I open my mouth, trying to find words to underplay whatever new insanity is going on inside me, when my body decides a live demonstration is in order. My breath whooshes out from my lungs as the aching pain shoots up a thousand notches higher. With gritted teeth, I fight the cry wanting to escape, dulling it to a whimper caught in my throat while my body instinctively tries to curl into a ball.
“Callie!” they all cry in unison, followed by them talking over each other on what should be done while howling echoes from the other side of the door.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Kaleb questions, but when all I can answer with are grunts of pain, he leaps to his feet. “I’ll get Mildred.”
“How about a hospital?” Nolan snaps with rising fury, standing to yell at Kaleb’s back. “Why don’t we ever take her to a damn hospital?”
“What’s happening?” Felix exclaims, his rising panic evident in his voice. “She was fine this morning. Wasn’t she?”
Tears build in my eyes while it feels like a laundry list of different types of pain fight for dominance inside me. On top of my head exploding, my shins feel like the bones are splintering, my chest and hips ache, and I feel like I have a knife plunged into my lower abdomen.
Donovan quickly drops to his knees beside me, ducking his head so he’s eye level with me, and takes one of my hands into his much larger one, entwining our fingers together.
“Squeeze as tight as you can. Okay?” he orders, holding my gaze. “Everything you’re feeling. Focus it right here.” He jostles our joined hands. “Hard as you can.”
Nodding my head, I do it, squeezing until my knuckles are white and the tips of my fingers tingle.
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” Sam shouts as the wolf shifter from outside torpedoes into the room, heading straight for me, and only freezing in his tracks when Connor does a sharp, bark-like noise. He gives the wolf a hard look, and the shifter drops to his belly with a pathetic whine, his head resting on his paws.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s…” Sam’s words trail off when she sees me writhing in pain on the bed.
Connor sighs then carefully moves to lay down behind me, the bed shifting with his weight, but he stills mid-motion when he sniffs the air. Then, Nolan clears his throat and rasps, “Never mind.”
“What?” Felix demands, his voice carrying from somewhere behind me. “What’s wrong?”
Sam delicately sniffs the air then looks at me with a kind of amused pity. Not the best look when I feel like my insides are imploding.
She looks at the wolf shifter and commands, “Come on, idiot. She already has enough males buzzing around her. You’ll get in the way.”
He whines in response, but does as instructed, sedately following her out of the room with his tail between his legs.
My aunt storms in right after they leave with Kaleb on her heels. She sits on the edge of my bed, presses her cool hand to my heated brow, and murmurs something I can’t quite make out. Suddenly, my head feels fuzzy, like it’s filled with cotton, but I’m no longer in pain. With a weak exhale, my body goes limp.
Donovan scowls and questions, “What the fuck was that?”
Mildred raises a single brow, giving him a subtle reminder of whom he’s talking to. His face immediately goes blank, and he wisely shifts his focus back to our clasped hands.
“Darling, are you alright?” my aunt inquires quietly, her hand gently running along my hair.
“Better now,” I croak with a tired smile.
She nods and returns my smile, but the etches of worry still cling to her eyes. “The spell will leave you feeling a bit physically numb, so try not to make any sudden movements. Can you tell me what happened?”
Except for Connor, who’s kind of hovering behind me in an awkward, not quite lying down position, the guys collect around the right side of the bed in my line of sight to listen. Kaleb is on the floor next to Donovan, his gaze shifting from concern toward me and curiosity for Mildred. Felix is fidgeting in the corner, crossing his arms then uncrossing them to rub his neck then back to crossing them. He flicks glances between me and Nolan, who’s the furthest away, leaning against the wall near my closet with his hands tucked into his pockets, and chewing on his lip. He looks surprisingly bashful, which seems at odds with his attire of leather pants and nothing else.
Blinking, I drag my sluggish brain back to the question and reluctantly confess, “I woke up this morning feeling kind of sore, but nothing I couldn’t handle. While we were downstairs it got worse, until it hurt so bad I apparently passed out.” I offer up a listless shrug. “I woke up, everything hurt even more, and then…”
My words die off when I feel something sticky and wet between my thighs. Connor and Nolan’s weird behavior now makes sense.Will my humiliation never end?It’s been years since I had my last period, and today, surrounded by all of my guy friends, is when it finally decides to make its appearance. My discovery must be written across my features because Nolan blushes and stares at his feet.Right, vampire.
“Then…” Kaleb prompts, unaware of my current situation.
“Then spell. Pain gone. I feel fine. The end,” I answer, my voice as tight as the awkward smile on my face.
Kaleb sits back on his heels, utterly confused. Donovan squints at me, his expression clearly stating that his bullshit-o-meter is going off. He opens his mouth to speak, but suddenly yelps with surprise. He pulls his hand back from mine and around his knuckles are five bloody crescent shapes.
“What the fuck?” he breathes, as we all watch with abject horror as my nails rapidly grow, lengthening several inches in the matter of seconds. There’s a ripping sound below the covers that insinuates a similar situation is happening with my toes and the nails have broken through my socks.
“Uh, guys?” Felix chirps with wide eyes. “She also has some Rapunzel action going on.”
