Apprentice to the Alpha 

Eight: Nate

---Evelyn---

We arrived at the pack hospital, and it was a madhouse. Our parents had made it seem like it was a small raid with only a few minor injuries, but that must have been to allow Marie to meet her wolf without worrying.

As we walked up to the nurses station, I saw staff running in every direction. Some were wheeling around gurneys, while others had their arms full of patient files. Just how massive was this raid? I hesitantly approach a very busy looking nurse, who recognized me immediately. "You're here for Nathan Armstrong? He's in room 209 on the intensive care floor. But it's family only right now. Your friend stays here." She says pointing to Marie.

Marie shrugs, mentioning that she's tired anyway and settles herself in a chair to wait.

I slowly make my way to the elevator. I've never been to the second floor. I’d been to the first floor, the emergency room, and even the third when my mom gave birth to my sisters, but not the second.

I got into the elevator and held my breath as I pressed the 2 button. The elevator lurched and began rising. I felt all the junk food I had snacked on throughout the day threatening to come back up. *Ding!* Why was that ding so pleasant sounding; this was not a happy situation.

I get out and follow signs to room 209, every step seeming harder and harder. Then I'm standing in front of the door. Just as I'm trying to convince myself to go through, it's flung open and a disheveled looking nurse bursts out. "Go on in, it's just family in there right now. I'll be back in 15 minutes to check his vitals; make sure to call for us if something happens between now and then."

My lead feet shuffle through the door and when I see Nate, all air vacates my body. He has tubes coming out of everywhere into various machines and is covered in bandages. He seems to be having a weak conversation with my uncle Daniel. When he sees me, he tries to smile but only manages a grimace.

My parents rush over to me and lead me to Nate's side. Nate pats the bed next to him and I hesitantly sit where he indicates.

"Hi Evelyn, how was Marie's shift?" he asks when I've settled.

I jump back to my feet. "How can you ask me that at a time like this! What happened to you? Who did this!" I demand.

Uncle Daniel answers for him. "It was a relatively large rogue attack. They didn't seem to have a leader, but did have knowledge that could have only come from a pack member. I don't know what they were after, but we managed to drive them off."

"I don't care about what they wanted! Who hurt my cousin?" I angrily asked.

"Sweetheart, you can't talk to him that way. He may be your uncle but he's still the Alpha." My mom tells me.

"Don't worry Alice. She's upset and it's understandable." Daniel says soothingly, then continues. "We don't know what the rogues were after, but as soon as they saw Nate, multiple pounced on him at once. I guess they wanted the glory of being able to say they had taken out a future Alpha. Nate got them all, but not before the biggest one got a chunk out of his side. The one that attacked him seemed to have released some kind of wolfsbane-Silver concoction into the wound, so Nate hasn't been able to use his wolf's healing powers. We took him to the hospital right away, but the doctor thinks it might be too late; Nate's wolf still hasn't woken up. If he doesn’t, the damage might irreversible at this point."

I look at Nate and am crying for what seemed like the thousandth time today. "I'm so sorry! I should have been there. I could have helped. I've been training hard to protect everyone, and when it really mattered I was sitting on my ass."

"No. You're underage. I know you've trained well, but that's training. No one under 18 is allowed in real fights; they're dangerous. Now that we're done talking about that, please tell me about Marie's shift." Nate said, seeming to fade with every word. I could tell he was trying to seem strong for me, but he was talking too much. I took a steadying breath and wiped away my tears. If Nate was dying and still trying to be strong for me, I could do the same for him. I wanted to make sure his last moments were happy ones.

"She shifted faster than you did, it only took her two minutes! Maybe all your brains got in the way and that's why it took you so long." I proclaimed.

My mother looked shocked that I was making fun of him at a time like this, but I knew Nate. This is what he wanted.

Nate laughed lightly and started coughing. After his breathing steadied, I continued. "Her wolf is all white except for black paws, and she has deep blue eyes with black flecks. Plus, she's huge! I'm pretty sure she's bigger than your wolf, dad!" Everyone laughed and I noticed Nate and Daniel sharing a meaningful look.

"Well I don't have any Alpha Blood, so my wolf isn't really supposed to be big, remember? Your mom is the one related to those weirdos" Said my dad, pointing at Nate and Daniel.

"What was that look about?" I asked the pair who seemed to be having a conversation via mind-link. Their eyes unclouded, telling me they were done with their secret conversation.

"Nothing. Just that now is a bad time to tell you, but you're next in line to be Alpha." Says Nate to me.

No. no. no. I can't think about this right now. As a kid I always tried to dream up ways that I could become the future Alpha, but this was not ever how I would have pictured it. "No! you are meant to be Alpha, not me! You're going to get better and be an amazing leader. You've given up everything to learn how to best help our pack!" So much for being strong for Nate, I'm crying again.

After another coughing fit, Nate continues. "Honestly, being Alpha never appealed to me. I realized in college that learning was my true passion, being Alpha was just what was expected of me. It seems this is fate's way of telling us that I was never meant to do that." says Nate.

I was once again sitting by Nate, so my tears began falling onto him. At this point I had given up on wiping them away. "You can't die. Promise me. I don't even care about being Alpha. I'd give anything to keep you here."

Nate paused and looked contemplative. "We might be in luck, I think my wolf is waking up."

A glimmer of hope was forming within the darkness of my mind. Maybe Nate wasn't too far gone and his wolf could heal him. My mom sprints out of the room to get the nurse, and arrives a couple minutes later with Doctor Carter.

Doctor Carter used various machines to run tests on Nate while we waited with baited breath. Finally, he looked up at Nate and said, "Nathan, you definitely aren't out of the woods, but you have a chance. Multiple of your organs are still trying to shut down, but at least your condition isn't getting worse anymore. Your wolf waking up may have given you the advantage you need to heal. I think the best course of action is to sedate you to give your wolf a bit of extra help in his efforts. But, that does mean that if your wolf isn't strong enough, you won't wake up from this."

Nate has another coughing fit before gasping out, "If there's a chance, I'll take it."

"Okay then. I'll get everything ready and be back in 10 minutes. Go ahead and say your goodbyes so that in case the Moon Goddess calls you back home, you'll have said everything you want to say." Doctor Carter says, looking thoroughly exhausted.

After the pair left, Nate speaks to each of us in turn. First, he addresses my parents. "You two have gone above and beyond in your duties as my Aunt and Uncle my whole life; you've always felt more like a second set of parents than Aunt and Uncle. Thank you for everything."

My parents hug him and tell him how proud they are of him.

Then, he turns to Daniel. "Dad, I love you. I don't remember mom since she died when I was so young, but you made sure I didn't feel like I was missing out by only having one parent. I never really wanted to be a leader, but I happily took up the mantle of future Alpha to make you proud. I've always wanted to make sure you're as glad to have me as your son as I am to have you as my father."

Daniel, who had been trying to keep his emotions in check up to this point, began bawling. "I'll always be proud of you. When you wake up, I don't want you to feel obligated to follow in my footsteps. We'll find something you feel is better suited to you, I promise. I love you."

Finally, Nate turns to me. " Evelyn, you've always felt more like a little sister than a cousin to me. You're going to make a great Alpha and I'm so proud of you. By the way, did you know your eyes look purple sometimes? They were a deep violet when you were commanding me not to die."

I laugh. Nate was never very much of a jokester, but I loved his dry sense of humor. "You still haven't promised yet."

"Fine, I promise I'll live. On my honor." Nate says to all of us.

Doctor Carter and a handful of nurses return to the room to begin the process of sinking Nate into a medically induced coma. Now we just have to wait and see.