— Kaden —

I was sitting next to Elaeya’s bed. Her skin tone was a little better, and it was back to its creamy white instead of the previous corpse grey complexion of the last few days. In less than fifteen hours the blight was all gone, the wounds were closing. And though the wizard wasn’t sure if the wound would scar or not—as wounds by Others were a lot worse than your average cuts-when the doctor checked her this morning, he did confirm that if there would be scarring, it would be kept to a minimum. All the bruises that she had sustained from the attack were gone and it seemed her healing speed was reaching the norm for a werewolf.

I’m going to have to give Mishka a raise.

Bringing that wizard in was the best thing that could have been done.

After he treated my hand and finished up, he had been so exhausted that the guy could barely walk and Mishka had to half carry him to the packhouse. He’d been sleeping since.

Mishka said the wizard could also ward the place against any future Other incursions. So the moment he’s up, we’re going to plan for this. Actually, there are a lot of things that could be explored and I will have to have to talk with him later about it.

I’ve had a few practitioners around Blakeden and I do have a trio of woodswitches who lives at the bottom of the mountain. I’ve consulted them more than once. But yesterday has taught me that there are aspects of magic I’ve been neglecting for far too long. Werewolves can be hell on wheels in a fight, especially with a pack. But we are limited in so many other ways. The supernatural world is vast and complex and Blakemore has been too involved in so many ways, not to plan accordingly.

Some things will have to change.

Elaeya stirred.

The wizard warned me that she would be excessively tired for a few days to a week and to let her sleep, she needed it to heal.

Her eyes fluttered and she looked around a little confused.

“Hey there,” I said as I got closer to her bed.

“Mmmm,” she said feebly.

I picked a water bottle that was by the side table. “Are you up for a drink?”

“Mmm,” she acquiesced.

I tried not to be overly worried by the fact she wasn’t talking yet. I’ve been enough time in hospital beds myself—healing from injuries—to know the first waking in the aftermath is pretty jarring.

Regardless, I still felt my gut twist uncomfortably.

“Can you handle this?” I asked her as I brought the squirt bottle to her lips. The nurses had left a cup of water with the little sponge on a stick in case she had problems drinking. We didn’t know the extend of the internal damage to her throat. Swallowing could be possibly really painful.

She nodded to me the slightest and I gave her a little bit, let her swallow tentatively and then take another, and another.

I could see her eyes becoming more awake. After a few times, she reached for the bottle to continue herself.

All good signs.

“How long was I out?” she finally asked me. Her voice was a little hoarse and fragile, but it was a great improvement from the last time I heard her talk.

“A couple of days,” I said. “You woke a few times but only briefly.”

I moved a few strands of hair that was plastered on her forehead.

“How are you feeling?” I asked.

“I’ve been better,” she admitted with a sad smile. “But okay, I think.” She took a long inspiration then let it out slowly, closing her eyes in the process. “Getting there.” She looked at me. “You don’t look so good.”

“I haven’t slept much in a while,” I admitted.

She slipped her hand from under the covers and pressed it against my cheek gently.

“You should take better care of yourself,” she told me.

I leaned into her touch.

“I will,” I promised.

She blinked a few times.

“I missed my parents’ calls,” she said suddenly concerned. “They will be very worried.”

“I talked to them,” I said taking her hand in between mines.

She nodded. “They will come, you know. They just need a bit of time. Maybe a month, maybe three, but ultimately, they will come.”

I smiled. “They are,” I told her. “Your mother had some sort of dream and she called thinking you had been injured. When I said you had, they said they were coming, so I organized transportation for them.”

She nodded, unsurprised. “When?”

“Not too long. They had to cross the border so that we could pick them up in a country where it would be easier for me to deal with the fact that they have no papers. But I sent a team to make sure nothing bad happens.”

She nodded. “Thank you.”

I kissed each of her fingers one by one on the hand I was still holding.

She gave me a simper.

We had breakfast not long after. She was able to sit upright, which was very encouraging. She yawned soon after we ate and I helped her settle for bed once more. I drew the thicker, light blocking curtains over the windows, yawning too.

“You need to sleep too,” she told me.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to for a while,” I said.

She scooted a little aside on her hospital bed. That had me grinning.

“That his gonna be tight,” I said.

She frowned looking down at the bed.

“But we can manage,” I said sitting next to her.

I helped her move to her side which gave me a little more space to cuddle behind her. I put one arm under her head and the other around her waist, and it wasn’t long after that, that we both fell asleep.

* * * * *

I stirred as I felt something flutter on my arm.

I blinked my eyes blearily in confusion.

My mother was next to the bed and was putting blankets on top of Elaeya and me—as I’d been sleeping on top of hers.

“Hey, I didn’t want to wake you,” she muttered.

I grunted.

“Just go back to sleep.”

It felt like a great idea, actually.

But my phone thought differently as it rang.

My mother extended her hand. “Give me that.”

“I can take it,” I grumble.

“You sleep,” she ordered me. “I can handle whatever this is.”

I decided against arguing, so I just took my cell from my back pocket and slipped it to my mother without looking at the screen.

She spotted Elaeya’s phone on the side table and took it too, then slipped out. So I just dropped my head back down and let Elaeya scent lull me back to sleep.

* * * * *

I woke up again after what felt like too little time, only the light had changed.

Someone lit one of the lamps in the lounge section, but the rest of the room was bathed in the obscurity of night.

I raised my head blearily and rubbed at my eyes with my thumb and forefinger.

There were people walking in the room.

My father was the one who had turned on the lamp, my mother was at the door, and there were people behind her.

She shushed at me pointing at Elaeya.

I nodded.

A striking woman with long white hair walked in after her. Her skin was as pale as Elaeya’s, but her eyes were a paler shade of pink. She looked very intently at us.

Maybe that was not the best position to meet the in-laws.

Granted, I had no idea they were here—given that I didn’t have my phone.

I tried to get up without waking Elaeya. My Mom rushed trying to stop me altogether.

“You can sleep more,” she whispered.

“I’m not going to sleep now,” I said equally quietly.

Elaeya’s mother came closer to look at her daughter, and behind her was a man, tall, black hair, with a darker skin tone that could be from any continent. And he was in a wheelchair, but that was not the most noticeable thing about him.

It was the scars. He was covered in them.

Some were faint, whereas others were deep keloid. They were on his arms, neck and face and probably covered the rest of his body too. Elaeya had told me what had happened to him, but seeing it made it feel far more brutal than anything I imagined.

I slipped my arm gently from under Elaeya’s head.

“You’ve barely slept at all,” my mother complained.

“I’m fine,” I said.

I noticed in the wan light than her mother also had scars of her own. They were mostly faint white lines more apparent when the light hit sideways, reflecting it differently than the rest of her skin.

I slowly got up, trying to make a better first impression.

I was painfully aware that her parent had not approved of me from the get go, especially her mother. And now that they saw her again, she had been seriously injured while in my care. I was not pleading my case very well and I needed everything I could get.

I nodded at them and moved to the lounge area, giving them some alone time with their daughter.

My parents joined me.

“How long have they been here?” I asked them. It was pointless to try to hide that conversation, their hearing was probably as good as mine and they would hear everything regardless.

“A few hours,” said my mother.

“You could have told me sooner.”

“You need sleep too. Everything was under control.”

“Have the accommodations—?” I began.

“They’ve settled, took a quick shower and changed clothes. I had one of the drawing rooms on the first floor of the packhouse converted to a bedroom to accommodate for the wheelchair, but they didn’t want to wait too much before coming here.”

I nodded. I didn’t know about the wheelchair, so I didn’t plan for it, but everything seemed dealt with.

I felt Elaeya stir before I heard her. I turned to look while my mother took her phone out.

It took Elaeya maybe a few seconds to wake and sort out who were in front of her. They exchanged a few words quickly followed by hugs.

A few minutes later someone knocked on the door.

My mother told us to get a few lights on and went to answer. A few carts of food were pulled in by hospital staff.

“Isn’t it a little early for steak?” asked my father, referring to Elaeya’s health.

“I’m okay,” she said now sitting on the side of her bed.

It was clearly my mother’s plan, and within a few minutes they were all on chairs near Elaeya’s bed eating on the hospital rolling tables.

I sat next to her on the bed, on the same small table.

There was some awkwardness, but my mother declared herself entertainer of the evening and did stunningly, as usual.

After our dinner, both our father stroke a conversation and got going for a while. Elaeya’s mother was a bit more awkward, but always polite.

Apparently the doctor had informed my mother that Elaeya was clear to go home, so we packed her things when she started yawning.

I took her in my arms. She mumbled a, “I can walk”, at the same time she laid her head on my chest and closed her eyes. She was asleep before we reached my car.

My parents took hers to the packhouse, and I drove us to our home.