In The Beginning, Chapter 110
Charlie POV
I woke up on the couch with the phones next to me, the memory of the mates of the dead pack members weeping down the phone was so encompassing I didn’t realise I was alone at first.
“Daniel?” I called out, trying to keep my panic at bay.
“In here!” Ben called back, and I raced into the kitchen.
“What happened?” I asked when I saw the bloodied gauze and cotton wool on the dining table, Daniel was sat, leaning on the back of a stool from the breakfast bar and hooked up to an IV with yellow liquid, while the doctor worked on his back from the head of the table. Kathy, Annie and Zoey were the only staff present, in the kitchen, still cooking, cleaning and providing the doctor with supplies when required.
“Nothing, I’m fine, doc is just cleaning me up.” Daniel tried to reassure me, but he was wincing.
“That seems like more than just a clean-up.” I replied sarcastically, looking at the pile of bloodied material.
“I’m afraid, with all the blood loss the wounds didn’t heal correctly. I’m cleaning them out, which requires removing the scabs to encourage healing, and reduce scarring.” Ethan replied.
“I don’t understand, won’t that make it worse?” I asked before I could stop myself, but rather than take offence Ethan smiled.
“For humans maybe, but for Lycans, if our healing is interrupted for any reason, we have to kick start it, a scab prevents that.” He offered me a look at his work, a few were pale pink thin lines, some were knitting back together, and several were big angry scabbed over wounds. “These were first, you can see, now that Alpha has enough blood, has rested and been rehydrated, they are healing quickly.”
“Does it hurt?” I wasn’t sure if I was asking Daniel or Ethan, but the former answered, while the latter picked up a scalpel, and I turned away before he started cutting.
“It stings a little, some bits are worse than others.” He tried to reassure me, grabbing my hand.
“It doesn’t help that this will be the third or fourth time I will have done this for you.” Ethan commented to Daniel before turning his attention to me. “Removing the scabs that intersect older scars can be quite painful and numbing the area will impede the healing.”
“Is that where the cross hatching on his hip came from?” I asked, the memory of running my tongue over them popped into my mind.
“You didn’t tell her the story?” Ethan chuckled incredulously.
“No, and neither will you!” Daniel growled, he seemed to have a friendship with the doctor, but there was also a tension.
“Someone had better tell me.” I threatened, only partly joking.
“When I was sixteen, just after I got my wolf... I ran into a bear, and got my ass handed to me.” Daniel growled, indicating he wanted to drop the subject.
“Yeah, that’s not the full story.” I replied looking at Ethan, who became fascinated by the newest wound he was treating. “Ben?”
“He was trying to impress a girl, didn’t check his surroundings, and ended up scaring a cub, so mama bear used him as a chew toy. He was laid up for a month, much quicker than a human would’ve healed, but he hadn’t started training, so it was slower than now. That’s how we met Ethan actually, he was Daniel’s math tutor, to help him catch up, after being stuck in bed for a month.” Ben smirked, while Daniel glowered.
“Ben said you’ve been taking care of the pack, wanna catch me up?” He asked me softly, changing the subject.
“I called the widows, said we would take care of the funerals, pensions, whatever they need, their families are with them now... But the mate of Will Locke, Grace, is human, and has asked to leave the pack to stay with her parents, I tried to convince her to stay, but she had made up her mind. I did get her to agree to have the funeral here and to come back for it. Their boys don’t have their wolves yet, so I’m hoping she will stay for them, but I couldn’t refuse to let her go home to her family, not after losing her mate.” I admitted sadly.
“The pack isn’t a prison, everyone is free to go, but I will talk to her about the boys, after the funeral.” He smiled, but it was tense, everything felt awkward between us. “How did you find me anyway?” He asked suddenly.
“What?” I asked, thrown by the complete subject change.
“You kinda left that part out earlier, and we each have theories.” Ben teased, pulling out a chair for me, which I took.
“I got angry.” I replied after thinking about it a few moments. “And kinda used my powers to boost the link and bond turning them into... like a homing beacon.” I shrugged, still unsure of how I had done it, myself.
“Guess we were all wrong!” Ben laughed, his face surprised.
“Why?” I asked, confused.
“We can use the link over short distances, to assess where our squad is, or who is nearby... but I don’t think anyone has ever used it quite like that before.” Ben chuckled.
“Charlie isn’t quite like anyone else.” Daniel commented, and I felt my cheeks heat.
“Now that your both awake I can finally ask, what happened? I filled Daniel in on my side of things, but I gotta know what happened after I called you.” Ben rubbed his hands in glee, like he was about to be served something delicious.
“I called Theia for help, but she is holding a grudge, some of the things she said made me angry, some might say livid, and I got an idea. At first, I was sending my power out like I do most days... but when I thought about the bond... It changed and went straight to The Talaria... to you.” I said to Daniel, my eyes glued to the floor, a little uncomfortable with how everyone was looking at me. He yanked the hand he was still holding, pulling me off of the chair, and into his chest, his lips captured mine a split second later. One of his arms held me tightly against him, while the other had a fistful of my hair, keeping my lips on his. I could feel my skin burning with embarrassment, but I couldn’t break away. It had been weeks since we had even spoken properly, but his kiss was like breaking through to the surface after holding your breath so long you felt like you might black out before you make it. He stood, pulling me closer as the kiss deepened, the tip of his tongue ran along the seam of my bottom lip gently, my tongue barely touched his when someone coughed. Daniel’s hands moved to cup my face; his forehead pressed to mine as he pulled his lips back.
“I-" He began through the link.
“Alpha, I only have three wounds left to check, please sit down.” Ethan politely, but firmly suggested, placing a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. He sat back down, but refused to let me go. “I will be as fast as I can be, then you should be fine to bathe... should you want to, before you eat, but you must rest.” Ethan continued; my cheeks got hotter at the implication.
“Charlie?” Daniel asked through the link, this close I could feel how miserable he was, how badly he felt, and how much he wanted to fix things.
“We will talk later, alone.” I replied, stroking his hair, a rogue tear forcing its way down my cheek, he ran his thumb along my cheek, tracing over the droplet’s path up to my lower lid. He ran his thumb along a cut that slashed through his bottom lip into his beard, closing his eyes in relief as the scab on the cut seemed to dissolve, the skin below it already knitting back together. I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and scoff, amused at the pride he had in his beard, he watched me with a furrowed brow for a moment, before I saw a moment of recognition. “You didn’t know that was going to work, but even so, you should have used it on something more serious.” I linked him, my eyes and fingers moved to a deep gash on his peck that looked a few days old, but still deep. Theia had been upping my control training, so I could use healing whenever I wanted, instead of when I was emotional, my tears were still a 50/50 shot though.
“I knew it would work... It’s how I knew you were real, that I wasn’t dreaming again.” He chuckled humourlessly. “When you found me in the cage, your tears helped heal me... It’s also when I knew you still loved me.” He almost whispered in my mind, his arms tightening around me, realising he froze, afraid of my reaction so I placed my hand on his cheek in reassurance. He immediately covered it with his own hand, and brought my palm to his lips, then my wrist, before running his nose over my pulse affectionately.
“Alpha... please sit still?” Ethan grumbled softly, making me chuckle, until Daniel’s eyes blazed amber, and he snarled at the doctor threateningly.
“Hey, don’t do that!” I admonished him, he began whining softly, and rubbing himself on me, nuzzling into my stomach, chest and neck. “Shh, it’s okay. Just sit down for the doctor, please?” I asked, holding his face still so he could look at me. “I’ve missed you too, and I promise you will have time with me too.” I swore via the link, he let off a grumble, like a husky, and sat back down, his eyes melting back to Daniel’s beautiful brown. They closed contentedly as my fingers slipped from his fuzzy cheeks, into his hair, his wolf made a low rumbling groan of appreciation that vibrated through his chest and into me, as I scraped my nails across his scalp softly.
“And done with your back. Whomever said music soothes the savage beast obviously never met a Luna before.” Ethan chuckled. “I’m gonna need you to turn around now Alpha, but if you wouldn’t mind staying, Luna, the process goes much quicker when the patient is relaxed.” He added, but Daniel remained frozen against my chest for a few seconds before his arms reluctantly loosened.
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