Up ahead, far ahead, she could just make her out. Jillian Swansen. Her newly human again best friend, completely unguarded and unprotected, waving her closer, a smile on her beatific face.
But as Kenzie got closer, her friend’s face transformed into one of sheer terror. She let out a choked scream, the shrill sound echoing through the night. More familiar faces appeared behind her, all with the same shocked and horrified expression on their faces.
An inhuman howl escaped from between her lips, which were covering her extended canines and incisors. As she closed the gap between her and all her loved ones, her eyes flew open and she sat up in bed with a start.
Hayden, who was sleeping beside her, sprang up like a jack in the box, and Kenzie’s shriek had obviously woken up her dog, Sage, as well, as she padded into the bedroom, her ears perked up and on full alert to locate the turmoil that had befallen her master.
“What is it?” Hayden asked with concern as he embraced his mate. Sage propped herself up onto the bed with her front paws, mirroring Hayden’s inquiry.
“Just a bad dream,” she replied. As she lay back down, Kenzie realized that she was sweating. Hayden rubbed his fingers gently across her cheek.
“Do you still feel sick?” he asked speculatively. “You feel like you have a fever.”
Kenzie wanted to deny it. She didn’t want to make Hayden worry. He was already at his wits’ end because of her mysterious spats of nausea lately. Not to mention the other things that were happening whenever her emotions were heightened. She knew that Hayden had noticed that as well, even though he hadn’t said as much. Probably for the same reason she wanted to deny how shitty she felt.
“Some,” she finally admitted. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
“Maybe you should see a doctor. In fact, I’m insisting on it. You’ve been feeling like this for months, and if anything, I think it’s getting worse. There’s no point in even trying to argue. First thing tomorrow, you’re going to the doctor.”
Kenzie rolled onto her side and felt Hayden’s arm encircle her waist. She knew he was right. Something was seriously wrong with her, and she was beyond tired of whatever was ailing her…and she didn’t even know what it was. It was time to find out and fix it.
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She was hit with another wave of nausea the next morning as soon as she got out of bed. This was through getting old weeks ago. She could almost set her watch to this shit. Kenzie didn’t know why her body seemed to loathe her so much right now.
But this time was different. As she bent over the toilet, she was shocked and petrified to see lime green liquid spewing from her mouth and into the bowl.
Well this was just great. First the constant nausea and puking, then the nightmares (the werewolf one, and then one where she saw the faces of her ancestors from her recent genealogy research being burned at the stake for witchcraft), and finally strange occurrences that bordered on the supernatural. Every time she had a heightened emotion spike, particularly a negative one, the lights would flicker, and sometimes she swore she heard thunder in the distance. Now she was throwing up unnatural green goo.
Several thoughts were flying through her head as to what could be ailing her, but one was more prominent than the others. But it couldn’t be. No way. There was absolutely no way.
Kenzie flushed the toilet and got shakily to her feet. She washed her hands and rinsed her mouth out before putting more toothpaste than was perhaps necessary on her toothbrush. She scrubbed her teeth so hard the enamel would probably fall off when she was in her thirties.
“Kenzie?” Hayden knocked on the door. “The doctor can see us right away. Get dressed. We’re going.”
So he’d obviously heard her. Damn werewolf hearing abilities. She couldn’t hide anything from him.
“Coming,” she grumbled as she rinsed her mouth out and headed back upstairs to get dressed. When she came back down, Hayden must have sensed her tumult, as he walked toward her and kissed her on the forehead.
“It’s all right,” he consoled. “We’re going to help you. I swear.”
Kenzie whimpered slightly. She was afraid that she already knew the answer to what was ailing her, but procrastinating wasn’t going to help confirm or deny her theory. If she was right, it wouldn’t be the end of the world, but it was definitely something she wasn’t ready for. But at this point, she was tired of puking her guts out randomly, and if there was something wrong with her, she wanted it fixed as soon as possible.
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