Dean dozed in a chair rather than the bed the healing centre provided. Just because that’s where he was when his adrenaline bottomed out. Some time just before dawn he awoke from a doze to movement from where Kiera lay. It took him a moment to realize that she was the one making the sound. He’d panicked at the thought that a caregiver or healer had entered. Or worse, someone who wanted to harm Kiera to get to him. But it wasn’t Kiera was moving. It felt a little surreal because he was so groggy, but when things fully registered in his brain, Dean was up close to Kiera’s ear and urgently whispering to her to keep her calm. “It’s okay. You’re safe don’t struggle it’s me Dean. You’re in the healing centre. Kiera, you’re going to be fine. Just stay with me and stay calm.” It felt odd to be talking to Kiera in her dire wolf form. He’d spent hours now studying it. She was a deadly beauty. It wasn’t that she looked sick or twisted. No, it was just her massive size that mad
Oli paced the waiting area. They’d brought Elder Evans to the Black River Hospital, and they were in surgery with him now. The fool was a right and proper mess. He didn’t envy the surgical team piecing him back together.Elder Evans clearly was the loser in this match. He and Dean both received the report from the examination of the scene, and he knew clearly now that Elder Evans could only have ended up like this because he jumped on Kiera.Oli’s job now was to push for his survival so that they could get information from him on why he’d done this and who gave him the tranquilizer he gave Kiera. For all the hesitation he had about Kiera before this, Oli found his opinion not just changing by his conscious decision but because he now saw the reality versus the rumour. He’d have to talk about it with Dean later when this all settled. She wasn’t a danger any more than any other shifter was. Yeah, she had the potential, but she didn’t have a temperament for being the monster the
“Well, I will say this for a Lycan you’re healing faster than expected. That’s good. You’re not ready to shift yet, dear. I’m sorry I wouldn’t recommend it. Your forearm is still broken, and we don’t want to complicate the injury just yet. So, we’ll come in every twelve hours or so make sure everything is going well and hopefully when it knits together some more, we might try the shift back into the flesh if you feel ready. I’ll make sure that someone arranges breakfast for both of you this morning. Now can I help any other way? Questions?” Dean shook his head and Kiera tucked her head under a pillow that lay on the bed near her. “Not right now, thank you. As long as there’s no complications,I’m happy.” “Yes, well, I’d say in three to five days she should be able to leave. Your forearm was pretty bad because you broke both bones, not just one. That’s why I believe it’s prudent to not rush anything. So I’ll write up a report for the next healer as I’m afraid
Kiera knew it trapped her in her fur, and it annoyed her to no end. The pounding headache didn’t help either.The Healer made it easy on her by mixing a pain reliever into some soft food that she could eat. Which wasn’t bad.Dean slept through it all and Kiera went back to sleep.But, of course, nothing was ever so easy in life. She didn’t know what triggered her memories, but when she dreamed it was bad.Kiera found herself back in the lab, in the horrible conditions there, and further twisted imaginings made it worse. Bloody faces, unrelenting pain, confusion, and the worst part was the mental torture.These humans knew she could understand them and speak, yet they ignored her and treated her like she was less than human.When the guards were bored, they’d tease and torture the ‘subjects.’ She’d seen things done to others. Some things the guards would get in trouble for. If they found a guard at fault for the death of a ‘subject’ then they replaced the ‘subject.’ Though tha
“I need to know. Is this that I must expect from her night terrors? I’ve never seen her in the middle of one. What should I do if she has another? I need some kind of guidance on this. She didn’t seem herself and she won’t talk to me about it.” “Enough Alpha Jonas, we’ll talk later. Please let us make her comfortable and then we’ll speak about it. I have questions myself and I’m not sure if you know the answer to them. We’ll discuss it then. Now please step aside while we settle her back in again.” Dean hated feeling like he was helpless and clueless. He’s supposed to be her alpha and her mate. When she needed help, he was right there but might as well be miles away from the good he was. He stormed out of Kiera’s room in utter frustration at himself. He thought they were just bad dreams. How could he have known? None of the videos or reports did anything but mention she experienced them. None gave his details that’s she’d lash out at anyone that got near her
“Well, kind of you to get back to us so quickly there Alpha Jonas.” James said as he put his feet upon his desk in his study. He wanted to speak to Dean before Trisha interfered and sent everything go off the rails. “Yeah, about that I’ve had a night I’m not sure I want to remember. I think you get it easy with taking Trisha off my hands. There’s no way that I could handle both of them right now.” “What are you talking about? I’m not following.” James thought he was teasing Dean, but he seemed truly grateful. “It’s complicated. I just found out some things that are rather disturbing about Kiera’s time away from us and early this morning I came face-to-face with some of the fallout. When I want looking for help and understanding there was little to find. Then I get told there’s no end in sight if Kiera doesn’t get help. Add into it she’s not ready to accept the help she needs and if she agrees, there’s no guarantee that it will work either way. So yo
“What do you mean you talked to my brother? James, you know I wanted to speak to him. Did he say anything about Kiera and how she is doing? What’s happening? Did you talk to him about the parcel of land? How about access to the healing centre? The guys that are going after rogues for blood. Is it true he thinks they might try to take Kiera? I am sick of living on rumours, I need to know.” Trisha couldn’t believe that James didn’t tell her when Dean called finally. She’d been waiting so long to talk to him. Trisha was used to talking to Dean whenever she found him. “Can I visit Kiera?” James needed to get a handle on Trisha, or she’d be running the pack herself and he’d be left in the dust. “Are you done now? Of course, we spoke about all of that, and I can’t believe we had a civil discussion without arguing or pissing each other off.” “I wanted to see that. I want the receipts or at least photos or some sort of evidence proving that statement.” “Ha
Sometime during the day when Dean stepped out to make his calls, Kiera could shift back into her flesh. The healer wasn’t pleased because Kiera didn’t have the okay and could have harmed herself further. Dean didn’t think she made the conscious decision to shift back into her mind. She was still pretty drugged up. He wasn’t happy about it, but he felt she needed a little leeway on this. Too many people had already judged her harshly. Dean knew he needed to make a statement about what happened before fanciful tales based outside of the facts became common belief with the pack. Kiera was in and out of consciousness but the Healer on duty assured him she would be fine soon, and she’d not harmed herself as they feared she would shift so quickly. She gave Dean a rather vague explanation that they didn’t really know how the Lycans shifted, and the method might differ from wolf shifters. They needed to study her more to understand it. He