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I blink, coming back to my own body, and look around. Did they do it? Am I healed?
Jax is there, stroking my face, gently helping me sit up. He looks so happy, so full of joy, and when he takes my hand in his, my own strength seems to rival his. Fragile hope curls between us.
I want to speak, want to kiss him, but whatever Killian put in my mouth prevents it. I lean my head against Jax as everyone begins to sigh in relief. Rachel staggers, falls into a chair, and several young women come to help Evelyn into a chair beside her.
“Is that it? Is she alright?” Jax asks, looking at the healers in desperation.
I hold onto him so hard my fingernails leave moon-shaped imprints on his skin.
“Her symptoms are eased…” Evelyn starts, and Jax holds me so tight I fear my bones will start to snap. “But the disease holds her still… I’m so sorry, Cricket, I don’t know what more we can do.”
Rachel’s head falls into her hands, silent sobs wracking her shoulders.
My heart sinks, depression gripping my very soul. I felt so good, so much better, but my disease will never be truly gone. Jax doesn’t say another word as he stands and carries me out of the room. Past Cole, who stares sadly beyond us, past Chase, who leans against Ryder's shoulder for support.
Ryder reaches out, and Jax stops. He doesn’t look at my brother, he looks at the sprawling staircase. Ryder takes my hand in his and a single tear falls down his cheek and trickles into his beard.
“I know some magic, Cricket. I won’t give up. I will not let you go. We won’t fail you, I promise we’ll find a way.”
Jax lets him finish and then walks on, carrying me up that stairs and down hallways that seem to stretch on forever. Finally, he presses his back to a solid wooden door and walks through. The smell of soap and his natural musk fills my senses. I look around, wondering what his room could look like, waiting for a peek into the life of my man, and open my mouth in shock.
Dark green walls trimmed with black, warm-colored wood furniture that looks antique, a four-poster bed with simple black sheets and blankets with one pillow for the entire king size monstrosity. Every wall is full of trophies, every sport I’ve ever heard of, and then framed certificates for various degrees and accommodations and rewards fill the spaces where there are no trophies.
But Jax doesn’t head to the bed, no, he heads towards French doors leading out onto a balcony. There, under an awning, is a large hot tub that's sunken into the floor of the deck. As before, Jax rips the shirt off of me, scowling in disgust as another man’s scent covers my body, and with one hand he sheds his pants.
He steps into the hot roiling water, his eyes never leaving mine, and I hiss in surprise as he lowers me into the bubbling surface. The water feels hot, too hot, but slowly it swirls and twists around my muscles and helps me relax until I’m nothing more than a puddle of pleasure. Jax soaks the scraps of the shirt in the water and gently starts to wash the dried blood from my face and hair.
“I meant it when I said if you die I’m coming with you…” he says quietly, looking at me with serious eyes. “You’ve uprooted my life Cricket, taken everything that I ever thought mattered and thrown it to the four winds. I’ve done things I said I’d never do. I’ve come up against my own boundaries and plowed through them like they meant nothing.”
He presses his forehead to mine and exhales deeply.
“I need to know, Cricket, do you want to fight?” I can't breathe, the question seizes my lungs and they refuse to expand. “If you don’t want to fight anymore, I’ll help us pass peacefully together. I won’t force you to suffer for my sake. As long as I’m with you, in life or in death, I’ll be happy.”
I pinch my eyes shut, imagining dying, imagining him killing himself for me, and I can’t let it happen. I won't. I wrap my arms around his neck and press my lips to his desperately.
“I want to fight, I want to live, I want to give you children… I want to know what it’s like to have a family like you have, for my children to grow up surrounded by love,” I whisper fiercely. I’ve never wanted anything more. “I want to live!”
“I only want you…” Jax whispers.
I open my eyes. My face is eye level with his chest as he kneels in front of me in the hot tub, and I think I see something between his pecs.
“Did you…what is that? Did you get a tattoo?”
“I would never!” Jax says, but then his eyes grow wide.
His mouth goes lax.
And tears fall unbidden from his eyes as he strokes my sternum.
I look down and see that the darkening shadow on his chest is also growing on mine. I watch in stunned silence as a handprint forms, and Jax covers my chest with his palm and I cover his with mine. They’re a perfect match.
“Did Rachel and Evelyn do this?” I ask, stunned. Jax lifts me from the water and sets me on the side of the hot tub. He spreads my legs and crushes his face to my stomach, kissing and crying and holding me tightly. “Jax? What is it?”
“The moment you chose life, it started to appear!” he says, his voice a muted mumble as he kisses my stomach so much it’s as if he’s worshiping my belly button. “You chose life, and the ancestors agreed.”
I wait, trying to understand what’s going on, his joy and wonder strangely contagious.
“Cricket, you’re going to have our baby!”
