Chapter 11 #2
Sadness filtered through Caedmon’s gaze as he tucked me underneath his chin and held me there, not saying anything for a moment before finally speaking.
“I have a feeling it’s not just my father.
It’s the others as well. They have been notified that we found our mate, and it’s expected you meet.
” A rattling sound came from Caedmon’s chest as if he was furious at the concept.
“If we don’t go and meet them, they will come to us.
They aren’t bound to the university on the same level as the Hastain issue is… We can’t avoid them forever.”
“I don’t want you to have to be around him,” I whispered, my voice filled with anger for him.
“I’ll be okay,” he promised, but I didn’t believe him. Heck, I don’t think he even believed himself. I promised at that moment that I would protect Caedmon. Protect all my mates.
No matter what I had to do.
The drive back was slow and honestly a bit terrifying since the highway was a disaster—littered with cars that were either stopped on the side of the road, moving extremely slow with their hazards on, or those that had driven off the road and into the grass median.
Eventually my concern became overwhelming to the point that I had to put my head down into Caedmon’s chest, feeling panicked over the safety of every single person on the road.
I had been surprised he chose not to drive, but considering I’d refused to let go of him, wanting him close to make sure he was okay, I suppose it made sense that Tore drove instead.
I knew there were people coming to help—I could see emergency lights and tow lights everywhere—but I still had the urge to stop and help despite it probably only increasing the potential danger of the situation by adding another stopped car.
This was one of the reasons I didn’t understand my wolf’s obsession with snow. Couldn’t she see how dangerous it was?
“You okay?” Caedmon asked as Ryder offered a concerned noise. The three of us were sitting in the back, and if it wasn’t for the chaos outside, I would have been super cozy. In fact, in any other situation this would have been beyond ideal.
“Not really, I want to help everyone, and it’s a bit overwhelming,” I admitted, feeling like I sounded ridiculous. “I know that sounds probably weird—”
“Not weird,” Caedmon corrected.
“Shit—”
Tore’s curse was accented by a sudden collision that rocked the car so hard, my head slammed against the seat in front of us.
I whimpered as my ears began to ring, pulling back and rubbing my fingers over the tender spot on my forehead.
I could feel someone’s hands on me as noise roared around me, but I couldn’t focus on that.
All I could focus on was the blood dripping onto my fingers.
How had I hurt myself?
Had I hit something else?
I lifted my fingers and examined it closer as someone tried to shake me gently, but all it did was make my brain bang inside of my head. Pain echoed there, causing my consciousness to slip for just a second.
“Effie!”
Someone was shouting my name, but I couldn’t even look around. My eyelids felt heavy and sore as the area around me went dark for a moment before flickering back on as if I was in a room with dimmable lights.
“What is going on with her?” someone demanded, though the question was faint as it filtered through the ringing in my ears, making me wonder if I was imagining it.
Maybe I was curious enough that I was in fact asking the question, but…
It wasn’t my voice, so that didn’t make sense.
I heard someone say the word ‘ambulance,’ but everything else remained a quiet buzzing that seemed to electrify my skin.
“Kitten.”
That was Ryder’s voice.
I drew my eyes up, staring at the hands holding mine, until I came to a built chest and then finally a handsome face with burnt orange eyes. Around us lights were flashing, but all I could offer him was a small smile because he was so freakin’ handsome.
“I need you to keep your eyes open,” he said, his face filled with fear. “Promise me.”
Why was he scared? What was I promising him again?
“She has glass…” The words from the person behind me dipped out as I nodded, wanting so badly to give Ryder what he wanted. I just wasn’t positive that was possible.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered as everything narrowed and I fell forward against his chest, surrendering to the darkness that pulled at me with hooks.
“Effie.”
That voice was so familiar, and it pulled me from a deep sleep to a lighter version of unconsciousness. One where I could feel how sore my body was. Where I could feel that I was laying in a bed of some kind, the sheets cool to the touch and wrapped around me.
“Open your eyes.”
I managed to, just barely, finding myself in a hospital room, the beeping of a machine making me wonder who was hooked up to it. I looked around to find the room empty except for the bed I was laying on and… Well, the woman sitting in the chair next to the bed with a soft smile on her face.
“Wow.”
I blinked, trying to process who exactly I was speaking to because I had never seen anyone look so inhuman yet human at the same time.
I couldn’t tell you how old she was or anything except that she had gorgeous baby blue hair that flowed off her shoulders in a waterfall that extended to the ground.
Her luminescent skin matched the white sweater she wore, and she was curled up in the chair as if it was the most comfortable surface in the world.
She was gorgeous, and that wasn’t even including her large blue eyes that were watching me with a soft affection I didn’t understand.
“You’re awake, good,” she breathed out. “I hate that this is what it took for me to finally reach you.”
I sat up slightly, wincing at the weird pressure in my ribs as I asked the first question to pop into my brain. “Do we… I mean, do I know you?”
A sad look flashed in her eyes before she sighed. “Not yet. But you will.”
“Okay?” I frowned as she offered me an understanding look.
“I promise I will explain more soon.” Reaching forward, she squeezed my hand.
“You’re going to wake up soon. You were in a horrible car crash.
Your mates are fine. You should have been unconscious for a few days, but I healed you.
We don’t have a lot of time to waste, so we couldn’t afford that.
” Her words were a blend of confusing facts to me, but ‘mates’ stood out, providing immeasurable relief at them being fine.
“Waste for what?” I questioned.
“I promise we will see each other soon.” She squeezed my hand again before everything went black all at once—
I jolted up from bed, gasping in pain as my ribs shuddered with the effort to inhale and exhale.
I found Dakota’s gaze, his dark eyes flashing with relief as he caught my face in his palms and pressed his forehead to my own.
I didn’t hear anything but his solid thumping heartbeat and the magic that vibrated between us.
No hospital machines. No one else was talking.
No one else was even in the room. Just the two of us as I tried to reconcile what had just happened.
Who had that been in my dream?
Why was her image now so fuzzy?
What had she said again?
Dakota grunted in pain, and I realized that me thinking about her was somehow hurting him.
I knew that instinctually, so I shut it down and instead focused on taking inventory on my body.
I was in pain, but I also felt far better than in the dream even.
Where was I? Had I ever actually been in the hospital? What type of accident had it been?
“A semi-truck veered off the road on the other side and then overcorrected and crossed the median. It caused a six car crash, including us right in the middle,” Dakota hissed out, sounding livid. “When the car crashed into us from behind, you were nearly thrown out of your seat.”
“That would explain the headache,” I murmured.
He chuckled, but it was strained. “Everyone is fine, and after the doctors gave you the go-ahead at the initial hospital, you were transferred to the medical center near campus.”
I nodded in understanding as I let out a strained exhale, hating how hard it was to breathe. “My ribs really hurt,” I admitted.
“I imagine,” he grunted and smoothed back my hair. “I’m so sorry, little wolf. We should have never driven back in that weather.”
“You guys didn’t know,” I whispered and then offered a small smile. “Plus, all of you are okay. That’s all that matters.” Dakota didn’t seem surprised by my words, and I knew that was why he had assured me that everyone was fine from the beginning—it would have been my very first question.
A choked noise drew my attention to the door where Ryder stood, looking tense and panicked. “Fuck, you’re awake.”
“I am,” I whispered and let out a surprised noise as he surged across the room.
Dakota slid back, allowing him to grasp my jaw gently, looking over my face before breathing out a sharp exhale.
I let out a happy hum as he pressed his lips to my own and then was gone, back across the room and running a hand through his hair.
“Julian was right,” Dakota mused. “It’s the unraveling.”
Ryder shot him a dark look but didn’t say anything.
“Who’s unraveling?” Julian asked as he walked in, his gaze on Ryder before moving towards the bed.
The smile he offered me was full of relief, and he came to the edge of the bed and knelt down, intertwining our fingers together and brushing them across his lips.
“Fuck, I am so happy to see your eyes open. I was so fucking worried.”
“Don’t swear.” Tore’s rumble had me offering him a soft smile as he joined us, coming to press a light kiss to the top of my head. “You okay, lil bit?”
“Not my best,” I admitted. “Where is Caedmon? I’m so glad all of you are alright. I don’t remember the crash—well, not fully—but what I do remember was not good.”
“I’m right here.”
Caedmon came in the door, answering my first question, and I offered him a relieved smile. There had been a part of me that was worried he’d gone to see his father, and I didn’t want him doing that alone. I never wanted him to feel alone in that.
“I brought the doctor,” he said as the man in question walked in and offered me a small head nod in greeting. I didn’t recognize the doctor, but he seemed friendly enough.
“Good to see you awake, Miss Harlow. Let’s just make sure we have you all in order so we can get you home.”
I nodded in understanding, but his words brought a thought forward from before. Was this home? Was campus ‘home’? Was a house here home?
Home was with my mates. I could feel that in my bones.
But it was becoming increasingly clear that we needed to decide where we wanted to build our lives… I just didn’t know if that was a conversation we could have yet.