Chapter 4

EMMA - Present

I groan as I open my eyes, the whiteness of the room making it hard for my sight to focus.

Sensing feeble sparks running from my hand along my arm, I squirm in my bed and turn my head to look down at my body.

“Hey,” Kai looks at me with a worried expression, leaning in to get into my line of sight and his smile widens. “Mate.”

Every cell in my body revolts as I smile back, every muscle hurting in my body, making me nearly regret the movement.

If he wasn’t so damned gorgeous.

“Hey, mate,” I say, my voice coming out as a raspy whisper.

“Do you want something to drink? I’ll get you something?” he asks, already wanting to get up.

Squeezing his hand, I shake my head. “No, please. Don’t go.”

His touch is the only comfortable sensation I feel at the moment.

Otherwise, I just feel pain.

He lays his hand on mine and squeezes it encouragingly. “Please, babe. I’ll fetch something and be right back. It won’t take long. Promised.”

I swallow a squeal at his words and nod, letting go of him.

Goddess, he called me babe.

As he gets up, I try to move and get up, but I fail miserably. As soon as I move a bit, a horrendous pain ripples through me and I touch my side automatically, finding that I have been bandaged.

My arm is also wrapped into dressings, and I inhale through my teeth as I lift my blanket to see that my hip is all wrapped into the white medical fabric as well.

The door opens and closes, making me look up to Kai standing there with a crestfallen expression on his face.

“What… What happened?” I ask with the last strength I seem to have in my body.

He sighs, starting to walk again. “You fainted. The doctor said that the reawakening of your wolf was too much for your body. They have put her to sleep for a bit, so she can come up slower, and without all the emotions of meeting her mates. That’s why she is not helping you heal. How is it with the pain? Should I call for someone?”

I let my shoulders slump, looking at him distraught. “Why are you talking around it? What are you hiding from me?”

He takes another deep breath, and I can see the pain flashing in his eyes as he gather all his courage to tell me the truth, even if he knows that it will break my heart.

“Ace was faster… As he saw you fall,” he answers, and I lower my head, making him take another step toward me. “It was out of instinct. He was inconsolable. I guess that he just didn’t think.”

I shake my head as he opens the water bottle. “How bad is it?”

“Please drink first. I’ll call for a doctor right away,” he says, lifting the bottle of water to tell me I should drink.

I tilt my head, my body shivering at the pain pulsating through me. “I’ll drink if you tell me!”

He looks at me like a puppy left in the rain, studying my face as he finally gives up, taking a deep breath.

“You have third-degree burns on your arm, your right side, your back, and your hips. As he didn’t want to let go of you immediately to not let you fall, the fire expanded further than just where he directly touched you,” he explains cautiously, and I look at him shocked, causing him to lift his hands. “But don’t worry. The doctors said that as soon as they bring your wolf back, she will heal you properly, and not even faint scars will be left behind.”

I feel my body going completely numb, my heart breaking into pieces as he holds his bottle towards me once again. “Would you please drink something now? Please!”

Nodding, I let him help me to sit up, my bad conscious nagging at me as he must know that the tears running down my face aren’t because of my pain.

He supports me gently, the sparks diminishing the excruciating pain as he helps me drink. The water flows down my aching throat, easing it with every gulp.

“Don’t worry, my Love. We will find a solution to that as well.”

***

“Whenever you feel ready, Ms. Silvester,” the doctor says and I nod.

I try to blend out the doctors standing around me as if I was some experiment about to be woken up to see if it worked out.

One of the doctors pierces the tube running into my wrist with a syringe, injecting a bluish serum.

I take a deep breath and close my eyes as I feel the liquid finally reaching my veins, entering my blood circle with a burning sensation.

Settling my gaze on Kai, I concentrate on his gorgeous face, even if it's distorted in a worried frown.

My heart starts racing, though I can’t actually say if it’s the fluid or my anxiety.

Taking a deep breath, I close my eyes while the burning sensation expands in my body, circling through it with the bloodstream.

I’m just about to ask what I should look out for as I feel something stir in me, the stinging and burning getting replaced by a pleasant sensation. I feel like I’m floating, the pain diminishing and letting me enjoy the sizzling expanding under my skin.

Finding myself in a dimly lit room lined up with dark tiles, I notice that I’m lying in some sort of pool.

But I’m not feeling cold, nor do I feel like the wetness is attacking my skin. The thought that I should be panicking passes my mind, and still, I can’t seem to bring myself to it as I stare at the ceiling.

I realize that the sizzling is coming from the water that with every touch, sends impulses through my skin, pushing the pain back another bit.

“Hello, Emma,” a gentle voice speaks and I lift my head, to see a white wolf standing in front of me.

In the useless attempt to see her better, I fight to sit up more but fail for the most obvious reasons.

“Are you my wolf?” I ask as I regain my initial position, and save myself from drowning.

I feel excited and scared at the same time, glad that everyone was right, and I'm not wolfless because of what I had to go through.

I couldn’t get a very good look at her, but I noticed that she has a swirl going up her leg, and Aunty Artemisia’s words resounded in my head.

‘We seem to have the same type of wolf anyway.’

“Please,” my wolf says calmly. “I’m healing you. You have to keep still.”

Stiffening, I try to keep still and already plan to talk to her again, as a crowd gasping in unison makes me open my eyes.

I look around, seeing that my body is enveloped in a blue gleam, and a dreadful feeling expands in my chest.

Just as my panic is about to settling in and I lift my gaze to look at Kai, I feel the pain disappear. An uncomfortable tugging at my skin makes my breath hitch in my throat before I’m finally able to take the first deep breath since I woke up without feeling like I’m getting ripped apart.

One of the doctors pushes his glasses back up his nose, inspecting my frame flabbergasted. “This is astonishing. For such a newly resurfaced wolf.”

He reaches out to touch my skin, but Kai’s growl makes him halt mid-air. “Don’t you dare to touch my mate!”

“Sorry,” the doctor says lowly as he lowers his hand. My heart flips in my chest, finally being able to beat normally as I relax more and more as my wolf fully heals me.

With a deep sigh, I sink back into my bed, my muscles slackening in relief.

‘Are you my wolf?’ I ask again, but she refuses to answer me once again.

‘Let’s keep our interactions to the minimum until we get out of here.’

I inhale sharply, closing my eyes to act like I passed out again. Kai steps next to me, holding my hand, and starts caressing my head while whispering sweet words of encouragement to me.

Squeezing his hand feebly, I signal him that I’m still present and he chuckles lowly, obviously relieved about the fact that I’m feeling well.

“They are gone, but keep relaxing. Try to get some sleep. I’ll talk to your doctor. Maybe we can get back home,” he says in a whisper, pressing a kiss on my forehead before walking out.

As soon as he is gone, I turn around, happy about finally being able to move without any pain.

“This is crazy,” I breathe out, closing my eyes.

Relaxing fully, I hug my blanket closer, letting the repetitive beeping of the machines and the purring of my wolf lull me to sleep.