Chapter 103

103 Chapter One Hundred Three

The doctors came out of the room an hour later, avoiding eye contact with everyone that tried to seek it. They didn’t look like they were harbouring any good news, but they had to deliver it nonetheless. After a moment of painstaking silence, a voice spoke from the group of people that waited on the information, “How long will you keep us in the dark? Tell us already.” Most didn’t dare look at the Werewolf King as he spoke to the man.

He wasn’t one for patience when it came to his daughter and he was most certainly not going to show any today. Cole sat with his two friends along with Sandra in the same seat he’d occupied for nearly two hours. Exhaustion along with the heavy sense of failure racked his body, doing nothing for his mental fortitude. He’d been silent the entire time and never answered a question that he was asked. This told the rest to give him the space he needed and avoid trying to make any small talk with him.

Drake had arrived with Caden after helping out with what had seemed to be a last-minute retaliation from the rogues. Drake reported everything to the Werewolf King who answered him with silence. Up until then, he hadn’t cared for anything else that had happened that day and thought it was only his daughter that was injured in the fight.

“We managed to keep her stable, but she won’t start healing. Even for a human, she’s going really slow in the healing process. Her heart beats weaker and her body is not responding to any of the medication. We were able to remove a massive amount of the wolfsbane from her system that it shouldn’t be affecting her improvement, but nothing’s working. I’ve not seen this in all my years and I’m ashamed to say I don’t know what else to do for her,” the man said.

“Have you tried Cadioversion?” King Davin asked.

“I have... Trying it again, however, might just stop her heart and that’s not what I want to do...” he said, “I’ll allow her immediate family to go in along with her mate, but the rest must remain outside as there is not much room and she needs all the space she can get.”

Davin, Drake, Lina, Martha, Cole and the two Chase hunters that raised the girl all looked at each other confirming that’s what was meant by immediate family. A large crowd for the room they were going into although none of them would rather be anywhere else.

Katie lay on the hospital bed, the constant beeping of the machine reminding everyone of the fact that she was still alive. The wounds on her shoulders had been patched up and the blood drips removed. Her breath was slow and deep like she was in a deep slumber and her fists were clenched so tight that her knuckles turned white, a gesture that none of them missed.

“What’s your final verdict, doctor?” Davin asked.

.....

“I believe... It’s all in her mind,” the doctor said to him, “Whatever put her in that state was traumatising enough to stop her from allowing the healing process to take effect. If she doesn’t pull out of it, she won’t see the light of day.”

The room fell silent for a moment after hearing the doctor’s information, “That’s not fair.” Lina’s voice was the first to cut through the silence. Martha pulled her daughter into a motherly hug to soothe the tears that came soon after. They’d only just met her and here she was... on the brink of death.

“Tell me something, Hunters. Is this what you meant when you said the secret had to be kept until she turned eighteen... when she was whole and perfectly capable of protecting herself,” Davin asked.

“No, it’s not what we meant...” Tom replied, trying to keep his voice emotionless. Well, if there was ever a time that the hunter needed his training in suppressing emotions, this was that moment.

“Then try your best to explain how this happened. You predicted she would get into trouble. What then did you do about it?” the Royal argued. This time, Martha put her hand on his shoulder to stop his much-delayed advance to the Chase hunters.

“They called me to their aid. I’m sure they would have handled this perfectly on their own if they could,” someone interrupted. The Thunderclap said getting into the room. Lina started taking off the course only to be stopped by the man raising his hand.

“Oh, come on. This is my family. I was going to ask for one of those lab coats they keep around with no one to wear,” Lina grumbled, wrapping the coat around her as though she sought more warmth from it. ‘Isn’t that thing full of wolfsbane-laced weapons?’ Tom’s thoughts sailed off-topic for a moment before he remembered the reason for the interruption.

“When Katie ran off after catching Kyle’s scent, we tried to give chase, but...” the words got caught in his throat. For as long as the two of them had been tasked with raising the girl, they had always been able to access their powers as long as it was to protect the girl, but for the first time, nothing happened. Would it have changed anything?

“What happened?” the King asked, getting angered by the wait.

“Our powers wouldn’t activate no matter what we tried. Katie was gone so fast that we didn’t even see what direction she went,” Marie spoke.

“What do you mean your powers wouldn’t activate?” Davin asked, surprised taking the rest of his anger away.

“Taking in Katie came with a couple of conditions,” Tom began, “Agelessness and sterility were just a few of them. Everything changed just to raise the child.”

The room fell silent as the information came out, “I was wondering why you looked the same since the last time I saw you, but I didn’t think you hadn’t aged one bit. What makes you think... I’m so confused,” the queen spoke.

“The moon goddess gave us a number of conditions in order to raise the child,” Tom explained, telling them the entire story of the conditions that were given to them by the moon goddess. Having received permission from Prometheus, she was able to alter the purpose for their gifts and direct them to the protection of the child. This meant they couldn’t perform their duties as hunters, but they could teach the child to be the best hunter she could be. After all, they were Chase hunters.

This all passed Cole’s ears without spurring a single reaction from him. Even when the conversation picked up and attracted the attention of everyone else, his eyes remained trained on the girl in the bed. He could hear her heartbeat get weaker and each time it scared him more. She left him in the forest to retrieve Kyle when she was fine... She was so fast he hadn’t even seen her leave. When had she gotten herself closer to the brink of death?

Without noticing, he took a step towards her. Partly because he wanted to hear her heartbeat clearer. He wanted some miracle to happen and revive her. The doctors didn’t know what to do for her and they were only hoping she would pull through at the last minute. Although this all sounded like they didn’t have a way to make her better. He’d never felt so helpless... All he could do was get closer to her and reach out to her.

Her hand lay by her side, clenched into a fist. The only point on her entire body that still showed energy. The closer he came though, the more the hand relaxed. He probably imagined it... the girl calling out to him. It was one of the things he felt he wanted to do anyway. Her hand felt small in his palm, ‘How is this the same person that made all rogues flee Brigadia?’ she looked small and fragile in the hospital bed. As he held her hand, their connection strengthened and threw the royal into the mind of the unconscious girl. Cole went blind...

Before Cole could panic, the scent of his mate wrapped around him calming him immediately. He took in her scent even though he couldn’t tell where it was coming from. On to the next... Cole was frozen by the image of a white wolf standing before him in all this darkness that surrounded them. Looking down, he couldn’t even tell what he was standing on, “Where am I?”

“You’re in our mind, I guess. I’m glad you were able to get here. I can’t seem to reach her,” the wolf spoke to Cole. The Royal was entranced taking in the details of the wolf that was mated to him before he realised it was his wolf that was keeping him pinned to the majestic beast.

“Oh, yeah, Katie, where is she?” the man asked.

“Over there...” almost like magic, Katie wasn’t far from them, floating through the vast void of nothingness with a dazed expression. She was still dressed in the same casual clothes from the festival, although they remained tattered and the four wounds from the arrows remained fresh bleeding profusely with no sign of stopping. She looked terrible and yet the words that came from her were not related to the pain.

Cole walked to her slowly, listening silently to the thoughts that plagued her mind. The thoughts that refused to let her heal the entire time she was here. He couldn’t tell if he could help her out of it, but this was a better chance than what the doctors were offering and it lit a fire within him. He wasn’t helpless after all...