The Wolfs Maine Page 7
The further away we got the better I felt. Nicholas would have no idea where John lives so we would be safe there. We could get to Johns house and I could help him heal. How on Earth did he get hurt so badly? Had he gone to the house and tried to fight Nicholas or fight off the wolf and why was he naked? I had so many questions running through my head and nothing I could think of made any sense.
Right now I would just focus on getting John well then I'm sure he could tell me everything. I look over at Michael knowing damn well he wasn't going to answer my questions before John could so I just looked ahead as he drove.
It had to be midnight by now. It was completely dark with no life in sight. With the street lights on you couldn't even see the stars which was a shame because those were my favorite part about night time. I always preferred night anyway, not sure why. There was just something calming about the night. Everyone was usually asleep and/or tucked away in their homes, very little cars were on the road, and it was just quiet. Michael looked over at me; I could tell he was concerned.
"I know you must have a million questions right now Avalon." None he was going to answer.
"I do but I know John needs to be the one to answer them. I can wait. Right now I just want to get him home so I can take care of him."
"He is lucky to have found you." He smiled then went back to paying attention to the road. He kept pushing all kinds of buttons on the car none of which I had any idea what they were. Come to think of it I didn't know what this man did for a living but he had a very nice car. It was completely black, on the outside. On the inside was beautiful tan leather which John was now bleeding all over and there was wood grain all up and down the car, it was down the sides of the doors and across the dash it was very elegant looking. I would have never pictured him driving something like this, especially since he was a jeans and t-shirt wearing kind of guy. I couldn't help but wonder if he was single. He was very sweet and would make a nice partner for Jaci. He was tall, like John but instead of dark hair he had dirty blonde. He was very well built, like John and was about six feet tall. Instead of gray eyes he had blue and just one dimple. Him and John seem to match pretty well in the body department, almost to the point to if you put them side by side and put a bag over their head it would be hard to tell one from the other. Of course I would be able to tell I knew that for a fact.
Suddenly I recognized John's long driveway and knew we were almost there. Thank goodness because I was about to come unglued. As we pulled up Michael tossed me his keys so I could go open the door while he got John. I still couldn't believe he just picked up John like he was nothing.
We walked into the house and he set John down in the living room while I went to fetch towels and bandages but when I returned I noticed John had stopped bleeding and had already start to heal. It made no sense to me. The way he looked when we were leaving looked as though we should be going to the hospital. I just knew we would get here and I would have to bandage him up and call Jaci to come look him over but now he looked fine, just cuts and bruises that were quickly fading, and he was actually starting to wake up.
"Ava?"
"Yes John I'm here. Everything is okay." He sat up quicker than I could blink around the same time Michael came back in with clothes that he tossed to John.
"Cover yourself up man. You’re making me jealous and probably turning her on." I hadn't even thought of that but now that Michael mentioned it, wait what was I thinking? John looked up at Michael and then down at himself and realized he was still naked.
"What the hell happened? Ava, are you okay?" Michael looked at me then looked at John.
"Ava is fine. She found you in the woods not far from her house. You were hurt and lucky for you I was nearby in my car. We got you and brought you home. We figured you two would be safer here." John was putting his clothes on as he listened to Michael obviously taking it all in and trying to remember what had happened.
"I was in such a rage." John sat back down; I could tell his mind must have been racing.
"John, we don't need to talk about this right now. Let’s talk later." Michael didn't think I noticed but of course I did, his eyes went to me as he was talking to John. What would they need to talk about without me? I could tell John wasn't finished though. He looked like he was struggling to remember something important.
"The last thing I remember was seeing Nicholas attacking Ava and then everything goes blank after that." That woke me up.
"Wait, you what? What were you doing there?" I could tell John realized he just gave something away.
"Were you there when the wolf came in? Is that why you were hurt so badly? Did you try to fight off the wolf?" John and Michael just looked at each other and I was getting aggravated.
"What?" Michael then looked at me and back at John.
"John, my friend, I think it's time to tell her."
What would they possibly need to tell me? I was definitely aggravated and I hated feeling like there were things going on that I didn't know about. John took me by the hand and led me over to the couch where we all sat down.
"Alright Ava dear. I need to talk to you and I need you to one have an open mind and two, Stay calm. Can you do that?" I looked at Michael then John and nodded.
"Open mind, check. Stay calm, I'll try." John took my hand in his and the first thing he did was kiss my cheek.
"Okay, here it goes. I did not fight the wolf, I was the wolf." He gave me a minute to let that register then continued.
"I was worried about you and got a funny feeling after talking to Michael and decided that I would just check on you. If you were okay I would go back home but then I saw Nicholas and you through your window and I saw Nicholas just throw you across the room like you were nothing and I went off. I bust through the window and it was me attacking Nicholas. I was the wolf Ava. Me." I looked at John, at first thought he must be joking but I could tell from his eyes that he most definitely was not.
"You were the wolf." It was half a question and half a statement, I knew the answer.
"Yes my love. I was the wolf." John squeezed my hand as if reassuring me but my mind was racing.
"So was this a one-time thing or can you always turn into a wolf?" He took a breath as if glad I hadn't gone running for the door and began to explain.
"Actually I can turn into anything I wish, whenever I want. I usually choose the wolf because the wolf is my favorite animal. Ava, I am a shape shifter. I can shift into anything. Just like Michael." He looked up at Michael as if in agreement then Michael looked at me.
"Yes, I am a shape shifter as well. My favorite animal varies on the situation. I tend to favor the wolf on most occasions though myself." So John and Michael were shape shifters. I didn't quite know how to process this. You grow up thinking these things are not real and then you find out they are it makes you wonder what else is real and what is fake. Then it hit me.
"Wait a second. You say you were a wolf when you came to check on me tonight at the house right?" John looked right at me.
"Yes dear."
"So was that you that night outside the club when the girls and I went out?" That took John by surprise. He probably didn't think I would put two and two together but the wolf that was at my house fighting Nicholas looked exactly like the wolf I saw that night. John continued to look at me like he had no idea what to say until Michael spoke up.
"John. Snap out of it!" He snapped his fingers right under John’s nose which on a normal day would have been funny but today I was getting annoyed.
"Yes. That was me." He almost looked like a puppy I just swatted with a newspaper but he did save my life that night. I was speechless.
"Oh."
"Ava. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to follow you all over town. I just wanted to make sure you were safe. I promised your mother I would make sure you were always safe." I saw Michael’s eyes get the size of golf balls.
"Shit John! Now that you opened the jar you might as well keep going." I was completely lost now.
"Shit. Okay, I know your mother is gone because I was there when her and your father passed. Your mother used her final breath to ask me to watch over you." My jaw hit the floor.
"Wait. My parents died in a car crash, how were you there? How did you even know them? And why on Earth would my mother ask you of all people to watch over me?" I could see that one kind of stung him but really none of this was making any sense to me at all.
"It's a long story Ava dear. Why don't you get some rest and I'll explain more later." There was no way I could wait until later. I had to know everything now, especially now that he brought up my parents.
"NO!" I didn't mean to scream but it just came out that way. It must have worked though because John started talking. I sat there and listened while John told me everything from how he met my parents when he was young and didn't know how to control his changing and my parents took him in and taught him how.
He told me that he was there when I was born and how much my parents loved me. He explained to me how my parents died, truly. All my life I thought my parents died in a car accident but really they were killed by vampires? Really? Vampires? Then he explained to me that there were in fact vampires. What else was real that I had read about in books? Trolls? Fairies? I guess people got information for their books from somewhere I just never would have thought it was real.
Then he dropped the bomb on me that my parents were in fact shape shifters like him. So my parents could change into animals? Did that mean I could be one as well? I could feel myself get short of breath but I couldn't stop my mind from going over everything John just explained to me.
My parents were killed by vampires, the man I love knew my parents, and my mother asked him to watch over me, I may be a shape shifter. It was all too much to take in; I thought my mind was going to explode. The shortness of breath was getting worse, my head was pounding, and it was getting hot. Great, I was having a panic attack. I stood up because that was the only thing I could get myself to do. I had to get out of that house, even if just for a few minutes.
"Ava! Are you okay?" I kept hearing John talk to me but I couldn't respond. My body wasn't my own and I felt myself run for the door. All I could think was that I had to get outside. My head was pounding so hard it felt like something slamming a sledge hammer on my brain over and over again. I was getting so hot to the point of scorching, I felt like my body was on fire. I needed outside where it was cold.
I ran outside as fast as I could but it didn't help. I could feel John and Michael behind me but it didn't matter, I couldn't even speak. The pain was too much. For some reason I just began to run. I didn't know what was going through my brain, maybe that I could outrun the pain but I just kept running right into the woods.
I couldn't stop, not even for John. I could hear John behind me screaming for me to stop but I just couldn't. I ran until I collapsed and then all I could see was darkness.
Chapter Nine
John
I knew I should have waited. I knew I should have told her all of this later or in smaller doses than just hitting her with all of it at once but she was not going to have that. She was definitely one stubborn woman. She had to have figured out that she could also be a shape shifter if her parents were but I didn't even get that far to explain anything. Before I knew it she took off. What was she doing? Was she running away from me? I couldn't let her get away before I could explain.
Something on her face did not look right either so I took off after her. She didn't tell me no or not to follow her so I did. I could not believe how fast she was. Michael and I couldn't even keep up with her, she was gone. All of a sudden we saw her and then we didn't. It was like she vanished.
By the time Michael and I made it up to where she was I realized she didn't vanish, she fell. She was just lying in the middle of the woods, out cold, sweating from head to toe. She was unconscious but breathing heavily and her body felt hot as fire. Michael looked her over for a second then back at me.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I looked at her, my life, my love, lying there in pain and suddenly I knew what was happening.
"She's changing." I picked her up off the sticks and dirt and carried her back to the house. I hadn't realized how far we were until we walked back. She must have run four miles or better.
"John, if she's changing we have got to watch her every minute until it's over. You know how tricky this can be. I've never witnessed one before but I've heard people talk." I looked down at my precious Ava in my arms.
The change was never easy and it was very painful. Your body starts to overheat to the point you feel like you are on fire, you begin to shake uncontrollably, and your body may even begin to change into anything on the fly and then back again. It is a very draining process and not everyone can survive it.
"I know. I should have waited and explained things to her in smaller amounts. Not just hit her with everything at once. I bet she started to have a panic attack which kick started the change. I knew at her age she would be getting close if she indeed was going to and surely that is what happened. What am I going to do if she doesn't survive it?" I could feel Michael's hand on my shoulder and I just thanked God he was there with me.
"She will make it John. Keep telling yourself that. She will make it. She is a strong woman, a strong stubborn woman. She will not let something like this keep her down."
Hopefully Michael was right. We made it back to the house and I took her straight upstairs to my bedroom. I laid her on the bed, turned the air conditioner on, turned all the fans in the house on and shut all the windows. We were in the middle of nowhere but that didn't mean hunters couldn't hear her if she were to scream. "Michael, I have some chains downstairs in the basement, would you go get them for me? She is going to have to be chained to the bed in case she starts changing uncontrollably."
"Are you sure you want to do that to her?" I looked at my sweet Ava and back at Michael.
"I have no choice." Michael ran downstairs and was back before I knew he was gone, he handed me the chains but all I could do was look at them. How was I supposed to chain up the woman that I love?
"John, would you like me to do that for you? If it were me I would never be able to do this." I just handed the chains over to Michael. He's right, there's no way I will be able to handle this. I knew this day might possibly come but not like this. I watch as Michael put the chains around her wrists and ankles then attached them to the bed posts. The chains probably won't even help that much but if she is too weak, the animal she changes into will be weak as well so hopefully nothing she turns into will break them. Once Michael was finished he came and sat next to me.
"So, you've seen a change before?" Oh yes, I've seen changes before.
"Yes, I have. I've seen many people change including myself. Since you've gone through it you might remember bits and pieces. It starts with that sweat, fever, body aches, uncontrollable urges then goes into thrashing, pain, changing and changing back over and over until it wears your body out to the point you can't move. Then finally you sleep until you can wake up. I have only known three people to wake up after a change." Michael looked over at me with worry in his eyes.
"Out of how many?" I could not help my expression. The numbers were not good. It obviously only took that one look for Michael to get it. Ava might not wake up from this, not after everything she just went through.
Dealing with Nicholas yesterday from the moment she got home to the minute I jumped in to save her life later on that night to her running for her life then finding me behind her hurt, to her and Michael bringing me here and trying to take care of me, to then finding out how I have known her for her entire life and that I also knew her parents and then to top it off that her parents were s
hape shifters as well as Michael and I, her body is over stressed and to add changing on top of it. I just don't know if she will make it through this or not. It's been a long two days for her.
Her screaming kicked me out of my worries. Obviously the pain was kicking in. I went over to be with her but what could I do? There was nothing I could do to help her, I felt useless and that is not a feeling I can handle very well. Her body felt like it was on fire. All I could do was talk to her; tell her that she was not alone and that I loved her, hoping she could hear me. Michael and I took shifts sleeping although I didn't sleep at all. I would go downstairs for an hour or so but came right back. There was no way I could sleep with her screaming and crying out in pain, it hurt me just to hear her. Michael called me back upstairs, he didn't sound good. All I can think was ‘Have I lost her?’
When I make my way up the stairs I walk in the bedroom and all I see is the most gorgeous white wolf I have ever seen in my life chained to the bed. She was magnificent. She was very long and lean with gorgeous white as snow fur, her ears twitched as if she was listening to every sound around her, and I could not mistake those beautiful eyes. Only Ava has those beautiful eyes that I can lose myself in. It was amazing that she changed into a wolf. Her very first change and it's into a beautiful wolf. Coincidence maybe but I chose to believe otherwise.
Before I knew it she had changed back to Ava. My beautiful angel. She was breathing hard and sweating but the heat radiating from her body seemed to calm down a bit. Michael decided to take his shift and go downstairs and try to get some rest while I stayed by her bedside. If I wanted rest I could sit right here.
Before I knew it I have dozed off. I wake to hear Michael screaming.
"Where is Avalon?! John!" I jump up and realize Ava was not in bed. All I could see in the bed were the chains.