He stood with both hands shoved deep into his pockets as he watched her. She slept, like she had been doing for the past ten years, he had no visible expression on his face as he watched the nurse wipe her face, neck and arms with a wet towel. He had rushed home after the phone conversation he had earlier with the doctor, he said she had hummed in her sleep state, something she had never done in ten years.
“It could mean that she is getting better but if a hum was all she could do in all ten years of coma then she might be in this state for longer.” the doctor had told him.
“But is is a good sign, is it not?”
The man had shrugged his shoulders and looked at her sleeping on the bed. “We could take it as that, yes.”
“You sounded more enthusiastic on the phone.”
“Mr Preston, the girl is fighting her own battles, it is something I don’t think we can help her with. The energies in her body contrast heavily and fight for dominance. Frankly speaking it is a miracle she has managed to remain alive for ten years.”
He groaned and raked his fingers through his hair. He had heard this countless of times and from numerous doctors who had given up on treating her after just a few months, Doctor William Shaw had been working on her treatment for almost three years now and Keith had grown used to having the man around her.
He looked at her, the oxygen mask strapped to her face fogged up whenever she breathed out. She had grown pale and was really skinny, a far cry from the person he had known her to be before this accident. But if there was one thing that still remained true about her, it was that she was not one that would give up easily.
“She is a fighter, that one is for sure.”
“I will monitor her closely from now on, daily checkups and more tests. I feel she’s trying to wake up.”
The corner of Keith’s lips twitched and he nodded in agreement with Doctor Shaw, “Yeah I think so too.”
He closed his eyes briefly and the image of her came to his mind. She had called out to him for help and he had responded swiftly, following her scent and telekinetic trace, the scene he had seen when he found her had broken his heart and filled it up instantly with rage. So much rage that he had shed blood enough to overrun the Hontari River.
At that moment he feared she might not make it, that she might die because she had been so battered. He had seen the culprit fleeing but he could not run after the person because he needed to take care of her first, she was his priority.
She had gone unconscious at that time and remained unconscious for almost a week, and then she woke. He had vowed to take revenge on her behalf but she didn’t want that, she wanted to do it herself and she had made him promise that he would let her.
He could not say no to her. The next day she had fallen back into unconsciousness, the doctor said she had fallen into a coma, he never expected that she would remain in that condition for so long, it had stretched into ten years.
He gritted his teeth in annoyance, the more he thought of it, the more annoyed he got. The person who had caused her to be like this was living free and there was not a damn thing he could do about it because of the promise he had made and he was bound to it.
He missed her. Dearly.
He let out a sigh and turned his head towards the door, he could hear the boys talking among themselves where they had gathered upstairs and they, just like him, were pissed off. They had managed to remain quiet for the past ten years because of him and he wondered what it was that had brought them to the house today.
He took one last look at the lady lying on the bed, stroked her hair, and then turned to walk out of the room to meet with the boys. Them coming to the house meant that they had something pressing to discuss with him.
“Boys,” he called when he stepped into the room and they all hushed. He walked past them to the seat available by the window. “What brings you lot to my house? This is not where we usually converge.”
“Forgive us the intrusion,” Mark spoke up. “We know not to come to look for you at the company so we had come here instead.” he paused, and looked around before he continued. “It has to do with the rouges.”
Keith frowned. The rouges, their growing presence was becoming a thorn in the flesh of his dominance, they threatened his rule. “And what about them?”
“We hear they are recruiting members from all over, especially from the cold north,” Mark revealed.
“You lot are afraid he will lead whatever army he has to me?”
“Not afraid Keith, cautious. We fear he might have insiders among us.” another spoke up, Keith knew this one, he was Mark’s right hand, Sebastian. “We have already lost a few capable ones to him.”
Keith sighed, shut his eyes, and crossed his arms. “Where is the weak spot?”
“The seventh order, nearly one-third of them have gone rouge.”
He opened his eyes. “Who leads there?”
The boys exchange glances briefly before Mark replied to Keith. “Fabian leads there. Led, he is one of the rouges now.”
“Well fuck me.” Keith sighed. “Is there anyone left I can replace him with?”
Mark reached out behind him to place his hand on the shoulder of a young wolf. “Shelby here is from the seventh order.
Keith leaned forward and eyed the boy, he was no more than a kid, probably wolfed out only recently. “He is a young one.”
“They are all young ones left, Alpha.”