chapter 24: impatient

I waited patiently at first. Everyone from Anabelle and William to Jacob and Shane came checking up on me now and again. Shane always inspecting Kale's wound before he left. After two days, Jason came in.

"Shane was right, you do look thirsty." He said as soon as he was in the door.

"Shouldn't you be with Anya?" I frowned.

'Shane's and Jake are with her. She understands I need fresh air every once in awhile." He shrugged.

"I don't." I muttered. He sighed now.

"I'll sit here with him..."

"I want to be here when he wakes up. He does it for me. Is this why they sent you here?"

"No. I just wanted to make sure you're OK. I guess you are considering you're arguing with me." He chuckled.

"Oh. Sorry." Now he was just making me feel bad. We usually got along.

"I get where you're coming from, Jamie. Just know your limits." He gazed at Kale for a moment. "This one must have been pretty bad." He murmured, then looked at me. "Don't dwell on it dolcetto, he'll be around in no time..."

It was after that, that I started to get impatient. In the middle of the third day I couldn't stand it anymore. His gash was just a tiny little cut now. It looked much better. It was much easier to look at. I had been running my fingers up and down his arm and through his hair for hours, not once did he move. Finally, I got so impatient, that I decided to risk feeling awkward and talk to him even though he probably couldn't hear me.

"Your wound is looking much better. I can't believe that happened to you...It scared me when I saw Milo do it. I'm glad you're strong though...I—I almost killed Milo. I've never been so angry in my life. I thought I was going to lose you. Just goes to show how much I love you, right? I love you so much, Kale. So, so much....Please wake up Kale, please. Kale?...Kale?...Kale!" My voice had started off as a whisper but began to get impatiently louder. I let out a deep sigh.

"Kalsaban..."

His arm twitched. Finally movement.

"Kalsaban Nicolas-Troy." I sang out. He grimaced.

"I hate that." He murmured exhastedly.

I got so excited that I leaned over, kissing his lips deeply. When I sat up again, he grinned.

"I love that." He sighed. "Dream with me Jamie, as much as I want to open my eyes I just don't think I can yet."

"Let's dream then." I breathed.

"Jamie?" He seemed to ask. I grabbed his hand, laying next to him.

"I'm right here, Kale."

He smiled again.

"I was in the dark for a long time. You know what brought me back?" He waited for my guess.

"What?"

"Your voice." It seemed like he had to make an effort to lift my face back to his, never opening his eyes, kissed me then fell back into a dream. I followed quickly.

His dream was completely wild. I knew it was his dream because I was suddenly in that all too familiar sea green sheet that was nearly see through.

"Really?" I rolled my eyes at him. He smiled, grabbing my face and shutting me up instantly.

~Zzzzzzzz.....~

I was the first one to wake up. Well this was interesting. He had rolled on top of me during our dream. He obviously wasn't in pain anymore. He gasped suddenly. His eyes shooting open.

"Kale?" My eyes met his beautiful blue gems. He sighed then smiled.

"Oh, there you are!"

I had forgotten that I never had left him in a dream before until now. He reacted the same way I did the first time we did this. Only when he disappeared and I woke up, he wasn't right below me. He kissed me suddenly.

"I take it you're better." I giggled between his kiss.

"Definitely." He kissed me one more time and sat up. "I'm sorry you had to see me like that." He was looking down as if ashamed. I sat up now and took his face in my hands.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more to help you."

He grabbed my hands, then brushed the hair out of my face.

"It would have been worse if I didn't have you with me."

I touched his shoulder where the wound once was. I spent a long moment staring at the marble of his skin. I tried to understand it, to try to figure out how the werewolves could do this to our hard skin. I remember distantly when I was human how hard and impossible his skin always seemed to me. It was unbreakable I always thought and even considered myself to be unbreakable for awhile.

"What's wrong?" He asked, grabbing under my chin and turning my face back up to him.

I had been deep in thought, my eyebrows came together and I was frowning. I met his eyes but didn't say anything. Instead, I literally attacked him. The others must have heard us. Not too much time passed before Jake was asking us if he could come in.

"Go away!" We said in unison.

"I wouldn't do--" Shane never finished his sentence as Jake burst into the tent.

"Whoa!" He winced, shutting his eyes.

"Told you..." Shane sounded as if he shuttered outside the tent.

"Put some clothes on, Kale!" Jacob pleaded. Kale growled as he wrapped the sheet around me.

"Out!" He hissed, grabbing a pillow.

"Not a chance! You two have been hogging eachother for too long now!"

Kale continued to growl as Jake refused to leave.

"Just give us time to get dressed, Jacob. We'll be right out." I promised.

A moment past before he moved toward the door, muttering under his breath. We looked at eachother at the same time, with the same irritated expression.

"We probably should--" As I stood and spoke he interrupted me. A moment passed and I backed away from his kiss.

"Seriously." I sighed.

"Seriously?" He pouted.

I pouted back. Somehow I managed to win. He glowered at me and spun around, muttering annoyed as he got dressed. He threw on baggy black sweatpants. Did he know just how incredible he looked even when he just threw something on? I followed suit, pulling dark grey sweatpants on and a thin golden-tan sweatshirt. I ran my hands threw my still growing hair, so it didn't look so messy.

"Do you want me to destroy more of your clothes?" He asked when I was finished.

"What?" I laughed, confused.

"I think you purposely look cute just to drive me insane." He pouted again. I rolled my eyes at him.

"I could say the same about you Mr. I'm not going to put my shirt on so I make my wife want me while we go spend time with our friends." I mocked. He chuckled.

"What gave you that impression?" He smirked, puffing out his chest confidently and pulling me up against his bare chest. I struggled against him momentarily, but it didn't last long. I gave in like he knew I would.

"Oh, come on! Now you're making out?!" Jake was back in the tent. Reluctantly we pulled away and looked at him.

"Alright, alright. We're coming." Kale complained.

I pulled him behind me as I followed Jake out of the tent and into another one a little further away. Jason, Anya and the others were in the tent. Anya still didn't look so good. The color of her hair and eyes seemed almost faded but she smiled, though it was a little weak.

"Has anyone looked at her?" Anya frowned suddenly.

"Me?" I frowned now.

"I figured she'd want to see you first." Kale shrugged then looked at me.

"We should go feed you."

"No. Jake's right, I've been keeping you all to myself lately, you stay." I shook my head.

"Jamie--" He sighed.

"I'll go with her." Anabelle volunteered. Kale stopped mid-sentence, frowning at her.

"Me too." William added.

Kale crossed his arms unhappily.

"I'll be quick." I promised, kissing him until someone cleared their throat.

"Miss you already." He frowned.

"I missed you before that." I squeezed his hand and kissed him for another long moment.

~#~#~#~~#~#~#

We left quickly so I couldn't stall anymore. Going hunting with William and Anabelle was interesting. They had a different hunting style then me and Kale. There moto was "first come, first serve."

Kale usually let me have the first kill. Anabelle and William competed with eachother. They growled and fought for the kill. Maybe they were perfect for eachother. After we all had enough and Anabelle won, we headed back but at a walking pace.

"It's like their scent completely disappeared. Whatever you did, Jamie, it worked." Will began.

"Well she did break one of their arms and bit another one unconscious." Anabelle seemed to remind him.

"Do you really think that will keep them away?" I asked.

"No." William shook his head. "But I guarentee they won't be back again for a few years..."

"Years?!" I frowned.

"That's what Shane said anyways. Werewolves take years to make there enemies forget and then they attack unexpectedly." Anabelle explained now.

"Did they forget they're dealing with vampires?"

"All they can do is hope we have better things to worry about." Will shrugged.

Anabelle nodded, walking closely beside him. Her eyes subtly moved to his face then away in a repeating cycle. He must have noticed. He gazed casually out in front of him. His eyes made a swift, sudden movement toward her. The corner of his lips raised into a quick smirk. Then his face returned back to it's casual look. I might not of seen it if I wasn't looking. Anabelle sure didn't. She had the same almost hopeless look on her face when she glanced at him.

"So are you leaving soon?" I asked conversationally.

"Do you want us to?" William gazed at me curiously.

Anabelle smiled. She heard what I heard. He had said us. He still wanted her to stay with him when he took off again.

"I never want you to. I'm just wondering." I shrugged now. He looked at the dark mountains in the distance.

"Soon, I think." He looked over at Anabelle. "Whenever you're ready."

"You know it doesn't matter to me." She sounded like the confident Anabelle I once knew. He smiled at her then looked at me.

"She's really surprised me. She's up for anything! She's quit the stray." He said proudly.

"That's your title." She rolled her eyes at him and grinned. His face was suddenly completely serious. He shrugged.

"Yours too, if you want..." He kept his eyes on the mountains in the distance. My jaw dropped. Her eyes got even bigger then usual. Did he just...

"Should I leave you two alone?" I breathed absent mindedly. He stopped, she stopped, I wanted to keep walking.

"No." He chuckled. "I could use a friend right now."

This confused both me and Anabelle. I slowly turned and went back over to him. She stared at him.

"I asked you to travel with me because I was trying to protect Jamie from you," He began carefully. Her eyes dropped. "Anabelle..." He said quietly. I took a step back. She looked back at him. The pain was obvious in her eyes. "I wasn't expecting to even like you, let alone being completely..." His words came slower and then sped up. "Completely fascinated by you." He breathed.

The sweetest look flashed across her face. I knew that look too! I bit my lip, holding back a gasp of awe. I took another step back.

"Will--" He interrupted her the way Kale interrupted me all the time.

Now I was seeing it from another point of view. It was adorable. I spun around and headed back to the clan, leaving one of my best friends and my newset friend to have their moment. I felt light, giddy even. I just witnessed cuteness to the extreme. I came back to the tent.

"....you should have seen her. It was like she wasn't even herself," Jake spoke. "She was the strongest when she saw you..." His voice trailed off.

Anya gasped. She sounded like she was in pain. I went into the tent. Jason leaned over her, laying a wet cloth across her forehead. Everyone else stood to the side watching her, knowing something wasn't normal about this flu. Kale, Jake and Shane were the only ones that looked over at me. Kale held out his hand when I was just close enough. I grabbed it and he pulled me against him.

"Is she okay?" I whispered out of habit.

"We're not sure." He copied my tone. Her eyes were shut tightly in pain.

"Some elders are coming. None of us know what this is." Jason whispered now. His voice broke a couple times as his tired eyes gazed down at her.

"What of the clan?" I asked.

"They went with a few from the pack to get the elders. They needed to get away anyways." Shane answered.

Anya's eyes opened again.

"What's with the looks? I'm fine." She frowned, then looked at me and grinned. "You really showed them not to touch your husband."

I smiled at her. Kale squeezed me against him and kissed the top of my head. It really seemed like she was getting worse. Seeing Jason's now weary, miserable, helpless look on his face made me even more worried now. I moved out of Kale's arms and went toward her. Kale and the others moved closer as well but they stopped at the foot of her bed as I went to her side.

"You missed a good fight, Anya. You would have loved it." I continued to smile at her. She laughed.

"Without a doubt." Her voice sounded way too abnormally weak. She sighed deeply, shutting her eyes. "Maybe next time." She breathed out.

Her sudden silence terrified me. I felt myself tense. Kale moved closer to me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and stroked my hair gently. I looked anxiously at Jason. He glanced at me, his eyes instantly looking back down at her. Then her long awaited breathing set in. Her heart was beating slowly, dimly. Was she dying? The thought must have been in the back of Jason's mind constantly. As of now, she was just resting.

We watched her in empty silence for the longest time. No one moved, no one spoke and then all of us sensed it; Jared, who was standing at the other side of the tent was the first to leave, followed by a couple others from the clan. Jake and Shane waited a moment then did the same. Jason looked at me and Kale.

"Whatever's going on, they'll know." The lump in Jason's throat sounded thick.

"Whatever this is, she'll pull through it." I assured him.

"Anya's a tough one. There's nothing that could beat her." Kale added.

Jason's pain filled eyes only stayed on us for a moment longer before they went back on her.

"I know." He nodded.

The tent opened. Maverick was the only one of his pack that walke in. Three darkly tanned shapeshifters followed behind him. They didn't look old but they didn't look young like Jason or maverick.

One of them had long, grey hair that was tied back. His eyes were a dark chocolate brown color. He carried what seemed to be a wooden staff or more like leaned on it. He, like all of the others, was tall. The other had white hair, also long enough to tie back. He looked the oldest with deep creases at the corner of his faded golden eyes.

The female, standing between them, had long silver hair in a long braid running down her shoulder. Her eyes seemed weary. Her eyes were a soft golden brown. Her features were soft but like Anya, she was as tall as any of the men in this room. I felt embarrassed being the only short one out of everyone I knew. They seemed to walk in almost as royalty, not smug, but that's how everyone treated them, with incredible respect.

"Anya!" The female gasped, moving swiftly over to her. Even as fragile as she looked she was very graceful.

"She's resting." I whispered as we stepped aside to let her take our place. She glanced at me and nodded. The two males followed quickly.

"Let's take a look at the poor girl...." One of the men reached toward her as Kale and I took our leave. She seemed to be in understanding, wise hands.

"Where's William and Anabelle?" Kevin was suddenly in front of us, his eyes anxious, his fists clenched at his sides. I sighed. Then with a smile answered him;

"They're a little busy right now."

Kale looked at me curiously.

"Busy? Doing what? Are they...alone?" His eyes strangely were able to get even bigger, showing off the crimson of his eyes. I bit my lip. That last image of them that I saw came to mind. I tried not to giggle as I nodded.

"I have to go find them!" He gasped. I frowned now.

"No." I grabbed his arm tightly as he turned to leave. "Leave them alone. They deserve it."

"I know what he deserves." He hissed, yanking away from my grasp. He turned to me. I was glaring at him. Kale stepped protectively in front of me. Kevin snorted.

"Go ahead. Protect her. She's not even worth--"

"Don't think I take anything, looks or threats, lightly when it comes to Jamie Vandera." Kale hissed between his teeth, putting emphasis on our last name as if Kevin forgot the extent of what we were to eachother. "Now, get back to Roy and don't go near Anabelle and William." He jabbed a single finger into his chest. Kevin stumbled backwards. Sneering at us, he spun around, going across the canyon but still stayed in our eye sight. Kale turned to me with a raised eyebrow.

"Is that your doing?" He asked. "Or did Anabelle's feelings get the best of her?"

I laughed. "Actually, William did what Anabelle couldn't."

He looked amused, then shook his head.

"It's strange to think it took over two life-times to find our happiness."

"It's also strange that it didn't take long for Anabelle to take on a completely different side of herself because of Will. Both mentally and physically."

He chuckled, throwing his arm around my shoulder. I melted perfectly into his side. Just the way our bodies connected together from the very begining told us that we were meant for eachother.

"I don't know if you noticed or not but you did the exact same thing to me."

"Did I?"

I had a hard time believing that. He seemed exactly the same to me. Inhumanly beautiful, distinct musical voice, protective, sweet, caring, piercing eyes, breath taking, making me forever light-headed and blushing (not on the outside, that was physically impossible.)

"Ask Jacob. He tells me all the time. Even Anabelle was right when she accused me of going soft." He had a smile on his face, his eyes were glowing as he spoke. He looked as happy as he did at our wedding. His love was just bursting out of him, his target was me. I would never move out of the line of his fire.

We went over to Jake and Shane who were sitting on some rocks. Our clans were in a group to the side of them. Jared was quick to come over to us.

"It's starting to get a little strange here. Roy's clan is getting a little snappy at us. Which makes sense considering we are on their territory."

Kale nodded. "We have to stay for Anya."

"Not really..." Jared murmured. Kale sighed.

"We want to stay for Anya. But I have no problem with any of you leaving. There isn't too much danger anymore."

The clans looked at eachother. Ever since Dante's clan joined us, most of them took off their hoods. I was surprised, but not so surprised by how breath taking the majority of them were.

"If you need anything, Master Zero..." Jared began. Master Zero, we haven't heard that in awhile.

"Right. I'll call." Kale sighed again.

Jared nodded. It didn't take long for the clan to leave the canyon. It wasn't strange seeing them leave, but then again, it wasn't every day Kale's clan was willing to leave him behind. I learned very quickly that a vampire's loyalty was very strong, especially the clan members loyalty toward their clan leader. That loyalty...well, I've never really seen anything like it.

~#~#~#~#~

We waited in our little circle for awhile. Jason's pack had come out of the tent, sitting down in front of the enterance. They didn't have any news of what was happening. All they told us was they got kicked out so they could have some privacy.

I began to pace, worried about my friend. Back and fourth. All their eyes followed my frantical movement. Everyone was tensely silent. After awhile, Kale finally grabbed my arm, pulling me against him.

"Just be patient, my love. Relax." His voice was low and soft. It definitely soothed me.

I leaned into his still form and sighed. He ran his fingers through my hair, kissing the top of my head. It was another form of his ability to calm me down. I melted further into him still. The only problem was, that I started to clench and unclench my fists when I started thinking about Anya again.

What could possibly be wrong with her? What caused so much pain? Is she actually going to be alright? Why can't we figure this illness out?

As my thoughts wandered, Kale's hands ran down my arms, catching my hands when they unclenched again. His fingers laced around mine.

"Were you this anxious when I was--" I could hear his frown as Jake interrupted him.

"She was worse. She stared at you for three days, unblinking, as if willing you to heal."

Kale lowered his head, sighing into my hair and blowing it into my face.

"You worry too much." He shook his head as if trying to dig deeper into my hair.

"Do not." I muttered. Shane and Jacob began to snicker. I glowered at them.

"What if Anabelle and William didn't come back tonight?" Kale asked rhetorically.

I bit my lip, frowning at the thought. I realized I would instantly assume something bad happened to them. William never left without saying some sort of goodbye. I didn't say anything. He kissed my cheek.

"Point proven?" His breath now blew against my neck. My body relaxed more. I shut my eyes.

"Point taken." I sighed heavily.

He kissed the corner of my lip now and pulled me closer to him by my waist. My eyes opened and I turned toward him.

"Are you trying to seduce me?" I raised my eyebrow at my husband. He grinned.

"Are you seducible?" He teased.

I pushed him away playfully. He tried his best to relax me and it worked. We went and sat down between Jake and Shane, continuing to wait. William and Anabelle eventually did show up. They came into the canyon hand in hand, suddenly eager to show their effection in public. I sighed happily seeing them together, wishing I could see Jacob and Shane that way some day. I was hopeful.

"Look who finally decided to show up." Jake nudged Shane with his elbow immaturely.

"That must have been some walk." Shane nudged him back just as immaturely.

"Did you two get lost?" Jake stiffled a laugh, so did Shane.

William just threw them a wink and it made them both burst out laughing. Boys. Aren't they just immature? Anabelle bit her lip as Kevin made his way back over to us. He glared angrily at William's hand holding onto Anabelle's.

"How did this happen?" Kevin hissed.

"Kevin." She sighed.

"I hope you don't get hurt, again!" He stormed off angrily.

"Kev, wait I--"

"Forget it, Belle! I don't care." He snapped over his shoulder.

"Kev!" She called out, glanced at William apologizetically then took off after him.

I looked at William who was still grinning. He met my gaze and shrugged. Something happened between them that made him know he had absolutely no competition, especially when it came to Kevin.

I opened my mouth to speak but there was movement behind him. My mouth snapped shut as I watched the pack, who had been pretty much motionless, stand and step away from the enterance of Anya's tent. Kale squeezed my hand. We made our way over to the tent as Jason and the elders came out. Jason's eyes were wide. It was like he was in shock.

"Does she have something contagious? You look paler then me, Jay." Jake asked worried as they stood beside us.

Jay? That was a new one. Although, Jacob was right, he looked pale, like Anya. He was staring at one of his pack members but it was like he really didn't see him and he was speechless.

"Jason?" I asked slowly, trying to get his attention.

The female elder rested her hand on his arm, speaking to him in Italian, I think. He blinked a few times then looked at me.

"She's...She's...She's pregnant...." He breathed in a shocked, small voice...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The picture in this chapter is again Jamie and Kale