The Paranormal Side

Chapter 24

                                                          **(Taylor's POV)**

Brian was restless, though I had no room to talk. I paced the length of the cellar repeatedly, the silence too much. What if something went wrong? What if Autumn was already dead? What if they couldn't beat Jeremiah's people?

So many what ifs.

And Zach. Oh, god. When I think of him, my insides twist up into a giant ball of worry, and my pacing increases, the sound of my shoes slapping the concrete nerve-wracking. What if something happens to him?

Brian stared at the floor, his thoughts clearly on one person, and one person only. Katie. He kept wrapping and unwrapping his chains around his arms, the look on his face so lost and worried that it made my heart hurt. It must be even worse for him, with the bond.

We continued like that, my pacing and his chain-wrapping, until we heard it. The sounds of battle. The...

Screams.

I froze mid-pace, and Brian's head snapped up, his eyes glowing a dark gold. A low growl rose in his chest, and I let my breath out in quick gasps. I looked at Brian, and he stared back at me, the fear for Katie in his eyes reflecting my fear for Zach.

"Taylor," Brian said, his voice pleading. I knew what he was asking. 

"No. You know I can't, Brian," I whisper, begging him with my eyes not to ask again. He wouldn't let up though; the sounds of battle and his oncoming change was raging through his blood. 

In fact, I was surprised he hadn't changed already. What, with the full moon and all. In the back of my mind I wondered if he would slip out of his chains when he changed, and if Liam really thought about that, and if not then how stupid he was. 

As if he could read my mind, Brian shook his head, his ears looking a little wolfish. "No," he said in a low voice. "The chains will morph with my change. They'll still hold me."

I nodded, but his voice sounded strange. Almost...pained. He's holding back the change, I realized. He doesn't want to scare me.

"Does it...hurt?" I asked, not meeting his eyes. He was silent for a moment, and that was worse, because from the distance we could still hear the sounds of the battle, and it made me want to vomit.

"Yes," he said, clearly deciding not to lie to me. It gave me an odd relief that he wasn't holding back the truth from me. Sometimes it felt like all that I was given from everyone was lies.

"You can...change. The chains will hold," I said, meeting his eyes and not flinching. His mouth parted slightly in surprise, but he quickly closed it, his face contorting with pain as a shudder passed through him.

"No. No, I may lose control, and I don't want you to see that. It's not a pretty thing," he muttered, looking at the floor. The self-hatred in his voice was tangible, and it caused a twinge of pity in my stomach for him.

"You think any of this is pretty? Everything that has happened since Katie has became a which has been ugly. Disgusting," I said, and he flinched as if my words were physical blows. "But it's also amazing. And yeah, trust me, I know that what is going on out there," I waved a hand vaguely toward the door of the cellar, "is not amazing, but without magic, Katie would be dead. Hell, we'd probably all be dead. And what you are, Brian? It's magic, and it can be just as good as it is bad, maybe more."

Brian was silent. He wasn't looking at me. He had collapsed against his chains sometime during my little speech, and the only sign that he was even alive was his shoulders heaving with his labored breath as he struggled to keep the change at bay.