Page 250 of Jagged Souls
Itcan’t.
Moving in a panic, I slice a line across my belly, drop the knife, and then push my hand inside. The agony is fucking insane. My heart rate is screaming at me. My blood pressure is dropping. I’m losing consciousness faster than I expected.
I dig my hand around, trying to remember wherehehit me. Where he pulled out all my hopes and dreams.
And then I find it.
The thing kicks against me as if it’s trying to get me to stop. As if it’s fighting for its life.
Tears in my eyes, I grab hold of the sac and start to rip it out.
I’m sorry.
I’m sorry.
I just can’t be a mother to you.
I wake up to the smell of blood.
The Craving hits me hard, demanding and needy, and I stumble out of bed as my fangs ache with a desire to feed. It starts to take over me, but I know that smell. I know that person, and so I fight it back.
My wife is hurt.
She needs me.
I shout for Mother as I race into the bathroom, following my nose and heart and the wild panic inside of me. That’s a lot of blood I can smell.
I bang into the door, smashing it in even though a simple twist of the knob would’ve done. Seeing her in the bathtub, passed out and pale, I scream for Mother again as I turn to grab the healing wand out of one of the cupboards.
The door to my room opens before I can even get it out. Mother enters, her heartbeat high from cardio, having taken the stairs multiple at a time. Her stress factors are low. She’s in full healer mode. “Don’t get in my way,” she says.
She kneels down beside the tub, and I sag against the sink. The smell of vomit assaults my nose, and I turn to clean it up, to do something helpful, regardless of how small of a help it is.
“Tell me she’s going to be okay,” I croak as I spill water across the sink.
“What’s going –” I turn towards Maddox as he and my other brothers come skidding into the room, crowding the bathroom door. Lou tries to push through, but my youngest brother pivots on his feet and tackles her back past Enoch and Khalid.
“You don’t need to see this,” I hear him murmur.
“That’s my sister!” she screeches.
“Calm down,” he says. “She needs to concentrate.”
“Sau!” I snap. Or perhaps it’s more of a plea. A ripping of the soul out through my teeth.
“Khalid,” she says, not answering me. “Come here. I need your blood. Enoch, call Aleric.”
Enoch doesn’t even groan this time. He just pulls out his phone and steps back to call him. Khalid moves forward and holds out his arm.
“How is she?”I demand, even though I already know it’s serious. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be calling the person she hates the most.
She picks up the knife Micha used to cut herself and slashes it sideways across Khalid’s palm. She makes another cut on Micha’s shoulder. Knowing what to do without being told, he presses his hand to her wound, and Mother uses her magic to tie their blood vessels together. Thankfully, he’s a universal donor; if he wasn’t, she’d have to use her magic to constantly fight Micha’s rejection of his blood, and she’s already low on energy.
Too close to developing loka.
But I can’t think about that right now. Can’t weigh the risk of losing my mother to save my wife.
“I can’t lose her,” I rasp as I lean against the bathroom sink, my heart falling down the drain.
