Full Moon Rising

AN: Sorry for the long dry spell. I just want to thank everyone that left a review just to tell me that they were still interested in this fic. I’m really want to know what you guys think about this chapter so please review. I also made a few changes to chapter 13. Nothing big, but you may want to go back and reread it just for kicks. ;) I also want to thank Tish by beta.


Chapter 14

Xander woke with a groan of frustration. He was beginning to worry about his sudden bouts of narcolepsy. His new habit of passing out at the most impropriate times didn‘t say much about his sexual prowess but Nathaniel seemed satisfied enough, so hopefully his reputation as a Viking in the sack hadn‘t been ruined. But still, the blackouts had been occurring way too often for his liking. He didn’t like the idea of spending most his life in bed; even if it meant that he could share it with own personal boy toy, he would still like to remember what happened after the fact.

At least in that aspect the blackouts were getting better, in the sense that he could remember the events that occur prior to passing out. But that probably wasn’t necessarily a good thing since it also meant that he was getting use to them. When the hyena had first possessed his body he felt a weird sense of detachment as if he was a bystander watching someone else control his body; when he tried to remember what happened afterwards everything was fuzzy, as if it was all a dream. But now the memories were clearer. He could recall emotions, smells and images in vivid detail, as if he had done those things himself. This was different from the normal run of the mill possession and Xander had to admit that his life must be really screwed up if he could tell the difference between the two. Before the hyena spirit had felt like ghost and whenever he tried to grab at it, it would slip through his mind like mist. But now it felt solid, tangible and more controlled as if he could push it to the surface of his mind at will. On the downside, it was harder to ignore the hyena’s thoughts and emotions as they intermingled with his own.

Suddenly the door slammed open flooding the dark room with bright, blinding light from the hallway.

“Hey,” yelped Xander in surprise as his nude body toppled off the side of the bed in a jumble of sheets.

The commotion and sudden loss of warmth woke Nathaniel up, and the sound of cursing drew his attention immediately to the floor. The auburn haired leopard leaned over the edge of the bed and peered down to find his mate sprawled on floor, gingerly rubbing his left elbow with his hand. “You’re okay?”

“Yeah the floor broke my fall,” replied Xander sarcastically, as he squinted angrily at the short woman standing at the door. “Ever heard of knocking?”

Anita frowned. “Get dress. We‘re leaving,”

“Why?”

“Since Nathaniel refuses to leave your side, you’re staying with me until we can figure out what’s going on.”

Anita sighed at the bright smile that nearly split the wereleopard’s face in half. Nathaniel was submissive to a fault, but when he got something in his head he could be damn stubborn. She didn’t like the idea of bringing a stranger into her home, but she liked the idea of leaving Nathaniel alone with him even less.

“What about Jean Claude?” asked Xander in surprise as he scrambled for his clothes. He couldn’t believe his luck. He didn’t think a control freak like Jean Claude would let him go so easy, especially after last night.

“He’s not happy, but he agreed to let you go as long as we keep an eye on you. Personally, if it wasn’t for Nathaniel, I would have left you down here to rot.” Anita hadn’t been joking about Jean Claude’s feeling in the matter. The man was a potential threat and the vampire had wanted to keep the brunet under lock and key until they could figure out what to do with him, but Anita had a good suspicion that it also had something to do with this slayer that the man had mentioned earlier. If she didn’t know better she would have thought that Jean Claude was afraid, but the vampire refused to talk about it. Well if Jean Claude refused to share information Anita had other sources.

“Well gee thanks, so glad you cared,” said Xander mockingly as he pulled on the borrowed pair of sweat pants from earlier. He hoped that they could stop by his hotel to pick up his clothes. There was just something gross about walking around in someone else’s pants without underwear.

“Hurry up, it’s late and I don’t have all day.”

***

When they got in the car Nathaniel joined him in the back seat and took his hand. Xander looked up in confusion but Nathaniel refused to look at him as he stared blankly through the car window with a light blush coloring his cheeks. It was a small, almost immiscible gesture, but to Xander it meant that there was no longer just him and Nathaniel, but a ‘them‘. The fact that the wereleopard was acknowledging the existence of a ‘them’ in front of his pseudo girlfriend slash Nimir-Ra meant a lot to Xander, because even though he had come to consider the young man his mate he wasn‘t exactly sure of his own position in Nathaniel‘s heart. Apparently Anita noticed the change too, judging buy the way she gripped the steering wheel and glared at them through the rear view mirror. But Anita’s reaction couldn’t seem to wipe off the goofy grin that spread across the brown eyed man’s face, which only seemed to further enrage the brunette as she swerved the jeep in and out of traffic. The tension was broken by the ringing of Anita’s cell phone. “What?” growled Anita into the receiver. When she got off the phone, Anita made an illegal u-turn at the intersection with tires screeching.

“What’s wrong?” asked Nathaniel curiously.

“I have to stop by the hospital. One of the werewolves got hit by a car and she refuses to shift.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s eight weeks pregnant and she doesn‘t want to lose the baby during the change.”

“How the hell did the baby survived the first moon?” wondered Xander out loud. He didn’t really know much about lycanthropes, but from what Oz had told him weres couldn’t have children due to the trauma inflicted on the body during the change.

“I don’t know? Luck most likely. Maybe it was too early to make a difference." The executioner shook her head. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter, she’ll probably lose it now,” said Anita sadly and the rest of the trip to hospital was made in reflective silence.

The hospital they went to was not County General. It was an old hospital that had been converted into an underground clinic for lycanthropes when it became apparent that County General was more inclined to send new shifters to special facilities, which resembled death camps more than actual hospitals, instead of handling their care themselves.

“Stay here. I’ll be back soon,” said Anita over her shoulder as she pushed through the double doors.

Xander knew that he should have stayed in the waiting room like he had been told, but the carpenter had never been good at taking orders and he just didn’t like the way Anita was bossing him around.

He walked into a room that had far too many people for such a tiny space. He immediately recognized Richard, the tall muscled bound jerk who had insulted Nathaniel the other night, Anita and finally Dr Lillian, who was currently attending a shockingly pale woman lying on top of blood soaked sheets.

Anita had her hand pressed into the woman’s wound. Her eyes were closed, and a look of concentration was written across her face. But after a moment she shook her head in defeat, as she slowly removed her blood soaked hand. “It’s not working. The munin won’t come.”

Richard rubbed his stubbled chin in resignation. He didn‘t think it would work but it was worth a try. When he spotted Xander and Nathaniel looming in the corner his voice grew hard with barely controlled anger. “What the hell are they doing here?”

Anita whipped her head around and pierced them with a glare. “I thought I told you to stay in the waiting room.”

“She’s going into shock, if she doesn‘t change soon she going to bleed to death,” announced Lillian in frustration, as she stuck another syringe into the werewolf’s arm. But she was only prolonging the inevitable; there was only so much she could do, and the woman was bleeding out faster than she could put more blood in.

Richard and Anita immediately ignored Xander to focus on the dying werewolf. “Rosie, please listen to Dr Lillian.”

“No!” wailed the young woman in despair.

“This is your fourth pregnancy, Rosie. You knew that this was going to happen. You can’t save the baby but you can save yourself,” reasoned Lillian gently.

Rosie shook her head violently as her body began to shiver with cold.

“I can help her.”

Richard turned to stare and the young man. He knew that the man’s beast was powerful, but Anita was their Lupa and it was her connection with the pack that gave her the power to heal other werewolves. This stranger had no connection with the pack, but the power that radiated from the man was old, perhaps older than the munin itself. “Can you?”

Anita stared at the werewolf in disbelief. “Richard, are you crazy?”

“What other choice do we have? I won’t force her to change, and this is a decision that neither you nor I can‘t make for her. If he can’t save her than that’s it.”

Rosie pulled away as the strange man approached her. Her beast could sense the man’s power and as a beta she cowered under its weight. “Stay away from me!" cried the young woman in fear.

Xander lifted his hands is a placating manner as he slowly approached the bed, keeping his voice low, as if he was approaching a wounded animal. “It’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you.”

Desperate tears spilled from the edge of her eyes as she stared pleadingly at him. “Please, I don’t want to lose my baby,” whispered Rosie tiredly. “I…I can’t do it again.”

“Sh… I know,” whispered Xander gently as he soothed her sweaty brow with his hand.

The woman grew quiet but her eyes remained fearfully fixed on the strange man. Xander had no idea what he was doing, but the woman’s pain called to something deep inside of him and he had no choice but to answer the plea. The room grew warm and the scent of fresh turned earth filled the room as he willed the hyena spirit to the front of his mind. After a moment he could hear the angry snarls of the woman’s beast. The wolf could sense the woman’s pain and the urge to shift was strong. It wanted to heal, to kill the sickness and the thing that now grew in its belly.

He flooded the beast with feelings of belonging and warmth to calm the beast than placed the palm of his hand over the woman’s swollen belly, lending a bit of his own power to the unborn fetus.

“Rosie, do you trust me?” asked Xander silently, as green eyes filled with age and wisdom focused on her.

Rosie’s eyes grew wide as she felt heat spread from the man’s palm to her stomach and in that instant she knew she could trust this stranger completely.

“Then trust me to protect your baby.”

Rosie screamed as her body suddenly twisted and shifted into a large rusty color wolf and right where there should have been the flat under belly of a werewolf, where Xander’s hand still laid, was noticeable bulge.

“Oh my God,” whispered the wererat in awe as she rushed to Rosie’s side. The older woman’s hand shock with excitement as she fumbled clumsily with her stethoscope because, if this is what she thought it was, she was looking at the first pregnant werewolf in the history of medicine.

When Xander stepped back to allow Dr Lillian room to work he swayed on his feet. “Damn it, not again,” exclaimed the brunet before he passed out into Nathaniel’s arms.