CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
The next night, I woke up and my foot hurt.
It hurt worse than it had when I slept. I had been warned about this.
About an hour before I passed out, the surgeon came to the suite and gave Alexius and me a full explanation of what to expect.
He said since I was young enough to still deep sleep during the day, Alexius just needed to make sure I didn’t pop up.
They would take X-rays and everything while I slept and finish the day with the surgery.
I just needed to be on crutches for a couple of days to make sure I didn’t reinjure it.
I hadn’t expected pain.
“Good evening,” Alexius said.
I realized he was sitting beside me. It didn’t startle me. I was less rested and more out of surgery. Of course, someone was going to be there. Of course, it was going to be him.
“Hi. So, how was it?”
“You hadn’t healed it fully, which makes sense, considering it hadn’t been that long and you’re a young vampire.
How you were walking around without noticing any pain pointed at possible nerve damage.
But there wasn’t any evidence of that. We all decided it was adrenaline.
” Alexius was clinical. “Some bones had started to fuse back together. Everything seems healed just enough to support you. You ran really hard on it, though, and yet you never noticed how painful it was. Not even afterward.”
“I did when it happened,” I said, trying to make it seem more normal. “And I drank blood and focused on the healing. I had to stop Henry.”
Alexius leaned forward. “You don’t need to tell me the reason. I don’t feel injuries sometimes, either. Do you think I even considered the wounds I had in New York when we fought demonic vampire?”
“Then why the… thorough dissection of my injury and actions?
“I just want you to know what I recognized, and you need to have a full idea of your own health.” Alexius leaned back again. “Next time, once the fight is over, do an inventory of your body and how it feels. Look for injuries you may not have realized happened. It could save your life.”
Oh yes, we must never forget that everything can be a training opportunity.
“Okay. Sorry for the mess with the foot.”
“Don’t apologize, Everly.” Alexius started to get up. “Also, Declan didn’t rise. He won’t tonight, from Maria and my estimation. He’s safe to fly to Savannah tonight. We can probably leave tomorrow if you want to give yourself time on your foot.”
“I’d like to head home,” I admitted. I looked to the other side of the bed and saw the crutches.
I was able to figure them out quickly. I fed the blood Alexius put in front of me, and he finally let me out of the room.
“One last thing, before we see them—”
“Everly!” Lexi’s voice was clear, ringing down the hall as she came into view.
“The werewolves are here to talk,” Alexius finished, gesturing at Lexi, her parents, and Callahan, standing deep in Maria’s nest, an odd sight.
They didn’t fit. The more I looked at them in the environment, the more I saw how inhuman we all were but differently inhuman.
The werewolves packed together, looking at every angle, like any good group hunter, while vampires slinked around them, giving a wide berth, all a bit too pale, too washed out compared to the sunkissed outdoorsy werewolves.
Even in a suit that was probably worth several thousand dollars, Callahan was natural in a way vampires were not.
“Hi, Lexi,” I greeted, having to use the crutches, which was distantly embarrassing. The crutches could make me look vulnerable or weak.
“How are you? How’s Declan?”
“Declan apparently isn’t up yet,” I answered.
“And I had foot surgery. Henry got me with a knife before we followed you out of the house. But otherwise…” I shrugged.
There was little reason to discuss any emotional things I was not willing to address with anyone, much less my brother’s werewolf girlfriend.
“He might not be up for some time, but I’m certain we can reach out from Savannah when he does,” Alexius added, directing it mostly at Lexi but ending on Callahan. I saw Callahan frown.
“You’ll leave with him to Savannah?”
“No,” Lexi said quickly. “Everly—”
“It’s private and safe, and I’ll be able to talk to him about everything without everyone hovering over us,” I explained as she gave me a desperate look.
“Please. You can do that here and—”
“I’ll make sure he calls you,” I promised.
I had to face this. She risked her life for him.
That won me over. I wouldn’t try to stop them.
“I will. He’ll need some adjusting time.
He certainly can’t see you early on as he gets used to being a vampire.
That’s a safety issue for both of you. But I will make sure he calls you as quickly as he’s able. ”
Lexi looked at her Alpha, who was staring at Alexius. I don’t know what the two ancients were considering as they stared at each other, but eventually, Callahan looked at his wolf and nodded.
“It will be fine,” he said carefully, not promising anything beyond fine. “As he becomes safe to be around, we will discuss your options and his with them. There’s no reason to think this is forever going to be a problem. The need for time is one we can’t avoid.”
“Okay.” Lexi nodded, her eyes still on me. “Call me regularly? Let me know if he’s getting up, how he’s doing, even if he’s not ready to talk to me? But you tell him it’s not over until he says so, okay? He won’t get to ghost me. Not after everything.”
“I’ll tell him,” I said, smiling at her willingness to actually fight for this.
It showed she had considered some issues already.
There was a chance Declan woke up a vampire and tried to restart his life because losing his previous life was painful.
I had sat on that fence myself for a while, wondering what to do about him and old friends.
I let the old friendships fade, but I had decided not to give up my brother.
And I tried not to think about how that was either the best decision I could have made or the worst. Henry was going to do something, eventually.
His mental state pointed to that. I either brought it faster, or perhaps I’m now going to be able to help Declan better than if we had been caught even more off-guard.
Who could ever know how things might have played out under different circumstances?
With a sudden need, I handed over my crutches to Alexius, who was clearly unprepared for the suddenly responsibility. But I didn’t let his fumbling stop me from reaching out to hug Lexi.
“Thank you for getting him out,” I told her, making sure the hug was a good one.
“I am certainly interrupting, but I need Alexius.” Maria’s voice broke through the good moment.
Lexi and I ended the hug, and I took my crutches back as Alexius glowered.
“Why?”
“I’m getting phone calls from someone,” she answered with a tight smile.
“Ignore them,” he said, nostrils flaring. “You can do that. If you do pick up, tell someone that he knows my number and can call.”
“Has he tried yet?” Maria put her hands together in front of her, almost looking innocent with the question.
“No, because he knows better,” Alexius growled.
“Then perhaps you should call him—”
“No. He’ll come to me,” Alexius quickly snapped.
“Why? What game are you playing? You’re not one for them.”
“Because I said so.” Alexius looked at me. “Now, if that’s all we were needed for, there are arrangements to make to get back to Savannah, and I need to coordinate with my staff about Declan’s arrival and his quarters. I was busy during the day and couldn’t get to it.”
“Bad day when the vampire is busy during the daylight,” Callahan said mildly. I wondered if there was a bit of humor to it, considering Callahan was up what felt like literally every minute of the day forever. I really wondered when he ever slept. “We’ll be out of the way. The pack has business.”
“The pack always does,” Maria said lightly, smiling. “Give Corissa my warmest regards at your date night.”
“I certainly will,” Callahan replied.
Once the wolves were gone, Maria looked at me.
“Callahan and Corissa have date nights that not even their packs can get in the way of. Their best have to hold down the ships so they can spend time together. They go somewhere private in the city and turn off their phones. I’ve caught them on occasion.
It’s rather sweet. He’s a different werewolf with her. ”
“That’s nice,” I said, nodding. “Now…” Alexius was already walking away, and I crutched over quickly, trying to keep up.
He slowed, realizing how fast I was moving.
“I assume it’s Isa—”
“Don’t speak his name, or he’ll find a way to appear,” Alexius said quickly, looking annoyed.
“I knew he’d try, eventually. With everything going on, it was only a matter of time.
I was hoping we would get back to Savannah so Maria could tell him we were already gone, and he’d have to come to me.
Or she can keep ignoring him. He can’t act against her the way he would any other disrespectful nest.”
“Why are you ignoring him?”
“That’s between him and me for right now. I know you don’t like him.”
“Okay. I don’t know why you tolerate him. I mean, he has his positives, but…”
Alexius stopped walking and sighed, looking me directly in the eye.
“The same reason you will tolerate Lexi. Someone important loves or loved them. Declan loves Lexi. Jacob loved Isaiah. The absence of Jacob doesn’t change that Isaiah was the love of Jacob’s life.”
“I can’t argue with that,” I said, making a face.
The rest of the night was making plans. Someone from Maria’s nest was going to schedule the moving of much of Declan’s things to Savannah, though it would take a few weeks to arrive.
Alexius and I decided what room he would go in, and the humans at home had to be prepared for the safety protocols again for a new vampire.
“What will you do if he wants to come back here when he’s in control?”
I looked up from the notes and plans we were making at Alexius’s question, sighing.
“I don’t know. We’ll figure that out if it happens.”
“Okay. Just know, as an Orphan like you, the choice is all his. The nests he might want to join, the politics he’s part of. He’s not your vampire, Everly. Just like you aren’t mine or anyone from Edwin’s line.”
“I know,” I said softly.
But like so many other things, that had to be a problem for another day.
I was still trying to deal with the fact that none of my human family had survived.
Henry so easily destroyed it after everything it had survived.
Everything I had worked for, lost. The hollowness would rise up from those thoughts, then I would distract myself and let myself feel fulfilled in other ways, and then it would come back.
The entire night went this way as we planned for the aftermath of Henry’s insanity.
Every time I thought about Henry, questions came back.
The entire picture would never be painted now, and I had to find peace with that.
Henry had answered questions with silence when Alexius spoke to him and had robbed me of truths I had held for seventeen years.
My father didn’t die naturally, which is what I had always believed, but now, I didn’t know how he really died.
I only knew that Henry had either been the reason or the cause.
And not knowing was something I was going to have to live with. There wasn’t any reasonable way for me to find out anymore.
Only an hour from sunrise, Maria came to our suite.
“I have something. Here. You can take this home with you to save me on shipping.” She put the jar on the table between Alexius and me.
My uncle’s names were written on it.
It was over. We were going home and would heal, once again. This time, we were taking more than the dead home with us, though.