0083
Raven
"Woah, easy." Klaus mutters as I try to sit up.
I felt like I had been in a washing machine with how dizzy I was.
Closing my eyes, I lie back, trying to stop my mind from swirling. Even Midnight was quiet which was very unlike her.
I suddenly sit up right, looking around for the Rogue when I'm hit with excruciating pain in my leg.
"Salem?" I mutter. I had heard his name, I was sure of it. But things were hazy.
"What do you remember?" Klaus asks softly.
"...Uh...." I rub my head, is this what humans felt like when shit happened to them. Wait, why wasn't I healing?
"He was here," I mumble, "he put something over my mouth. And then I heard a scream, my scream? Was it me?"
I look around, recognising my own hospital when pain shoots through my leg again. Pulling back the blanket, I see a large amount of bandages wrapped around my leg.
"Take it off!" I demand
"Raven, you know that is not a good idea."
"Please take it off!" I repeat. It couldn't be real. It just couldn't. But deep down I already knew.
Klaus sighs and slowly unravels the bandages and the layer of dressing.
There was a massive divot in my thigh where most of the muscle is missing.
My skin is coated in dried blood.
Ugly red wounds had been left in place where they had tried stretching and stitching my skin back together.
By the looks of it, it had finally started to heal, though it would never be the same.
"I'm sorry Raven. We can heal, but we can't grow new muscle and that much flesh."
"He bit me? But he was my mate?" I mutter, shocked at how Salem could do such a thing. He was always so kind, so nice and cared about every little thing I did. "What happened to him?"
Klaus slowly rebandages my leg as he tries to decide what to say. "He was, a long, long time ago. But he is not the man he once was Raven. Or the man he said he was. He was never a Wolf. And to do this means he doesn't feel anything for you." "What made him like that?"
"I don't know."
I wanted to cry, I didn't want to fight it. I wanted to let the big fat tears roll down my face, but they don't come, instead I am laced with anger. How could someone be that vile?
"When you started stirring, I called Damien." He smiles at me, "Maybe he will make you feel better."
Damien. Maybe now he would finally say those words.
"Did you do this?" I ask Klaus quietly, pointing at my newly bandaged leg.
"I did what I could. It's going to be a long recovery."
"It's okay Klaus, know what you are saying. It's going to be a while before I can walk properly even after the wound has healed."
He nods with a sad smile.
"Thank you, Klaus."
When Damien arrives, he stands in the door frame.
His hands hooked above the door, leaning in as he tries to figure out if I wanted him here.
He studies me with his dark eyes.
I feel my heart skip a beat as his sweet vanilla scent fills the room.
Klaus winks at him and leaves.
""How do you feel?" Damien asks
"Like crap."
He nods his head and steps into the room. "So you were mated to my little brother."
"Is that all you have to say? My entire body hurts Damien. I've just learned that my ex mate is the one who did this to me. That he is also somehow your brother when I could have sworn he was a wolf. I didn't know. I didn't know that he was a Lycan. Clearly I never saw him in Wolf form. In fact we barely spoke of his pack or his family."
"Dane said you probably didn't know." He murmurs. "Though he did fill me in on a lot and now it all makes sense."
"He rejected me." I splutter.
"I am aware. A good job too." He takes the seat next to the bed, watching me. "It would have made it harder for me to find you."
"Is he dead?" I sigh, why did this man make me feel so irrational so easily?
"No. He is in the dungeons though. Alpha Neah is trying to get more information out of him or break him. I'm not really sure. I just know she has banned me from going down there." "She shouldn't be alone with him and she doesn't like to be called Alpha." I mutter
He cocks a brow at me. "She is more than capable of handling herself. She took a chunk out of his leg in payment for what he did to you."
That made me feel a little better.
"You can't kill him, can you? You want to, you really want to. I can see it in your eyes, but you can't bring yourself to do it because he is your brother."
Damien doesn't answer me, he just snorts and shakes his head.
"You talked." I mutter, remembering hearing him speak as a Lycan.
"Yes."
"How? You are not like him."
"I was once." My hands clench the blankets and his eyes move down to them. "I won't hurt you."
"I'm not scared. I'm frustrated." I sigh "I don't..... Dane said you told him that there was no coming back from being like that."
"I found a way." He doesn't explain any further
"You don't want to tell me, do you?" I screw up my face as another wave of pain shoots through my thigh. This was going to be a long healing process.
"You tried to warn me." I sigh. He had told me I should be scared of him. That I should fear him.
"I did."
I slowly nod my head. "I give you permission to reject me."
He scowls at me.
"You clearly couldn't make up your mind before, but now, I'm damaged. I'm giving you a free pass. I won't fight it. I won't refuse your rejection like Jess refused Jensons."
"Aren't we all damaged in some way?" He stands up and moves closer to me, cupping my face. "I've been waiting days to taste you again." He leans down and presses his lips to mine. Softer and gentler than last time, like he was savouring the moment.
My arms loop around my neck, pulling him in closer and I feel him smile against my lips. Little sparks of electricity burn through me as his kiss deepens. But he is careful not to press himself against me this time.
He pulls away when there is a knock on the door. "There will be more than enough time." He mutters, taking in my frustrations. "But I am not rejecting you, mate."
My heart skips a beat again
Neah opens the door.
She shoots Damien a look of disgust and then smiles at me.
I notice how she is rubbing her small bump.
Something she didn't have the last time I saw her. How long had I been out for? "She thinks I put you in danger." Damien makes sure Neah hears him before stepping outside of the room. I see that he doesn't leave though, standing guard as Neah closes the door.
"He didn't know." I mutter. I wasn't even sure what I was trying to defend. "He didn't know it would come for me. I didn't know that Salem was a... a Lycan!"
"He should have told us. He should have explained to you what he is."
"Was." I mutter. "But that's not what's annoying you, is it?"
Neah sits in the chair. "Eric wasn't going to tell me." She looks at my confused face. "When the Rogue took you, Eric was guarding me. Dane wanted me to stay put. If I hadn't gone, you could be dead right now." "But I'm alive."