Lola leaned over Jax's body. The shakes had begun, and the foam around his mouth frothed gradually.
"I know you can heal him. We don't have much time," Ash said calmly behind her.
Melissa stood in the corner and observed. Lola didn't have time to question him or to follow Jax's wish that Ash never see what she could do. He had read it in the note from the vampire and knew that Lola had healing abilities but he hadn't witnessed anything. She grabbed a shaving knife from Jax's bathroom and cut it into her wrist before she pressed it against Jax's lips. They all stood around the bed. Melissa stood behind them and looked down to see if the blood was healing him.
"Come on," Lola begged.
The blood was pooling around his mouth, but he wasn't swallowing what fell in his mouth.
"Jax?" She looked at him.
His breathing was shallow, and they all stared as his body went into shock and he had a seizure on the bed.
"Oh my god, hold him down!" Ash ran to the other side and pressed Jax's shoulders onto the bed.
Lola cut a bigger gash into her wrist and pressed it down. It ran between his lips and down his throat.
"Maybe it doesn't work on him," Melissa whispered from behind.
"It has to!" She lifted his head and held her hand still.
Jax's body rested against the mattress. The shaking stopped, and his lips started moving against her skin. With trembling hands, he reached up and grabbed her hand. Lola slowly let his head down to rest on the pillow.
"Thank god," she breathed and wiped her wrist when Jax moved her hand away.
"Thank you," he whispered.
Ash let go of his cousin and stepped back with a heavy sigh.
They stood in silence and took a moment to breath. They hadn't taken a proper breath for hours. Finally, they could let their shoulders sink and strength falter for a second.
Melissa walked over and slumped down on the chair. Her hair fell messily over her shoulders, and her head fell back as she stared at the ceiling.
Reality returned sooner than they had hoped, and it was heavier now than ever before.
"Your blood... it heals werewolves," Ash remarked.
He scanned her from the other side of the bed. He walked around slowly, sizing her as he got closer. Melissa sat up straight. A pit of worry grew in her core when she remembered that Ash wasn't supposed to know.
He pressed Melissa down when she was about to stand from the chair.
"You sit," Ash ordered.
Lola looked over her shoulder. "It's fine," she said to Melissa.
Jax was lying still on the covers, his eyes closed. His breathing and the color of his face were returning to normal.
"The blood in your veins can heal us from a vampire bite. When nothing else on this earth has ever been able to do that, along comes you." He clenched his jaw. "Does my cousin know?"
"Yes," Lola said.
"Does Melissa?" he asked through clenched teeth.
Lola drew in a breath, and her shoulders sagged. "Yeah, Melissa knows."
He nodded gently. "You didn't trust me enough to let me in on this secret? After saving your life time and time again, you chose your trusted circle, saved my sister, and lied to my face."
Her eyes fell. "It's not like that," Lola said.
"It's not? You weren't worried that I would run and tell the Blackwoods or leak it to someone else? You didn't think for a second that 'Sure, he saved my life, but how far does his loyalty reach?'"
"Ash, I never meant for you-"
"To find out?" he finished her sentence but not in the words Lola had in mind.
"No, we were just worried that if more people knew, the risk of word spreading would be bigger. The vampires are already here, and we don't need more people coming to knock on the door."
Ash laughed mincingly and bit down on his lip. "Knock?" he said, his brows rose. "They will burn this town to the ground, torch every house, and slaughter every person who gets in their way. They will smoke you out and make sure that you have nothing to run back to. What did you think was going to happen if this got out? That they would ask kindly for you to come with them? No," he said, shaking his head. "They won't leave anything to chance, including those who may come after you. If this information is leaked, everyone you've ever loved may as well start planning their funerals."
His eyes narrowed to slits, and he snarled as he looked over her frightened face.
"At least I don't have to worry about being collateral damage in the capture of Lola Graves," he spat.
Ash's shoulder brushed against hers on his way out of the room.
Something pinched at her heart, a pain she didn't think she would feel-not for him. Why was she feeling guilty that she had withheld this from him? Maybe because, as he had said, he'd been there for her, saved her life more times than she could count.
Lola watched Ash's back disappear around the corner and felt the heaviness weighing down on her chest. She never meant to hurt him. In fact, she didn't even think he would mind.
"I'm sorry," Melissa said and grabbed Lola's hand.
She looked at her friend and shook her head. "I hurt him," Lola said.
Melissa nodded. "I didn't think it was possible either. I'll leave you two. You should be here with him tonight."
"Where are you going?" Lola asked.
"Home."
Lola shook her head. "Take the guest room. Wash up and sleep here tonight."
Melissa looked reluctant at first.
"Please?" Lola said and forced a small smile.
"Why not," Melissa said.
They hugged and said their goodnights.
Lola walked into Jax's bathroom. She removed her makeup and braided her hair after taking all of the pins out. A heavy sigh left her lips as she walked to the closet to grab a sleeping shirt.
She shimmied out of the dress, and as she held it up in her hands, she saw the gash and dried blood from when she'd fallen. Under the shoulder of the dress, there were blotches of blood from the metal bar that Casper stabbed her with. Sliding her fingers over it made Lola realize how true it was. It hadn't been a nightmare, but everything happened so quickly that it hadn't settled into her mind yet.
She hung the dress on a chair and put on the t-shirt she'd taken from Jax's closet. Lola pulled the neckline up and breathed in his scent. Her body shivered, and she smiled, feeling the burn in her eyes from the gathering of tears. She walked over to the bed and pulled off the cover. She knew she wasn't strong enough to move Jax and put the cover over him, but he looked content, so she let it be.
As Lola crawled into bed, she slowly scooted closer to him. Her fingers dragged over his blood-covered shirt, and she laid her head on his shoulder, wrapping his arm around her, and closed her eyes. It was a rare sensation to feel utterly and completely safe, but in these faint moments when their skin was touching and the world was quiet, Lola felt invisible-like nothing on earth could bring her harm.