31. Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty
Benjamin
Brightness and warmth. That was what I woke up to.
I was definitely dead and had gone to some kind of plane before I reached my next destination.
Everything had a glowing gold color, and that was all I could see.
My pain was gone, not even a trace of it was left as I took stock of myself.
I’d never felt better. There was always a slight twinge in my left knee, or a minor tightness in my neck from sleeping oddly.
Right now, there was nothing. It was amaziiing.
“Sweetheart?” Zar’s concerned voice met me in my glowing place, likely having followed me in death.
I felt awful for taking him with me, but I was selfishly glad not to be alone right now.
I might’ve been pain free, but I was also scared of the unknown.
“Sweetheart,” he said again. “Open your eyes. Please, sweetheart, let us see you.”
My eyes were open… weren’t they? Oh, they were closed.
How did he know? I blinked them open, and wow.
So many colors, all swirled together and not really making any sense.
I blinked and slowly things came back into focus.
White walls, and ceiling. Two people stood next to me, their hands glowing that golden glow I’d seen when my eyes were closed.
They had their eyes closed and looked focused on whatever they were doing to me.
“Sweetheart?” Zar said, and there he was, smiling softly to my right. The opposite side of where the two glowing ones stood. “There’s my sweetheart,” he sighed, sounding relieved.
A whimpering whine sounded near my head, and there Chris was, his eyes were glassy, but I had no idea why. Did he not like being dead?
“What’s wrong?” I croaked, hating how frail my voice sounded. At least there was no pain, even if it sounded painful even to my ears.
“What’s wrong?” Chris repeated, scoffing as he shook his head. He was smiling softly at me, so he wasn’t mad that I’d asked. “You almost died, Benji.”
Oh. “So does that mean I’m still alive?” I asked, wanting to still be alive with my men. Wanting that future I was promised, the one I’d started looking forward to.
“Like we would ever let you die on us,” Zar scoffed, sounding awfully choked up.
I must’ve been on the brink of death to cause that sort of reaction from them.
They really truly loved me, or whatever they felt love was.
I knew I’d loved my family and felt like I was walking around without my heart once they were gone.
When these two men forced their way into my life, and body, I felt anger, but also flattery.
They’d made me feel more alive than I’d ever felt before, and slowly they showed me their true selves.
They didn’t once hide who they were at their core.
It was hard not describing what I felt for them as love.
I doubted there was another feeling as powerful as what I was feeling right now.
“Thank you,” I said, knowing they were the only reason I was still breathing. Then I frowned, “Wait, what happened?”
“You don’t remember?” Chris matched my frown, looking even more worried now.
“No… I remember talking to Hazi and him telling us to get out of town, then I think something happened about wolves….” I closed my eyes and tried to remember. Nothing came.
“He had a concussion,” one of the glowing ones said. “He might not ever remember.”
“Or he’ll suddenly remember it all and might get traumatized,” the other one added.
“Great,” I muttered. It sounded like something horrible had gone down, but for now I wanted to be blissfully unaware and just bask in this feeling where there was no pain, no discomfort.
“How much longer?” Zar asked the glowing ones.
“An hour. He’s got a lot of bruising and swelling and we have to work slowly so we don’t add trauma to his organs,” the woman said.
“Thank you, Denise,” Zar said with a thankful smile.
“Yes, thank you, Denise and….?”
The glowing man smiled at me, “Veron, and it’s our pleasure. You’re family now, Benjamin.”
“Oh, you’re from the coven?” I asked, happy to know at least two people already. It made moving there soon feel less daunting with some familiar faces.
“Yes,” Denise replied, smiling softly. “We’re both bonded to vampires like you.”
“But I don’t glow like you,” I stated, eyeing their glowing forms with envy.
“Not many get the ability of healing when their bodies change, but you have changed and will likely develop some ability with time. I didn’t start healing until ten years after I bonded to Anker,” Denise said.
Veron then added, “And I didn’t until fifty years after, but only one year into healing and I was already as powerful as Denise, even though she’d been healing for a hundred years.”
“What kind of abilities are there?” I asked, suddenly feeling excited that I could get something magical like them.
Chris cut in before we could get deeper into it, placing his hand over my heart. Was he checking if it was okay? “Please rest, my heart. We need you to stay still so they can finish healing you. After that we’re ordering a ton of burgers and we’ll have what fun we can here until tomorrow.”
“What happens tomorrow? Also, when is today?”
“We’re going home tomorrow, and will stay with the pack as you finish healing. I need to make sure everything is handled before I leave the pack,” Chris replied, giving me one of his soft smiles.
“And then we’ll move into the mansion?” I asked, looking at Zar.
“Yes, but only after Chris feels ready to leave. He needs to find another alpha to take over and we sort of left the whole pack in a bad state,” Zar said, making me squint at him.
“What happened?” Because this didn’t sound like it was only me who’d been hurt and I needed to know if someone had died before going back there.
Chris sighed. “Panu died trying to protect you and Freddy got badly hurt. I don’t know if he survived long enough to get healed. Oh, and Stacy died.”
“Stacy?!” Zar and I asked in perfect unison.
Chris nodded, his eyes glowing green for a second. “She was the reason they knew where to find Benji.”
“That bitch!” I exclaimed.
“Stay still!” Denise admonished, making me quiet down immediately.
“What did she tell them?” Zar asked, his face in a furious mask.
“I didn’t get much out of her before I snapped her neck,” he growled. “But she came running into the station and told me some vampires had asked where Benji was, or lived, I didn’t really know what. She told them, hoping they would kill Benji.”
“Which vampires?” I asked, cursing at my forgetful brain.
“Greenwren Coven,” Zar replied. “They took you and tortured you for information about the book. We handed it over to them to get you out of there.”
“Um, his heart rate is elevating, you might want to hold off on telling him stuff like that so we can finish doing this,” Veron chided, sounding exasperated.
“I know what will help,” Denise said, and then I promptly passed the fuck out.
“It has been hours!” Zar snapped somewhere close to me, his voice rousing me from a wonderful rest. “I don’t care if he needs it! I need to know he’ll actually wake up again!”
“Shh…” I whispered, wanting to go back to that wonderful sleep. I’d been dreaming of something wonderful, if only I could remember it.
“Let him sleep,” Chris whispered. Yes, let me fucking sleep.
When I woke up again, I felt more refreshed and alert. My mind was nagging me about something, I just wish I could remember it. I snuggled further into Chris, who I knew was the one I was using as a body pillow, his calming pine scent was proof enough.
“Slept well, my love?” he whispered, brushing my hair softly.
“Hmm,” I hummed, smiling as I snuggled in deeper, needing to inhale the wonderful scent that was all Chris.
“We should get him discharged,” Zar said, sounding farther away from us. “I’ve already coerced the doctor and nurses to think he wasn’t as badly hurt when he came here, better get going.”
“Okay,” I whispered, remembering why I was even here. Denise and Veron had done wonders on my body, even fixing old injuries I’d sustained years ago and had learned to live with. Like my bad knee and the back pain for carrying all those other vampire hunters.
“That means you’ll have to let go of our alpha,” Zar chuckled, sounding closer now.
I made a whining sound and tried to hide under Chris’ arm pit.
“Damn that tickles,” Chris said, laughing. It sadly caused him to move away from me, much to my dismay.
“Come on, feisty, let’s get back to the pack,” Zar said, holding out a hand for me. I took it, then looked down at myself. I wasn’t in a gown like I’d thought I would be. I had on sweats, a T-shirt, and even socks.
“Did you dress me?” I asked.
“Yes,” Zar replied simply.
Huh. I must’ve been heavily asleep, no wonder Zar had sounded so worried the first time I’d woken up, even if my memory was a bit hazy.
“Can I get some burgers on the way home? I remember I was promised burgers,” I said.
Chris laughed, kissing my cheek. “All the burgers you want, my heart.”