Chapter 6

"I prayed for you to feel better all last night! Did it work?"

I laughed as I kissed her forehead, "That must be why I feel better! Thank you, sweetie!"

Luther came in with a smile as he saw the kids with me. He brought in a chair, put it on the side of the bed, and gestured for Jonathan to sit down. "How is she Doctor Luther?"

"She is getting much better but will probably need a few more days. I'm sure seeing her family is helping tremendously."

"We cannot thank you enough, doctor. You are beyond generous to give your personal suite for Ellen to use every time this happens."

He smiled, "What are friends for? Also, she is a wonderful patient with a wonderful family."

"I am very blessed."

"Mom, the doctor said he has some cake we could eat. Could we?"

I smiled to Zach, "Of course! Thank you, Luther."

Luther took the kids with him and shut the door. Jonathan looked to me and gently touched under my eye, "You have been crying?"

I looked down as I nodded, "I have been struggling a lot this time."

"Have you asked Luther about any treatments? There must be something we can do to help you. This is taking such a toll on you that I worry it will continue becoming worse."

I smiled, "It is all in God's plan, right?" He looked to me sadly, "I am stronger every time I make it through these trying times."

"I love you, Ellen. It's killing me to see you like this." He squeezed my hand, "I want to be with you through all of this."

I shook my head with sad eyes, "All you would do is watch me sleep and you have too many obligations to sit here with me for days at a time." I smiled, "You are my pillar to keep our lives going while I am here. It pains me to put all this on you, but I am thankful that I have found such a reliable person to support me."

He stood and kissed me deeply, but stopped as the kids came back in, "Well we should be going. We will let you rest."

Lindsey and Zach came to me and hugged me tightly before following Jonathan out of the room. I sighed deeply before I unhooked the I.V. and went out to Luther's office. Aaron, Collen, and Cade came out from a side room as Luther came over to me. "They do seem to love you, especially the children."

I nodded as I sat down on the couch near his desk. I put me head in my hands, "They are very kind humans."

Collen sat next to me and rubbed my back, "At least they calmed you down. You must really love them."

I scoffed but did not look up, "I could never love a human; it would just create heartache. They last such a short time."

"You loved me and Chris." Collen whispered, "You allowed us to follow you for eternity."

I looked to him slightly, "I did not want either of you to die."

"When did you meet El?" Cade asked as I sat up and leaned on Collen's shoulder.

"I knew her from birth, her human birth. She was the child born in my small town and grew up there until she was born by the king." He sighed deeply as he took my hand, "I was told she ran off with a man when she did not return to town one night. Truthfully, she was with the king as one of his people. We did not see each other again until I was attacked by a pack of what I thought were wolves. I woke up a few days later to see El had saved me by making me her familiar."

Aaron sighed as we all looked to him, "If I may ask, who is the man you called for before?"

I looked to him sadly, "Have you ever truly learned about the life of full-bloods?" He shook his head, "Each of us finds an eternal mate within the pack soon after our rebirth by the king. Whenever our bodies die, our soul is passed on to a new body and we are assigned to our eternal mate before we meet them." I sighed, "My mate chose me and was the one who brought me to the king to be born. He is the third Lychanthrope ever created while I was the 11th." I looked to the ground, "We are expected to stay with our mate forever, regardless of our feelings. When my soul came to this body in the 18th century, I was told that I was the mate of that man before I met him. Within a few decades, I became tired of being controlled by that man as he is viewed as one of the originals and highly revered. With the aid of Collen, I left the pack and began to find my way into the human society." I looked up to Aaron, "When there is a full moon, eternal mates are able to conceive offspring and are thrown into a rage of desire." I looked over to Cade, "For the few of us that have left successfully, full moons are a living nightmare. The longer you stay in human transformation, the worse the full moon stages become. In the beginning, you will be ill and yearning for your mate." I looked back to the ground, "but after a few decades and centuries, they become unimaginable. You become obsessed with lust and begin calling for your mate. Every time we call for our mate, it sends a sensation to them, making full moons a possible time to be found. If you continually call their name, they may be able to locate you and force you back to the pack."

"El has only said his name a handful of times in these three decades, but never more than one in each full moon. Today alone, she said it nine times, making it possible for him to find her."

I looked up to Collen, "We may have to leave this place. But it may already be too late."

He sighed, "The last we heard, he was in Europe. There is no way that he could determine exactly where you are by nine calls."

I held back tears, "He is stronger than the rest. He could do it."

"Do you really want to start over?"

I shook my head, "I finally have made a life. I don't want to leave it behind. I have a family, a system for obtaining prey, and a fellow former pack member at my side."

"Then we will stay. We will make this work. We will just have to make sure you do not call for him again."

I stood, "I'm going to rest. It has been a long evening." I went into the room, turned off the lights, laid down, and forced myself to sleep. When I awoke the next evening, I felt searing pain in my chest, "Collen!"

The door was thrown open as Collen rushed to my side. I was struggling to catch my breath and felt my body burning. "What is going on? What do I need to do?"

"It hurts! My chest feels as though it is on fire!" Collen embraced me as I shook and cried. "I don't know what to do!"

Collen shoved me to the bed, "I have an idea," he said but looked as though he would cry, "I talked with Ty and he thinks there is something that could help you." He let out a sigh, "I do not want to allow you to rely on another, but I cannot bear to see you like this." He looked to the door, "Come in."

I was shocked as Cade came into the room. I struggled against Collen's grasp, "I might kill him! Are you out of your mind?"

He suddenly kissed my forehead, "Trust me."

I nodded and watched as Collen left the room before locking the door from the outside. I looked to Cade as he came near me, "Aren't you afraid of me?"

He shook his head with a sad smile, "I'm nervous, but not afraid. Ty told us what you said about me."

I felt my face flush as I put my hands over my face, "I will kill him."

I jumped slightly as I felt Cade sit on the edge of the bed and brush some hair out of my face. I moved my hands so that I could see him, "He thinks that I may be able to at least keep you calm, possibly fulfill your urges."

"I can't do this. I want Collen."

Cade looked at me sadly, "Please, at least let me try. I want to help you and support you." I finally nodded but flinched as he got closer. He chuckled, "You have never been so docile in my presence before. It makes me want you more than usual." He smiled as he put his hand on my cheek, "Usually we rush through our passion, but today I want to go slowly. It will hopefully make it so you can focus on something other than him."

He leaned down and kissed me sweetly before looking back to me, "This is embarrassing. Either get to it or leave."

He laughed slightly before kissing me deeply, gently intertwining his tongue with mine. This felt very different than our usual interactions and made me shiver. As he continued to kiss me, he slowly moved up my shirt. He stopped kissing me and pulled my shirt off. He looked down to me as I felt flushed and looked away from his eyes.

"You are beautiful."

"Shut up," I whispered before groaning as he gently touched my breasts. He began licking and teasing them as I squirmed slightly. No one had done this before and made my head spin. He grazed me with his teeth, causing me to gasp and shivered. He began sliding his fingers down my stomach before kissing it as he slowly moved lower on my body. He paused as he got to the top of my pajama pants and looked to me, "What?"

He smiled slightly, "I feel like this is our first time truly being together. I'm a little nervous." I scoffed as he laughed before slowly sliding off my pants but left my underwear on. He slowly rubbed my legs as he kissed right above my underwear.