Chapter Sixteen

Nelson

A few months had passed since I'd arrived in the Enchanted Forest. At least, it felt like that much time had passed. Though our days and nights did not coincide with the outer-world. When I wasn't helping Walter and Lonnie with their young ones—Lonnie already having birthed a litter of two—I worked with Marcel as a weaver, making baskets and thatched roofs for the community. When Holden and I had time off together, we made love as much as possible. He had me orgasming so much I felt like I never had a chance to come down from the high of being with him.

Not until I remembered I'd yet to get pregnant. Walter and Lonnie told me they both felt the transformation happen in their body as they suddenly had a womb to carry their mate's children. Yet, I felt nothing. Other than the ability to produce slick, my body hadn't changed at all. I worried my bond with Holden wasn't strong enough, or that this world was simply rejecting me. After all, my mate mark looked more like a bruise than the evident bites on the necks of my fellow outer-worlders.

Holden never mentioned his disappointment, only made me feel like I was the most special person in his world. However, I could see it in the passing glances of the others in the village, especially since the last outer-worlder who'd arrived demanded to return only hours later. He'd refused to be tied down to a mate, and in no way did he want to change his body for anyone. Ahmed had been shocked by his response, sure the man would have taken to the Enchanted Forest differently.

As I transversed the steps from Banir and Lonnie's home, exhausted from chasing kids around and simply wanting to curl up in my blankets, I worried I was the problem. In my world, there were women who weren't able to get pregnant, and some of them tried in vitro fertilization to have a baby. The Enchanted Forest didn't have that technology. I had to face the facts. Maybe I wasn't receptive to their magic.

I had just reached the ground when a sharp pain shot down my spine. If weapons existed in the Enchanted Forest, I would have thought someone had shot me. Another slice of agony took hold, this time across my abdomen. My legs buckled. On my hands and knees, my head pounded. My vision blurred. Bile rose to my throat, and I had no strength to hold it in.

Voices echoed around me, but I couldn't make out a single one. I fell to my side, landing in a pile of my vomit, but I could do nothing to stop myself before I blacked out.

When I came to, I opened my eyes to the worried faces of Holden and Rauh. Somehow, I had been stripped, cleaned, and carried to my sleeping pod. I no longer felt like I would hurl, but sweat beaded across every portion of my skin.

Then I felt another pain across my stomach. I clutched my belly with a groan and turned onto my side.

"What's wrong with him?"

I heard the panic in my mate's voice as he spoke to the healer. I wanted to know, too, especially if it led to death. There weren't many outer-worlders in the Enchanted Forest, and Rauh was never trained in our physiology. He only knew magic to heal. But if some outer-world disease plagued me, I would never find treatment in the forest.

Holden

I held Nelson's hand as the healer used cold cloths infused with peppermint oil on my mate's forehead and neck to help reduce his fever and make him feel better. Though nothing seemed to work, my mate going in and out of consciousness as drops of water continued to bead up on his chest and arms no matter how many times I wiped them away.

"I think his body is rejecting the magic." Rauh placed two fingers on Nelson's neck, where my mate mark resided. "His heart rate is elevated and erratic."

"What can I do for him?" I did not want Nelson to suffer, yearned for him to get better. I would do anything for him.

"If he was pregnant, I would say he's in the process of giving birth." Rauh rubbed my mate's back. "But since he's shown no signs of pregnancy, I think he might have to return to his world. If he stays, the magic might end his life."

My heart broke at that prognosis. I didn't want to lose my mate in either way. I loved him. I wanted to be with him forever. "There must be something else we can try. He's been here for ten nothams. If he is rejecting the magic, wouldn't he have shown signs before now?"

The healer's faced winced as he shrugged. "I don't know."

Though I understood Rauh's answer, him having experience with only two other outer-worlders, it held no comfort or satisfaction. "Is there anything Ahmed could bring back from the outer-world that would help him? Anything at all?"

The healer switched out the cold cloth before opening Nelson's eyelids and his mouth for reasons I didn't understand. "I have to know what is wrong with him before I can properly treat him. So, maybe a text of outer-worlder diagnosis? That is, if I could even read the outer-world language."

My heart ripped a little more. I did not want to have to say goodbye to Nelson in any way. He'd wished his way into my life, and I'd wished for him only moments before he'd arrived. We were meant to be together. I had to do something to keep it that way.

"Let me go summon Ahmed. He lives among the outer-worlders. Maybe he can tell us something or get Nelson what he needs." I couldn't sit there and watch Nelson suffer. While I wanted to remain by his side, I would never forgive myself if I lost him but did nothing to stop it.