Love Thy Enemy

Chapter 2

Evolet could feel cool air on her skin but was unable to open her eyes. She’d been in slumber for so long she, wasn’t sure if she was strong enough to wake. She felt every time the humans cut her open. Each time, they nearly bled her dry. She was used to cure their illnesses and expand their lifespans. Little did they know the effect her blood would have on them all. Evolet’s torture went on for years until she was surrounded by warmth, was being moved. She could hear voices, could hear and feel the blood pumping through their veins, could even feel the power of the male carrying her. Then miraculously, she could scent him, her mate. He smelled like evergreen and mint. Evolet’s mouth watered, and her fangs ached to bury themselves inside his neck, marking him as hers and only hers. Evolet had no idea how long she’d been asleep. “I have never seen anything like her before.” she heard as if from a distance. It was a male voice, soothing, comforting. So, they didn’t know what she was, Evolet could tell them, all she needed was a little blood. With no way of telling them, all she could do was lay on the bed. Evolet was completely still. She didn’t have the strength to move; not yet. Needing to wake, she gathered any power she had and sent out a mental call to the closest person to her.

Jake was walking down the hall of the pack hospital. He was watching over the slumbering female. Lucy wanted him to link her as soon as she woke, when he felt a very strong urge to enter the room. Jake’s Lycan Rafe was trying to fight the urge. “This isn’t natural, Jake. Fight it.” Rafe said, whining when he couldn’t. Whispers of incredible hunger brushed against his mind. Being unable to fight the compulsion, Jake took a knife and pricked his finger. His blood dripped from his finger and landed just inside the female’s slightly opened mouth. As though by magic, the compulsion urging him to feed the female vanished, and Jake backed up, crashing into the wall like he’d been punched. “Lucy, something just happened. Doc, you might want to get in here.” Jake said through the mind link. Rick was the first to arrive, soon followed by Lucy and Case. Jake went on to explain what happened while Case kept his eyes on the bed. Suddenly, Evolet gasped in a deep breath of air, and her eyes snapped open. The pupils of her eyes dilated a few times until they adjusted and went back to normal. The four shifters stood as still as statues, waiting for something to happen.

At the first twitch of the female’s fingers, Case shoved the others behind him. Even though Lucy and Jake were Lycans, Rick was just a regular werewolf and wouldn’t be able to protect himself from a creature like her. True, he didn’t know what she was yet, but she’d been in slumber and creatures like that were never young or weak. The woman had silver eyes, and he watched warily as she looked around her frowning. Evolet could hear three out of four hearts racing, but she paid them no mind. They were not important at that moment. She breathed in the scents, cataloging them away. Two Lycans, one wolf and one dragon. Interesting, she thought to herself. Evolet moved her head around, taking everything in. What kind of place was this? She thought. Things like this didn’t exist the last time she’d been awake. She sat up in the bed she was laying on and looked across the room at the four people in the corner, the dragon in front in case she attacked. Evolet tilted her head at them like a confused animal. “Case what the hell is she?” Lucy whispered as the woman’s unusual, piercing silver eyes studied them. Case searched through his eight hundred years old memory. There was something about her that niggled something in his mind, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. “I don’t know Lucy, but I can tell you this. Whatever she is, if she wanted us dead, we would be.” he replied, his voice even and loud enough for Evolet to hear.

Lucy felt so bad for the woman. She looked so lost, so confused and Lucy wanted to help. There was something that urged her to help this woman. “Just be careful, despite her appearance, she is dangerous Lucy.” her Lycan Nera warned. Cautiously, Lucy moved out from behind Case and walked very slowly to the woman staring down at her hands. As soon as Lucy got closer, the woman’s head snapped up again. “Hi there. Don’t worry I am not going to hurt you. My name is Lucy. I’m a friend.” Lucy assured her. Evolet watched the girl carefully. Always mindful of the Dragon. She looked over Lucy and could detect no lie and relaxed so that Lucy too would feel safe in her presence. Lucy helped Evolet off the bed. Jake rushed to help Lucy hold her up when Evolet nearly fell. Evolet looked at Jake and Lucy with gratitude, holding on to them for support but being careful not to hurt them with her strength. “When am I?” she asked softly. Jake looked at her confused. “Don’t you mean where?” Lucy suggested and Jake shook his head. “No, she means when. She wants to know what year it is.” Jake clarified softly. “2019” Case said, and Evolet whipped her head around to look at him.

No, it wasn’t possible. That much time couldn’t have passed since she’d gone to sleep. Tears filled Evolet’s eyes and she let go of Lucy and Jake. She held herself up with one hand against the wall as she tried to catch her breath. It wasn’t possible. That would mean thousands of years had passed. That would mean that her people were gone or nearly so. Evolet’s claws lengthened and tore deep gouges in the wall as her anguish tore a path through her. Lucy felt bad for the woman. She couldn’t even imagine what she was going through. “Brone, I think you need to come to the pack hospital, the female we brought back from the lab is awake” she informed via mind link. “I’ll be right there.” he replied. Brone got up and got dressed, careful not to wake up a sleeping Missy beside him. He had to admit he was curious about his mate. What colour her eyes were, what her voice would sound like, but he quickly stopped his mind from going there. He had to keep reminding himself that he’d picked Missy and that he didn’t want or care about the woman the goddess had chosen for him. It only took Brone a couple of minutes to get to the pack hospital because unlike his human counterpart, Trey was overjoyed that his mate was finally awake. “I can always reject her, you know.” Brone said to Trey causing his Lycan to growl. “If you reject our mate, I will never speak to you again. I won’t help you in battles. You will be as weak as a human.” Trey threatened with a snarl. Brone was taken aback. He and Trey had never fought before. “Whatever!” Brone responded, not really knowing how to react to that. Before he knew it, his mate’s scent was flooding his nose and he could hear the fast pumping of her heart. She was distressed and on some level that bothered him. As soon as Brone reached the doorway, her head snapped up and their eyes caught and held. His mate’s unique silver eyes drew Brone in the longer he stared into them. He’d never seen anyone more beautiful.

Nothing could have prepared Evolet for the sight of her mate. He was huge, easily dwarfing her. His eyes shifted from golden to black and back again and she could tell that the human half of him was fighting his beast. Evolet too was fighting herself. She remained still when what she really wanted to do was rush over there and sink her fangs deep. Marking him so that all the single females of the pack would know who and what he belonged to. Lucy watched Brone fight against Trey and caught one word, whispered and barely there. “Mine” the woman whispered, and Lucy grabbed Jake and Case’s arms. Seeing her mate momentarily distracted Evolet from the fact that she was probably the only one of her kind left and she was okay with that. She decided to deal with one thing at a time. Unable to restrain herself any longer, Evolet found herself in front of her mate, her nose inhaling his scent and her hands roaming over his hard body. Brone groaned, feeling her hands on him, and he fought his body’s reaction to her. He wanted to sink himself to the hilt inside of her warm, welcoming body, or at least Trey did. Brone pushed her to arms length with a growl. “Who and what are you?” he demanded. He suspected what she was and was really hoping he was wrong. “My name is Evolet, and I am a vampire.” she said softy. She was confused. As soon as she told her mate that she was a vampire, she could feel the barely discernable lust, morph into hostility, and she got the feeling like he wanted to reject her. Back when she was young, mates were so rare that when you found yours, you never thought about rejecting them. Evolet looked back into her room and saw tears in Lucy’s eyes. She knew then that she wasn’t welcomed there. Nodding, Evolet let go of her mate and stepped away from him. It cut deep to hear him sigh in relief, and she flinched. Regret flashed over his face for a second before it was gone again. Case sighed. He knew about the warring going on between the vampires and the Weres. He understood that it must be hard to know that your mate might not accept you because of what you were. “You can stay long enough to recuperate, but then you have to leave.” Brone said, his voice rumbled angrily and walked back out of the hospital.