Shadow Moon: Secrets

Near Death

Carter POV

                It had been hours since the attack on the ceremony took place. I was sitting in my father’s office now. There was nothing more I could do staying at the pack hospital. Riley was sitting at the couch across from me. Although he didn’t have his wolf yet, he was still my Beta, one of my closest friends. I needed his help to figure this all out and move forward. I had Adrian still working to determine the losses and what warriors we still had while Harry continued to focus on border security and determining where the breach took place.

                “We haven’t gotten an update from Dr. Grace since they moved my father into surgery.” I said quietly mostly thinking out loud.

                “He will pull through, Carter. The last update said he was stable. Sometimes no news is good news.” Riley offered.

                “I know. I just wish we knew anymore. When you were down there did you get any updates on Scarlett?” I asked.

                “Nothing more than what Lily already told us before we left the hospital. Scarlett is stable but unconscious. Lily is still staying with her. We could always link her for an update.” He answered.

                I nodded my head resting my elbows on the desk and my head in my hands. Our pack didn’t have any active rivalries. It didn’t make sense to attack the second largest pack in the region. I couldn’t find a logical reason as to why the rogues would attack us. I had been pouring over my father’s files to see if maybe there was some disagreement, or something documented that would give us a clue. We knew Scarlett could be a target, especially after they filled us in on her history. But even that didn’t totally make sense, as far as we knew, no one knew she even existed. Leon had been killed after his attack. That could have tipped off whoever was after the girls in the first place. And that was only assuming that they were literal targets and not just pretty she-wolves that his boss was planning to traffic.

                I lifted my head and smacked my fists against the desk. “Damn-it!” I growled the desk shaking below the force of the hit. Riley jumped up slightly. “Carter, come on, we’ll figure it out. First, we focus on security and preventing a secondary attack. Then we start searching for details and it’s going to take time.” He stood up. “I’m going down to the hospital to get more information. You’re welcome to join me if you’d like. But beating up that desk isn’t going to fix anything. We need to act as the leader’s we’re supposed to be.” He scolded. Leave it to Riley to be my voice of reason. While he was often quiet, he was also often the wisest of our group.

Lily POV

                I was still sitting next to Scarlett’s hospital bed. Every so often I’d brush the hair away from her face. Lucille and Harry had stopped in to check on her not to long ago. I didn’t have any information for them though. We had cleaned and dressed the room but no explanation as to why she was in such a deep state of sleep. Her vitals were steady. She just wasn’t waking up.  Carter had told me she felt hot, almost feverish. She felt normal to me. The thermometer agreed. She didn’t have a fever. So that was odd. Her only obvious injury was her arm and some minor scratches and bruises. It was healing quicker than I had expected with the amount of damage.

                “Come on, Scar. Wake up. We need our Gamma.” I whispered brushing the blonde locks back again.

                I had promised Carter I would stay with her while my grandmother attended to his father in surgery. His wounds had been much more serious. The bites to his neck had nicked arteries. It was amazing that he hadn’t bled out on the field. I was certain Scarlett had had something to do with that. She had already nearly gotten him to the pack house by the time we had heard her screaming for help. The Alpha had broken both arms, and his right leg. He was currently in surgery to realign the bones that couldn’t be set manually. Often our wolves could heal most injuries, but the process was easier on us and our wolves with some surgical assistance. We hoped that to be the case. If the Alphas wolf wasn’t weakened too horribly, they should be able to fully stabilize him in the OR. Now all any of us could do was wait for the news.

                “Gigi, what else can I do? Why won’t she wake up? “I asked my own wolf. Her name was Ginger, but I hated it because of the connection to redheads so I insisted on calling her Gigi.

                “All we can do is let the moon goddess lead the way. She’s healing. Her body and her wolf need rest just like we do. You must be exhausted. Rest next to her, it won’t do anyone good if you are a walking zombie!” Ginger directed.

                “You’re right. I should probably give it time and try to rest.” I moved to sit back in the chair near Scarlett, leaning forward and resting my head on folded arms on her bed. I wasn’t going to leave the room. I needed to be here to be sure she was okay when she did decide to wake up.

Carter POV

                I had stayed put ignoring Riley for only a few minutes. He was right, I needed to focus on the things I could handle. Everything else would have to wait for the moment. I couldn’t solve every problem right this second. I left the office bounding down the stairs towards the hospital. I walked into the waiting room shortly after Riley.

                “Hello, Rose.” I acknowledge the nurse sitting behind the desk.

                “Alpha. Dr. Grace should be out shortly with an update.” She said offering a smile full of sympathy.

                I nodded towards Riley and took a moment to mind link my mother asking her to join us for the update. We had taken her back to my parents’ room so she could rest. Her mate being injured so severely had done a number on her and she had looked to weak to even carry herself. I took a seat in one of the waiting room chairs.

                “Has she woken up yet? “I mind-linked Lily.

                “No, she’s sleeping soundly. Her vitals are stable. I’m sure she just needs rest.” Lily responded sounding groggy through the link.

                “You should get some rest too, Lil.”

                “Working on that, Carter. I’ll link you as soon as she wakes up.”

                A few minutes later my mother entered the waiting room making a beeline for me. I stood up holding the smaller woman in my arms. “He will be fine, mom.” I said holding her tightly to me.

                Dr. Grace walked into the room. She was still dressed in scrub, her lightly greyed hair peaking out from under a surgical cap. There was blood all over her scrubs. She clasped her hands together clearing her throat to gather our attention.

                “Alpha, Luna, Beta.” She addressed as if gathering her thoughts for a moment. “Alpha Nolan is stable. We were able to set the bones that were broken. He had some internal bleeding that we were able to cauterize. We also cleaned the neck wounds thoroughly and closed the ones that were safe to do so. “

                “Thank the goddess.” I sighed out heavily expelling a breath I didn’t know I was holding. Riley did the same and my mother wailed with a sense of relief while profusely thanking Dr. Grace.

                “Alpha Carter. While your father is stable, I’m afraid that’s not all the news I have for you.” Dr. Grace nervously cleared her throat again. “We have him in a medically induced coma. This is to allow his body to heal. The wounds were severe. There were so many internal injuries, severe blood loss and we suspect some minor brain swelling. It’s imperative that we keep him under for the time being to allow him and his wolf to fully recover. However, at this time we cannot say exactly what that recovery is going to look like. We do not know if he will be able to resume his duties as Alpha. Or if he will remain stable. At this point all we can do is watch and wait. We need to be certain there’s no infections that develop over the next couple of days.”

                When she finally paused and the weight of what she was saying sank in I turned shoving a chair across the room. “f**k!” I raged. My eyes were turning black, Evan wanting to take control and run away. I took a deep breath trying to contain him. “Thank you, Dr. Grace.” I said dismissively. She had done her part; she couldn’t control the severity of his injuries. This wasn’t her fault. I kept reminding myself repeatedly. My mother had collapsed again into Riley’s arms crying heavily.

                “He’s alive. That’s what matters for now. Riley, if you would please escort my mom back to her quarters. She needs to rest. Mom, take some time and later I’ll bring you down to come see, dad.” I added the last part as softly as I could kissing my mother on the cheek. “Dr. Grace, I’m sure you need to clean up, but afterwards would you please take a moment and check in on Gamma Scarlett. Lily says she’s stable and I’m sure she’s fine, but a second set of eyes can’t hurt. We need to figure out why she hasn’t woken up yet.”  I paused for a moment. “After that you should get some rest as well. According to Adrian the other injuries were treated in the village hospital. It’s late, we all need some rest so we’re thinking clearly. I’ll be by first thing in the morning for updates on both my father and Scarlett.”

                “I already planned to check in on her, Alpha.” Dr. Grace said bowing her head lightly. “Please try to get some rest. Emotional weight carries a physical toll on us all, Carter” She added the last part informally with the look of a concerned grandmother on her face.

                She was right. We all needed to rest. We could handle the rest in the morning. I turned to leave the clinic following the path Riley and my mom had taken moments before. It wasn’t supposed to happen the night of my ceremony but for the time being I was the Alpha. I would do this pack no good at all if I wasn’t taking care of myself as well. I sighed finally letting a stray tear escape my eyes as I entered my bedroom. I let the door slam shut behind me and stripped out of my clothes as I walked to my bed crawling under the blanket and hugging the pillow as if my life depended on it. It wouldn’t be long until I fell into a deep sleep.