Vicky dressed herself and Nathan before calling Abby for blood. She had to gorge herself to feed Nathan when he woke, but her stomach twisted at the idea of leaving him for even a second. No, she would stay by his side until this was done.
He’d been as still as stone for the past few hours. Kadence said her change took longer and was more painful than normal, but Vicky hadn’t expected this stillness. It was like he was dead and not transitioning. The ashen hue of his bronzed skin and his colorless lips didn’t help with her image of him as a corpse. She kept herself attuned to the beat of his heart as his breathing shallowed to the point where she couldn’t see the rise and fall of his chest.
When a knock sounded on the door, Vicky opened it to reveal Abby. Her sister’s eyes widened at her. It had been over a week since they’d seen each other, and Vicky knew she looked awful. Fighting to keep herself restrained from completing the bond with Nathan these past weeks had taken a toll on her; changing him had almost leveled her.
When Abby’s gaze went beyond her to the bed, Vicky’s hand tightened on the doorframe. Abby would never harm Nathan, but he was vulnerable in this state, and Vicky would tear the throat out of anyone who tried to touch him.
“You okay?” Abby asked as she handed five blood bags over to her.
“Yeah,” Vicky muttered. “But he’s been still for so long.”
“Have you spoken with Kadence?”
“No other vampires or hunters are getting near him right now.”
“Kadence would never hurt him; you know that. You’re unstable and not thinking clearly right now because the bond isn’t complete and your mate is vulnerable.”
“She’ll bring Ronan here.”
“And Ronan would kill himself before he ever did something to upset her, and if something happened to Nathan, she would be devastated. Let me call her; she knows what to expect and what he’s going through more than any of us do.”
Vicky hesitated before glancing at Nathan. The small twitch of his fingers on the bed was the first sign of movement she’d seen from him in hours. Then, he went still again. She had to know if this had occurred with Kadence and if any other surprises might follow it.
“Okay,” she relented.
Vicky stepped aside to let Abby enter, but when Brian emerged from the shadows in the hall, her lips skimmed back and her fangs lengthened as she bared them at him. Red shrouded her vision as her protective instincts roared to the forefront.
“Easy,” he said in a calming tone. “I won’t go anywhere near him.”
Her tensed muscles gradually relaxed, and she edged backward to allow them entrance. Brian wouldn’t attack Nathan, but that didn’t stop her from positioning herself between them.
• • •
Agony fired across every synapse and seared through cells Nathan hadn’t known he possessed. An endless howl reverberated through his head. Out of his control, his body bowed upward as sweat soaked his clothes to him. He tried to see anything, but the world was nothing but pain.
Where was Vicky? Where was he?
His head and body spun until it felt as if his bones were breaking apart. Darkness rushed over him, hurtling him through space and time. Stars whipped by so fast they became nothing more than streaking blurs he couldn’t differentiate.
Then, it all came to a screeching halt that lurched him forward as his body fell.
He gasped in a breath as everything slowed around him, until the blur of blackness and light became a deep purple tunnel around him. He gazed up and down the endless shaft while stars and galaxies materialized through the purple.
Within the swirl, he glimpsed the Big Dipper mingled in with worlds, planets, and constellations he’d never seen before. Stretching his hand out to touch one of the stars, his fingers came up against nothing as the tunnel pulled back and spread around him.
It was then he understood he was merely an observer here. But where was here? What time and space was he in, and where was Victoria?
From beyond the galaxies, he detected the faint murmur of voices. Then, Vicky’s anxious tone pierced through, drawing him closer to the edge of the tunnel.
The stars fell back until they became a panoramic view of space rotating before him. Awe filled him as the known and unknown galaxies coalesced. He had no idea what was going on or where he was, but he recognized that somehow this was a far larger manifestation of when time slowed for him outside of this place.
Like a key twisting in the lock and springing it, a locked away piece of himself was opening within him. The rightness stealing through his limbs pushed away the pain as a healing warmth suffused him.
• • •
“Time,” Nathan murmured, and his head turned toward her.
Kneeling at his side, Vicky brushed back a strand of his damp, black hair. Sweat coated his entire body and adhered his clothes to him. Minutes ago, he’d bellowed as his body arched off the bed and his face contorted. His suffering had nearly sent her over the edge.
She’d caused this to happen to him; she should have been strong enough to withstand the mating instinct, but she was weak and selfish.
Tears burned her eyes and slid down her face as she bowed her head to kiss him. “I’m sorry.”
A hand fell on her shoulder, and she tilted her head up to gaze at her older brother, Aiden. His spring green eyes were understanding when they met hers. She’d asked Abby to call him too, as she needed his steady presence and the strength he exuded.
“It’s difficult, I know,” he said. “Seeing Maggie go through the transition made me hate myself, but it’s necessary, Vicky. You couldn’t have held back from completing the bond for much longer.”
Maggie stepped forward and took Aiden’s hand; her gray eyes were filled with concern when they met Vicky’s.
“I came out of it fine, and I’ve never once regretted my choice,” Maggie said.
“What if Nathan doesn’t make it?” Vicky whispered and blinked away the tears filling her eyes.
If he died and she had to be locked away….
Her chest constricted with panic. No, she’d never be locked away again. She’d follow him into death if something went wrong.
“He’ll survive,” Ronan said from the door.
Craning her neck to see around Maggie, Vicky discovered Ronan and Kadence had returned to the room. They now stood beside Abby and Brian. After learning Nathan decided last night was the time to transition, Ronan called in more of his men and trainees to guard the temporary stronghold. It still made her uneasy to have anyone near Nathan right now, but she breathed easier knowing there were so many here to protect him.
“This is much the way it went with Kadence,” Ronan said.
He rested his hand on the shoulder of his mate, and when his eyes met Vicky’s, she saw the memory of Kadence’s change still haunted him.
“And I’ve never regretted my decision either,” Kadence said.
“The change is more difficult for hunters,” Ronan continued. “I’m not sure why. Maybe because their DNA is more similar to ours than a human’s is, or maybe they have to go through more changes than a human does, but it takes them longer, and their pain is worse.”
Vicky opened her mouth to reply, but Nathan’s next words drew her attention back to him. “Time… infinite time… everywhere… nowhere.”
Vicky clasped his hand as she rose over him. “What do you mean?” He didn’t respond to her as his eyes moved rapidly behind his closed lids. “Nathan?”
“Kadence spoke of pathways opening when she was going through the change,” Ronan said.
“Something changed inside me while I was becoming a vampire,” Kadence said. “There is something intrinsically different about me. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but I can feel the difference. Before, I sometimes knew things, but now I also receive flashes of places and things I couldn’t possibly know about.
“Unfortunately, most of those flashes are too fast for me to grasp. At other times, they’re nothing more than someone knocking something over, dropping something, or who will win a football game.”
“Humans don’t experience anything like that,” Ronan said.
“I certainly didn’t,” Maggie said.
Brian shook his head when everyone looked at him. “I didn’t either.”
Vicky knew they were trying to offer her comfort, but none of it would make her feel better until Nathan was awake and safe.
Then, Nathan’s eyes flew open. Vicky gasped when his burning, white-blue eyes met hers. She’d never seen anything like them before. That can’t be normal!
“Victoria,” he murmured before his eyes closed and he went still once more.
“Nathan!” she cried and grasped his shoulders. She started to shake him before realizing it might only cause him more pain. “Nathan!”
“He’s alive,” Ronan said. “It will get easier now.”
“But his eyes! Did you see his eyes?” she cried as she spun toward him. “What’s wrong with him?”
“Nothing,” Kadence said. “That’s the color my eyes become. They don’t turn red like other vampires. Apparently, it happens to all turned hunters as those were also the color of Sergei’s eyes in the photo outside of Moscow.”
Vicky had heard about Sergei, but she never saw the photo, and no one had mentioned the strange eye color to her. She relaxed only a little as she turned her attention back to Nathan who remained motionless before her.