I woke with a sore throat, my head fuzzy, and my eyelids were heavy when I tried to open my eyelids for more than a second.
My room came into view, and I scrambled to remember how I had gotten here but had nothing.
Was it all a dream?
“Simone,” a soft, thundering voice skittered over me and lit me up from within. “You’re awake.”
I nodded or thought I did, my eyes drifting shut.
I forced them open. I craved his face. I needed him to tell me it was real. His beautiful dark features came in and out of view.
“You lose a lot of blood, my love.” A cool hand pressed against my forehead and then my cheek. I tried to turn toward it.
“I called the pack doctor; they gave you something to help you sleep so your wolf could heal you after you were treated,” he explained.
“How long?” I croaked.
“Only a few hours,” he explained. That filled me with relief. “Everything is okay. It's all being taken care of. Go back to sleep.”
I believed him. I had no option but to believe him, but I trusted him implicitly.
I let myself sink back into the warm abyss, grasping for his hand before I drifted away from reality.
___
The next time I woke, it was darker outside; gray overtook the afternoon sky. Dread sunk in cold and heavy. I wanted to be there, to control what was being said and done after the challenge, but instead, I was stuck here. I knew Ezra was more than capable of handling it, maybe even more so than I, but I was desperate to be in control of the narrative.
I tried to reach out to Aksala, but she was silent.
I knew she must be working hard to heal my leg. I tried to move it, and a dull pain shot through my body. It wasn’t half as bad as I thought it would be. I wondered when I could stand. I hoped nothing was too wrong with me, but I was fairly certain there would be more lingering pain.
My throat felt both raw and thick. I shifted up in bed, searching for water I hoped was in arms reach.
A dark figure came from the shadows, and my heart stopped for a moment, but it went back to normal when I realized it wasn’t him.
“Can I get you something?” A tall man with dark red hair and a short beard stood eerily still; his stillness reminded me of Ezra.
“Water,” I croaked.
He disappeared into the bathroom and came back with a full glass. He helped lift it to my lips and gently tilted it down my throat. I was about to protest, but my body was aching, I was grateful for the help.
“Thank you.”
The mad nodded and retreated to the shadows. “I’m Slater,” he said. “One of Ezra’s friends.”
“One of his brothers,” I corrected.
A pause. “Yes.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, “Thank you for being here.”
“We’re here for him. And now for you.”
The implication of that settled over me in a comforting warmth.
He spoke again. “Thank you.” I searched the darkness, his face gave nothing away, but I thought I saw his adams apple bob a few times before he spoke again. “You have changed him more than you know. Helped him into the person he was supposed to be.”
I tried to grab at words to accurately respond to what he said but the sleepiness pulled me under.
______
When I woke again, I felt foggy, but there was no pain, even lingering. The night sky beyond the open window haunted me.
An entire day was wasted.
Each of the minutes I lay here were minutes that threatened to unravel the precarious hold I had on this place.
“Hungry?” his voice rumbled from beside me.
I jumped, my hand to my throat.
“Goddess, I wasn’t going to mark you in your sleep,” he chuckled, and the adrenaline moved from my heart to between my thighs.
“Was that a joke?” My voice was hoarse and I hoped he thought it was because I had been asleep for hours and not about how those words affected me.
He shrugged slightly, the hard planes of his face flickering in the firelight. “Slightly.” He turned to me, his eyes darting over my face and down to the blanket covering me as if he could see through it. The blanket was tucked in neatly around me. I knew he must have done it, and it made my heart tighten.
“How do you feel?” he asked slowly.
We’re healed - Aksala rasped, and I jolted.
Joy and relief flooded me.
I’m going to rest now. Well done, human - she said with tired pride.
Thank you, Askala.
Mhm.
I assessed my body. I was stiff and couldn’t move too much. I was guessing due to the medication, but besides that, there was no trace of pain.
“Good, actually,” I told him the truth. “A bit out of it still.”
He nodded. “You were healing faster than I had ever seen.”
I thought that over. “I don’t understand why I have heightened senses in human form, but maybe that was an added bonus.”
“Did your parents-” He stopped. “Sorry,” he murmured.
“It’s fine.” I tried to smile as I opened the door to the memories I had spent years locking away. “No,” I finally replied, “They didn’t mention it to me if they had something extra. I don’t know if it could be related to the night; we couldn’t shift, so they didn’t tell me yet, though. I was supposed to find all that out when I got my wolf.” I shuddered; the room suddenly felt very cold.
“Maybe it was the Goddess feeling bad for the last heir of an unbroken line that she felt she needed to help me a little,” I said dryly.
“Perhaps,” Ezra responded, but I knew he didn’t believe it. “Your wolf,” he said. “When you shifted, I know you weren’t probably paying attention.” He winced at the memory.
“Not particularly,” I responded; the reminder of that sharp, raw pain rang through me.
“When you shifted, it was unlike anything I had felt before.”