Chapter 194

Dylan POV 

Groggy, the only word to describe how I felt once I woke up, was groggy. 

My head felt like it was splitting in two, and my mouth was so dry that my lips were practically sticking together painfully. 

I allowed a groan to escape me as I slowly attempted to open my eyes, only to shut them again due to the stinging sensation. My throat felt like I had swallowed a full pack of razor blades while the rest of my tired body felt like lead. 

It took me quite a while to finally come to for long enough to actually look around the room. I'll admit that I felt nothing but shock and horror once I had realized I was actually in a hospital... no... the four walls of the room looked eerily familiar as I fully began to comprehend my whereabouts... I wasn't just in a hospital, I was in the medical wing of the palace itself. 

What the fuck had the king done to me this time? I tried to move my right arm to rub my eye but for some reason it didn't seem to move. I very quickly made both my hands into fists and glanced at the monitor beside me. 

I looked down at my blanket covered form and finally discovered the amount of wires coming off my body. My chest was covered in little black pads, my left arm was above the covers and had a cannula embedded into my vein, connected to that was a large bag of iv fluid that was slowly being released into my blood stream. My nose had a breathing tube connected to it, and loud steady beeping sounded throughout the room. 

I sighed and began to use my arms to help me sit up, except only one of them moved willingly. I didn't know what was going on with my right arm, but it was starting to become bothersome. Maybe it was in plaster or something. 

Groaning again I quickly pulled the blanket away from my right side and lost my breath, tears quickly welled up in my eyes and a shout became completely stuck in my throat at the sight that laid before me. 

My arm was gone! 

Now I knew why it wouldn't move, because it wasn't actually connected to my body. The ache in my head was long gone as I stared in horror and sorrow at the empty space. From my shoulder all the way down to the tips of my fingers had been completely severed. 

I moved the short sleeve of the hospital gown up in order to inspect the site of my shoulder and gasped. I’ll admit that I was fully expecting to see it tightly wrapped in bandages and paddings but there was nothing at all, except for scar tissue and skin. Almost as if it had healed entirely. Which in turn brought a question to consume me. My 

How long had I been asleep for?! 

My breath quickened and I could feel anxiety take over my body, and so I was quick to lean over and press the call button for the doctor. I didn't know what had happened, and I wasn't at all sure what the king would do to me now, but I needed answers, and I needed them fast. 

It wasn't even two minutes before Lewis's doctor uncle ran into the room, he took one look at my awake face and smiled before rushing over to turn the call button off. 

"Your grace?!" He bowed extremely low which had me frowning even more. "It's really good to see you awake, let me just quickly do your observations and then I'll get you a drink, you must be absolutely parched." 

He did exactly what he had said. He took my blood pressure, temperature and Checked my pupils for reactions to make sure there were no long term affects from my injuries. "I'd honestly say you're the picture of health." He smiled while my eyes rolled in my head, there's no way at all that king Josh would allow me to stay that way. I was clinicallyhealthy now, but once his grace sees me I’ll get beaten worse than ever. 

“Please, just bear with me for one minute. Your grace." He suddenly let his eyes cloud over and switched off to his surroundings entirely, he was mind linking. I waited a few minutes before he finally acknowledged me again. He began to fiddle with the iv bag and other items that were connected to me as he continued to speak. "Lewis has been informed of your waking, he was in a meeting, but will be here as soon as he can. Would you like a drink, your grace?" 

I frowned at the doctors friendly tone and words, did he not realize the precarious situation? Even still I nodded my head all the same, a drink sounded delightful, and I may as well take this opportunity to have one before the king comes back. 

I took in my surroundings a little more as the doctor left to get me what I needed, but my mind was wondering into question territory. The words of the doctor just didn't add up. 

Did he say Lewis was coming? As in my Lewis? 

Why was Lewis informed of my waking before king Josh was? Was his grace that mad at me that he doesn't want to see me at all? Had I finally done something so terrible that he was rejecting me. Wait... if he had rejected me, then would he finally kill me if he knew I was awake? He would definitely kill me if Lewis saw me before he did…

No, he'd kill Lewis, then he'd torture me before locking me up somewhere only to torture me some more. I hadn't realized my entire body had begun to shake and hyperventilate at the thought of the king, my heart monitor lost its steady beep and began to hasten quickly as my anxiety took over. I also hadn't noticed the doctor walking back in, but he was quick to see my state and placed a bottle of water on the table to the side of the bed. 

"Your grace? Please calm down." He placed his hand on my back but that just caused me to jump out of my skin. "Your grace, deep breaths, please focus on your breathing!" I saw him quickly mind link again, as I continued to panic, I could feel my head getting dizzy and the doctors words began to fade. I was getting too worked up. "Your grace... Dylan?” 

A few minutes went by and I almost blacked out, my panic attack taking hold of every inch of my body and not letting me go. That is until a pair of strong arms quickly enveloped me and drew me close to a hard chest. It made my breathing slightly worse for a split second until I clicked on to who it was. 

The steady rhythmic beat of the man's chest lulled me into a trance, and I began to match his breath which in turn began to ease my panic. One of his hands gently rested on my head and his other wrapped right around my torso making me feel what was most likely a false sense of security. I sighed heavily as the familiar scent of Lewis's cologne hit me instantly calming me down. 

"I'm so sorry I wasn't here when you woke up." He whispered as he continued to hold me. Why was he here in the first place? Had the king reinstated him? I tried to speak but my mouth really was so dry. I felt extremely dehydrated actually. "Here, have a drink." He pulled away from me slightly to grab the bottle of water, he effortlessly opened it and held it up to my lips. I looked at him through my eyelashes but opened my mouth for him to pour it in. I greedily drank the clear liquid and sighed in contempt as it soothed my parched throat. "You need to stop scaring me like this you know." He chuckled slightly as he placed the bottle back on the table once I'd finished. 

"Scaring you?" I asked horsely, with my throat being so dry my voice came out croaky. He looked at me and frowned slightly. 

"You died, Dylan, you were dead, you were gone... I, I thought I'd lost you." He thought he'd lost me? What does that mean? And What the fuck did the king do to me, for me to have been so bad? 

"I was dead? What did he do to me?!" This time he really did look confused. Why did he look so shocked at my question?! "What the fuck did he do to me?" 

"Dylan, Josh is... I mean you... you do know Josh is dead, right?!" The king is DEAD?! 

"What?!" Oh shit. King Josh was dead!

I'd killed him. I'd somehow completely forgotten about the battle and the rebellion. I'd forgotten how Warren tore at my arm while Lewis went after Josh! I'd forgotten everything. Josh was dead! Josh's dad was dead... Gilliard was he...

"What of Gill?" The beta smiled and shook his head at my question. Was I wrong for asking that? 

"Always thinking about other people first." He tucked my hair behind my ear and met my eyes. "Gilliard is ok thanks to you, he'll start receiving physical therapy for his injuries soon."

"What about Clarke, and Adrian? What about your dad?" 

"Ryan is soaking up all the attention he's getting. My dad and mom are both back in Gilliards pack as temporary alpha and Luna, and Adrian, he's is ok too he’s back with his mate and his sister attempting to find some order within their pack..." There must have been some casualties though, it was a blood bath out there. "Our side has more injuries than death. We were rather lucky."

"God!" I was numb to death now, I'd seen too much of it. I gave out a large sigh before finally looking him in the eye, which elicited a frown. Lewis was a good looking guy, even now I thought he was amazing. However from his temple to his cheek bone, a large scar rested and his left eye seemed to be desolate. "Oh my god.... Your eye?" 

"Ahh, yeah, I received quite the beating." He chuckled ever so slightly, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. 

"It's all my fault. If I hadn't attacked the king... then..." The beta cut me off quickly, he gently took my cheeks in his hands and made me look at him. 

"Hey, hey… none of that… if you hadn’t intervened, I would be dead. Josh would still be torturing you and the world would have gotten progressively worse for humans. Your rights would have been completely destroyed if you’d done nothing. Do not blame yourself for Josh’s actions.” It didn't feel like I'd done the right thing, my family were dead because of me, my friends were maimed because of me, and as for me personally, well I was completely mutilated. The cuts and bruises would heal and scar over, but my arm, that was gone, arms don't just grow back overnight. 

"My arm?!" He winced slightly as his eyes gravitated to the missing limb, before reverting back to my eyes. 

"You were already gone by the time I got you to the rebellions infirmary, ok, You'd stopped breathing, Dyl, you'd stopped bleeding... I ..." He swallowed as if remembering my body ceasing to do what it should in order to survive. He looked on the brink of tears. "I truly don't know how you're here right now, but I'm so grateful that you are." He placed his forehead on my own as if the contact will help him realize that I was in fact alive and almost well. 

"But, Lewis... what the fuck happened to my arm?!"