Chapter Ten

The sterile room was unnerving for Micah. The walls on either side of the room were covered by computer panels. The far back of the room held the massive machine. The only way inside was a small tube. He swallowed hard. He was a big guy. It was going to be a tight fit.

The door opened, and Noah strode in with a chart in his hand. He stopped at the bed of the machine and fluffed the small pillow. He motioned to it. “I’m your tech for today. Meg is in the control room, so she’s away from the radiation. It’s just us. If we see abnormalities, it’s between us. Lie down. Let’s get started. I apologize for the cramped quarters.”

“No worries.” Micah sat on the cold, plastic bed and then lay down. Noah strapped him to the bed. Micah closed his eyes tight as he felt his body drawn inside. The whirl of the machine made him shiver. He did his best to lie still.

He didn’t know how long he was in the machine, but he was so glad when he was drawn out. It was only a few moments before Noah was there to free him. He rubbed his eyes as he sat up.

“Normally, I’d call you with the results. But with the sensitivity of this, I’m looking at the results now. Come with me. I’ll get Caleb and Eve, and we’ll see what the scans say.”

“All right.” Micah followed Noah into the other room and sat on the chair offered. Meg smiled at him as he sat back and exhaled slowly. Noah disappeared from the room as Meg and Micah sat in silence. While they waited, Micah watched Meg type on the keyboard. Images of the inside of his brain popped up on the screens.

“Look at you go,” Micah commented with a grin. “Who knew our Meggy was such a good nurse?”

Meg laughed. “Never in my wildest dreams did I figure my patients would be werewolves.”

“Well, thank you for the great care.”

“You’re welcome.”

The door opened again and Noah, Caleb, and Eve stepped inside. Caleb wasted no time to get Meg in his arms. Micah wanted to do the same with Eve but was froze in his place by the dazed, far off look in her eyes. She couldn’t possibly have gotten high here in the hospital, could she? He shook his head.

Noah studied the scans on the screens. After a couple of minutes, he pointed at one. “There. That’s it. There is a narrowed artery leading to the optic nerve. It would cause the migraines and blindness.”

“How do we fix it?” Micah asked

Noah ran his hand through his long hair. “Surgery. But here’s the catch. There are abnormalities on these scans. And we know your physiology massively changes when you change. The only way to know it’s successful is to perform the operation while you’re the beast. The whole procedure is dangerous. But that artery is collapsing. When it does, it will more than likely cause an aneurysm and kill you anyway.”

Curse words filled the room coming from nearly everyone. “But you can’t sedate him, or he’ll turn back to human,” Meg objected.

Noah stared at Micah. “Exactly. I can give you something for the pain, but that’s it. You’ll be awake the whole time.”

“So my options are have this surgery that might kill me or wait for this thing to kill me.” Micah huffed. “I’m damned if I do and damned if I don’t, aren’t I?”

“I’m sorry, Mike. There is a silver lining though. As the beast, you heal amazingly fast. I found that out with Cay. He should have been in the hospital for another week. On the last night he was here, there was a miscommunication with the nurses. The pain was too much for him to handle and he couldn’t prevent the change. He healed twice as fast than when he was in human form. If the surgery is successful, we’ll let you beast out for a while. You’ll be back to fighting in a week.”

Micah paused as he thought. “How soon would the surgery be?”

“The next full moon.”

“Schedule it.”

“I’m going to have to find a nurse to assist me. I can get a surgical team out of my brothers. They helped with Cay’s leg. But I’m going to need someone to be by my side. And to monitor the beast.”

Meg stood. “I’m in.”

Caleb turned to her. “No. Absolutely not. You’re pregnant. What if something goes wrong?”

“This is life and death, Cay,” Meg replied. “This is your brother’s life.”

Micah watched his brother as Caleb shoved his hands in his pockets and looked the other way. He did that when he was struggling with something.

Meg nodded to Noah. “I’m in. Book it.”

Noah shut down the images on the screens and closed the folder in his hand. “All right. Plan on being at my hospital at the full moon. I’ll call you if I need anything else.”

Micah stood and shook his hand. Caleb pulled his hand out of his pocket and did the same. They joined their respective mates and escorted them to the door. Eve gazed up at him and sighed. There was a slight trace of white powder against her nostril. He bit back a growl as he held the door open leading outside. He and Caleb helped Meg and Eve into the back of the Jeep and then climbed inside.

“Bro, I’m sorry about what I said,” Caleb apologized. “Your life is very important. It’s just that Meg is my mate and she’s carrying my child.”

Micah nudged him. “I know. I would have done the same thing.”

Caleb gave him a slight smile. “Thanks.”

Micah looked at Eve through his rear view mirror. She dozed against the side of the vehicle. “How long was she in the bathroom?”

“She came out just before Noah brought us in for the results. Do you think she was getting high?”

Micah nodded quietly. He heard Caleb curse under his breath. Micah sighed as he kept his eyes on the road.

»»•««

Micah checked the time on his phone as he parked his vehicle at the camp and flipped the ignition off. He looked at Caleb. “We could get a round or two in before supper.”

“I’ll get changed.” Caleb hopped out of the Jeep and then offered a hand to Meg to help her out. Before her foot hit the ground, though, he lifted her out and set her on the ground. She thanked him with a long, soft kiss. It was quickly evident that Caleb forgot the plans the brothers made.

“Do we need to rain check our training?” Micah asked as he laughed.

Caleb shook the cobwebs from his head. “No. Give me ten, and I’ll meet you at the gym.”

“Okay.” Micah reached in the backseat to help Eve out. Once she hit ground, he headed for his cabin. Shedding his coat and T-shirt as he went, he dropped them on the bed and searched for clean gym clothes.

He heard Eve’s steps before she spoke. “So you’re going to go through with the surgery?”

Micah glanced at her before tugging a tank top over his head. “Yeah.”

“You didn’t think we should talk first?”

Micah frowned at her as he unfastened his jeans and pushed them to the floor. He heard her moan. “I guess I didn’t think you had an opinion.”

“I’m your mate. Of course, I have an opinion.”

Micah crossed the bedroom to fish a pair of fight shorts from his dresser drawer. The way Eve stared at his cock was getting him hard. “And that is?”

“You shouldn’t do it.”

Micah spun at her. “You do realize if I don’t do this and I lose my sight, I don’t fight, right? That means Deacon will come for you and I won’t be able to stop him.”

Her voice caught as she answered him. “I know. But you might die having it.”

“I will die if I don’t. And I can’t get into the octagon if I don’t.”

“That’s it. This fight. That’s why you’re doing this. Why is this fight so important to you? Why is it more important than me?”

Micah climbed into his shorts and then crossed his arms over his chest. “How can you not get the connection, Eve? I am fighting for you. Not for me. Do you know my fight record? I have lost every fight I’ve ever been in. And it’s been predicted that I’ll lose this one too. I am going to get in that cage and get my ass kicked so that Deacon Ravens will leave you the fuck alone. I would give my life to keep you safe. I am sure as fuck not going to leave you or our family without.” Micah bit his tongue hard. The words came out before he could stop them.

“Your brothers would be fine,” Eve murmured.

Micah looked away out the window. He could see the shimmer in her eyes. It killed him to see her cry. “I didn’t say my family. I said ours. Yours. Mine. Ours. It slipped. I’m sorry.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. Micah could have sworn he could see her jaw clench. He felt his eyes burn. He shook his head. He should hold her, comfort her even if he didn’t know why he was comforting her. “Eve, baby.”

Her voice broke as she spoke. “Caleb is waiting for you.”

“Yeah.” He strode to her and kissed her on the forehead.

He was sure he heard a sob as he slammed the front door behind him.

He stormed across the camp as the cold air nipped at his bare arms and legs. He was an idiot. He was a fucking coward. He left his mate sobbing her eyes out after he opened a deep wound in her heart. She was barren. He didn’t know why she was. She never talked to him about it. They would never have a family. He would never be a father. As much as he tried to put that dream aside, he couldn’t. It was selfish considering his nature, but he wanted children. He wanted them with her.

The white dust he saw along her nostril infuriated him. She didn’t want him to have the surgery because he could die. What if she overdosed? It was all right to leave him without a mate? She walked a thin, dangerous line and didn’t give a shit what he felt.

He threw open the gym door to find Caleb throwing punches at a bag. Micah shivered from the chill in the room as he strapped on his gloves.

Caleb sauntered to the middle of the mat and smirked at him. “Ready to kick my ass?”

Micah caught something out of the corner of his eye. Meg settled on the mat in the corner, her baby bump defined under her sweater. Rage filled him, rage at his stupid words, rage at Eve’s carelessness, rage at the cold, hard truth that life fucked him over. He would never have a family, and soon he would probably lose his mate. And his own life.

Micah threw a jab at his brother. “Fucking straight.”

Micah battled Caleb for over an hour. As the delicious smell of dinner filled the room, Josiah switched with Caleb to have a few rounds with him. Micah thought he caught a glimpse of Eve going to dinner. He didn’t stop to find out. He wasn’t going to stop until he couldn’t move…until he collapsed. When Josiah stepped away, Samuel stepped in for him. Micah fought four of his brothers before he was too exhausted to move.

He glanced at the clock in the office as he stepped outside into the cold night. It was nearly midnight. Josiah was just about to change shifts with Ezekiel to monitor the service of their apps. He trudged across the dead grass until he reached his cabin and then slowly climbed the porch steps.

The living room was dark except for the soft glow from the sliver moon outside. Micah shut the door softly behind him. He expected that he would take a shower and crawl into bed with his mate. Instead, he found Eve curled up in a ball on the couch. He dropped his bag on the floor and then sat down beside her.

They watched each other for a long time. He loved her blue eyes even when they were swollen and puffy. She was singularly the most beautiful woman he’d ever met. She crawled across the cushions until she was cradled in his lap. She laid her head on his shoulder and then wrapped her arms around him.

“I was born and raised in Las Vegas. My parents died when I was five. My dad suspected that my mom was cheating on him. He was right. He shot her then himself.”

Micah hugged her close to him. “I’m sorry, baby.”

He felt her shrug in his arms. “I was bounced from foster home to foster home. Some were great. Some sucked. I was fifteen when I was sent to my last one. They only kept me for the check. They sure as fuck didn’t care. They had a son a couple years older than me. One day I took his laundry to him and found him on his computer. He had the logo of our high school on the screen along with what looked like his grades. That was exactly what they were. He shouted at me to get out until I asked him to teach me. He stopped yelling and agreed. Three times a week he would show me how to be a hacker. When I got good, I basically hired myself out to the kids at school to change grades, get points wiped off driving records. Things like that. Then one afternoon shortly after I turned sixteen I came for my lesson. He shut the door behind me and threw me on his bed. He ripped my clothes off, bound my wrists together with duct tape and then…” Her voice broke with a sob.

He held her close as he rocked her. Inside he felt the rage burn inside him. He wanted the blood of the bastard who hurt her. “Fuck, Eve. I’m so sorry.”

She rubbed the tears off her cheeks. “Six weeks later I found out I was pregnant. My foster parents went crazy accusing me of being a whore. I was a virgin until their son. They threatened to throw me out when I accused him of being the father. That was until he admitted it. He had just turned nineteen so when the baby would be born he would be in serious trouble. The foster mother left for the store. My foster dad and brother nearly beat me to death. Why they thought they would get away with attempted murder instead of rape is beyond me, but they were all arrested. I lost the baby, and my reproductive organs were damaged. More than one doctor has told me I can’t have children. I started drinking, and then I met Deacon. After a wild weekend of partying, alcohol, and sex, he drugged me and threw me in a van. He brought me back here. Yeah, it’s kidnapping, but no one fucking cared I was gone. When I came to, he was jamming a needle of heroin into my arm. He did it frequently until I was addicted. Once I was, he forced me to dance for him to pay off my new debt. Dancing meant I had to switch to snorting it. Every time I tried to stop, he would do it again. He wanted me to turn tricks for him, but I refused. That is, until our first night together. You know the rest.”

Micah pressed his lips against her temple and held her even tighter. It was all he could do to keep from erupting. He felt her fingers on his arm.

“You’re shaking,” she told him.

“Yep,” he answered.

“Why?”

“Because I want to kill every one of those sons of bitches who hurt you.”

She sighed. “It’s over. In the past.”

“Deacon isn’t.”

She snuggled closer to him. “I need you to know. I’ve been completely sober all day. I never got high.”

Micah felt his temper peak as he gritted his teeth. “How do you explain the white powder on your nose?”

“I got the powder out. I almost did. But I thought about you. I couldn’t stop. I dumped the stuff back in my bag and came to you. For the first time in my life, there’s something bigger than the rush.” She lowered her head. “Micah, I can’t be there for your surgery. I watched my parents die. I watched my child die. I can’t watch the only man I ever loved die. I’m sorry.” She pulled from his arms and stood. He stared at her, dumbfounded, as she strode away to the bedroom. His heart broke. She wouldn’t be by his side when he went through with the operation.

But he didn’t miss what she said. She just told me she loves me.

»»•««

Eve couldn’t stop herself from pacing back and forth across the living room floor. She tried several times, but it seemed like her feet had a mind of their own. The past couple of weeks had been tense between her and Micah. He spent nearly all his time either training or talking to promoters about his brothers. She went to the gym to watch him train. She worked in the kitchen with Meg to get to know her better. Momma still kept her distance.

Inevitably, as hard as she tried to fight it, before the night was over she would end up on the floor of the bathroom fighting her demons and the urge to get high. Despite the painful need for the rush, the heroin ended in the toilet. The withdrawal was setting in. She fought to hide the sweating and shaking. Thoughts of life without Micah tormented her. She knew the surgery was the only chance he had to live. But her history proved otherwise. People she loved died. She would end up alone.

Despite the tension, they ended every night naked, knotted in each other’s arms, crying out in ecstasy. It was no longer sex, the desperate, primal need to mate. Not that the pull wasn’t still there. If anything, it was stronger than ever. Now they made love. She needed to touch him, stare into his eyes, feel him shudder just as much as she needed her own release.

On the morning of the surgery, Eve kissed Micah goodbye and then watched out the window as he climbed into the Jeep with Caleb and Meg. She missed him the second the door closed. The longer he was gone, the more she ached. The urge, the one that afflicted her since she stripped for him at the club, demanded she follow them. She fought it. And now she was pacing.

She glanced outside the window, her gaze falling on her motorcycle. She hadn’t ridden it since the brothers brought it up from Sharky’s. It spent its time nestled against Micah’s vehicle. She stared at it long and hard as the mystical power yanked on her hard.

“Oh, fuck it.” She scooped her cell phone off the end table. Her fingers flew across the screen as she texted. She grabbed her purse, strapping it across her body. Then she picked up her keys and stormed out of the cabin and across the yard. She shot one last glare at the camp just before she straddled the bike. She sped down the trail through the woods.

She took a deep breath to steady her nerves as the bike slipped and slid on the fallen leaves. This was a suicide mission in more ways than one. If she didn’t die on the ride down, one of the brothers would kill her when they found out where she was going. She couldn’t get through this without some help, and she was dangerously low on the stash of help she had on her. She’d have more if she would stop flushing it. She was just lucky that Deacon was understanding enough to drive all the way out here. She smiled as she broke through the trees and sped down the highway.

The sky was streaked in blues and purples as twilight overtook the sunset. The ghostly curve of the full moon rose above the horizon. Eve slipped her phone carefully from her back pocket to glance at the time. With any luck, she’d meet Deacon on time at the convenience store they agreed on. He didn’t appreciate people being late. She had no way of paying him. She hadn’t made a dime since she came to the Hallows’ camp. She was at Deacon’s mercy once again. As her mate fought for his life, Deacon was going to own her again.

As the store came into view, the power that possessed her, that drew her to Micah Hallow, took control of her. Her will tried to turn the bike into the parking lot. Deacon stood outside his luxury sports car. He saw her. She could see his face. She couldn’t force her muscles to comply. Her body, her soul, ignored the store and drove right past. Her heart dropped into her belly. Deacon would make her suffer for wasting his time.

She pulled to a stop in the first spot she found outside the hospital. The reservation was bigger than she expected. She hurried into the building and asked where the operating room was. After the young receptionist behind the desk gave her directions, she thanked her and nearly ran in that direction. She would find a restroom on the way and get a quick hit. It wouldn’t be much. She hardly had any left. Her mind raced as she searched.

She stopped cold in the doorway of the waiting room. Caleb was the only one inside. She looked out the window. The full moon bathed the street in an eerie glow. She frowned as she stepped inside and approached him. The Hallow brother was trembling uncontrollably.

“Cay, umm. Shouldn’t you?” She pointed out the window.

Caleb slowly raised his head. “We can control the change most of the time. It feels like someone is ripping my fucking bowels out. Could you get that waste basket for me?”

“Sure.” Eve picked up the trash can and handed it to him. She cringed as he violently vomited into it. He slumped back in his chair.

“I thought you would be out there.” Eve motioned to the window again.

“You heard Josiah. We hunt in pairs this full moon. My hunting buddy is in there.” He nodded toward the hallway. “My brother is going under the knife. He’s going to hurt. I can’t help him. And my mate, my wife, the only reason I breathe, the mother of my child is in there with him. While he’s the beast. This is the only place I can be.”

Eve turned at the sound of footsteps behind her. Meg, dressed in surgical scrubs, smiled at them. “Noah is just about to start. I’m here to take you to Micah if you want to see him.”

“Isn’t the surgical suite supposed to be sterile?” Eve questioned.

Caleb stood. “He’s a werewolf. Sterile went out the fucking window a long time ago.” He wrapped his hand around Meg’s and strode down the hallway. Eve followed them. She paused for a moment outside the restroom door. She watched the couple disappear behind a set of double doors. Shaking her head, she jogged to catch up with them.

Meg held open the door for her as she slipped into the operating room. The table barely contained the massive beast that lay on it. Nylon straps bound him to it. A gurney was pressed up to either side.

Caleb gently stroked the snout of the werewolf. “Hey, bud. It’s all going to be okay. I’m not leaving this building until you’re better. I love you, bro. Stay strong.”

The beast snorted in response. Meg wrapped her arms around her husband and hugged him tight. Caleb looked at her. “Please, baby. Take care of you. Take care of him. Take care of our baby.”

“Of course.”

Caleb waved Eve over to them. “Do you want to say something?”

Eve nodded as she crossed the room to the table. She carefully wrapped her arms around his neck. She felt him nuzzle her.

“I love you, Micah. I do. Please come back to me. Don’t leave me. I need you.”

He lapped at her cheek, wiping away a stray tear that slipped down her cheek.

“Eve, Caleb, we need to start,” Noah reminded.

She kissed Micah and stood. Caleb tucked her close to him. “I’ll protect her. We’ll see you soon.”

Eve couldn’t tear her gaze away as Caleb shepherded her from the suite. He stopped at the door of the restroom. His voice was low and dangerous. “Do whatever you have to do.”

Eve forced a smile on her face. “I’ll hurry.”

He let go and stormed into the waiting room. “Whatever.”

Eve pushed the door open as she rummaged through her purse still strapped to her. She scooped out the plastic bag of white powder as he pulled the stall door closed behind her. Her thoughts were only of her mate strapped to the operating table. It terrified her and broke her heart at the same time. She needed him. He needed her sober.

She tugged opened the seal on the bag and dumped the meager contents into the toilet. She flushed it and then threw open the stall door. After washing her hands, she returned to the waiting room and settled into the chair next to Caleb.

He frowned at her. “That was quick.”

She shrugged. “I flushed them.”

He wrapped an arm around her and hugged her tight. She could feel him shake. It had to nearly kill him to keep his change under control. She laid her head on his shoulder. It was going to be a long, painful wait. She just hoped she had her mate in the end.