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I shook my head. “You’re not dying yet. You’re—”
“Avi,” Mom wheezed, “you can’t keep telling yourself lies.”
I glanced at Leo. His face was hidden.
“You have to…wehave to face this.” Mom focused with stern determination, trying to lift her head. “Damn this body.”
Etta rushed to her side. “Claire, don’t move too much. You need to save your energy.”
Mom laughed bitterly. “For what? Death?” She laughed, and then coughed herself hoarse, and then crushed our hands. “Screw him. Punk.”
Galanthia chuckled, the sound low and vibrational, the feeling of it filling the entire room with a tranquilizing bliss. “He’s rude, isn’t he?”
“You must promise…”
Mom cringed as her lips continued to move soundlessly. Etta placed an oxygen mask over Mom’s face, inviting a mixture of irritation and relief. If I ever wondered where I got my conflicting reactions, it had to be my mother.
“Promise,” Mom continued, her words muffled slightly by the mask, “that you two will take care of Leotogether.”
“Yes, promise,” Leo begged without lifting his head. “Promise, promise…”
“I promise,” I rushed. “Yeah, I promise. Just stop dying for a damn minute, okay?”
Mom smiled with her eyes. Rapid deterioration forced her to use her facial features because her mouth refused to make another sound.
Apprehension thickened the air. I knew it was coming. We all knew it was coming. Any minute now, my mother would step right off this plane and slide into the next.
Well, I hoped it would be that seamless. I hoped that she would survive her vessel withering here and maybe take on another. Maybe the next body would be more forgiving. I hoped I got to meet her there, wherevertherehappened to be, and wherever I happened to go when my time came.
Why couldn’t things just be okay for a second?
Mom looked at Galanthia who nodded and said, “I promise.”
A tsunami of emotions crashed into the room. Love, relief, and adoration drowned me with the reminder of how much my mother had given Leo and me. She’d left her mark on this world. I was grateful for that time but selfish to want more.
Especially with these feelings. They were incredibly comforting, like a warm blanket right out of the dryer. But I knew that after hugging it for a while I would absorb its heat and it would grow cool again. It was bound to happen with my mother. She was destined to leave.
I tried to hold my breath. And then I tried too hard to breathe. She was gripping my hand like she was clinging to this realm for dear life, forherlife. Her breathing had gotten so shallow that I kept thinking she had passed, and then her eyelids would flutter. She’d suck air into her mouth. She’d retain it.
A lot of time passed. Some undetermined amount. People passed through the room, or maybe that was just my brain trying to make sense of my reality. Dream or nightmare, it was hard to say. But through it all, the presence of Galanthia remained, my true mate.
No more pretenses or games. I would claim her as my own. Whatever happened next would hurt, sure, but at least Galanthia was at my side. At least she was holding my son—ourson. At least she was holding the room together with a peaceful love, that healing sensation of her power providing consolation.
Mom shot up from the bed.
Everybody jumped about ten feet in the air. Leo snapped to attention. Bethany rushed to the edge of the bed and threw her hands over Mom’s lap as Etta tried to keep one of the monitors from falling over. Mom opened her mouth wide and hauled more air into her body than I thought was possible for a shifter.
When she finally stopped, her head swiveled about, looking from Etta, to Bethany, to me, to Galanthia. Her gaze fell on Leo, color returning to her cheeks with a fierce flush that made it seem like some biker dude had complimented her outfit or something. She seemed so young suddenly, weirdly youthful.
“You’re such an angel,” she told Galanthia in a voice that barely seemed sick at all. “You did this on purpose.”
Galanthia grinned. “I did what I could.”
“You gave me so much more than last time. Are you sure?”
“I’m positive you need it more than me.”
Galanthia visibly weakened. Leo clambered onto the bed and threw himself into his grandmother’s arms. My concern shifted to my mate. Bethany scooted a chair over right as Galanthia’s knees buckled. I caught her head before it could hit the chair. Etta dashed over with a potion in hand.
