003
1638 Words
Aubrey's POV
I blinked myself awake, in more agony than I had ever felt in my life. I took in the ceiling above me and what I could see if the walls. They were all white. My neck felt immobile, so I assumed I was in a neck brace.
Vaguely, I felt the bind of bandages across various parts of my body. My right foot felt numb and when I tried to move it, it barely responded. The clink of metal on metal had me trying to jerk my head sharply to the side.
"Who's there?", I croaked pitifully.
A smiling face appeared over my head, the woman it belonged to in green scrubs.
"You woke earlier than expected", she said.
My brow furrowed confusedly, but even that small motion sent pain coursing through me. No motion sent pain coursing through me.
"Where..." My voice broke and I coughed weakly and the woman looked at me sympathetically.
"We had to use a tube to feed you, so your throat will be sore for a few days", she told me. "Hold on. I'll get you a glass of water."
She disappeared for a moment and I heard the sound of rushing water. When she appeared, she was holding a little cup of water with a plastic straw inserted in it.
"Try to go slowly at first. You'll find it hard to swallow."
She held the straw to my lips and I tried to follow her instructions, sipping slowly and carefully. At the first swallow, my throat protested and I coughed softly, before drinking again.
She took the cup away before I'd had my fill though. "No more, or you'll be sick. How do you feel?"
I ignored her question and instead tried to look around the room. The immobility in my neck was frustrating.
"Where am I?", I questioned.
She smiled. "You're in the Wintermoon pack. What do you remember?"
Again, I ignored her. "How did I get here?"
Even talking the way I was was taking something out of me, but I tucked away the scrap of information she'd just given me. Wintermoon wasn't far from Wildheart. In fact, we shared a border. To know I was in such close reach of Oliver made me extremely anxious. I wasn't safe yet.
"You'll get all the information you need later", the doctor said, taking a page from my book and ignoring my question. "I need you to answer a few questions for me now, concerning your health. Can you do that?"
I tried to shrug but only winced. "How bad are my injuries?"
Again, she looked sympathetic. "You almost broke your neck. You have a dislocated shoulder, four broken and two bruised ribs, a shattered arm, one broken finger, one broken leg, and a major concussion. There are also bruises all over your body, your face included."
I winced but managed a nod. What had Oliver done to me, and how the hell had I survived? I shut my mind against the other thoughts that threatened to creep in, such as the state of my father if I was this battered.
"How long have I been unconscious?"
"You've been unconscious for close to three weeks"* the doctor said. "That reminds me...we haven't been able to figure out your name..."
I stared at her dumbly. "That's because I've been unconscious", I said, deadpan.
She raised an eyebrow as if to say 'really?'.
I let my eyes travel upward. "Aubrey."
"It's nice to meet you, Aubrey. I'm Doctor Grace."
"A pleasure", I mumbled under my breath. I yawned.
"That'll be the pain meds kicking in", Doctor Grace said. "You'll be sleepy for a while."
"When can I get my questions answered?"
"Well, there's someone who would like to see you. He may have the answers you need."
"He?"
I don't know what expression showed on my face - alarm, or eager shock - but the doctor raised both eyebrows. My mind whirled. A man? Was it Dad? My stomach churned at the thought that it might be Oliver, come to finish the job.
"Who?", I asked, keeping my features straight.
"I'll send him in", she said and began to back away.
I resisted the urge to yell her name and demand she tell me who it was before sending just anyone in. My eyes darted wildly around the room, looking for anything that could be used as a weapon. The door opened and shut, and I was suddenly hit by a powerful aura.
My head was still facing resolutely upwards, and he was standing just out of range of my peripheral vision.
My heart pounded wildly. "Who are you?", I asked with more bravado than I felt.
The room was quiet for a second before he spoke. "You don't have to be scared", he said, his voice deeply calming and soothing. "I'm not going to hurt you."
"I'm not scared", I retorted, my shaking voice belying my fear. "Who are you?", I repeated.
The man stepped forward, slowly entering my line of vision. My breath caught.
"I can hear your heart thundering", he noted. "No one will hurt you here, you have my word."
Finally, he loomed over me. Slowly, I blinked, my brain trying to comprehend the sheer size of this man. His face was sharply cut and angular, giving him a statuesque beauty. I shook my head slightly, getting his insanely good looks out of my head. I had better things to worry about.
"My name is Alpha Evans Wintermoon", the large man said. "I saved your life."
I swallowed thickly. "How..."
"Do you remember anything?", He asked softly.
"No", I croaked.
I remembered, though. I remembered Oliver's twisted expression, remembered the feeling of nothing behind me. I remembered screaming as my body was battered against the jutting rock face. I remembered blacking out.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
"I found you on my pack lands, just inside the border. You almost drowned, but by some miracle, you were washed ashore by the current."
"Drowned?" My brow furrowed.
Alpha Evans nodded. "There's a river at the bottom of the cliff. I'm assuming that's where you fell from?"
I nodded numbly.
"It's shallow in some places. You were stuck on one of the rocks there. I'd been patrolling my borders when I saw you."
My voice was thick with unshed tears. A man whom I had trusted so much turned out to be a huge scam and murderer, but a total stranger had helped an almost dead woman, just because she happened to be on his pack lands.
"Thank you. You didn't have to do that."
He gave me a wry smile. "You'd be dead if I hadn't", he reminded me.
"Right." I forced a smile. "And we can't have that, of course."
He nodded, and I noticed he was still standing. I tried to look around again, before remembering I couldn't.
"Isn't there a chair around here?", I asked. "You should sit."
He nodded thankfully and walked a few steps to the side. When he returned, he was with a chair.
"Thanks", he said.
"It's your pack." I tried to shrug.
Again, that wry smile. "It's your hospital room."
I snorted with unexpected amusement, then coughed violently at the disturbance to my sore throat. Alpha Evans immediately shot up from his seat and returned with a glass of water. He even put in a straw.
When I drank a little, I gave a self-deprecating smile. "Of course, having a hospital room is something to be proud of."
"Definitely better than having a spot in the morgue", he said seriously and I immediately sobered, my thoughts travelling to my father.
"Yeah", I said quietly. "Better."
Evans sat back down on his chair. "Do you want to talk about what's wrong?"
I laughed humorlessly. "You mean apart from the fact that I'm bruised and broken, away from my pack, and my..." I broke off abruptly and squeezed my eyes tightly shut to hold back the tears.
"Your what?", Evans prompted softly.
"My father", I whispered. I opened my eyes and the tears fell anyway, trailing a stinging path down my bruised cheek.
"What happened to your father?", The alpha in front of me asked.
How ironic, I thought numbly, that I would escape from the clutches of an alpha, only to run into another.
"He's...in danger", I said. "I hope."
His eyebrows raised. "You hope?"
I tried to nod. "If he isn't, it'll only mean one thing", I cried. That he's dead, I thought silently.
Evans seemed to understand my implied statement. "I see."
We sat in silence for a while, the only sound coming from the steady drip of my IV.
"If you don't mind my asking", he finally said, breaking the silence, "who are you?"
"Someone who failed", I whispered sadly. "Someone who deserves to die."
Evans sucked in a breath, and I went on.
"My name is Aubrey Wildheart."
His eyebrows raised almost comically.
I scoffed out a laugh. "From the expression on your face, I'm guessing you've heard something about me."
Evans shook his head. "Only that you died soon after marrying your mate, leaving the pack in his care."
I laughed bitterly. "I guess that's one way he would put it."
"He?"
I caught Alpha Evans's eyes. "Whatever you've heard about me is probably a lie. The truth is much worse."
Evans shook his head. "You don't have to speak of it now. You should rest."
I shut my eyes again and sighed. "Thank you, Alpha Evans", I said formally.
"Just Evans is fine", the alpha replied.
I forced another smile. "Thank you, Just Evans."
His smile was sadder than mine. "Get some rest, Alpha Aubrey", he said quietly, getting up from his chair.
"Just Aubrey", I whispered. "I am no alpha. Not anymore.”
- Writer
