I made chapter titles! I hope you like them. Enjoy this next chapter.. please try to keep an open mind.

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Nova's POV

Floating

                 Falling

                              Darkness

                                                   Blurry

                                                   Fading

                                Sinking

                     Drowning

Black

ZAP

Faint voices...

"Charge to 200 and hit her again."

ZAP

Bright light.. so, bright.

Choking....

"And she's back!" Comes an unfamiliar voice. 

"She's choking. Get the tracheal tube out," a female voice orders as what feels like a long snake is pulled from my throat. 

I catch my breath, bringing a hand to my chest, only realizing that I'm unable to when a metal handcuff stops me.

Where.. are we?

I'm surrounded by unfamiliar faces. Three men, two women.

"We thought we lost you for a minute there!" Says one of the male voices.

"Where am I?" I croak and start to cough again. Every cough feels like someone is taking a stab to my chest. 

"You are in the medical ward of the Nighthaven pack. I am the Alpha, Alpha Hendrix and this is my mate, Amelia," the more dominant looking man states with a warm smile. 

The man sitting next to me cuts off the Luna to introduce himself, "and I am Samael, I'm second in command here." He puts his hand on mine, I pull it away out of pure reflex.

I nod and look back to her. Cutting off the Luna was bad.. even I knew that. I did not want to be on her mate's bad side.

"What is your name, dear?" the Luna asks.

"N-Nova Collins. Why am I here? Why am I chained up? And how long have I been out for?" I didn't care who knew I was getting impatient and claustrophobic.

"We couldn't take any risks.. and you were the only one alive with several other bodies," the nurse says as the Alpha, Beta and Luna look at each other and back at me in shock, "Nova Collins? As in the only child of Alaric and Callie Collins?" 

"That's correct.." I mutter back.

"Get her out of the restraints immediately," the Alpha orders. A female nurse does precisely as told. 

"I'm sorry, can someone please tell me what this is all about? I'm so confused," I rub my wrists as the aching in my whole body makes me want to start crying.

"Your parents were valiant warriors. They died as war heroes in this pack and we honor them..." the Beta chimes in, and then I tune out.

All this way for nothing.. 

I've lost everything.

I have no family left.. Blake is gone, my parents are gone. I should just go home and apologize to Susan for living. It's not like my life is worth anything anymore. 

Since I can't hear what's happening in the room I'm in, my ears focus on the sounds outside where there is commotion and an ever familiar voice.

The Alpha excuses himself and goes outside. I hear something like, "I thought I told you to inform me when she woke up. Why was I not informed?" in a deep, gruff voice, at which even the Alpha struggles to find words.

When another stranger comes in, I see why. He is monstrous. His eyes immediately lock onto mine and pierce them, forcing me to tear mine away. I was in enough pain.. I didn't need a headache.

The Alpha finally asks, "how did you come to be there?" and Amelia adds, "can you tell us what happened?" 

The nurse beside me stops them, "Alpha Hendrix, with all due respect, I don't think Ms. Collins is in the right frame of mind to be answering these questions."

"Do not speak for her," are words that I would expect to come from the Alpha, but instead they are growled by the humongous stranger.

"It's okay.. but thank you." I look between them both, only smiling at the nurse as I was honestly intimidated by the stranger who comes and sits on the edge of my bed, weighing it down significantly. Even though I could not see quite clearly, by the sounds the bed made, he probably weighed close to three hundred pounds.

"I was left with family at a young age in a small town in the middle of nowhere. Three humans, two who were never exposed to my.. not human side." They all listen intently, nodding with me. The Beta's hand travels to mine again, and I pull it away again. The stranger notices and makes a deep snarling noise in the Beta's direction, making him back away, cowering near the Alpha.

I told them about how I met Blake, the trip we planned, the packs we went to, the leads we got, the lack of leads we got, etc. But then I got into the events of the last time I was conscious and all hell breaks loose.

"You were not mated, correct?" The Alpha asks. 

"No, sir. Just travel partners." They all nod and make sounds of clarification.

"Blake met a guy who claimed he knew where his parents were.. I told him from the start that I didn't trust it." I sniff and wipe a stray tear away. "He insisted that we go anyway.. so I followed like an idiot." I say through gritted teeth.

"The truck died where you found it. Somebody had cut the gas line so that we stopped exactly where we did.. We were ambushed by six wolves who answered to a man called Dimitri," his name rolling over my tongue hurts me. I can still hear Blake's voice calling out to him, haunting me. 

"I killed two on the spot when they tried to lunge at Blake.. I killed all but one there, Blake got one too.. I was injured and couldn't protect him," my voice cracks, and my face is wet from silent tears. The nurse hands me a tissue. 

"You killed all those wolves? By yourself?" The Beta asks almost in disgust, with a scoff. He gets another toxic look from the stranger who looks back at me seconds later with soft, understanding eyes.

Normally, I'd throttle him for that tone, but I was in no condition to do so.

"I tried to save him.." I choke back a sob. "I really did, but he wouldn't stop bleeding! He wouldn't stop bleeding!" I feel embarrassed crying in front of total strangers, but I couldn't hold it back any longer.

"Nova dear, you did what you could. After those monsters took a crack at him, nobody could have saved him." The Luna tries to reassure me.

"You.. know them?" I ask and look at her. 

The stranger speaks, "Dimitri Cohen is the Alpha of the Crimson Fang pack. His henchmen have been enslaving and killing innocents for the past fifteen years at his command. Nobody has ever stood up to him, but an outsider like yourself wouldn't have known any better." The voice is so painstakingly familiar, but I am unable to place it.

"His father asked for his body to be buried as soon as he got the news," the Alpha adds.

So I never even got to say goodbye? Suddenly, I want to cry again.

"How long was I out?" I ask my former question, dreading the answer.

"You have been in and out of it for a week and three days," the stranger speaks before everyone else. I fully expected them to say I was out for several months or more.

My balloon is still deflated. I bring my hands to my head and rub my temples, trying to determine how to process this information... and so much of it.

"Okay! That's enough for today. Everybody out," the nurse demands and they get up to leave, all offering well wishes before exiting. The Beta who still gives me creepy vibes comes and kisses my hand. I try not to recoil in disgust. 

The stranger is the only one that does not get up, but upon seeing Samael do this, he snarls like before and threatens to stand up. The beta scrambles away, evading the stranger's wrath..

I immediately reach for the hand sanitizer when he is out of sight and shiver, almost gagging at the thought as it replays in my head.

"Mr. Myers, you too. She needs to rest," she says without looking at him but at my chart.

He tries to protest but looks at me and stands up, walks to me and cradles my face in his hand, looking into my eyes less piercingly than before. "I'll be back to check up on you soon, darling," his voice is low and gentle. I can't help but find it comforting when he kisses my forehead and leaves, closing the door quietly behind him. I also remember where his voice came from. His voice was the last I heard before I passed out.

"I'm sorry about him.. he's been acting weird like that ever since he found you," she puts the chart down and smiles at me.

"He's the one who found me?" I ask quietly even though it made perfect sense. 

The pieces were all falling into an ugly puzzle that I wanted nothing to do with. 

"That he is. You can ask him about it when he comes in to check on you," she says in an almost sarcastic manner with a chuckle. "Oh, and I'm the head nurse here. Everyone calls me Summers, but you can call me Analissa or just Ana." She smiles.

"Well! You seem to be healing well, we got everything stitched up, but if you need any pain killers at all, just say the word and we'll drug you right up. I know how much pain you must be in.. you looked awful when we first got you." She mumbles the last part. 

A long silence ensues, and I look away. "Look, what you went through was terrible, and I know it's gonna take a long time for you to heal.. mentally and physically. When you're feeling better, we will all help you do whatever you want to do next. I don't know much about the other packs you went to, but we make sure everyone feels at home here.. especially someone as special as you." She holds my hand, providing almost an anchor for me. I so badly wanted to just drift off into the unknown and disappear. 

Why did I have to wake up? 

Why couldn't it have been me?

Why Blake? 

As I am now maxed out on my social capacity for the day, she nods and stands up. "I'll get you some meds to help you sleep, and I'll bring food around when you wake up again."

If  I wake up again.

She does what she promised she would and leaves the room after I thank her.

I lay back in the bed and don't even try to stop the crying that starts. No amount of pain medication could take away the heartbreak I feel.

I hated the fact that I caught myself liking the feeling of that Myers guy only a week after Blake died in my arms. 

How could I let anybody in? How could I open myself up ever again? Why would I want to?

How could I love again?

I cry until the pillow is damp and let the medication's effects consume me, not before hearing that prophesy run through my head that I hadn't thought about since I heard it. 

The path before you is a difficult one..

...much suffering...

Ad astra per aspera.

But the words that stayed with me most were not Oliver's.. but Blake's final words.

He called me incredible.

He called me incredible with his dying breaths.

That had to mean something.

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