Shifting Hope: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance, page 10
“What’s happening?” Elizabeth screamed.
I was crying so hard I could barely get the words out. “I don’t know.”
Christian ran to his brother. “Hey, Wyatt, what’s happening?”
Wyatt threw up more blood in response. I was sure that was everything I forced down his throat since he got home. Maybe I gave him too much blood.
Wyatt grabbed onto Christian. “Something’s wrong. I feel like I can’t breathe.”
“What do we do?” Elizabeth said frantically.
“Let’s get you outside,” Christian said, trying to help his brother up.
I helped Wyatt on the other side, but he let out a growl of pain and went limp in our arms. His coughs continued and grew stronger.
“Wyatt!”
I brushed the hair out of his face. “Wyatt, come on. You need to fight through this, whatever this is.”
My heart felt like it stopped as what was happening sunk in. Nathaniel said it was already done. I bit my lip.
“He gave him the serum.”
“What?” Christian said.
“The serum he was talking about. He gave it to him.”
Wyatt grabbed his chest, trying to gasp for air. I held his head in my lap. “Hey, Wyatt, please. Please, you have to fight this. Please, I can’t lose you. Not like this. Please, fight.”
He looked into my eyes, trying to focus on me. He could barely breathe, but he was trying to talk. “I...love...you...Hope.”
His body stopped contorting in pain. His eyes stayed fixed on mine, but his body went limp.
“Wyatt.”
I tried to shake him to say something. “Wyatt,” I cried.
I felt my heart was being plunged from my chest.
I hugged his body to mine and held onto him, letting out a guttural scream.
Chapter 31: Christian
I held on tight to my glass of scotch. Nothing seemed strong enough to make this pain go away.
The knock on the front door pulled me from the trance I couldn’t escape.
I went to the door and opened it.
It was Hayden and Lexie.
Lexie put her arms around me right away. I hugged her back. “I’m so sorry,” she said.
“Me too.”
“Where is she?” Hayden asked.
“She’s still upstairs. I can’t get her to leave his side.”
“We’ll try talking to her,” Lexie said.
I led them upstairs to Wyatt’s room. I stopped and looked at them. “We haven’t had a chance to clean up in there. There’s a lot of blood.”
They both looked solemn. Hayden nodded.
I took a breath. I didn’t want to see my brother like this. He didn’t look like Wyatt anymore.
I opened the door.
We had already moved Wyatt to the bed.
Hope was still laying next to him with her head and hand on his chest. Her soft cries had ended a couple hours ago.
Now she was just looking at Wyatt like she was in shock.
No. Not like she was in shock. She was in shock.
Hayden and Lexie were frozen at the sight. The room looked like a bloodbath. The smell was driving me mad.
Hayden was the first one to approach Hope. She looked down at Wyatt and froze again. She took a breath and shifted her focus to her sister. “Hope.”
She didn’t respond.
“Hope, I’m so sorry.”
She still didn’t say anything.
She couldn’t stay like this forever. I didn’t know how to get her to let him go. That’s why I called them and her mother.
Hayden looked at me like she didn’t know what to do. I saw tears in her eyes. She was crying.
Lexie joined Hayden by the bed. “Hope.”
Still, nothing.
They looked at me in concern. Hayden motioned for us to go out into the hall.
“Has she said anything since it happened?” Hayden asked.
I shook my head. “No. She’s just been laying there with him.”
“How are we supposed to snap her out of this?” Lexie asked. “She’s clearly in shock, which is understandable, but we can’t just leave her there with his body.”
“Short of grabbing her kicking and screaming, I don’t know what to do.”
“No,” Hayden said.
“No, what?” I asked.
“Hope just went through something really traumatic. We need to give her time. We give her as much time as she needs with him.”
Lexie nodded in agreement. “Where’s Elizabeth?”
“She couldn’t be here.”
She felt like she couldn’t breathe standing in the same house that our dead brother was lying in.
Melinda and Gemma came into the house and straight up to us.
They stopped and looked into the room in shock.
Gemma’s eyes filled with tears.
Melinda walked right up to Hope. “Hope.”
Hope didn’t say anything. She did nothing to even acknowledge that she knew we were here with her.
“Hope, sweetheart, I know how much you loved him, but you can’t stay like this. We have to get you cleaned up. Get him cleaned up.”
Melinda’s eyes were filled with worry.
Hope wasn’t responding to any of us.
What if we could never get her to snap out of this?
“Hope, Wyatt wouldn’t want you to do this. He’d want you to…”
“Stop.”
We all froze at the sound of her voice. It was groggy and hoarse from screaming. She sounded so defeated.
“Hope…”
“Just stop. I know he’s gone. I know he wouldn’t want me to lay here with his dead body. I don’t care. I just want to be with Wyatt, so just leave me alone. Please.”
Melinda looked at me. I nodded.
At least we knew she was still in there. Hayden was right. We had to give Hope as much time as she needed.
We all went back downstairs.
“I don’t know what to do,” Melinda said. “I don’t want to just leave her there.”
“None of us do,” Lexie said.
“But right now, I think we have to do whatever Hope wants to do,” Hayden said.
“I agree,” I said.
“I do too,” Gemma said. “Pulling her away from him before she’s ready could be even more traumatizing.” She looked at me softly. “I’m so sorry, Christian.”
I smiled sadly and nodded.
I couldn’t cry anymore. My eyes felt numb from crying.
This didn’t feel real.
I didn’t think there would ever be a day when I existed in this world and my brother didn’t.
He was really gone.
My brother was gone.
Chapter 32: Kane
I went back up to Francesca’s room to check on her. She was still in bed with the curtains closed.
I opened the curtains, sunlight filling the room. She winced at the sudden intrusion. “You’re wasting the daylight.”
“Vampires hate daylight. I’m still one of those thanks to you.”
“Francesca, moping doesn’t suit you. Why don’t you go find yourself a couple of suitors to keep you company? Getting laid should fix that attitude of yours right up.”
She pulled the covers over her head. “Leave.”
“Francesca, this is pathetic. You’re above such behavior. You’re supposed to be strong.”
“I said leave!”
I was about to yell back at her when I heard the front door open. I listened in and snarled. “What the hell is she doing here?”
“Who?” Francesca asked.
I ignored my sister and went down to the foyer where Hayden was waiting for me.
“You can’t just enter my home when you feel like it.”
She seemed surprised by my words. “Then you should lock your front door.”
“What do you want Hayden?”
She furrowed her eyebrows at me. “What’s your problem?”
“Currently, it’s the werewolf standing in my foyer.”
“Why are you doing that?”
“Doing what?”
“Being such a dick to me.”
“I hate to break it to you, Hayden, but I am a dick.”
“I thought that was over. I invited you to homecoming because…”
“Because I’d make you look good in front of the other bitches in school.”
Her eyes darkened with anger. “Excuse me?”
It wasn’t lost upon her that I just called her a bitch.
I stepped forward and looked into her eyes. “I heard your conversation with Hope. I’m just arm candy.”
Her cheeks reddened. She looked away shamefully.
It was stupid to have a private conversation around vampires. Sometimes I really questioned the intelligence of these people.
“I didn’t mean that.”
“Save it. Just go.”
“I didn’t mean it, Kane.”
“I’ve come to know you quite well, Hayden. Well enough to know that you don’t say anything that you don’t mean. You can see yourself out.”
I turned around to go back to Francesca.
I spent the last couple of weeks getting to know Hayden. I liked her. There was no denying that. I thought she liked me too, but it turned out I was just another one of her toys.
No matter.
I wasn’t one to dwell on spilled milk.
“I said that because…”
I stopped and waited for her to finish, but the words never came. I turned around and glared at her. “Because what?”
“Because I’m embarrassed that I like you.”
I won’t lie. That kind of stung.
“Wow.”
“You’re a vampire,” she said, looking at me pointedly. “And you killed Jade. I shouldn’t like you Kane. You’re literally the worst person for me.”
I scoffed at her words. “A werewolf isn’t exactly high up on my list either.”
She was a wolf, and I wasn’t just a vampire. I was a b0rn vampire from one of the most well known vampire families in this world.
Being with her could make me look weak to my enemies. Unfortunately because of my father, I had many of those.
But I didn’t intend to become my father. In fact, I was going to be the exact opposite of him.
“Then we agree,” Hayden said. “This whole idea was a mistake.”
I shrugged. “I don’t believe I can answer that question for you, but if that’s how you feel, I’m not going to argue with you. If you’ll excuse me, I have a suicidal sister on my hands.”
I had more pressing matters to attend to. I was beginning to think I was going to have to lock Francesca up in a tiny spongy room.
“Wait. I didn’t come here to talk about us. I came here to tell you that something happened to Wyatt. He’s…” She hesitated for a moment before looking up at me. “He’s dead.”
I looked at her seriously.
“How?”
“Nathaniel injected him with what he thought was a cure to vampirism. Apparently it was shit. It killed Wyatt.”
I didn’t particularly care about the Hale siblings. I personally thought them being around Hope all the time was putting her in more danger. But I know how much Hope cared about them.
She and Wyatt shared a big connection. She must have been devastated.
“How is she?”
“That's why I’m here. She’s not speaking to us. She’s hauled up in the room with Wyatt’s body. None of us can get her to leave his side.”
“And you think I can?”
“I think she needs tough love. Someone to tell her he’s dead and she needs to accept that.”
“It’s a good thing her sister happens to be one of the biggest hard asses in Salem Point. Perhaps even the world.”
“I can’t.”
I eyed her curiously. “Why?”
She sighed. “Because I care about Hope now. She’s my sister and I don’t want to hurt her. I want to be there for her. But this isn’t healthy and she needs to snap out of it.”
Hayden continued to amaze me.
It could either be a true sentiment to Hope’s character, or a sentiment to Hayden’s true character.
Hope had this way of getting into your heart. The second I laid eyes on her, I knew I couldn’t do what my father asked of me. I couldn’t harm her.
And Hayden. Hayden wasn’t the terrible person she wanted everyone to think she was.
“I have a sister that might need to be committed, so I can’t leave yet. But I will come to see Hope soon. I’ll do anything I can to help.”
She smiled at me and nodded. “I knew you would. Thanks Kane.”
“Of course.”
“I should be getting back.”
I saw her to the door. She stepped outside and turned around to face me. “I hope everything works out with your sister.”
“As do I. Thank you, Hayden.”
I went back upstairs to Francesca.
She was still under the covers.
“Wyatt Hale is dead.”
She sat up and looked at me in shock. “What?”
“Wyatt. He’s dead.”
“How could he be dead?”
“Nathaniel. And here you lay wasting away.”
“Why did he kill Wyatt? He could have killed me.”
I growled at her. “You should be grateful that you still continue to exist in this world!”
She scoffed, looking hurt by my words. She shook her head gently. “You don’t get it. I don’t want to exist in this world anymore, Kane. You’ve shattered my last chance at happiness in this world.”
I didn’t know what to say to her.
All the years I spent living and somehow I still wasn’t an expert in human behavior. I didn’t know how to help my sister.
Especially when I was partially responsible for her turmoil.
I paced the room, trying to find words to say to her.
The truth was, Francesca needed more help than I was qualified to give her.
I was out of my element here.
There was only one thing I could do for my sister. One thing that could make her see that her eternal life was still worth living.
“I’ll help you find her remains.”
“Don’t mock me.”
“I’m not. I’ll help you find your mother’s remains so you can do as you wish with them.”
“You hated my mother. You wouldn’t do that.”
“Yes, but you’re my sister Francesca. Your happiness is important to me. Relatively, anyway. So, I’ll put up with that vapid witch if it’s what will make you happy.”
For a brief second, her lips curled into a smile. Then a sigh of defeat escaped her lips. “You haven’t the slightest idea of how to find her.”
“No, but I know there’s a way. I can’t do it without you though.”
She had her magic back. It wasn’t going to be easy, but I had no doubt that Francesca had the power she needed to find the location where our father hid her mother’s remains.
“I’m so tired, Kane.”
“I know. I know the feeling, sister. But I’ve learned that things can always get better.”
“That’s funny. In my experience, life just seems to get worse and worse.”
She wasn’t buying my false words of wisdom. The unfortunate truth was, I hadn’t experienced that life gets better.
I’ve survived, but in my centuries here, I had never known true happiness. Neither had Francesca.
It pained me to say that I had a part in that.
The look in Francesca’s eyes was frightening. Mostly because I saw that look several times myself in my own reflection.
Francesca hugged her knees to her chest and looked off into space.
I sat down on the bed and let out a sigh. I placed a hand on her shoulder and got her to look at me.
“I think it’s time you and I start making life what we want it to be. No more obligations to our families past indiscretions. It’s time we form our own identities, Francesca. You have to decide who you want to be in this life.”
“And have you decided that, little brother?”
I pursed my lips. “I’m still a work in progress. I’ve got a lot of wrongs to right. To be quite frank, I don’t know that I deserve redemption.”
She grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes. “If I deserve redemption, you surely do.”
I smiled softly. “So then how about it sister? Care to go on this quest for redemption together?”
She thought about it for a moment, that look appearing in her eyes again. She looked back at me and nodded. “I suppose I don’t have a choice.”
I laughed. “No, you really don’t. I meant what I said though, Francesca. When this is over with Hope, you and I will leave Salem Point. We’ll find your mother. Together.”
Her eyes pooled with tears. “I can’t believe Wyatt is dead. Hope must be devastated.”
Sometimes I forgot that she and the oldest Hale had history with each other. “She is. I have to go see if I can help her.”
“You can’t. I mean, yes you can try to make this whole thing easier. She’s lost someone important to her. Losing someone is a pain that stays with you forever. She needs time to learn how that pain becomes a part of her. You can’t do that for her. No one can do that but Hope.”
“I know, but I still have to try. I owe it to her.”
“I’m quite certain I owe her a lot more than you. You’ve done so much for her, Kane.”
“Not enough.”
My phone rang in my pocket. I looked at it quickly expecting it to be Hayden or something about Hope.
It was a number I didn’t recognize.
I answered it. “Hello.”
“Kane. Glad I could reach you.”
My blood boiled at the sound of his voice.
“I thought you were charcoal by now.”
Nathaniel snickered. “It won’t be that easy to kill me.”
“What do you want?”
“I’d like you to give your sister a chance at happiness. I can do for her what I’ve done for Wyatt.”
Francesca furrowed her eyebrows at that.
“You think I’m going to let you kill her like you’ve killed him?”
“You shouldn’t speak on things you don’t understand. Time heals everything.”
“Not you. Time is just giving me far more anger and motivation in my pursuit to put your head on the top of my fireplace.”
