Chapter 96
Daniel POV
I woke up in a strange bed, in a room I didn’t recognise, and I felt like I had been run over. My hearing was muffled like I had been in an explosion, the light hurt my eyes, and my brain felt fuzzy. I sat up a little, every muscle in my body ached, my limbs felt heavy, and I was exhausted, but I needed to know where I was, and I appeared to be alone in whatever room I was in. I tried to get up, but I was soon sweating and panting, worn out before I had even begun, it convinced me that whatever happened to me must have been terrible. An image of Charlie came to the forefront of my mind, and a machine next to me started bleeping, which made my head throb. I was aware of someone entering the room and coming close to the bed, but I was fighting the urge to vomit, as the pounding in my head became too much to bear. I groaned in relief when the noise finally stopped, and the blinding headache receded.
“I know you’re confused, and probably feel terrible, that will get better, you’re extremely dehydrated, but I’m changing your IV now, that should help.” The young woman I didn’t recognise said. “Do you remember what happened?” She asked.
“Charlie... I need to see Charlie, is she okay?” I asked terrified, whatever happened to me she must have been there. The woman looked at me oddly.
“You’re... worried about her?” She asked, she sounded unsure.
“Of course, I am. She’s my mate, is she alright? Was she hurt?” I prayed to the goddess I was strong enough to protect her.
“She’s fine, not a scratch, but you... will need a lot of rest, and food, now that you’re awake. The best thing to replenish your system. Get you back on your feet in no time.” She said with a smile. “I’ll go get you something to eat, and I will try to find out where your mate is.” She said as she hurried from the room like she didn’t want to answer my questions, which made me nervous. I started looking around for a phone or call button, this didn’t look like a hospital, but I had never been to the hospital in the witch’s town. I found nothing, I tried again to get up, or at least sit upright, every joint screamed in protest, as I slid my back up the headboard. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before Hyacinth arrived, I could finally find out what happened.
“How’s Charlie? What happened? Is anyone else hurt? Who attacked us?” I asked the moment I saw her enter the room.
“No one attacked us, no one else is hurt. Charlie is fine, and you can see her soon. But first, I need you to tell me the last thing you remember.” She said, as she pulled a chair up to the bed, I tried to think back to that morning, my mind was still fuzzy, as she sat and took my hand in hers.
“I remember getting up this morning, that guy, Pinchas, I remember sneaking off with Charlie, sorry about that by the way. That’s it, I have no idea what happened that landed me here.” I said with a chuckle, as I painfully struggled to hide my fear.
“Do you remember what Pinchas told us? Or what you and Charlie talked about after?” I flushed slightly, as I thought about finally marking Charlie, a smile spread across my face. “I’ll take that as a, yes?” She asked, as my smile turned to a wide grin, I just couldn’t contain my excitement. “Then you should know, when Charlie accepted you, fully and completely, it started the same reaction you would have if she had marked you. You became addicted to each other, once you started touching and kissing, you couldn’t stop, physically couldn’t. I had to put a protection spell on Charlie, so you can’t touch her, it’s a minor miracle you haven’t marked her already, you must have shown great strength to fight it, but that was just a couple of hours. Forgive me, but I don’t think even you would have lasted for days. And when Charlie tried to leave the room with Dermot, you attacked them, your wolf took control and chased them through the house. They’re fine!” She added after I looked at her horrified. “But Charlie did something, or rather, her powers did to protect her. She put you in a sort of stasis bubble, but because you had shifted, it’s had an odd side effect.” I could tell she was pussyfooting around something, and it was irritating me.
“What? What kind of side effect?” I snapped, a little harsher than I intended.
“She’s made your wolf... hibernate? He’s still there, and he will be back in roughly twenty-four hours, I believe but until then, you probably won’t be able to shift. We think you still have your metabolism, and healing abilities, as they are part of you, but, the instincts, the urges, he would normally produce, won’t be there. You may not feel the mate pull when you see Charlie, added to that, she’s the reason you won’t have your wolf for the next day.” The woman from earlier re-entered the room, pushing a silver trolley with an alarming amount of food on it. “Oh good, you need to eat, you used a lot of energy and we have been hydrating you for almost three hours, we’ve managed to balance your electrolytes, and replenish a lot of your lost vitamins and minerals. Many of us don’t attempt time manipulation for this very reason, you could have died, if you weren’t Lycan. Anyway eat, as much as you can, and I will come back when you’re done, you need to think about what could happen if you see Charlie before you’re ready.” Hyacinth said with a sad smile as she left the room, the young woman looked uncomfortable, as she brought the trolley to my bed.
“Do you need help with anything? I could take you through what the chef prepared for you?” She sweetly offered.
“No, thanks, I think I’ve got it,” I replied, waiting for her to leave, but she seemed hesitant, so I picked up a plate with a steak on it, a baked potato and salad, I picked out the tomatoes as I set the plate down on my lap. “Anything you need?” I asked as I picked up the knife and fork, the world was getting clearer, and less misty, the longer I was awake, I could now see she had strawberry blonde hair and looked to be in her mid-twenties, although that meant nothing when dealing with witches.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t pry.” She said with a breathy giggle, it made me nervous, but curious as to where she was heading.
“No, go ahead and ask, I may not answer, but I’m dying to know the question.” I teased.
“Well, I was just wondering... how come you’re not mad at her? How can you worry about her after what she did?” The woman asked, it broke my heart a little. It had been my fear ever since she first used her powers, that people would be afraid of her.
“She’s... my mate. I trust her completely, and I know she would never do this on purpose, I was the one who attacked her, I just hope she can forgive me.” I shrugged, cut into my steak and took a bite, as my words sunk into both of us, and I tried not to think about what I would do if she was afraid of me after what I had done.
“What does it feel like?” She asked quietly, it made me choke a little, surprised and confused.
“Sorry? What, what? feels like?” I asked confused, I took a large sip of water to buy some time as well as clear my throat.
“Finding your mate? Falling in love with the one person made just for you?” She asked excitedly, then blushed furiously, it reminded me of Charlie.
“Like nothing else in the world.” I smiled. “Have you ever felt unfinished? Or incomplete?” I asked, she nodded, with a little frown. “It’s like, you’re done, complete, like you’ve found your place in the world, next to that person, always and forever.” I smiled at the thought of just holding Charlie at night when all the craziness was over.
“I’m starting to think I need to go out in the world a little if I’m ever going to find Mo shíorghrá, he’s not here, that’s for sure.” She said sadly. “So, are you going to see her?” She asked excitedly.
“Umm, yeah, I think so. I mean I want to see her so much; I miss her already... I guess I’m worried it won’t feel the same without my wolf.” I admitted for the first time even to myself, I took a bite of food to shut myself up and distract myself from the despair that was threatening to engulf me.
“But you still love her, still miss her, still grin like a goof when you think about her... how different could it be?” She asked, it made me almost sneeze potato out of my nose.
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