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Chapter Quote:
"... taking my faltering as a sign of imminent emotional breakdown."

~Nightshade, Andrea Cremer
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Chapter 57

Dom

I groaned as I sat up, swinging my legs over the table. My back was killing me despite all the pain meds they'd given me. The curtain separating me and Spencer was still pulled so I couldn't see anything going on with him which worried me. He'd been in terrible condition before we were rescued and to be honest, I barely remembered Anna, Elsa, Josie, and Adne appearing, so I had no memory of Spencer when we were taken to the infirmary.

"Good evening, Mr. Stone," a Healer greeted softly. "How are we feeling?"

"Awful, but I'm alive. How is Spencer? Why is the curtain still pulled?"

The Healer shifted uneasily on their feet. "He's still in a coma. The wolfsbane bullet really did a number on him. Not to mention he has some swelling of the brain from when we think debris hit him in the head. His condition is still critical but we're seeing a slight increase in getting his condition stable. So all we can do is continue towards getting him stabilized, watch, and wait for him to wake up."

"Do you think he will?"

"I honestly can't say."

I sighed. "What about Caleb?"

"He's in critical condition as well but he's fighting to stay alive. He's flat-lined about five times but his lungs have stopped filling up with water which is a good sign."

"Ren?"

"We plan on taking him out of his medically induced coma in two days, to get his brain swelling down. Same with Noah."

"Am I allowed to get up and walk around?"

"Let me do a checkup first and then we'll see." The Healer set down their clip board and examined my back, head, and torso. I hadn't realized I'd been grazed by a lot of bullets and had multiple scratches and gashes all over my body, including my head. My adrenaline had prohibited me from feeling basically anything until all the metal went in my back. Then everything went hazy. Unfortunately, I remembered the horrific murder of Barry. That would never be erased from my mind...

"All right Mr. Stone, it looks like you're doing all right. Your blood pressure and heart rate are slightly elevated so we'll want to keep an eye on that but you're in pain, correct?"

"A lot."

"Pain can be a factor for both of those. Let's see, we gave you some pain killers about four hours ago so you're actually able to take some more if you'd like."

"Yes. Was I awake when you gave me the pain killers?"

"Yes, sir. You were out of it though. We've tried giving them to you every four hours so you wouldn't be in too much pain whenever you woke up."

"How long have I been out exactly?"

"You fell asleep when we were pulling metal out of your back so that was probably around three in the morning. It's around eleven at night now."

"I've been out for twenty hours?" I demanded.

"You've woken up here and there but for the most part, yes you have."

"God..."

"Here's the pain killers. There's crutches and a wheel chair here if you'd like to use either but you're free to roam around. However, if you could please return here when you're done, that would be great. We're not letting anyone leave the infirmary until we're a hundred percent sure they're out of danger."

"Are any of the pack allowed that?"

"Arya, Carrie, Hunter, and Josilyn. Everyone else has some sort of injury that we want to keep an eye on."

"All right. Thank you." The Healer left and I knocked back my medicine, praying it'd work quickly. I slowly stood up, cringing in pain as I used muscles that did not want to be used under any circumstances. I tried walking without any help but nearly collapsed, so I grabbed the crutches next to me. As I was about to hobble out of there, Arya Laroche entered my room.

"Dom, I'm glad to see you up and about. How are feeling? Your heart is beating pretty fast. Everything okay?" She asked.

"I'm just in pain but I just took some medicine so hopefully that will help. How are you doing?"

"Physically, I'm okay. Emotionally is another story."

"I'm sorry about your pack..."

"Thank you. Speaking of, would you like to accompany me on a walk? I'm going stir-crazy sitting around and I think you're feeling the same seeing as how you have those crutches."

"Yes, ma'am." I followed her out of the room. "How is everyone?"

"For the most part, everyone is asleep. Which is good, because I don't want one of them to see us together."

"Are you going to kill me or something?" I joked.

Arya smiled. "If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead. No, I wanted to talk to you about Anna."

"Oh?" I started feeling nervous, wondering what on earth she could possibly want to talk about.

"How are you two doing?"

"We're as good as we can be given our circumstances."

"Do you love my daughter?"

"Yes, ma'am. I have for a while," I admitted. There was no point in hiding anything from her, not now.

"Have you two discussed what you're going to do after we go home?"

"Yes. Before the war, Caleb offered me a chance to join his pack. Since I have no family and no home to go back to, I seriously thought about it, but I'm not a Guardian and I think no matter how hard I tried, I could never be like one of you. I don't understand a lot of things that y'all do because of that."

"A long time ago, before any of the kids were born, before they were even thoughts, Guardians had a special power."

"You mean besides magical, healing blood?"

"Besides that. Do you know the story of Shay and Calla Doran?"

"I know Shay was a human turned wolf and that Ren and Calla used to be betrothed."

Arya nodded. "Shay was human but Calla was attacked and in order to save her life, she turned Shay into a Guardian. At the end of that war, when Shay closed the Rift, we were able to retain our shifting abilities and our healing abilities. But we lost the ability to change others into Guardians. A prophecy was created that said the death of the second-born of a Laroche and a Lightwood would reverse that."

"Caleb."

"Caleb," Arya confirmed. "He's alive now but he was clinically dead long enough for that prophecy to come true."

"So you're saying you can turn people into Guardians again?"

"I am. We don't like to because it's not a pleasant process but it's quick enough."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I wanted to offer you the chance to become one of us so you can be with Anna."

"Does Anna know about this?" I inquired as the two of sat down on a bench in the garden.

"No, I haven't had a chance to speak with her about it."

"You think she would want me to be one?"

"It kills me to say that I don't know my daughter well enough to say that, but I don't know her well enough to advise you on that. If you were dating Elsa and your position with Spencer was switched, I'd say the answer was unequivocally yes. But Anna... she's been gone for so long that I hardly know her like I should. Now that this war is over, I plan on getting to know my daughter. Would you like to speak with her about it?"

"Can I tell you something, Mrs. Laroche?"

"Of course. And please, call me Arya. You've earned that."

I stared into the fountain, unable to look the Laroche alpha in the eye. "When Anna and I were dating before everything went to hell, I'd bought a ring because I'd always planned on proposing to her. Of course I'd chicken out because whenever I'd tell myself to do it, I'd convince myself she didn't love me like that and wasn't ready to get married. A little while ago, she revealed to me she'd found the ring. She admitted she hadn't been ready to get married but would've said yes if I proposed."

Arya started laughing. "Oh honey, you're still worrying she won't want you to be with a Guardian with her even after knowing that?"

I shrugged. "We had a bad break up and I'm worried it's changed things."

"If anything, I believe it's made the both of you stronger. If you want to talk to her about it, then go right ahead. But if you'd like to surprise her..."

"How long do I have to decide?"

"When you have your decision, you let me know. And Dom, Ren and I never got a chance to say this but thank you for keeping an eye on our daughter all those years and for helping get her back to us. You helped make our family whole again."

"Thank you for taking me in like you did, even though you don't know my past."

"You mean you being a Hunter and taking down our kind?"

"How did you-"

"The Searchers alerted me of your background. I was wary of you but I know a good heart when I see one. You had multiple opportunities to kill me and my family and you didn't. I knew when you saved Anna after she'd been kidnapped that you were on our side for good."

"I should've been the one to tell you everything. I should've come clean the moment I got here but I worried that you'd all judge me before you got to know me."

"We judge everyone before we get to know them because we don't trust many. But you're part of the pack now. Just like Spencer and Lily are. Just like Kit, Adne, and Connor."

"You should be honored. She doesn't say that to just anyone," Hunter said, walking up to us.

"Hey sweetie, what are you doing here?"

"Josie was still asleep and I was getting restless. I need some air to clear my head with everything going on. How you doing, Dom?"

"Hanging in there. Yourself?"

"Same. Anna's awake. I crossed paths with her on the way here. She was looking for Dom. Said she was going crazy worrying about him because she couldn't and didn't want to leave Elsa but she was worried because she'd seen the state of Dom's back."

"I should go see her," I stated.

"Why don't you go talk to her? If you need me, I'll either be by Ren's side or Caleb's."

"Thank you. I'll see you soon and I'll let you know my answer."

I stood up and hopped away on my crutches. My first instinct to find Anna was to go see Elsa. Upon arriving, my girlfriend was gone but her twin was awake. I took in Elsa's haggard appearance. Her face was pale, partially green as if she'd been sick. Her entire lower left leg and foot was in a cast. She had massive bruises on her arms, chest and neck, even a few on her face, a particularly nasty one next to her eye. I started worrying about the damage Anna had taken.

"Dom?" Elsa murmured.

"Hey, how you doing?" I asked softly.

"Terribly. Who knew concussions caused-" Elsa held a hand to her mouth before leaning over the side of the bed and grabbing a bucket to be sick in. With a groan, she finished. "-vomiting. Who knew..."

"Can I do anything?"

"No, but thank you. Spencer...?" I hesitated in answering because she was in a fragile state. I didn't want to add anymore distress to her. But she wouldn't take silence for an answer. Her voice was strangely calm and strong when she simply said, "Dom. Tell me."

"He's in critical condition still. They're trying to stabilize him."

"Do they think there's a chance he'll survive?"

"They don't know. It could go either way at this point."

She nodded and lifted herself out of bed. I offered her one of my crutches but she shook her head. Elsa hopped to the bathroom. Wanting to make sure she got back to her bed okay, I waited for her to come out.

"Elsa?" Anna queried, entering the room. Upon seeing me, she exclaimed, "Dom!"

There was a large piece of gauze covering half her neck, her left arm was in a cast and sling, and her right arm was wrapped in gauze all the way from her wrist to her shoulder.

"I know, it's pretty bad, isn't it?" she mused, glancing down at herself. "At least I'm not vomiting every hour. Nor do I have a constant headache and-"

"I love you," I blurted.

"I love you too," she replied without hesitation. "What brought that on?"

I gently pulled her to me and kissed her, trying to convey my relief that she was alive. Pulling back, I whispered, "I could've lost you. Again. And permanently this time."

"But you didn't."

"Do you want to be with me?"

"I'd have to talk to my parents because they're sticklers about letting humans at the compound except for Kit and Adne and Connor, and you're not a Guardian which would really complicate things there-"

"Just yes or no. Do you want to be with me?"

"Yes," she stated firmly. "Why?"

I gave her another kiss. "I need to go do something. I'll be back soon though."

"Okay?" She replied as I hobbled as fast as I could out of her room towards Ren's infirmary unit. I found Arya talking with Hunter in there and before she could even say anything, I said, "I have my answer."

"And?" Arya raised her eyebrows at me.

"Let's do it."

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