Second Chance

Chapter 7

Drew

Alastair's treatment was getting worse by the day. He even banished me from the bedroom until I beg for forgiveness, he didn't like it much when I said fine and started packing some of my stuff into a bag. I'd not long arrived at the hospital after he showed me how unhappy with me he was. "Luna" Skye said and bobbed her head politely, "Hi Dr MacRobert, Alpha sent me to see you for an appointment?"

Her pencil snapped in her hand, she took a calming breath and straightened up "my apologies, Luna. I'm so clumsy. Yes I can take you through to an exam room for your appointment"

Skye took me into a room and the minute she closed the door I collapsed to the floor, she caught me in a second like she'd anticipated it. She fussed over me and helped me onto the bed.

"I'm sorry, Skye. I know you're really busy"

"I'm never too busy for you, love. What did he do this time?"

"He got mad that I wasn't all that upset at being kicked out of my own room"

"That bastard." She ground her teeth frustrated

"But it means I can stay in your room without raising any suspicion. The only rooms we have are at the guest house and I handle all the paperwork for that anyway"

She smiled and took my hand and give it a squeeze. "You're so smart, my Luna" I shivered at her words feeling content

"Right let's take a look" Skye slowly lifted my top after I told her where he'd hit me and what hurt most.

She used an ultrasound in the room to check for any bleeds where he'd hit me.

Her face went completely pale

"Skye? What is it?"

"You've got some internal bleeding and I've got to get you into emergency surgery right now"

"But I feel fine. I'm a bit sore from what he did but it can't be that serious"

"Drew that's the dangerous thing about it. Symptoms aren't always present and sometimes it's not obvious until you've lost a good deal of blood. You being a wolf will give you more time but we're not that different from humans. You're going to be fine because we caught it but you need surgery. Just take a deep breath and I'll sort it all out"

"Skye?"

"Yes, dearest?"

"How did you know to check for bleeds?"

"I always check for bleeds when someone's been beaten" her jaw tensed and relaxed a couple of times

"That has a story behind it, I can tell from your discomfort"

"I'll tell you later, let me go sort this out. I need you to be looked after"

"Okay, I'm sorry"

Skye sighed "You don't need to apologise, my love. I promise I'll tell you later. Right now I need to make sure you're safe and healthy" she kissed my forehead and left the room quickly

I felt my cheeks burning as I lifted my hand to my head. She had never kissed me before. l sighed happily and started to drift off to sleep.

Skye

"I don't understand. She passed out, how is it not serious enough for surgical intervention?"

The surgeon sighed, "Well, I would wager she's exhausted from all of that extra work she does. You know our judgement can get clouded sometimes when it comes to people we care about."

I looked up at her quickly, confused.

"Oh come now, dear." the older woman said to me. "I see the littles smirks and blushes between you two. Most people wouldn't notice because they just see two friends when it comes to women."

"I see" I said. I wasn't sure how to respond. Could she go to the alpha? Could she be gossiping or causing problems?

"Don't you worry about me, deary. I can see the panic written all over your face.

Personally I'd be glad to never see that awful wannabe-alpha again. Can't say he's much of a man. At most he's a foot soldier with too much to prove. We see that gorgeous alpha woman in here far too much claiming clumsiness and she's always exhausted and dehydrated. Shows terrible signs of sleep deprivation and you can tell she's overworking herself. Even big strong alphas need their rest."

"You're sharing a lot just now, are you sure it's safe?"

"Quite safe, my dear. Funny really, that wannabe doesn't seem to have that many allies and I never see any in here unless a warrior is injured in a rogue attack."

"So, ahem. What gave you the impression that we're more than friends?"

"I'm mated to a woman myself, deary. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

I breathed a sigh of relief

"So Drew's going to be okay?"

"My eyes haven't given out on me yet dear. The bleed is slow and already healing. Do make sure she eats plenty, I'll release her after dinner. I've heard whispers that tomorrow's event is something a little more exceptional than a burns night celebration. Just know our true alpha, your dear Drew has my full support and more than that, she has the support of the entire medical staff at this hospital."

Everything was falling into place and I truly felt hope for our plan.

Drew

By the time night rolled around, I'd recovered fully especially after Skye brought me chicken strips and chips from the takeaway that I love.

Beatrice, the head of surgery signed off on me being released. We headed back to Skye's room and started watching Criminal Minds on TV.

"Skye?"

"Mm yes dearest?"

"You said you'd tell me about why you check for internal bleeding." She sighed

"Yes I did, love. I okayed it with Will since it concerns him."

"Right?"

"Well before I was fully qualified, Will was in and out of hospital a lot. I was always confused about it and used to call him the clumsiest chief I know. We had a laugh about it but looking back there was something in his eyes, maybe pain. One time Will came into the hospital black and blue all over. I tried to ask him what happened after he was examined and okayed to leave but before he could tell me he collapsed to the floor. We had been really busy that day so he'd been sat waiting for a good couple hours. I looked him over myself and I could see telltale signs of an internal bleed. He was rushed into surgery after I drew attention to him. It scared me bad, I just assumed my superiors at the hospital knew what they were doing. Not one of them had ordered any scans. It turned out he had a broken femur which has cause some catastrophic internal bleeding. I almost lost my brother after that. He ended up in an induced coma for a few days to allow his body to heal properly. I looked closely at his file and notes and went to the head of the trauma department, I told him my brother's file shows clear signs of abuse and it should have been flagged. He tried to insist that it's not possible for a man to be abused let alone an alpha male. I lost my s**t, I berated him completely and he probably wanted to fire me but I knew that with Will incapacitated, I was acting Clan Chief. I relieved him of his position and told him due to his service for years to the hospital he'd be offered retirement with full benefits. I spent the next few days after that studying research, presenting it to the medical staff and completely overhauling the infrastructure of the hospital. By the time Will woke up, I'd made sure every single member of staff knew how to recognise signs of abuse and not just that, they were trained to recognise symptoms of deadly complications or identify the risks where symptoms aren't obvious."

"So how did he end up like that? You mentioned abuse..?"

"My brother had a chosen mate before he met his fated mate. Our current Luna is a lovely sweet woman, very accepting, kind and patient. The chosen mate he had before was his childhood sweetheart, after they both turned 18 they were disappointed that they weren't mates. By the time they were 19, they decided they'd be chosen mates. She was cruel to him, it started off with a little jealousy and paranoia here and there and escalated more and more. My brother would never hurt his mate, even if that little tramp deserved it. So he just took it and eventually it got to the point where he almost lost his life. You'd think at that point, he'd leave but he wasn't able to. Abusers are like that, they dig their claws in deeper and deeper until by the time it's too late, you can't get away."

"So was it like it is with us? Did his fated mate come along and show him he should be treated better?"

"Sadly, no. His chosen mate met her fated mate and started sneaking around behind his back. Stupid really, Will would have allowed her to go with him but instead of rejecting her mate or leaving Will, she wanted it both ways. When Will walked in on them having s*x in the Clan Chief suite of the pack-house, he finally broke it off. Exiled both of them. He met Blair about 2 years later, she loved him truly and deeply and still does. She helped him heal from everything that happened. She's been a real blessing for our family and clan."

I wasn't sure what to say, I had no idea that Will had gone through that. I thought about how confident and fun he is, I thought about how maybe I could be like that someday too. I used to be so full of energy and confidence.

"Skye, how long do you think it'll take me to heal?"

"It's hard to say, love. Our Will was hurting all the way until he met Blair. The pain seemed to melt away after that and slowly and surely he got back to being himself."

"Well I have you now so I should heal really quick right?"

"It's not as simple as that, everyone heals differently and at different rates. Even if the pain's gone, it'll probably take some time for you to truly feel like yourself again. Try not to rush it, pet."

"Okay yeah that makes sense."

We heard a knock on the door, we expected Will but instead there stood Lyall and Mitch. "Erm hi?" I said dumbly.

"Hey Drew" Mitch said "Chief MacRobert told us you need help" Lyall added.

"Oh" I said

"Drew we are so sorry we couldn't do more. We were threatened with exile if we disobeyed. We weren't to interfere so long as you shared Chief Lachlan's bed." Mitch gushed.

"Yeah, we figured something was going on when we were suddenly able to resist that command." Lyall said.

I blushed deeply "I was banned from the bedroom when I wasn't getting upset by Alastair having s*x with an omega in front of me."

"For f***s sake. That man is so toxic." Lyall blurted.

A giggle escaped my lips. Everyone looked at me a little confused.

"Well it's just really nice to hear people from my own pack believing me."

"Oh Drew. We got threatened because we tried to stand up for you, Al didn't take that all too well" Mitch said softly.

We briefly explained the plan to the two men. They grinned widely, "so what do you need us to do?" they asked in unison then looked at each other and laughed.

"Well, when it comes to it, I need you both to vouch for me. Omegas and myself speaking out won't carry much weight. Although we've come a long way, some people would still rather believe a group of women are lying rather than their chief being an abuser."

They nodded solemnly. I was so grateful for these two men. Although I knew an argument had come up about how Alastair treats me, I had assumed he pushed them away out of jealousy. I now realised that he just didn't want to be outed. Prick.