Chapter 111

111 Chapter One Hundred Eleven

In the end, Cole hadn’t been able to weasel his way out of the girl’s request. He still didn’t know why she was constantly need of him. He wasn’t complaining, but he could tell something was bothering her and she didn’t want to say anything. In fact, this was the exact way it had been before she’d woken up from her comma. After an hour of constantly pondering, he’d fallen asleep with her in his arms... ‘Not the way I pictured my first night with my mate...’ was his last thought before succumbing to the strong forces of sleep.

He was also the first to wake up... He got out of the bed and took a shower while she slept. Once he was done and back in his clothes, he walked back into the room. He watched her scrunch her nose... Stirring from deep sleep... Her sense of smell was remarkable, he mused remembering the distance she had tracked Kyle from. In the end, they hadn’t been able to keep him from escaping...

The Rogue King had pulled many strings to achieve that feat. Considering the body count of rogues numbered 562 when the hunters were done counting. The rest had escaped during the commotion... ‘Just how many rogues are out there...’

The sound of a yawn reached his ears and snapped him out of his thoughts, “Someone finally woke up,” he commented. Katie looked between him and the spot on the bed where she’d expected to find him in the morning before shrugging.

“Good morning, Cole,” she said.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he replied, walking over to her. He took her hands into his, “Now are you going to tell me what’s going on with you?”

“Oh... part of it was a demand from my wolf. She’s less bound by morals than I am... The right, however, should be naughty. The other part, however...” she bit her lip, not wanting to let out the information.

“What is it? Tell me, Katie,” he coaxed her.

“I was afraid... Afraid to get back into that comma. I can’t figure out what I keep trying to remember. I saw something, Cole. I don’t know what it was, but without you holding me, it threatens to pull me back into that state I was in. I don’t want that to happen to me,” the confession was scarier than the Royal had hoped it would be.

.....

“Didn’t you see the Rogue king?” he asked, trying to keep himself calm. He didn’t want to feel as helpless as he had before. Seeing her fighting for her life was not something he could handle twice.

“That’s not it... This feels worse...” she replied, staring him in the eye.

“Someone woke up nicely,” the voice of the doctor reached them, “How are we feeling today?”

“Good morning, Doctor Steven. I am feeling fine,” she replied, taking her eyes off Cole and flashing the doctor a smile.

“That’s wonderful... Can you try to stand up then? I want to see how we are doing,” the doctor said to her...

Anticipation filled her when she heard the doctor mention getting on her feet again. Without wasting any more time, she swung her legs to the side of the bed and slowly attempted to stand. Cole reached out to help her, but she held her hand up to stop him. Placing her feet on the ground, she got up and stood straight doing her best to do it slowly just in case she was going to damage her tissues anymore, “See there is nothing to worry about...” she smiled at Cole. The royal smiled back at her...

“Try walking about, Katie. Not too fast though. You don’t want to make it worse in case the healing is not yet done,” the doctor ordered.

She nodded and focused on taking a step forward, putting energy into her right leg. However, the limb remained immovable. She strained a bit more and finally moved her leg... straining under the weight of her body, her left leg gave out and she found herself tumbling. Cole was in time to catch her from hitting the ground. She held onto the royal and let out a scream when her hands screamed upon holding onto him.

Cole quickly noticed and lifted her up so that she didn’t need to strain her arms as well, “Doctor, what’s the meaning of this?” the royal yelled at the man.

“I’m not sure. Considering the speed at which she healed yesterday, I was under the impression that she would have healed from the internal injuries as well,” he replied, raising his voice to match the royal. Cole realised he’d yelled and brought his voice down.

“What if there are fragments of metal from the arrows still left inside her?” he asked the man.

“That’s not possible. We made sure to clean those out immediately we were told about how she was injured. There is nothing left. I can guarantee that...” he assured the royal.

“Cole, I know this man. He speaks the truth. Besides, if there was metal inside, it would be constantly throbbing. There is nothing of the sort as long as I don’t strain my legs or arms,” she calmed the man.

“Then what could be the problem, Katie. He says you should be fine. I saw your wounds heal yesterday, why aren’t you standing now?” he asked, his voice going high once more...

“If I may give a suggestion... The pain in your limbs... It might be in your mind. Your condition was unique,” he said to both of them.

“How is that supposed to be cured then? I don’t remember a hunter ever having a trauma,” she said to him.

“With all due respect Katie, you are now a werewolf. And werewolves feel emotions more intensely than humans. I don’t know how to help you rather say that you should try to get onto your feet at least twice every day and work your way out of the trauma,” he tried.

“How long...” Katie asked. The man remained silent after being asked, frozen by the fear of what he’d observed. He couldn’t say what he thought after he’d just mentioned how sensitive werewolves were. Besides, if he mentioned the time he’d deduced, she was probably bound to increase the time if she felt hopeless. When getting out of trauma, she needed all the positive energy she could get, “I asked how long, Steven.”

“That all depends on you... I did mention a trauma. If handled properly, you could be fine within two weeks (a large stretch from the two months the doctor initially deduced), but if you handled it poorly, it could take you up to two months. The most important thing is to keep positive and try every day to get past it,” he explained to her.

Ashley was listening closely during the conversation and noted the doctor’s heartbeat. He’d been lying the entire time and when he said the last part of the sentence, he felt better about himself. She didn’t have to translate anything to the hunter that had learnt to torture rogues from within the dungeon at the Hunter’s Agency. “So it’s two months minimum, huh...”

“Yeah... I’m really sorry Katie,” the man said, avoiding eye contact.

“You have nothing to apologize for... How the hell will I be getting about without my legs?” she groaned. Eating alone was bound to be a problem if she could figure out a way to use her hands. Quickly testing with the television remote that lay beside her bed, she found that she could at least lift it without causing pain to flare through her arms. “At least I’ll be able to eat...”

Cole whined childishly, “I was going to offer to feed you... Get you back for being a cushion yesterday.”

“Oh, is that so... Well, too bad... All you get to do is push my wheelchair,” she stuck her tongue out at him. Getting a push from his wolf, the man managed to smile, masking the deep sadness he had inside. He mentally thanked his wolf... Katie required more positivity if she was going to get better and he was going to be the first source of it...

Just then, the door burst open... A girl dressed in the large coat that they all knew clearly belonged to the Mighty hunter strode in urgently. “Tiny sister, you don’t have to rush in like that. You’ll give her a fright...”

Lina stopped halfway through the room to turn back to her brother, “When did I get demoted to ‘tiny’?” she huffed.

“Well, I’m not lying when I say that. You are tinier than your older sister. So it only seems fit or do you want me to switch? There are a lot of other words... Small, minuscule, microscopic...”

“Oh, I like that one... Germ-like,” Katie interjected, stopping her brother in his revision of the thesaurus. The man laughed at her sense of humour.

“No, you return to little sister... Maybe you could call Katie ‘middle sister’ or ‘scary sister.’ She is the one that has the title of rogue Killer...” she pointed out.

“That’s enough of your childish banter. Have you already forgotten the purpose of coming here so early in the morning?” another voice intervened.

“Oh, calm down Mr Gordon. It doesn’t hurt to lighten the mood before presenting something as ominous as what you had us bring her,” Drake groaned.

“What are you guys talking about?” Katie asked.

Lina went quiet for a moment, reaching into the large coat and producing what happened to be... Four steel arrows. They reeked of wolfsbane and bore dried blood from their victim the night before. To Katie, they were the last missing pieces to the memory block she was having, “May I have those?” she asked her sister, her voice drained of any more signs of happiness.

Lina gave her the arrows, stepping back afterwards. Apparitions continued to plague Katie’s mind, constantly throwing her back to that... pushing against her mental blocks to see past the image of the Rogue King. Katie had seen something else that night... and the sight of these arrows forced her to remember...

All at once, the girl made a fist, snapping the steel arrows in half out of rage, “Katie, what is it?” Cole asked, reaching out to her. His touch did not help to ease her anger. He could tell from the look on her face that she’d finally remembered whatever it was that she dreaded and it pissed her off more than the Rogue King himself.

“I’ll kill that traitor...” she said almost inaudibly.

“You mean Kyle... You’re forgetting that we need him alive so that...”

“Not him... I don’t give a damn about Kyle...” she stopped Cole short, her mind projecting the last remaining images that she’d seen before passing out. Clear as day as seen through the vision of a wolf in the night, Katie had managed to see something far more dreadful and it made Cole boil with anger as well. She’d seen the face of the archer... hidden within the trees, standing a safe distance from the clearing and well-hidden was the undeniable image of Jeremiah...