Ella's P.O.V.

I'd lived in Jacksonville, Florida my whole life.

I was born in a hospital there. I grew up there. I went to college there. That being said, I'd experienced my fair share of tropical storms. Most of these would knock the power out for hours, days and sometimes weeks.

During those moments, when the rain pattered against the leaves of trees and the thunder rolled with the dark clouds off in the distance, I would sit beside my open bedroom window and listen to the sounds of the storm.

After the storm was over, if the power hadn't returned, I mourned the sound of rain. Without it, there was complete and utter silence.

There was no sound of my ceiling fan spinning or the air conditioning unit kicking on. The hum of electricity was missing, bringing an eerie silence upon the house.

It amused me that I never recognized the sound of electricity until it wasn't there.

My memories of power outages are the closest thing I can relate to what I felt when I woke up in that hospital bed.

Empty.

Silent.

Like something was missing.

It was unsettling and made me want to scream.

In the midst of my panic, I felt a hand grasp my shoulder.

"Lay back. Everything's going to be fine."

Despite the fact that Cain tried his hardest to lower his voice, I still flinched when he spoke.

I felt like he was screaming in my ears.

I grabbed the hand that was on my shoulder and gripped it tight between my own hands.

"What happened? Why am I here?"

I tried my hardest to catch my breath but I still found myself struggling to suck in air between each word I spoke.

The mattress sank to one side as he sat down beside me. Gently, Cain's body pressed against mine and I laid my head on his shoulder.

I could tell he was debating on whether or not to answer my question by the way he hesitated before speaking.

"Your brother tried to kill you. He poisoned you."

I felt paranoia sink in and I began to feel as though I was about to endure a massive panic attack.

"What kind of poison? It was that damn scone, wasn't it? Am I going to be okay? Am I dying? How long do I have?"

When Cain neglected to answer the plethora of questions I fired at him, I let out a shaky breath.

"Is it that bad? Your silence isn't really comforting."

"I don't know how to answer," he said truthfully. "I've been trying to figure out how to tell you for the past few hours but I can't find the right words."

"That's not helping," I said. "Just spit it out."

"I had to turn you, Ella."

I froze.

The onset of the panic attack halted. My hands stopped shaking. My lungs refused to exhale or inhale.

Every ounce of energy in my body worked diligently to process what it was Cain had just said.

"You turned me..."

A few moments of silence passed before Cain confirmed I'd heard him correctly.

"Yeah."

Despite the gentle and calming tone he spoke with, that word made a chill snake its way up my spine, sending shivers throughout my body.

"I was dying?" I asked slowly.

"Yes."

"There was no way to help me?"

"No."

"So you turned me to keep me from dying?"

He took a deep breath.

"Yes."

I couldn't find another question to ask. I couldn't even muster up the oxygen to speak.

"I'm so sorry," he breathed out. "We couldn't do anything else and time ran out. I had to."

I drew in a shaky breath.

"I understand if you're upset and I'm willing to give you all the time you need to process it," Cain told me.

I gulped painfully to swallow the knot that had formed in the back of my throat.

"I think I would be more upset if you had let me die."

I didn't know what else to say.

Was I supposed to be angry because I had been turned or happy because I wasn't dead?

The two emotions were at war within me. The internal conflict that raged meant that I couldn't feel anything in that moment.

He pulled our joined hands to his mouth and planted a tender kiss on my knuckles.

The touch of his lips made a spark jolt through me as if I'd touched a live wire. I was completely startled out of the emotionally vegetative trance I'd been in.

I immediately drew back, breathless and shocked, literally, at the touch.

I felt like I'd been revived.

"What was that?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You kissed my hand and I felt... something."

He was silent for a second or two and I wished, for that brief amount of time, that the lights were on and I could have seen his face.

Was he as confused as I was?

"I'm going to try something," he said. "I don't want you to move or feel like you have to reciprocate it. I just need to see..."

I didn't have time to ask him what he meant as I felt his hand leave mine and grab the back of my neck. Cain pulled me towards him and I leaned in without a fight.

His lips found mine in that dark room, but I could have sworn I saw colors and lights dance across my vision as he did so.

Any previous kisses we'd shared were nothing compared to the sheer euphoria I felt in that moment.

The emptiness I felt inside was fulfilled for that brief amount of time before he pulled away.

His breathing was nearly as uncontrolled as mine was, confirming for me that something certainly wasn't right.

It certainly felt right, but it wasn't normal.

"Shit."

Cain got off the bed and stood to his feet. I immediately mourned the warmth and comfort of his presence.

"I need to go talk to someone," he said. "I'll be right back."

With that, he left me alone in the dark room.

As soon as the door closed, I felt my body begin to shake. It wasn't until I felt the tear drops rolling off of my chin that I realized I was crying.

I tried to convince myself that the choice Cain had made was the lesser of two evils.

What was he supposed to do? Let me die?

I couldn't find it in my heart to be angry with him, or even to resent him for the choice he had made. But that didn't mean I wasn't sorrowful of the life I was going to have to leave behind.

I placed a hand on my chest and felt as my heart was beating slowly.

While the heart rate was slow, it was an indicator of the humanity I had yet to lose.

How much longer until I had to give up all of it to stay alive?

I knew the day would come when I would inevitably have to kill someone to survive and taking someone else's life to retain my own didn't seem like a fair trade.

But that was my new reality.

And that was the reason I cried.

- - -

Narrative P.O.V.

Cain closed the door to the examination room slowly and quietly so as not to overwhelm Ella's newly heightened senses anymore than necessary.

He walked towards Dr. Zosak's office with such haste that the nurses in the hallway pressed themselves against the wall to get out of his way.

Without knocking, he opened the door to the office, startling the old man.

"I know why her white blood count is so high," he said.

Dr. Zosak removed his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Me too."

Cain's eyebrows furrowed before they released and he felt his shoulders slump.

"You knew before I went in there, didn't you?"

Dr. Zosak nodded.

"I knew when I told you that you would have to turn her that you would simultaneously be marking her as well."

Cain couldn't find words to express how infuriated he was.

He let out a shaky breath and began to look around for something that wouldn't cost thousands of dollars to replace if he smashed it.

Dr. Zosak stood from his desk chair, sensing the fury.

"Would knowing that really have changed your mind as to whether or not you would have saved her life?"

Cain looked at him incredulously.

"Do you realize what I've done?" He asked. "I've turned Ella, taking away her ability to biologically have children, and now—as it turns out—I've also marked her, claiming a visual and mental stake on her that will last for the rest of her now-eternal life. All of this, mind you, I've done without her permission or knowledge."

When Dr. Zosak said nothing else, Cain ran a hand through his hair and exhaled in frustration.

"How long do I have until the next full moon?"

Dr. Zosak turned to look at his calendar before turning back to Cain.

"You have until tomorrow night."

Cain looked at the clock on the wall and shook his head.

"Twenty-four hours," he sighed. "That isn't enough time."

"It's plenty of time," the doctor assured him. "Ella's recovering perfectly. She's ready to leave whenever you want her to."

"Whenever I want her to? What about whenever she's ready?"

Dr. Zosak's eyes drifted from Cain to the doorway and Cain turned to see his mother standing there, looking between the two of them.

"When did you get here?" He asked, startled by her presence.

"A few hours ago," she replied. "Your dad called, he said you could use some moral support. He told me you would be down here."

Evelyn looked at Dr. Zosak and smiled.

"How are you?"

He smiled warmly and nodded.

"Keeping busy. Yourself?"

She shrugged.

"Can't complain."

Cain rolled his eyes, tired of their half-hearted pleasantries.

"I turned Ella."

"And marked her too from what I just overheard," Evelyn said. "You should ask your dad about marking your mate without permission, he'd be able to relate to that on a personal level."

Cain caught the thinly veiled sarcasm in her voice.

"He marked you without your permission?" He asked incredulously.

She nodded.

"I had no clue what he was doing either, so you can imagine how angry I was. I threw a bar of soap at his head and called it an ugly wolf hickey."

Cain couldn't help the smile that crept up on his face.

"How have I never heard this story?"

Evelyn shrugged.

"It doesn't really make the list of the proudest moments in either of our lives."

She took a step towards Cain as her face grew serious.

"But you are a source of a lot of pride," she told him. "I love you more than you could possibly fathom and I know that she will too if you give her the chance."

Cain, uncomfortable at the sudden emotional turn of the conversation, looked away from her. She reached up and took his face in her hands and refocused his attention.

"Stop assuming she's going to push you away. You did what you had to do to keep her alive and this was part of the consequences. If she's half as rational as you are, she'll understand that."

"But, Mom... that wasn't how it was supposed to happen. I only got one chance to mark her and I feel like I screwed it up."

Evelyn shook her head.

"Sweetheart, ninety-eight percent of your relationship is going to be made up of improvising. You try to methodically plan your every move like you would some kind of deal or trade but you're leaving no room for vulnerability, which works when you're an Alpha but not when you're a mate."

Cain sighed.

"Listen to me," Evelyn pleaded. "You're right when you say that you only have one chance to mark someone. But you also only have one chance to have sex for the first time with your mate. So focus on that, not on what you have no control over. Make her feel loved and special. Don't make her go into Heat. She's had a tough week as it is."

When Cain said nothing, Evelyn dropped her hand from his face.

"You can ask your dad what really good first-time sex is like, too. He got that one right," she added with a wink, trying to lighten the mood.

Cain grimaced and Dr. Zosak chuckled at his reaction.

The three of them heard a door open at the end of the hallway and Cain looked out to see Ella venturing out of her room.

- - -

Ella's P.O.V.

I tugged the rolling staff that had a bag of blood hanging from its hook behind me as it was attached to the inside of my arm.

I was somewhat thankful that it was there because it meant that I had something to catch my balance with whenever I became unsteady on my feet.

Opening the door to the examination room, I was nearly blinded by the bright lights that hung from the ceiling.

I squinted and put a hand over my face as I tried to allow my eyes time to adjust to the brightness.

Sighing, I ventured a little further out into the hallway before I heard footsteps approaching.

I turned to see Cain walking towards me, a look of concern etched on his features.

"Are you okay?" He asked, placing a hand on my back to help steady me.

"I feel fine," I assured him. "I have to pee though."

I saw Dr. Zosak walk out of his office and he looked at me with equal parts amusement and curiosity.

"Can you please unhook me from this?" I asked him. "I feel like a phone on a charger cord."

He laughed before walking over.

"Let me know if you start to get shaky or your gums start to swell and we'll get you another transfusion," he said, gently tugging the needle from my arm.

He placed a cotton pad over the small wound and wrapped it around my arm with a bandage that was in his pocket.

Cain's hand stayed on my lower back as Dr. Zosak attended to me.

Somehow this was reassuring, knowing he was right there.

Cain showed me where the bathroom was and—much to his apprehension—I was able to take care of myself from there and proceeded to lock him out of the bathroom.

When I came out, he offered an arm to let me lean on.

"What did you need to talk to someone about?" I asked him.

I tried to ignore the tingles that shot up my fingers and my hand that touched his forearm.

"Well, it's complicated," he said.

"Simplify it."

He sighed.

"Lycanthrope males have this thing that we do, kind of like a ritual, whenever we meet our mates," he said. "It's called a claim and basically it's just a bite mark on the neck of our mate that tells other males that that particular person is our mate."

I felt my face scrunch up in disgust as he spoke.

"Sounds completely unnecessary," I told him honestly.

To my surprise, he nodded in agreement.

"It's probably is. It's a very primitive practice and it's not that common anymore because very few Lycanthropes have mates."

"So why do it?" I asked.

"There's a psychological aspect to it," he explained. "It triggers the release of pheromones in your body. These pheromones are controlled by quite a few factors but one of them is moon phases."

My eyebrows furrowed as I tried to process what he was saying.

"Like... astrology?"

"Not really," he said, shaking his head.

"I'm not following," I sighed. "I'm going to need you to simplify this more."

"Whenever I bit you to turn you, I accidentally marked you as well and now you and I have until the next full moon to have sex before you go into Heat, which is extremely painful."

I stood there, stunned.

"Heat?" I asked incredulously. "Like... a dog? That kind of Heat?"

He nodded.

"And it's triggered by a full moon?" I asked.

Cain nodded again.

"How long do we have?"

"The next full moon is tomorrow night."

Wonderful.

"I didn't think my week would get any more eventful."

I let out a long sigh.

"I guess I stand corrected."

- - -