“Jesse!” Sookie wrenched herself from Ethan’s grip. “Jesse, do you remember me?”
“Susan!” Ethan warned.
His men responded with ready-to-fire rifles.
Sookie whipped her head back. “Don’t you dare start shooting at my brother. Put your guns away.”
No one heeded her, of course. Sookie stepped forward and held the werewolf’s shoulder. “Jesse, are you okay? How did you get out? Did they hurt you more while I was gone?”
Jesse struggled with his words. His eyes were full of confusion. “Sorry. Sis. I’m sorry. If I only listened to you we wouldn’t be in this situation.”
“What are you talking about? We were saved. We’re gonna be okay.”
Jesse shook his head. “Sis, I’m hungry. So hungry.”
“We’ll get you something to eat.”
“I’m really hungry… sorry, sis…” Jesse opened up his jaw as wide as he could. Before Jesse could clamp his teeth on Sookie’s arm, Ethan pushed Sookie away and forced Jesse to chomp on Ethan’s own arm instead.
Jesse grunted as his fangs sunk into Ethan’s flesh. Blood dripped. Then there was the sound of satisfied eating.
Sookie watched with horror. She knew too well what Ethan’s blood could do to a werewolf. “No!” She looked up. “You can’t do that. You’re killing him. Stop it.”
Max and Grayson pulled her from Ethan and Jesse. Sookie became enraged. She kicked, writhed, cursed and pleaded but her pleas fell on deaf ears. Finally, she slumped. The fighting spirit inside her was no more.
Ethan let Jesse feed until the young wolf had enough. Jesse unlatched and slumped on the floor, curling into the fetal position.
Then something miraculous happened.
Slowly, Jesse transformed from a werewolf back into human. His snout shrank. Hair disappeared. Claws turned back into fingers. Jesse snorted like a baby and sucked his thumb, sleeping peacefully.
Sookie couldn’t believe her eyes. “W-what happen?”
Ethan wiped his punctured arm and the bleeding stopped immediately. “My guess is, Cain had perfected the Alpha Strain after all, but he failed to make the effective antidote.”
“Cain isn’t a pureblood direwolf,” added Grayson.
“What does that means?” asked Sookie. “Is my brother going to be okay?”
Ethan crouched next to her. “I suppose, yeah. I have a feeling the recovery won’t be a cakewalk but Jesse is a fighter. Your brother is going to be okay.”
Thank God. Sookie couldn’t hold back her tears. She hid her face on Ethan’s arm and cried her head off.
Epilogue
Seven Months Later…
“You wasted unnecessary movement, Jesse. In a real fight, you don’t fight fancy. You use every opportunity, every tool at your disposal to your advantage. Even a little thing can be the difference between life and death.” Ethan offered his hand to Jesse to get up. The two of them had been sparring in the Lunar Manor inner courtyard since three in the afternoon. Both Ethan and Jesse had stripped to their boxers even though the ground was still covered in light snow. Both of them sweated from head to toe. Their skin glistened in afternoon sun. Jesse took his hand and they were at each other again. Jesse was Ethan’s pupil now and he taught him martial arts.
After Jesse recovered from the Alpha Strain virus, Ethan had taken his brother-in-law under his wing. It turned out Jesse adored Ethan. Sookie suspected that Jesse found the father figure in Ethan that he desperately needed. And Ethan was quite happy to have adopted the impressionable teen-ager as the younger brother he never had.
Watching the two most important people in her life bonding over martial arts made Sookie all warm and happy.
Jesse adapted to his life as a werewolf. He still had difficulties with his transformation. He couldn’t control it properly and Sookie knew even if Jesse didn’t want to admit it, the transformation itself was an excruciating experience for him. B
ut luckily, Jesse was a happy kid. He took it in stride and smiled, not once complaining about it.
He had changed drastically ever since the accident. He became more mature, no longer stuck his nose where it didn’t belong. He studied and he helped around the manor without Sookie having to beg or yell at him to do it. He also kept his room tidy. Gasp! Apparently, Jesse remembered his incarceration in the dungeon of the factory. Well, mostly. He battled constantly with himself over compulsions of rage and hunger. He couldn’t control what he did. It was as if someone had taken over his body and he was forced to watch from the backseat.