Chapter 20 - Kiara

It was nearly Christmas when the rain finally stopped. December 23rd. It was so early in the morning that it was almost impossible to imagine why I was still awake, although it made sense to everybody else in the clinic. Harvey was in a coma from his injuries and was lying on a cot in a small room with a vase full of daisies beside him that had been magically enhanced by Regina to remain fresh and lively. A few photographs of boats crossing the horizon hung on the wall. Near the window was a table with a smaller vase holding a single lily that faced outside.

The bluish hue that always came in the morning just as the sun was about to rise emanated through the room. The bed was in the center but I sat on the right side of it with Regina to my right and Clancy on the other side of the bed. A small monitor focused on Harvey”s breathing, his heartbeat, and his pulse. He was alive and in his human form, but yet to wake up. It had been about 24 hours since the fight. The doctor said it was normal for him to be this way and that a lot of times shifters who ended up in comas came out of it just fine.

I was still worried, and Regina was working around the clock to make sure that he would be fine. She was exhausted from being up all night and was drifting off beside me, her eyelids fluttering closed and snoring softly. It took her hand in mine and stroked the back of it.

“You can go home if you want.”

She snorted herself awake. “No, I want to be here,” she argued. I smiled gratefully and she continued. “You know, he makes a wonderful mate. He”ll be a great provider, which is why I want to make sure he survives. Things were so rocky at first because he kidnapped you. We were so worried.”

I laughed while holding her hand to my cheek and a a single tear rolled out of my eye and landed on her forefinger. She swept it away instantly and then pulled me into her arms. She felt so soft to me. I felt so bad for pitting her and my father against each other, and the guilt swelled inside me, so much that it felt like it would take up my entire chest.

“I”m sorry, I”ve been such a rotten stepdaughter.”

Regina laughed lightly, keeping her voice slow as Clancy was snoring on the other side of the bed. “You haven”t been rotten at all. I don”t know what you”re talking about.”

As much as I could sense the humor in her voice, I could also feel the worry behind her words as she wondered if she had done something to cause the discord. But we were long past that, hopefully. I was ready to move past everything as well.

“I know dad and I aren”t seeing eye-to-eye, and it”s probably putting you in a weird position.”

She sighed. “That man always has some kind of worry in his mind.”

I chuckled. “That”s my dad. I guess you signed up for that, didn”t you?”

She laughed and then hugged me tighter and said, “It”s totally fine with me. I”m not even worried about it. I”m simply worried about you and your mate getting back together.”

I sat up sharply. “We never parted,” I insisted.

“Well, I didn”t mean it like that.”

Clancy stirred and shook himself awake. He stood up and paced toward the window and then back to the chair he had been sitting in. He rested his hand on the back of the chair and stared blankly at the bed until remembered where he was and what was going on. For a split second, his eyes were entirely black, and his hunch seemed to grow bigger behind him. After a moment, he blinked his eyes, and they went back to being an iridescent green. He bowed his head and this blonde hair fell into his face. He then ran his fingers over the back of his neck and then his side.

“Has there been any change?” he asked.

Regina and I shook our heads. He glanced at us briefly and then focused on Harvey again.

“I hope it”s no bother you that I”m here,” he said.

“You”re doing just fine,” I assured him. “We”re all worried about Harvey and I think he needs as much support as he can get.”

“I feel like I should have done more.”

“It wasn”t your job.”

He chortled. “It”s always the job of the right hand to protect his alpha.”

“It wasn”t your fight, it was his.”

“I know that.” He paused, scratching his chin. “I just think maybe we could have handled all of this before it became a fight.”

“Do you think they”ll come back?” Regina asked.

Clancy pursed his lips and then shook his head. “No, I think they”ll stay away. They know better than to mess with Harvey again, especially after the way he clawed Cain’s eyes out.”

The horrific scene returned to my mind as strongly as when it had occurred. It was like a projector playing back, an awful memory. I hated thinking about it all—the smell of blood soaking through the mud, and the way the rain washed it all up and carried it out toward the ocean. I hated to think about it, but it had become a part of our history. Harvey had defended his pack; he”d done exactly what he needed to do, right down to the very last second.

“Yeah.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I wouldn”t come back after that either.”

Regina wrapped her arm around my shoulder. “It”s possible he won”t get his eyesight back.”

My head snapped in her direction. “Are you talking about Harvey?”

She shook her head. “No, I”m talking about Cain. With what you told me, I don”t think his eyes are going to heal.”

Clancy hummed thoughtfully. “It”s actually hard to say. Being possessed is a very individual and precarious situation. I”ve done a lot of research on the matter and I have recorded a lot of it, too. While it is possible his eyes will grow back, they might not be his eyes.”

I shuttered at the thought. “Whatever happens, I just want us to be on the path to freedom. The Grimpaws have been through so much.”

“You”re right, we have,” Clancy agreed. “But as long as we have our alpha to guide us and his true mate on our side, I don”t see how we can”t survive.” His smile was crooked but genuine and filled with a sense of accomplishment.

Harvey stirred on the bed, and I jumped to my feet. I took his hands in mind, trying to find him inside of his blank expression and the way that his head bobbed from side to side, very slowly. Clancy and Regina joined me and bent over the bed to observe. The room seemed to darken for a second. I wasn”t sure if it was just me, my worry and stress, or lack of sleep. Perhaps it was Clancy—him and his demon—because he was still possessed. We weren’t sure how we would proceed with that, but we knew the cure for it would be a mate, an unpossessed woman, who could relieve him of his bonds.

I watched Harvey”s eyelids flutter, and the rest of the world seemed to fade away. As I held his hands in mind and waited for him to wake up. I felt him rising to the surface—the increased scent of bergamot in the air, the way the tips of my fingers seemed charged with electricity from touching him, and everything in between. My heart seemed to stutter in my chest as his eyelids fluttered again and then flew open, focusing on me immediately.

His smile was small at first, lopsided and lazy. Then, as the light came back into his eyes—those gorgeous honey-colored eyes—his lips parted. He reached for my face and cupped my cheek tenderly, just like he always had. I had spent so many nights without him; four nights that I had to spend lying on the ground without him near me. But as he awoke, it all seemed to vanish at once, like it never happened. Nothing had gotten in the way of us; nothing could get in the way of us. If anyone tried, they would end up without their vision. Harvey had shown me proudly that he would defend me and his pack to the ends of the earth.

He was an incredible alpha, and I knew that dedicating myself to him was the right thing to do. It always had been. That was why I was in the woods that day. My spirit knew that I needed to find him, that I needed to get to him in whatever way possible. He took a deep breath, held my shoulders, and pulled me close. His voice was raspy but his message was all too clear.

“I love you,” he whispered. “I will always love you. You are my mate.”