“Why?” she asks.
“They released me when they had Kyle. That was always their plan,” Toshi says.
“So they never wanted to take me?” she asks.
“I watched, actually.”
“You what?” she asks. “Why didn't you do something!?”
“I couldn't. I was chained in lead, Clarissa. Trust me, if I could’ve done something, I would’ve.”
“Don’t be upset with him.”
She whips her head over to me, and my eyes bore into hers. I know she’s angry and confused. We all are. But Toshi has also suffered a tremendous fate at the hands of the Council, and we’re all wartorn and exhausted.
And I have a feeling we will no longer be welcome within the village.
“What happened?” Clarissa asks.
Toshi looks at me with uncertainty before Clarissa walks in front of me.
“Tell me, Toshi. Please.”
“He put up a tremendous fight,” Toshi says. “But once they put those lead chains around him, he faltered. Was unsure of himself at that point. I think he saw me.”
“What do you mean?” Clarissa asks.
“When they were putting him in chains, I think he saw me. At least, that’s what I tell myself. They were taking him as they were releasing me, and I think he saw that. He saw the trade-off that was being made.”
“You think he let it happen,” Vlad growls.
“I think Kyle’s very compassionate, and no serum can take that from him. I think—”
Clarissa’s hanging on Toshi’s every word, and it breaks my heart.
“I think he did, yes,” Toshi says. “I think he saw the trade for what it was and willingly went to let me go free.”
“We have to go find him,” Clarissa says.
“We can’t,” Theo says. “We’re sorely outnumbered.”
“You guys made me a promise!” Clarissa howls.
“And Kyle found us. But then, Kyle made a choice. You know his story,” I say. “He ripped the bars away from a lead cage. He could have easily gotten out of those chains. But he didn’t. He went so we could have Toshi back. Going after him and putting ourselves in harm’s way would be like spitting in the face of his sacrifice.”
“Why does Kyle have to be the one to be sacrificed?” Clarissa whines. “Why is it always him?”
She falls into the snow, and I can see tears running down her cheeks. She slowly morphs back into her human form, and I can see her cradling her pregnant stomach. She cries into the cold snow, and I walk over to her, nestling beside her and warming her with my fur. I hear her sniffling. Feel her shivering. Theo blankets himself over her to get her to feel safe. Comforted. Covered in her nakedness.
I look up at him and nod my thanks as Toshi and Vlad settle around her exposed skin. Nothing but her head is sticking out from all of our fur, and I can feel it. The fetus moving around inside her stomach. The small child she’s growing within her body. I feel drawn to it. I feel my body magnetized. Entranced. I lay my head across her stomach and close my eyes, listening as Clarissa cries the rest of her emotions onto the ground.
Then, a small voice echoes off the corners of my mind.
“Hello.”
My eyes snap open, and I look over at Clarissa’s face. Red with anger and stained with tears, but it doesn’t appear to me that she heard the voice. My eyes turn down to her stomach, and I nuzzle my nose across it, feeling the movement underneath her skin.
Can it be?