The Beta's Justice

Chapter 12

Nova's POV

It's been a few days since I woke up from the coma I was told I was in. They kept saying they thought my memory would come back any day now. It was only a matter of time. I didn't want to tell them that I had a sinking feeling it wouldn't. "Stay positive," Sky scolded.

I stared up at the ceiling. Sky could be positive, she remembered everything. But me. Nothing. I let out a huff in response. "Come on, Nova. Just try to be positive," she coaxed.

"Easy for you to say. You remember everything," I retorted. She was acting too high and mighty.

"Even if I do, it doesn't mean you won't remember soon. No one knows how the brain works," she tried hard to keep pushing me to be positive.

"I know," I muttered, keeping my eyes trained on the ceiling. There was nothing else to look at.

Sky quieted. There was nothing more for us to talk about. She filled me in on some important aspects of my life. I am a werewolf, which should sound odd but doesn't. I have no family left in this world. I am adopted. I have a nurse and a doctor for my adoptive parents. I have a mate. She had to explain that to me. Mates. Mates are two wolves that the Moon Goddess put together. They are drawn to one another. My mate is the young Alpha, Leon. I thought hard. When he was in the room, I did feel calmer. But as for a draw to him, I'm not sure I felt it.

My eyes began to flutter closed, exhaustion setting in. I spent most of my days sleeping. The doctors informed me that rest was key in my recovery process. Just as my eyes fully closed, I heard the door open. Someone was standing in the doorway, but they were not moving in. I suspected it was Leon. He tended to check on me but hadn't entered the room since the day I woke up and said I didn't remember anything. I tried not to open my eyes. I knew what expression lay on his face. He always looked broken. I didn't want to see that expression. It bothered me.

Instead of looking at him, I slowed my breathing and willed myself to sleep. I just wanted to sleep. As I slowly drifted away, I could hear him exit the room and gently close the door.

Leon's POV

"She's pretending to sleep," Blaze informed me.

"I know," I responded as I looked at her face. The pained expression she wore days ago was gone. She looked whole again. She looked like Nova, my Nova. But she wasn't my Nova.

She jumped in front of me. She took a fatal hit from a silver sword dipped in wolfsbane. She should have died. But by some miracle from the Moon Goddess, she lived. She woke up. Then she uttered words that felt as though I had taken a silver dagger to the heart. She didn't remember anything. The doctors ran test after test, yet they couldn't explain why. According to them, there was no medical reason for her to have lost her memory. The psychologist, on the other hand, had a theory. She declared that, due to trauma, it was her brain's way of protecting her. Apparently, remembering would be too painful. I had asked if it was normal for her to forget her entire life. She had even forgotten what she is. The psychologist responded saying it was rare but possible. Now all we could do was wait. If her memories didn't come back after a few weeks out of the hospital there was a chance they never would. There was always the possibility that something would trigger a memory, but the psychologist informed me it would most likely happen outside of the hospital. I, along with her parents, were told to take her to places that held meaning for her. But not to force her or push her too hard. It could end up backfiring and causing more psychological damage.

"What are we going to do?" I asked Blaze as I stared down at Nova.

"Let her heal. Then we will do what the psychologist suggested," he didn't sound as defeated as I felt. "Sky remembers me and so I have hope that it is only a matter of time before Nova remembers us." His words were meant to be comforting, but they stung. His mate knew him, remembered him. While my mate remembered nothing. Fate can be so cruel. If anyone deserved to be punished, it was me, not her.

Finally, I decided to leave. I stepped from the doorway, closing the door behind myself. I left the hospital and went back to the packhouse. Since she woke up and was doing much better, I was able to focus more on the pack and take some of the weight off Hunter's shoulders. Sitting down at my desk, I got to work on the stack of papers. Hunter popped in and out bringing schedules for me to go over and sign off on. Alice came and gave me an update on how the school activities were going. Apparently, they were going well. Very well. I praised her and sent her off, allowing her to spend a little money to get better equipment and supplies that were necessary for the program. I suspected school will be starting back soon, but not yet.

Hunter had already had a funeral for all those who passed. He managed to organize the pack well enough to gather those who had died, identified them, buried them, and then held a funeral. I had been present to some degree. Then he had the new wolves and pups interrogated, assessed, and began training them. Only a few of the wolves captured still desired to overthrow the pack. They are still detained.

Marcus, the head warrior, came to give a report on the border patrol, the warrior training schedule, and the training of the special pups and wolves. He had it all organized. We had lost many good wolves in the fight luckily, many were able to take care of the pack. Rumors had been spreading among other packs that we were in a weakened state. However, with the help of Marcus, Delta Stan, and Hunter, our pack has been put back together. It was not the same, but strong enough to keep other packs away from our borders.

I spun the chair around to look out the window. It had been a few hours since I left Nova at the hospital. Someone was updating me on her condition every thirty minutes. Sighing, I leaned back in the chair. She forgot. She forgot everything. The bad. The good. It's all gone from her memories. As much as it hurt to know she barely felt the mate bond, part of me thought this could be an opportunity. A chance even. I could do everything better this time.

"Don't want to mess it all up a second time," Blaze cut into my thoughts.

"Thanks... real helpful," I muttered back to him.

"Just saying. You mess things up once," he continued to poke at me.

"What is wrong with you?" I shot at him. He was being more petty than usual.

"Because your mate doesn't remember anything, I haven't gotten to see my mate," he growled.

"Stop being an ass. It isn't going to help us," I nearly growled back. I understood how he felt, but taking it out on me wasn't going to solve anything.

He was silent for a few moments, making me think he had given up on talking. "When will she be released from the hospital?" he asked, as though he wasn't privy to every link I received.

"The doctors are hopeful that she will be recovered enough to be released in about a week. Then she may have to recover a while longer at home before she is back to her regular strength," I told him, deciding to cut him some slack.

He huffed, unhappy with my response. "If we were there. If we just held her, she would heal so much faster," he complained.

I agreed with him, but I figured if I wanted to make a good impression, trying to hold her without her understanding our bond would not be the best way. "We have to wait. She is confused right now."

"Once we are close enough, she will instinctively come to us," Blaze tried to persuade me to go to her.

"No," I said, putting my foot down. "I didn't do things right the first time. And I will be damned if I don't do them right this time," I made sure my tone was stern. He needed to understand that I was serious.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Sitting up straight and then turning back around, I called for the person to enter. It was Audrey. "Is something wrong?" I asked. She had been keeping her distance from me since she returned from Ryker's packhouse.

"Not exactly," she started as she remained at the threshold.

"Come on, I'm sure it's not bad. Just tell me," I tried to speak as gently as possible.

She took a few steadying breaths before she responded. "It's the pups. My father must have upped the dose he gave them compared to what he had given me. We thought only the older ones closer to my age would be able to access their powers, but it appears we were wrong. Slowly, all of them are gaining access. I'm worried we aren't fully prepared for whatever powers my father gave them."

"What do you suggest?" I asked, unsure of where she was headed with this conversation.

"Currently, all the pups are fairly happy with their new lives. Most of them have one parent alive, but due to a few of their parents holding on to my father's false promises, they may become restless. Especially those who think they need to save their parents. I think we should build a training facility specifically for them. Something capable of containing them in case they try to go against the pack. I was thinking we could send wolves into my father's old labs and figure out how he built his," she practically breathed out the words. When she was done she was out of breath.

"Where?" I asked. I agreed with her assessment. It was either that or we would have to restrain and contain them with their parents in the dungeons. I'd like to refrain from doing that for as long as possible.

She appeared taken aback. It was as though she thought it would take more convincing. "Umm... behind the arena, the land isn't being used for much of anything. I was thinking there."

"Sounds good. Talk to one of the architects in the pack and get back to me with blueprints and a price. Then we can see if it is possible," I told her. I had been over our books. Ryker had taken money, but we were lucky that when the clean-up crew went to Ryker's packhouse we found the money stashed away. It should be enough to build what she wants or at the very least cover most of the cost.

"Yes, right away!" She grinned happily. Bowing, she then raced away.

I was only given a moment's peace when another knock came. I called them in and to my surprise it was Darren. He was holding files in his hands. His face appeared stressed. "Darren, what's the matter?" I asked as I leaned forward, placing my elbows on my desk.

He came in, closed the door, and then took a seat in front of my desk. "I found these in Ryker's lab at the packhouse," he stated as he set down four files in front of me.

"What's in them?" I asked, confused about why he seemed so serious. I assumed the files contained information on the experiments Ryker had run.

"These are only four of the files. There were at least two cabinets full of more. But these four stood out to me. One is for Audrey. One for Nova. The last two are for Nova's parents," he informed me.

"Did you look inside?"

"No, I didn't," he responded as he sat back straight in his chair.

"Not even in Audrey's?" I found it hard to believe he wouldn't even look at his own mate's.

"She doesn't know I found them. I have no idea what kind of information they could contain and so I didn't want to invade her privacy any worse than her father may have," he told me. He appeared to be speaking honestly.

"Why now?"

"What?"

"Why bring them to me now?"

"Before you seemed busy with Nova and then with getting the pack back up and running. Now, you seem to have a little time."

I nodded. "I suppose that is true." I had worked hard to delegate as much as I could so I could do the less fun parts of running the pack. Mostly paperwork. "What would you like me to do with those?" I asked as I motioned to the files.

"Whatever you see fit to do with them," he responded sincerely.

"Would you like Audrey to be made aware of the file's existence?"

"Only if it will help her in some way," he quickly said.

"I see. Then I will have a doctor look them over and see if there is any important information. I will inform you if there is and we will talk to Audrey if needed."

He appeared relieved. "Thank you," he said as he stood. "I will get back to assisting Audrey," he said with a bow, and left my office.

Soon Ben arrived. I informed him of what Darren had told him and asked him to discreetly look over the files. "I am entrusting these to your care. Please be careful," I implored him.

"Of course. Thank you for calling me," he smiled. It was possibly the first genuine smile he had ever given me.

"Glad to. I know you will take care of everything. Please come to me with your findings. We can then decide what to do with the information," I told him.

He nodded. "Understood," he said, bowed, and then left.