0189
Klaus
Tying my hair up, I grab the clipboard to check the stock of medicine.
Raven had always kept a thorough check of everything and if anything was running low, she would have Dane order in some.
I felt like it was something I could do to keep her memory alive.
Being the new pack doctor was not in my plans, but I guess, out of everyone that Raven trained, I was the next best thing and the pack needed a doctor, especially with the amount of Wolves and Lycans here now.
Checking everything off, I make a list. I had used a lot of supplies with Mallory's gun wound and now Maddie.
I hear the front door swing open and close, sticking my head around the corner, I see no one. I smell no one else. It must have been the wind. I was used to being alone, but somehow this place just made me feel more lonely.
Grabbing a fresh IV bag, I head to Maddie's room, only to find her bed empty.
"Maddie?" I call out, maybe she had woken and was using the bathroom. "MADISON?"
It's deathly silent and for a brief moment, I wonder if it's her that went through the front door. That was until I heard the small moan. Pulling open the bathroom door, she scares the shit out of me.
She's passed out, with her face pressed against the side of the toilet, a smear of blood against the porcelain. Rolling her over, I see she has managed to rip some of her stitches. Brax is going to kill me at this rate, it wasn't the first time she had done it and last time he had threatened to cut my dick off.
Lifting her from the floor, I carry her back to bed and set up a new IV, clean up her wound and restitch her face, hopefully Brax wouldn't notice.
As I finish, she mutters Cooper's name. The guy that did this to her. It was worse than cruel. I thought being bound was bad enough. Then to learn that Neah was bound four times was just sickening, but this was.... There wasn't really a word to describe it. Though he definitely deserved to rot.
Maddie starts to cough and rolls on to her side, reaching for the jug of water.
"I've got it." I rush around the side of the bed before she knocks it over.
I fill the cup and pop in a straw for her. Helping her to sit up, she lets out a groan as her deep chestnut eyes find mine. "Where's Brax?" Her words come out in a croak.
"He just had to go and help Dane, he will be back in a little bit."
"I'm safe?"
"Yes."
"I made it?"
"Yes."
She nods and slurps on the straw.
She was an odd person.
Or was. To be a Lycan and yet not be able to shift.
I hadn't had time to do any research but I knew she thought it was because her captors were drugging her with something. Though, from what I had learned in the last couple of years, I had a feeling it was not the truth.
Maddie closes her eyes, "I have a message."
"A message?"
"Cooper said that I am the message."
"You are the message?" I repeat and she sort of nods her head at me and lazily brushes her red hair out of her face.
"Where's Brax?" She asks again, her chestnuts peeking out of her sleepy eyes.
"He will be back soon." I reassure her. "Is there anything I can get you?"
She scratches her head. "I ran. I ran as fast as I could." Her fingers move to her neck where bruises still lingered. "Why am I not healing?"
I was sure Brax had already told her. Though it was starting to sound like her memory had been affected.
"Cooper took away your Lycan abilities. Do you remember that?"
She frowns at me as her lips part a little. Slowly she nods her head but then it turns into a shake.
"You can't heal anymore, Madison."
"You're wrong." She snaps in defiance. "I can heal, I've always been able to heal.".
I lift her arm to show her the purple bruises that painted her skin. "You have been here for almost four days."
She rotates her arm and shifts her gaze to her other arm which is just as bad. "He pinned me down. I got away. I ran. I ran here."
It sounded more like she was trying to convince herself.
"Damien found you just outside the gates." I confirm
Tears creep out the corner of her eyes. "Get some rest, Dane and Brax will probably want to ask more questions."
Lying back, her eyes close and I step out of the room. Sitting behind the small nurses station, I wait for Dane. I had already alerted him and when he arrives, Brax is right behind him. "She spoke to you?" Dane queries
"Yes. Though she didn't say much that's different from her previous conversations. She said she had a message and that she is the message but I get the impression she doesn't remember everything." "She is the message?" He asks
"A warning." Brax mutters. "So he is telling us how easy it was for him to do that to one Lycan, and how easy it would be to do it again?" His hazel eyes land on mine. "Is she still awake?"
"No. And I might as well tell you now that she got out of bed when I was doing a stock check. I found her in the bathroom and she had ripped her stitches. I've fixed her up, no harm done." "No harm done?" He glares at me. We had been getting on fairly well until he learned of my background, now it seems that anything I do or say tends to rub him up the wrong way. "She is fine, Klaus has confirmed that." Dane glares at him. He turns to me. "How much longer do you think it will be before we can have a proper conversation with her?" "Normally I would be able to answer that, but I've never dealt with anyone in this state. It could be days, it could be weeks."
Brax starts pacing while rubbing his temples. "We need more information on this Cooper guy!"
"Do you think you are the only one to think that?" Dane mocks him
"Neah can't link him?" I frown.
"No, somehow, he has no ties to her." Dane tells me
"Are you sure he is a Lycan?" It was a long shot, but I throw it out anyway. I was trying to add the pieces together and it was one of the things I could actually come up with. Both men stop to stare at me.
"Of course he is, I could smell him when he was here. Blair said she could scent him the night he took her." Brax tells me.
"But didn't you say that Samara completely masked her scent to the point you couldn't scent her." I reply and he scowls at me.
He didn't like feeling outsmarted, he had told me that himself when we went out looking for answers for Neah. I ignore him and continue to speak to Dane. "So what if he has found a way to trick the mind, completely?"
Dane nods at me. "We did think Neah was just a bound Wolf. But Neah has confirmed there was a link to him before all this shit went down and now, it's gone."
"Think about it, what do we know? We know that Cooper has somehow managed to take Maddies Lycan abilities away and Blairs. We know he convinced Blair that he was her mate. We know Samara was able to conceal her scent to the point we thought she was Human. Is she a Lycan or a Wolf?"
"A Lycan."
"So she achieved something that is unheard of and we know that Cooper probably helped her achieve that. So what's to say that he hasn't figured out how to make his scent smell like something else? And also figured out a way to make Neah believe there was a link to him. For a moment I was thinking Witch, but what if he is part Witch? Or maybe a powerful Witch? He likes to punish Wolves and Lycans, it almost makes sense."
Dane grins while Brax looks like he has just chewed a wasp. He liked figuring things out and seeing what we couldn't see, but maybe that was the problem, he needed to use his brain more rather than rely on what his senses tell him.
Dane grabs my shoulder. "Come with me, I will call one of the nurses to take over here."
"Are you sure, Maddie is still out of it."
"I will stay." Brax mutters through gritted teeth.
I tell him that I've just changed her IV bag and that nothing else needs doing other than monitoring her.
He gives me a sharp nod and disappears into her room, though I'm pretty sure I have just become his new target.