Chapter 76
Chapter 76
Avalynn POV
My eyes were not open but everything ached inside and outside of my body and I could tell that the lights were way too bright. My stomach felt tight and my head pounded. Did I hit my head? I felt my leg twitch and it felt like something was tickling my feet. I moved one of my legs and could hear celebrations in the background. It sounded so far away. Was that Everest I heard? It had to have been him.
"Charlotte? Are you there?" I called to my beast.
It felt like she was trying to reach me. I could feel her. I tried to recall what happened but I could not remember anything. The last thing I remember was someone who looked and sounded like Dexter was not him and then suddenly Dexter was next to me.
As I lay there and was trying to force myself awake when a warm feeling rushed through me. It made me feel as if I was on a warm cloud, floating through the air.
I heard him again. I felt tired and didn't want to respond or open my eyes. I just wanted to sleep. I still felt warm inside. Why was I so tired? Was I not sleeping?
"Open your eyes." I heard Everest calling me back. I turned my head, it felt heavy and I swore I felt my brain bounce from one side of my skull to the other. Ugh.
"Come on, babe, open your eyes. I see that you can hear me. Come back to me. Yes, follow my voice. Open your eyes." His voice sounded like velvet.
There he was again, but this time I felt Charlotte. She was clawing at the surface. I could feel her. She was so close, almost to me.
"Charlotte? Are you there?" I paused and could feel her. She was there but she wasn't saying anything. "Charlotte? Please, help me."
"I am here." She seemed like she was panting and, just like that, we were reconnected with our mate. It was like all of the tethers were reconnected and I could feel him again. His emotions, his thoughts, he was scared, worried, and excited to see my movements..
My eyes snapped open and I closed them immediately. "The light is so bright," I said in a raspy whisper. My mouth was also very dry. "Water, please." I made smacking sounds with my mouth.
"Oh! Oh! Okay, hold on my love." I heard Everest say in an excited yet nervous voice. I heard him shuffle around and the door open and then close.
"She is awake! She is awake!" He yelled happily before he rushed back into the room.
"Here babe, I have a cup of water and a straw for you." He placed the straw to my lips.
My lips wrapped around the straw as I took a sip. It was so very refreshing as the water trickled down my throat. The cold feeling from the water settled into my empty stomach. I realized I was hungry, but I knew water would have to do for now.
The lights dimmed and I opened up my eyes. I looked up and saw Everest looking down at me with a smile on his face.
"I am so happy you're awake." He told me.
I looked around the room and saw it was dark outside. "What time is it?"
He looked at the watch on his arm. "It is a little after two in the morning."
I went to move and sit up and the tape pulled at my stomach. My hand instinctively went to settle on the bandage and I looked up at Everest. His smile shifted to sadness as he shook his head at me.
"Please, no. I didn't." I felt tears sting the back of my eyes. I felt Charlottes sadness. It can not be true, please do not let it be true. I told myself, even though I knew the truth deep down. I did not want to accept the truth.
"It's.. I.. They tried their best, my love. The damage was just it was so bad." He stuttered his words and held my hand up to his mouth, kissing it.
"Say it. Please. You need to tell me the truth. Please tell me the truth or else I will not believe that it is real! I will not believe that all of this happened. It feels like a nightmare!" I felt panic, sadness, and rage building inside.
"I am sorry, my love. The pup is gone, the silver in the blade caused too much damage." He started and I felt the tears break the barrier and slide down my cheeks. "Also, you should know that they had to remove an ovary and take one of your fallopian tubes." He moved to my bed and held me in his arms as I laid there crying he continued to speak softly to me "It will be hard to have another pup, but not impossible. We will have our own pups someday, when we are ready again. Whenever the Moon Goddess blesses us again."
His hand went under my chin and looked down at me. He also had tears falling down his cheeks as my arms wrapped around him, holding onto him. We sat like that for a while, just holding one another.
No one came into our room. No one bothered us as we were mourning the loss of our pup. Everest must have commanded them to stay out of the room and to give us time together. About twenty minutes, maybe a little more, passed before Everest shifted to move out of bed. I reluctantly let go of
him and gazed up at him, watching his movements. I knew my eyes were bloodshot from the way they felt.
"They need to do a few tests on you, my love. Make sure you are going to be okay." He leaned down and placed a long gentle kiss on my mouth. "I will be here with you throughout the entire process." He smiled down at me.
"Okay. Please do not leave me." I told him, reaching for him. He took my hand in his own and I felt myself calm almost instantly. I did not want to be alone. I don't know if I would be able to hold it all together without him by my side, without his support, and without his touch. The mate bond helped so much and I am so thankful for the bond at this current moment. I am depending on him so much right now. He was my strength, he was my person to lean on. He made things better, the pain wasn't as painful and the hurt didn't seem to cut as deep as it would if he wasn't there.
"I won't, I promise." He looked up as the doctor approached the bed, his thumb rubbing my finger softly.
"I am just going to check your bandage and take a look at how your wound is healing." He told me and I nodded my head as he lifted my gown up to the wound. As he lifted my gown he replaced it with the blankets respectfully. He peeled back the bandage and made some approval noises with his mouth. He looked up at me. "Can you feel your Lycan?"
"I can, yes." I nodded my head.
"Good, good. That means your wound should be healed by tomorrow afternoon. So two days. How is your pain? Any discomfort? Any pain?" He was scribbling his notes down on his clipboard.
"Well, now that you mention it, my headache is gone. My muscles feel sore and the wound where I was impaled is a bit tender and it hurts a bit. Nothing too painful though, I can handle that pain." I told him truthfully.
"That is to be expected. You had pure silver in you. It will be fine soon. Are you aware of the extensive damage?" He looked at me and his eyes were saddened. I knew what he was talking about as he made a side glance at Everest.
"Yes, I am well aware." I held back the tears that were stinging my eyes.
"My Queen, I am so very sorry. We did everything we could but it was too late. I am so sorry to you both for your loss." He dropped his head low. I could read that he blamed himself, even though there was nothing he could have done.
"It is not your fault. I do not blame you." I told him and leaned over and placed a hand on his, reassuring him.
"I would like to tell you, just as I told King Everest, my professional opinion. It is not impossible for you to carry a pup, it will just be much more difficult to conceive. If and when you do become pregnant, I will place you on something like a bed rest. No shifting, no strenuous workouts, no heavy lifting, and no fighting." He looked at me seriously.
"Okay, I understand." I nodded my head.
"I will make sure of it, even if she ends up being strictly on bed rest, I will carry her wherever she needs to go." Everest was dead serious and I could see him doing that too, or having me carried on a chaise lounge to wherever I needed to go. How embarrassing that would be, even though I know our people would be more than happy to volunteer. Especially now, after everything has happened. In a way, I feel that we have all grown closer to one another as a group. Definitely the two territories at least.
I let out a small sigh that ended up turning into a yawn. I was becoming tired and feeling a bit on the weak side. "Thank you doctor." I said softly, turning to look up at Everest. "I am a little hungry." He nodded his head at me.
"What would you like to eat? Wait a minute, what can she eat?" He looked up at the doctor.
"She needs to start off with broth, jello, water, sprite, tea, and popsicles. Give it a few hours and we will upgrade her to normal food." He walked towards the door. "I will put an order in for her to have it brought here." He left us and I looked over at Everest.
He moved to sit at the foot of the bed. He rubbed small circles onto the top of my feet over the blanket. "I am sorry that I have failed you, again." He sighed. He was beating himself up.
"You didn't fail me." I frowned.
"I did fail you Avalynn." He looked down at his hands and I could tell he was fighting within himself internally.
"Everest-" I began and he cut me off.
"I did! Twice now! I should not let you come back in here alone. I knew Dexter was here, behind bars." He looked up and out the window.
"Exactly, he was supposed to be behind bars. Not roaming about and planning an attack. The guy who was behind bars somehow infiltrated our prisons and swapped places with Dexter. He placed some cloaking spell on him and he was able to do whatever it was he did. I don't know how he did it, what is going on, but we will get him. With that said, we will kill everyone who stands in our way. No more nice and playing by the book. I don't give a s**t if it is Brents's brother. I am over him and his s**t!" I yelled the last part. I was angry, hurt, and sad.
His brows rose and he nodded his head. "Brent has ordered his territory dead or alive, preferably the first. I also took my anger out on him. He didn't fight me back though, he understood." He sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "I am not proud of it by any means."
"Oh, my." I didn't know what to say but I did know that I understood where his rage was coming from. I would have been pretty pissed also if I were him.
A soft knock sounded and in walked a nurse with my food. Weird, but it smelled wonderful. They brought me some chicken broth and my stomach growled. I sipped it slowly then moved to my jello. Another knock sounded and in walked April, Everest's mother. She wore a small smile and she looked as elegant as ever.
She hugged Everest and myself and stood by my bed. "You have a very worried young man pacing downstairs." I smiled and knew she was speaking about Trevor.
"He can come up." I told her and she nodded and left the room.
Moments later, Trevor came bursting through the door. He bypassed Everest and came straight to the side of my bed. He stood there and looked down at me. "I am so glad that you are okay!" He looked as if he was holding back tears.
"Yes, I am going to be okay." I reassured him.
"I will kill him." He growled and Everest rested a hand on his shoulder.
"I know the feeling, Trev, but we must be smart about this. He is obviously working with some very powerful witches," Everest told him.
"Yeah." He paused and he frowned. "I guess that is smart. I still have a lot to learn. You know I was thinking of something that I want to talk to you both about." His frown deepened as he looked across the window as if he was contemplating.
"Go ahead." I told him.
"I don't really trust my Aunt. I know she would never hurt me or my brothers, but she is kind of crazy." Trevor looked back over to Everest. "I want my brothers here. Can you do that?"
"Well, I don't know. It's legal issues, you know." He shrugged.
"Oh. But, you're King though?" He asked, confused.
"That is true. Maybe we can invite them back here for dinner. Can we discuss the boys staying longer? See if they are more comfortable. Talk with your Aunt and Uncle about it, if that is what you want, Trevor." Everest spoke to him and I stifled another yawn.
"Well, Avalynn, what do you think?" Trevor looked over at me. Material © NôvelDrama.Org.
"Well, sweetie, I honestly don't think a family should be broken up. I will voice that opinion at dinner if you would like. I know your Aunt does not care for me much." I frowned.
"I think she has something to do with this." Trevor motioned at me.
"That is a serious accusation, Trevor. You have to be sure of things like that before you speak about them to anyone else," Everest warned.
"I know. It is just us in here. I hope she didn't, because that would suck. I care about you guys and you have been so kind since I lost mom and dad." He looked down at his feet. "I was really worried about you Avalynn. Really really worried. I thought I lost you too. I was so worried, can I have a hug?" His tears streamed from his eyes as I sat up in the bed and opened my arms.
Like a child, he hugged me gently. He was being careful to watch where he was hugging me. He sniffled and soon Everest moved to the other side of Trevor, giving him a hug as well. My eyes watered and I placed a soft kiss on Trevors' head.
"Everything will be okay. It will take some time, but everything will work out in the end." I told him and he stood.
"Okay. Well. I have training in a few hours. I need to take a nap." He frowned and looked back at the window. "It's late."
"If you want to miss training in the morning, I will let your trainer know. You need sleep and you need to eat." Everest told him.
Trevor nodded his head, "Thank you." He embraced him in a big hug.
"No problem, bud." Everest smiled and my heart ached.
He would make a wonderful father. My anger rose inside of me as I thought about how it had been torn away from him prematurely. My pup is gone. I would not be a mother, Everest would not be a father. I only prayed to the Moon Goddess that she would bless us another some day. Trevor hugged me gently again, "Get you some rest. I will see you soon, love you both." He said to us and I smiled up at him. "Love you too, go get you some sleep." I told him and he grinned with a nod and walked out of the room.
"He loves you," Everest said.
"He loves us both." I looked up at him and he nodded with a smile on his face.
"Who would have thought that possible?" He moved to sit on the edge of my bed and he frowned at it. "This bed is too small. We should change that." He grinned and pressed the button on the bed.
Soon a nurse came into the room and bowed to us both. "What can I help you with?" Her voice was soft sounding.
"Can we have a bigger bed? I would like to be able to sleep with my mate without falling out of bed." He laughed.
"Of course, your majesty. Is there anything else you would like?" When he shook his head at her, she curtsied this time and hurried out of the room.
Not even ten minutes later, another bed was brought into the room. I was helped into the new bed and looked over once last time before they left us. Everest crawled into the bed next to me and held me close to him. I soon fell into a deep sleep next to him. Even though he was next to me and holding me, nightmares still plagued my sleep.