2. Forty- eight

~ Harper’s POV ~

It had been a week since Zara called me and I still couldn't believe that I would never see her again. She had explicitly stated that she wasn't going to come back but there was something inside me, a feeling maybe, which said that I would be seeing her soon. 

Honestly, I didn't know if I should be optimistic and believe this feeling inside of me, because that would mean that I was hanging to a thread of hope. I never said I wasn't desperate for her but I was also a realist.

She was my mate and I loved her. I didn't love her because I needed her, I needed her because I loved her. I know that was quite cheesy of me to say that, but it was true. 

There were so many things happening at once and I was stuck in between everything. There was no easy way out for me. I could go after my mate, but I would be abandoning my pack, which had no alpha and was under the target of a rogue pack. Circumstances in my life had led me to a crossroads and I didn't know which path to take. Sometimes, it felt as if the universe was against me living a happy and normal life. Life doesn't stop giving you crap because you already have enough on your plate and I was learning it the hard way. The only thing I could do was tackle one problem at a time.

It's been almost two weeks since the rogue attack and everything and everyone has pretty much returned to normal. People have resumed their lives, braved their losses, and hoped for something good for the future.

We were all struck by the attack one way or the other, but the pack had picked itself, dusted off the dirt, and faced life head-on. 

I felt the only ones stuck were my family. Almost everyone who was injured in the attack had been healed, all thanks to werewolf healing. They had been up and running for some time now and joined their life. The only person who was injured in the attack and still stuck in a hospital bed was my father.

There still had been no news of my father's state. The doctors had stated that the wolfsbane had been flushed out of my dad's body by now. The harm that the poison had done while it was still inside my father, no one was sure about the extent of it. The only thing the doctors could say was to wait for him to wake up.

Mom had taken some time to talk to the grieving families and had left Katelyn with me. Even though I was her son, I knew my sister was one of the major reasons my mom was holding onto me. 

The doctors had pretty much said that there was nothing that they could do and the situation felt so hopeless and I felt so helpless. I was a supernatural creature by human standards, I had compulsion powers, I could turn into a werewolf but I was still powerless against the laws of nature.

I sighed because I was stuck in my office, surrounded by paperwork and damage costs. Katelyn was sleeping in her small bed beside me, where I could easily reach her and admire her. She hadn't only changed my parent's lives but mine too and this small girl didn't even know it.

The phone on my desk rang and my breath got stuck in my lungs when I heard who was speaking on the other side. The doctor who was in charge of my dad.

"Any news, doctor?" I asked breathlessly, my heart beating a mile a minute. I was so desperate and needy for good news right now.

"Your father regained consciousness. He's still too dizzy to hold a conversation but you can meet him if you want to." The doctor said in a soothing voice and it was the news I needed to hear.

"I'll be right there, doc," I said, feeling light in a very long time.

I picked up my sister and called Mom on the way to the hospital. I quickly relayed whatever the doctor had said to me and told Mom that I was on my way to the hospital. She breathed a sigh of relief and told me she would meet me there.

I rushed to the hospital, and climbed up the steps to Dad's room, with Katelyn in my arms, eager to see him. I wasn't going to believe my father had woken up till I could see for myself.

When I barged into the hospital room, a nurse was taking my father's vitals. He looked worn down, pale, weak and so frail. It was hard for me to see my parent like this. Aren't parents supposed to be invincible and all? At least, that's what children believed to feel safe.

He weakly smiled when he saw me and his smile broadened when he noticed his little girl in my arms. I walked to the chair placed beside the bed and Dad's green eyes followed me. The same green eyes I had inherited from him. The same green eyes Zara loved.

I settled Katelyn in my lap in such a way that he could see his daughter. He smiled when she baby-smiled at him and then looked at me. "Hey, Dad. You scared a lot of people by doing that."

He just smiled and opened his mouth to say something when the doors burst open and my frantic mom walked in.

"Oh, thank God! I couldn't believe the doctor when she told me you were alive but thank the goddess that you are."

She rushed towards the bed flung her body on my dad and hugged him. A second later, her shoulders started to shake and sobs filled the whole room.

Feeling uncomfortable and sensing that they needed some privacy, I left the room to check up on the doctor and get some updates on my father's condition.

Call an emergency meeting. Call the beta family. In ten minutes. 

My dad's mind linked me and I laughed inwardly at his predictability. He had been out of service for a few days and now that he has regained control, he would want to know everything that's been happening in the pack, including the number of deaths and the steps that had been taken to reinforce our defense systems.

I mind-linked the beta family that my dad was awake and that he wanted to hold an emergency meeting in ten meetings. I got position replies and promises to be there in time.

My mom called me after five minutes and went inside the room. It hurt and pained me to see my father like that, so helpless and fragile but I guess it was the circle of life too. 

I asked the nurse to arrange some chairs so that the beta family could come and sit for the pack meeting. A nurse promptly came and adjusted the hospital bed so that my dad could sit better. The doctor advised us to take things slow because my father's body was still fighting the effects of the poison and was weak and tired. We took her advice in reading and told her the meeting would be quick. As it is, we would only cover the basic topics and then my father would go back to rest, like the patient he was.

Soon, we were all seated in the small hospital room. After everyone fawned over my father, which I was sure he hated, all of us got down to business.

We updated my father on the losses we suffered in the rogue attack, both the lives lost and the damage to the infrastructure. Only one of them was reparable. 

Dad's face grew somber when he heard that so many children lost their lives in a fight, small innocent lives who could have a brighter future. Then we informed him of the monetary decisions taken to cover the losses. The hospital was restocked and the buildings were refurbished. 

Even though people were talking, the atmosphere of the room was as silent as death. It was dark and gloomy and anyone who could peek into the room would see tense individuals exchanging loads of bad news with each other.

Yeah, we were sunshine people.

Throughout the meeting, my father only listened but didn't speak another word. I knew what he was doing. He had been nodding his head and shaking his head to confirm or send something throughout this meeting. 

He had been conserving his energy because he wanted to address a very important issue and he would do it when everything else was settled. Energy management and prioritization, that's what he called it. He had taught me this rule a long time ago, to help me figure out how to solve the problems in my life. 

"Now that I am bedridden, the threat to the pack has increased. I wanted to know if anyone had any ideas to compensate for the loss of an alpha?" He asked, his words well thought out, barely a whisper. Thankful to the werewolf hearing, we all heard him loud and clear. Before he had even asked this question, I knew he would touch this subject. Without him, the alpha of the pack, the pack was weak and barely functional. Sure, I could fill in for the alpha because I was his son, but nothing would be the same until the official alpha position was empty.

"I have been thinking about it and I know the solution to our problems." Aiden's father answered and we all looked at him, eager to hear his plan.

My father motioned him to speak and he did, surprising us all. And not in a good way.

"We need to make Harper the alpha of the pack."