Shifted Fate (Amy)

"Baby?" I felt a cool cloth on my forehead. I wanted to answer, but nothing would work. My body was frozen in place, my skin was still hot to the touch, my mouth was dry, and my eyes were swollen. "I'm here." I felt my mother wiping me down, the cooling cloth bringing a bit of peace. "That's my girl. You have to finish this. We don't know how to. Wake up, baby."

"Here." I felt something press to my lips, and then cold water was trickled down my throat. Instinctively, I swallowed a mouthful. And then another. The relief was instant, and I moaned, greedily drinking more water down.

"Baby, I know you're tired, but you need to finish the ritual with Rick." She was being nice, but I could hear the panic just below the surface.

I cracked an eye and had to blink a few times before I could see clearly enough to make out her face. "Mom?" She nodded.

"You have done so good, baby, but you have to finish it." She rubbed the cool cloth over my face, waking me up a little more. I blinked a few more times and then nodded.

"I'm okay." I sighed as she dropped me back to my feet. "I can finish." I wobbled on my weak legs for a second before I locked my knees. I waved off my mom and Toya. I took a deep breath before I turned to face Rick. "Okay, Rick." I grabbed the knife with one hand and pressed down with the other. The knife slipped out easily, and I slammed power into Rick. "I command you to heal." There was no question in my words. No give. He had to heal. Because if he didn't, he would die.

There was nothing for a few seconds, and I started to worry that his wolf was too weak to heal his body when Shelly leaned over to his ear. "You better do as Amy told you to do, or else I'm going to be so fucking pissed off at you." She was silently crying, but still she was on him. "You better believe if I have to raise our pup alone, I am going to track your ass down when I die. You don't get to leave. Do you hear me? You better heal yourself, you selfish bastard, or I will curse you every day and make sure Abby grows up to love fruit cake."

The skin on his neck started to knit together, and everyone held their breath. I pushed more and more power into Rick, giving his weak body the boost he needed to heal and come back. Finally, after much too long, he took a deep breath, and his eyes fluttered open.

"You wouldn't dare give our girl fruit cake." His words were soft, but Shelly broke down into tears.

"You are damn right I would have, just to spite you." She leaned in and kissed Rick's lips over and over. "You asshole. You scared me."

My mom looked over at everyone. “I think it's time for bed." Alannah and Ternen nodded. My mom picked me up, like I was still a child. "Toya, can you show the couple to your bedroom? I'll take Amy upstairs. Shelly...are you okay to help your mate?"

Shelly looked up and nodded. “Yeah. We will be fine down here."

My mom smiled. "Good. We will all see each other in the morning, and we can talk all about what happened today." Everyone nodded. Then she turned and started up the stairs. "Goodnight."

We walked past Wendy, who was watching over the girls, and Lynn, who stepped out just to nod. "Goodnight Luna.”

My mom smiled and kissed Lynn's cheek. "Goodnight, sweet girl. Remember..."

Lynn nodded. "He can't hurt me ever again." She gave a ghost of a smile. "I know."

"But you will feel better when he's dead." Lynn nodded once, then went back to her room.

My mom closed the door behind us, and she looked down at me. "Bed or bath first?"

I sighed. On one hand, I wanted to

sleep,

worse.noveldrama

on the other, I was

in sweat and probable

"Bath." I sighed.

"Okay." She put me down on the counter and started the water. "I know you had to do what you did because of who you are. But never do that to me again." She turned to me, and her eyes grew misty. "You scared the shit out of me, Amy." Cóntent

"I'm sorry." I leaned against the mirror. "But-"

"But you couldn't not save him." She finished.

"Yeah..."

"You know you can't save everyone." She turned off the water and lifted me over to the tub.

"I couldn't save Carl." I looked away from her eyes. "But I could save Rick for Abby."

She watched me for a few minutes

before she kissed me. "Call me when

you're done." She pulled a few

towels to the side with my robe. Then she left me alone.