Damien

“I don’t like him. He is fucking shifty. He claims to know stuff about Lycans and Rogues. It’s a load of bullshit.” I mutter though Raven isn’t listening to me. She is busy staring at Jenson.

The guy is hooked up to every machine possible and she spends all day here, watching for the tiniest clues. Looking for something that just isn’t there.

The only reason he is alive is because of the machines.

Turn the ventilator off and the other one that’s keeping his heart pumping and that would be it, but she couldn’t accept that, even with her vast knowledge of medical stuff. Or maybe it was more that she wouldn’t accept it.

Big black circles sit under her eyes from the lack of sleep. Her lips are chapped from the lack of fluids and every piece of food I put in front of her went uneaten. Even her favourite ice cream.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen.” she whispers, gripping Jenson’s unresponsive hand. “We were supposed to stick together. Look after each other. And you had to go and ruin it!”

A single tear trickles down her cheek as she stares at her brother. “You couldn’t just accept it, could you?”

“Raven, he can’t hear you.”

“You don’t know that!” She snaps at me. “He could still wake up.”

Even Dane knew it wouldn’t happen.

“Raven, you need to sleep.” I press. I needed to get her out of here, even if it were only for a few hours.

“I can’t leave him.”

“He won’t be alone. I’ve asked Klaus to come and sit with him.”

“It has to be me. If something happens…”

“Then Klaus will link you. This isn’t good for you. You need to rest. To eat. It’s no good if you are making yourself ill too. You won’t be able to help him if you are making yourself suffer.” I press, hoping that she would finally understand what I’m telling her.

Her dark eyes flicker to mine. “I can’t leave him, Damien.”

“You will only be in the packhouse. You are not leaving him.”

She sighs and slowly peels her hand from her brothers as Klaus appears.

“Anything Klaus, promise me if there is anything, you will tell me.” Raven pleads with him, “A finger or a toe twitch, the machines. I need to know. Please.”

“Of course.” Klaus nods. He takes her seat beside Jenson and I still have to drag her away.

Tears fall more freely when it is just us. In bed, she lets me curl around her until her body is perfectly nestled into mine. I hoped my presence would be enough to make her feel something other than sadness and fear.

She cries and sobs into the pillow like nothing I have ever seen.

Being like me, you come to learn that death was expected. It truly is the only guaranteed thing in life.

We are born and we die. What happens in between is up to us. And though my own death is not something that scares me, the idea of losing my mate to it does. The worst thing is, I could feel everything she was feeling, but I couldn’t make it better. Only one person could and he was being kept alive by machines.

She falls asleep from crying. Her eyes are left puffy from all the tears and her cheeks are flushed red from her hands constantly brushing them away. But she was asleep and I wanted to keep it that way. At least for a little while.

Carefully moving away, I watch her for a moment, making sure she doesn’t wake. A tiny snore escapes and I knew she was out and unlikely to wake for at least a few hours.

The house is empty and I find Neah sitting on the steps in front of the house. A deep frown etched on her face as she stares at Abraxas performing some sort of martial arts.

“Dane?”

“Dane took the boys and Dorothy to Eric’s parents.”

“Is that a good idea?”

“They miss their own grandsons, well, the ones they thought were theirs. Dane thought the kids might cheer them up.”

“And he thought it was a good idea to leave him alone.” I nod my head in Abraxas’ direction.

“This is all he has been doing for the last hour.”

“You offered to watch?”