The Alpha's Sacrifice

Prophecy

Killian’s POV

I woke slowly, I wasn’t sure how long I had been out cold. I groaned at the pounding in my head, opening my eyes and looking around. It was my room in the cottage. I noticed the small touches I had made to the room right away. Like the blue bedding and a few of my wood carvings on the dresser. The carvings were mostly animals; a couple of wolves, an owl, and a pine marten, but one was of a flower that I had intended to give to Nuala. How did I get back here? My throat felt dry as if I had swallowed a bucket of sand. Every breath was agony, as I pressed my hand to my ribs. I looked down at my bare torso, the bruises were already a dark purple and near black in some spots.

“Is an-anyone h-here?” I rasped out, hoping if someone was in the cottage, they would hear me.

If I wasn’t so weak, I probably would have jumped out of my skin when Muireann appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

“You’re awake. Good,” she said, like it was more of a statement than a relief. “Sinead and I were worried about you.”

“Sinead’s here?” I croaked the question.

“Yes, I will let her know you are awake.”

I continued to lay on the bed and stare at the ceiling. I was too weak to even try and sit up. Muireann walked out of the room so silently I didn’t hear a thing and that was saying something. Her stealth abilities were unparalleled. I don’t even think Sinead could move that quietly. It still gave me the creeps a bit that she could move like a ghost. It didn’t help that her stark white hair, pale skin and silver eyes made her appear like some kind of specter. I must have fallen back to sleep without realizing it because I woke to Sinead gently nudging my arm to wake me.

In her hand she held a bowl of steaming water with a cloth floating on the top, the water swaying slightly side to side as she sat down in the chair next to my bed. Dunking her hand in, she pulled the cloth from the water and squeezed out all the excess. I could hear the water droplets plop back into the bowl before she started dabbing my cheek with it. I hissed at the jolt of pain coursing through me at the touch of the cloth.

“Oh, this looks bad.” Sinead fussed about the appearance of my face.

“I’ll live” I told her as she continued to wash my face carefully.

“You have a few cuts on your face, and some really bad bruising around this eye. Can you still see alright?”

Wow, it must be pretty bad for Sinead to be concerned about my vision. I closed the eye opposite the one that was apparently bad.

“I can still see.”

“That’s good then.”

I must still have been bleeding from the cuts because the cloth was turning red from where she touched it to my face. I closed my eyes again in exhaustion from the pain throughout my whole body.

“Killian, I am so glad you are alright,” I heard her say to me softly.

“I don’t know about that. Why would you make me come here, Sinead? Are all packs like this?” I asked, opening my eyes again.

“Killian, I knew this pack wasn’t perfect, but I also know that you have a purpose here. I can sense it.” Sinead told me.

“If you knew it wasn’t good, why did you make me come here?”

“Like I said, there is a reason you need to be in this pack.”

“What purpose could I possibly have?”

“I’m not sure, but I know this is where you are supposed to be,” The cryptic answer from Sinead did nothing to make me feel better.

“The only thing that is nice about this place is Nuala, but her brother is the one that did this to me. Now I can’t even be around her.” I continued.

“Killian, I am sorry that this happened to you, but I promise you that you are meant to do something for this pack.”

“You are really going to make me stay here? After what the future Alpha of this pack did to me, I don’t want to do anything for this pack,” I told her in frustration.

“I know it’s not ideal, Killian, I don’t expect you to understand the importance that you have in this situation, yet. The spirits are saying everything is as it should be and everything leads to you being here.” Sinead said again.

She was what she called sensitive to the spirits and the messages from the enlightened that existed in nature all around us. Maybe it had something to do with her long life or her parentage, but she was really good at many things.

“I don’t really care what kind of prophecy they have for me. This place is terrible.”

“It will get better Killian,” Sinead said, as if it already was and I should just move on. I didn’t want to. How could I? Sitting in pain just reminded me why I didn’t want to be here anymore.

“I noticed your new wheelchair. It looks fantastic. Muireann helped bring it back when we found you,” Sinead changed the subject.

So that’s how I got back here. I mean I assumed it was them, but there were always stranger explanations. This was not one of those strange situations though. Although I did wonder why both Sinead and Muireann seemed to be there when I needed them. I kind of understood Sinead, she had always been there for me, but Muireann was still a mystery to me.

“The castle craftsman, Lorcan, made it for me. And I’ll thank Muireann for bringing back my chair.”

“Well, he is a very good craftsman, and I’m sure Muireann would appreciate your thanks.”

“Sinead?”

“Yes, Killian.”

“Thanks for saving me, again, I guess.”

“I would save you as many times as I need to, Killian. You are like a son to me.”

“How did you know where to find me anyway?” I asked Sinead.

“I could sense something was wrong and came as soon as I could. Then I just used my wolf abilities, like sense of smell and tracking, to find you.” Sinead explained to me.

Then it hit me. I listened, but the silence that followed was deafening, which suddenly made me aware that I should have my wolf and I couldn’t hear him or feel his presence.