The four men gathered around the woman lying limp on the stone table of the enclosed garden. Her soft, pouty dusky rose lips were slightly parted, as if waiting for a kiss that would awaken her. Her auburn lashes, thick and long, fanned over her lids as her rosy cheeks slowly began to pale. Beneath her head, a wide, dark pool of blood had begun to gather and seep out, creating a morbid halo around the woman’s already red hair.

“We have to help her,” Aruum urged, his eyes going from Sam’s body to his brothers. “We can’t just let her die. Look at her, she’s running out of time!” He reached down to check her pulse, but Taas snatched his arm with a vice-like grip and pulled him away.

“The pendant,” he snarled. “What would happen if you touched it?”

“You want to claim her?” Amaa asked, clearly taken aback. “You barely know her!”

Aruum broke free of Taas’s grasp, and he glared at him. “I don’t care,” he barked. I’m ending this argument now. We have to help her, or she will die. Do you understand? A virgin beloved will die. What if she’s the last of her kind?”

“What if we just fed her our blood?” Taas asked, looking unsure. “Between the four of us, we could heal her.

Sulma shook his head. “With this big of a wound, we’d have to turn her. If she’s a beloved, that would take her gifts.”

“To hell with this,” Aruum growled, moving towards the armoire. “If you won’t save her, I will.”

Sulma and Amaa looked at him as if he’d gone mad for a moment. They were both unsure, especially Sulma. He even looked intimidated, which never seemed to happen. Finally, Amaa gave him a single nod, then moved into action. From the armoire he pulled out a pewter goblet and scooped it into the fountain while Aruum shuffled through the shelves to find a wooden box. Out of it he pulled out an Athame, one of the oldest ones Aruum had, and sliced his hand open. Only a few droplets of blood spilled into the goblet before the wound healed itself, and he passed it to Aruum. He quickly followed, and after a brief look of shared concern, Sulma and Taas took the cup and did the same.

“Hurry,” Taas urged as Sulma gently lifted Sam’s still bleeding head. “If we’re going to do this, we need to do it now. She’s running out of time.”

“Shh,” Sulma soothed, holding the cup out directly above Sam’s heart. The four of them put one hand on Sam and the other on the goblet.

“Aruum, lead us,” he commanded. Without skipping a beat, Aruum began to speak.

“To the powers of the old and unknown,

We ask you, gods, to not bring this beloved home.

As we are hers, she is ours,

Let her feel love and protection as she grows our powers.

Through this ritual we make her our own,

Now until forever, this bond is now grown.

Wind rushed through the broken roof as Sulma lifted the cup to Sam’s lips. With great tenderness he lifted Sam’s head up, just enough so that he could tilt the lip of the cup into her mouth. Little by little it trickled in, her throat working slowly to swallow the contents. In his hand he felt the silky strands of her fiery hair coated with blood. It pulled at his heartstrings.

Around them, the wind whirled like a tornado while lightning and thunder played above. Emotions of love and need and protection, much more amplified than before, poured into every one of them as they watched the blessed tincture disappear into Sam’s mouth.

“Good girl,” he coaxed, feeling his cold heart swell with emotion. He tilted the cup further so that all of its contents could flow into Sam.

The moment the goblet was empty, he could feel the tonic’s healing powers begin to work. The blood coating her hair and the table crumbled as the crack in Sam’s skull began to heal itself. A few moments later, they watched in relief as Sam, still unconscious, drew in a full breath. A moment later her color returned to her cheeks, and the smallest moan slipped from her lips.

“She’s going to be okay,” Sulma assured them, gathering her up into his arms. He couldn’t deny the jolt of wanting that hit him the moment he felt her body so close to his own. For a moment he struggled, not sure how to handle the wave of sudden pleasure while dealing with something so critical. But after a moment of deep breathing, he pushed it away and began carrying her into the house.

“What are you going to do with her?” Aruum asked, catching up to walk right beside him.

“Is this really happening? Is she really going to be part of us now?” Taas asked.

“Humans eat.” Amaa reminded them. “Maybe I should go get her something. Sulma, what should I get?”

Sulma had reached the bottom of the staircase, and with Sam still cradled close to his chest, he turned and all but growled at them.

“I think we all know what is happening right now,” he said, his tone low and void of tolerance. “So stop asking stupid questions and help me. Amaa, yes. Fruits, vegetables, nothing with preservatives or fillers. Aruum, if you’re going to help, you can start by fetching her clothes from the laundry quarters. These are soaked in blood, and we don’t want to alarm her. Taas, go prepare one of the guest bedrooms. Make sure the bed linens are clean and that the bedside table lamp works. I’m going to go clean the blood off of her and make sure there’s no chance she’s still bleeding.” He paused, looking each of the males in their eyes.

“Go,” he commanded. As one they all turned to fulfill their duty, new emotions pouring through all of them in great bursts. Although there was no real leader in the pack of obvious alphas, there was a respect among them. An understanding of when to fight, and when to bow. It was very obvious to all that in that moment, it was a time to bow.

In the privacy of the bathroom, Sulma gently removed Sam’s clothes, and lowered her into the bathtub of warm, clean water. Keeping her head afloat with his gloved palm, he grabbed a thin white linen and draped it over Sam’s breasts and downwards, covering her most sacred parts. Long ago, when he’d had human urges, he had enjoyed looking at naked women, and something told him he would especially enjoy looking at a naked Sam. But not like this. Not while she was broken and unconscious.

Using great care, Sulma made sure that every strand of her hair was washed clean, along with the back of her neck and shoulders. When he was sure that not even a speck of blood remained, he gathered her to his arms and turned on the shower. He quickly undressed, gathered her into his arms once more and stepped into the spray, rinsing away all the evidence of the accident. He was just reaching for a towel when Aruum came in with her clothes she had left before.

“Need help?” He asked. Without waiting for Sulma to respond, Aruum sat Sam’s clothes down and found the thickest, biggest towel they had in the bathroom. He held it open as Sulma gently put Sam in his arms so that he could wrap her up in it. When he looked up, he saw Sulma’s dark eyes studying him passively.

“What is it?” He asked, his voice low.

“Nothing,” Sulma quickly responded, brushing a piece of damp hair away from Sam’s closed eyes. “Come on, let’s get her into bed. Her wound is healed, but she is still going to need a lot of sleep.”

Together Sulma, Taas, and Aruum put Sam to bed, arranging the pillows and blankets several times before agreeing as a unit what would be most comfortable for her.

“What do you think is going to happen when she wakes up?” Taas whispered, staring down at her like the others.

Sulma shrugged, struggling with the return of long forgotten emotions.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. One thing is for sure though, our lives are about to change.”