Page 161 of Taming the Beasts

“You need to take the rest of them!” I yelled and pointed to Otto.

The paramedic stared at me like I’d lost my mind. “Ma’am, that’s an animal. You’d do better calling a vet.” He climbed inside, slammed the door closed, and then the siren started back up as they drove off.

“Callum,” I said. “Why was Titan the only one that changed back? Are they dead?” My voice cracked.

“I...I don’t know,” he said.

Emma ran toward him and threw herself into his arms. “Are you...you?” she asked and looked up at him.

“If you’re asking me if it’s still taking everything in me to not bite you’re neck? The answer is no. All I smell is your perfume...”

Emma silenced him with a kiss.

I smiled through my tears. I was so happy for them.

Callum was cured.

Everyone was cured.

Except for my boyfriends.

I turned and stared at Huxley and Ace. They’d fallen right next to each other. A pool of blood matted the grass between them. I wasn’t sure which one of them the blood had come from. But I feared it was both. I looked back at Otto and Bennett.

They were all dead, right? That was the reason Titan changed back and the rest of them didn’t? Because Titan was still alive?

It felt like my chest was caving into my heart, crushing it. Titan had changed back, but I wasn’t sure he was cured. I wasn’t sure he’d even make it to the hospital.

I should have gone with him.

But I didn’t know how to just walk away from my other four boyfriends. If there was even a small chance that they could still hear me, I needed them to know I was here.

I didn’t want to have to see their injuries up close. But I forced myself to walk over to Huxley and Ace.

One of their faces was smushed into the ground like he’d been trampled. The sides of his face were covered in mud and blood.

I reached out to the other, touching his pointy ear that was covered in blood. I didn’t know which one waswhich. But it didn’t matter, because I loved them both the same. And I’d never gotten the chance to let either of them know. “I love you,” I said and dropped my hand from his ear.

“I love you so much,” I said and touched the other on the back.

I wished they could hear me. But they were both so still. The image of them hunched over in their own blood like this was never going to leave my mind.

Kebe was still playing the sistrum. But now instead of hopeful, it just sounded haunting.

She’ddone this.

She’d turned the whole town into vampires.

And it didn’t matter that she’d finally found a heart. She was too late! I wanted to storm over, grab the sistrum from her hands, and hit her with it.

Instead I pushed myself up and walked over to Otto.God, Otto.He was the first one that had shifted and he looked the worst out of all of them. And I knew in my heart that there was no use in calling a vet. They were all gone.

I dropped to my knees and let myself cry.

I never even got to say goodbye. Or to tell him that I loved him one last time. I’d had a whole speech in my head that I was going to give my boyfriends tonight before they took the cure. It all felt so silly now.

I hadn’t needed them to change for me. I loved them exactly the way they were.

I curled up into Otto’s side. His body was still warm, like always. But I knew that would fade soon. And I was worried that I’d feel cold for the rest of my life without him. Without all of them.