’t know that, I’d never seen his wife.

“She’s different.”

“So is Sebastian.”

We stared at each other, only a foot between us. I wouldn’t back down; I owed it to Bastian to fight for him.

“We’ll draw more blood today and see if the cell count is different. Perhaps he’s not changing at all; perhaps he’s just giving up on being human,” Donavan said, as he turned and slipped on a lab coat and safety glasses, ending our conversation.

I ran back up to our bedroom; Lucy was waiting to see me in. She pointed and I went in to find Sebastian pacing. God, if I could only know what he was thinking! I shut the door behind me and leaned against it, as Lucy locked it once more. Sebastian stopped his movement and stared at me, his bare chest rising and falling evenly with each breath. I couldn’t lift my eyes to him so I stared at the hollow of his throat. If Sebastian didn’t hold the key to the cure, Donavan would kill him and I couldn’t let that happen.

“Sebastian,” I whispered. “We have to go; we have to find a way to escape.”

He walked over to me and put a hand on either side of the door, effectively caging me with his body. He let out a low growl and placed his lips on the side of my neck, nipping at the skin lightly, and then, bringing his hands in to touch my shoulders, he ran them down to my fingertips. Pressing his body against mine he put his lips to my ear.

“Love.”

I couldn’t hold the tears back and I wrapped my arms around his neck, clinging to him. I wouldn’t lose him, not when we’d both fought so hard to be together.

We tumbled backwards into the bed, clothes disappearing in a rush of desperation to touch one another. For a moment the intimacy pushed the fear back, leaving only a blazing fire of love and desire to scare away the dark that was coming.

I lay in his arms, body tingling, heart racing, and I knew what I had to do.

Lucy was my only hope. I’d seen how she stared at Donavan, her eyes soft and full of emotion. Maybe she could convince him to change his mind, to help me keep Sebastian safe.

“I need to speak to Lucy,” I whispered into his ear, kissing the edge. He reached up and stroked my face, his other hand pressed against my breast, distracting me. Most effectively. I smiled, and then moaned as he began to work my body over, his gaze never leaving mine. “Sebastian, I have to . . .”

I gave up and surrendered to his touch, the whisper of his lips on mine, the brush of skin tingling with passion.

When I was finally able to untangle myself from Sebastian the sun was high and I had the beginnings of a plan. Body still humming with Sebastian’s caresses, I banged on the door until it opened. “What now?” Lucy grumbled.

“Can I talk to you?” I asked.

“We are talking. You look a little flushed,” she said, her eyes roving over my reddened skin, reactions to Sebastian’s touch and saliva breaking out all over my body. Ah, what I wouldn’t give for a dose of Benadryl.

“Yeah, I’m okay,” I cleared my throat. “I need to talk to you about Donavan.”

Lucy blinked and her eyes widened. “Why?”

“He’s going to kill Sebastian if the key to the cure isn’t in the next round of blood work.”

Lucy stepped back to let me through. “I’m not surprised, it’s what he does.”

I fell into step beside her as we walked down the circular hallway. “I know, but I made the mistake of saying that I was worried about Sebastian slipping. It was a moment I can’t take back, even though it isn’t true.”

Lucy shook her head, messy bun bobbing slightly. “What do you want me to do about it?”

I took a deep breath. “I know how you feel about Donavan; I see it in your eyes. Keep him distracted while we try to get away.”

She flushed, her face going bright pink; then she let out a strangled laugh. “You think I haven’t been trying honey? There was only one time and he was plastered. It was right after Juliana tried to kill him. Donavan’s as devoted to her as you are to Sebastian. You think someone could seduce you away from your man?”

I thought of Marks and slowly shook my head. “No. I suppose you’re right.”

I stopped and rubbed my face, burying my hands into my hair. What the hell were we going to do?

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t help you. I just don’t think I can seduce him. Here,” she handed me a key. “This will get you outside, but from there you’re on your own.”

I tucked the key into my jeans pocket. “I don’t know when, but we’ll leave as quickly as we can; I don’t want to test Donavan’s patience, or his sanity.”

I walked back upstairs to our room to find it empty, the door wide open. My heart pounding, I searched the room. There was no way Sebastian could have opened the door, he didn’t have the motor skills.

Donavan.

I turned and ran back down the stairs, scrambling at each landing to pick up speed. As I reached the bottom floor I could hear raised voices, and then a roar of anger from Sebastian.

“Please, please, please,” I whispered under my breath, not entirely sure if I was pleading for more speed or to make it to the lab before Donavan did anything crazy.

The door to the lab was open and I ran through, skidding to a halt at the scene before me. Sebastian was strapped to a metal table, an IV hooked up to his left arm.

Donavan stepped out from behind several IV’s. “Ah Mara. I thought about what you’d said and decided that the next batch of remedy I whipped up would be perfect to try out on Sebastian. Then you can’t say you didn’t try to save him.”

“No,” I gasped. Stumbling to the metal table, I reached for the IV.

“I wouldn’t do that. A half dose would turn him into a vegetable for sure. A full dose is the only chance he’s got.”

I lowered my hand and placed it on Sebastian’s chest. His eyelids flickered, the iris’ wobbling, and I swallowed hard on the bile that rose in my throat.

Donavan stepped up and put his hands on the table. “It will take a week to ten days for the full effects to be known. Then we can decide whether to put him out of his misery, or of course, if he comes around we will administer the same treatment to the others.”

“You mean Juliana.”

“One of which will be Juliana,” he nodded, and I felt something inside me snap, a cruel streak I hadn’t known existed until that moment rearing its ugly, vicious head.

“She’ll never come around. She didn’t love you enough to hang on, that’s the reality, and you’re just prolonging her agony and yours by believing you can still be together.”

Donavan slammed his hands on the edge of Sebastian’s table, his face a storm cloud of fury barely contained. I glared back at him, not backing down for an instant.

“You’ve doomed him to be nothing more than a shell of a man,” I hissed. “Don’t expect me to play nice anymore. Maybe instead of Juliana coming back, you should take the Nevermore shot and go to her.”

Donavan’s eyes widened then narrowed. “You know nothing Mara; you’re a desperate, foolish little girl who thinks love can conquer all. It can’t. I should know.”

He turned to walk out of the room, but I stopped him with a single phrase, something I remembered from a silly little calendar. “Love is something eternal; the aspect may change, but not the essence.”

Donavan paused, but didn’t look back. “You know nothing.”

I didn’t answer him, only pressed my hands to Sebastian’s slowly rising and falling chest, praying that the remedy would work.

Donavan left, flicking the overhead lights off and plunging Sebastian and me into a semi-darkness, lit only by beeping machines, the silence filled by the steady drip of the IV.

I whispered into that gray light, holding onto my husband for all I was worth.

“Come back to me Sebastian, my love, my heart. Come back to me.”

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Acknowledgments