Always you...

46. He is waiting for you...

Zhan groaned in his sleep hands fisting the blanket laid over him, sweat beading on his forehead and his abdomen hurting. He woke up breathing heavily and blindly slammed his hand on the nightstand to the turn the lights on, hissing when pain shot through him. Placing his hand beside him, he made an effort to sit up but his form froze when he felt the wetness around him. His eyes adjusted to the bright lights and he removed the blanket at once blood chilling in his body seeing the redness pooling around him. "YUBIN!! XUAN!!!", Zhan screamed the names as loud as he could holding his belly and the doors burst open almost all the Lan pack members moving into the room. "Zhan? You okay?" "B-Blood. Something's wrong", Zhan shakily whispered and curses flew in the air seeing the blood on Zhan's lower half. "Call Li Xiao, An. Tell him to hurry the fuck up", Rong urgently ordered and the woman flew out of the room immediately. "Zhan, breathe", Yubin said softly rubbing his friend's back seeing that Zhan was about to go into a panic soon. "Come on, Zhan-Zhan. In and out. Slow and steady. Don't worry." Li Xiao dashed into the room sleep still evident in the doctor's eyes but a sight of Zhan and all signs of sleep vanished from the doctor's gaze. "Call Zi Yi immediately, Yubin. Tell her it's urgent." "What's happening? Why is there so much blood? My baby is okay, right? Why-" "Calm down, Zhan. I'll take care of you. Nothing is going to happen to your daughter, okay? Trust me." Tears rolled down Zhan's cheeks and his eyes turned to his left finding his mate beside him, appearing as if he was sleeping soundly. "Yibo-", he murmured softly, a plea in his tone, terror shining in his dark almond eyes and Zhan prayed Yibo heard him. He asked his mate to wake up because the fear he felt now was stronger than him. "Please." Pain shot through his veins again and Zhan doubled over squeezing his eyes shut trying to breathe through it all. "Fuck!", he hissed again and Li Xiao calmly placed a hand over Zhan's abdomen feeling around. Everyone was silent as the doctor checked Zhan and finding the problem the doctor's eyes turned to Haikuan with a serious look on his face. "We need to move him, now. Take him to the other room." Understanding the gravity of the situation everyone moved around lightning fast, the guys coming to carry Zhan. "Be extremely gentle, guys. Don't move him around too much." Zhan was taken to the room Yibo had set up as soon as he had found about Zhan's pregnancy. The room had medical supplies, equipments, everything Li Xiao had stated they might need during the pregnancy and Zhan was laid on the king sized bed where Li Xiao took blood samples and checked Zhan's heart rate. "I want Yibo", Zhan said softly, his eyes fluttering close and hearts broke at the words. "He is coming, Zhan. Let's just get you comfortable." "I am here!", ZiYi announced moving towards Zhan and everyone else from the Luo family walked behind her asking the Wangs what was wrong. "The pain hit again. There was blood this time", informed Haikuan pinching the bridge of his nose and Zi Yi asked everyone to leave the room while she and Li Xiao checked on Zhan. "Now, guys!" No one was willing to leave but they did, seeing the urgency on the healer's face. They stood out of the room by the door, worry clear on everyone's face.

Li Xiao came out of the room almost an hour later swiping the sweat from his brow and was immediately hounded by questions from the pack members. "Is he okay?" "Is the pup okay?" "How is Zhan now?" "Can we go see him?", came the questions and Li Xiao saw the tension coiling in everyone's form as they asked about Zhan. "Zhan is fine now. The pup is fine as well. There's nothing to worry about as of now. The pain has subsided but he needs some sleep. You guys can see him later." Relieved sighs escaped the pack members but the Wangs were still far from calm asking Li Xiao what had happened. "In simple words, the baby stopped moving which caused the pain. Zhan's body is weak right now and the shifting and physical exertion has put additional strain on him which is harmful for him and the pup. The bleeding was harmless, Alpha pregnancies do tend to cause such complications and everything's under control now. Zhan needs to be on bed rest, though. The pain is hard to bear so we have to help him avoid these issues." Determined nods came from everyone and the they chose to stand guard and watch Zhan through the night despite of Li Xiao saying that he would keep Zhan under observation. "I can't sleep knowing he is in pain", began Wang An and Hedi nodded in agreement bringing a chair from nearby and sitting beside the door. "You guys can sleep", he suggested the others and growls left the wolves at the words. "There's no chance I will leave him again. It's our fault for letting him sleep alone. If he hadn't called out for help...God, I don't even want to imagine what would have happened", said Yubin visibly shuddering and Jiyang patted the man's back. "If only Yibo was-" "We can all guard him", said Xuan cutting Hedi off because the man's words had caused dark shadows to fall on everyone's faces. "Yeah, let's just all stay in the living room. I can't sleep now even if I want to", Rong concluded seating himself on the rug his back against the couch. Chun Hua came to sit beside him and he guided the woman's head to his shoulder to rest. "I'll make some coffee", suggested FanXing and Jiyang left his mate's arms walking towards Guo Cheng. "Cheng will you help me clean up Zhan's room?", asked Jiyang and the young man nodded his head at once walking with the Omega. The two of them went into the room and were immediately hit by the stench of blood that permeated the air. The Lan Alpha was still not awake and Jiyang couldn't help but think how different things would have been if Yibo was awake. Zhan wouldn't have been so worried and weak if his Alpha was beside him. Cheng asked Jiyang to help him move Yibo so he could change the sheets and the man moved towards Yibo. He lifted Yibo carefully as the other male took the sheets off, the sight and scent of Zhan's blood making their hearts ache. Seeing Zhan in pain had been hard for everyone but seeing the evidence of that misery caused Jiyang and Guo Cheng to halt their movements for a second. "Let's just get this done", said Cheng said after a while biting his lip and just as Jiyang was about to move a hand snagged his throat, cutting his air supply. Jiyang's eyes rose and met with piercing golden orbs of the Lan Alpha, the sight unnerving and relieving all the same. "Zhan", came the barely recognisable, low, guttural growl as a question but the Omega couldn't speak with the tightening grip around his throat. He tapped the Alpha's hands just as Cheng spoke, "He is in the other room, Alpha. He is waiting for you."

Blood. His mate's blood. The stench of it had Yibo's heart thundering in his chest even before his eyes opened. On reflex, his hand had shot out grabbing the person who he thought was a threat to his mate and for a long moment Yibo couldn't recognize the person or his surroundings, his only thought that his firecracker was in pain. The echoes of the pain thrummed through their bond and it was all Yibo could focus on until the words of his wolf registered. Yibo let go of the male in his grip, getting off the bed while the Omega coughed loudly gasping for air as he did. "Where is he?",Yibo spoke again, his throat raw, voice scratchy and Guo Cheng shuffled on his feet putting some distance between them. "Umm... Li Xiao is checking up on Zhan-ge. They are in the medical room." Yibo's eyes fell on the bloodied sheet in Guo Cheng's hand and his heart pounded in his chest as he ran outside. The Alpha saw his entire pack in front of the room and his heart clenched with pain. "Alpha!! Yibo!!!",came the chorus as everyone stood up seeing their Alpha up and about. They came to Yibo's side hugging him and touching him as if still in disbelief. The relief and joy glinting their eyes was obvious but, Yibo didn't care about any of it. He just wanted to get to his mate. "Zhan?" An pointed to the room, tears in her eyes and Yibo burst open the doors, his feet coming to a stop at the sight of his mate. Zhan appeared so fragile,his skin pale, dark circles around the almond eyes and exhaustion was so clear on his firecracker's beautiful face that Yibo's heart broke. "How long has it been?", he whispered, asking no one in particular and Xuan came forth the man's eyes glistening. "Two fucking weeks, Wang Yibo! Couldn't you wake up a little sooner?" Yibo chose to let the rudeness aside sensing the pain in his cousin's voice and walked to Zhan's side, touching Zhan's face. The heartache that had been overwhelming him eased a bit and Yibo buried his face in Zhan's neck, breathing his mate in. "Yibo!!", came his brother's voice and Yibo stood up as his brother, father and uncle came to hug him. Zi Teng's eyes took his son's form in, checking to see if Yibo was in any pain. "I am fine, dad." Yibo's attention was back on his firecracker and he wiped the sweat from Zhan's temple, something heavy settling in his gut. "What happened?" Haikuan took a look at Zhan's sleeping form and sighed as he told Yibo what had occurred the day of the battle.

"Your injuries were bad and you have been unconscious ever since. Those Alphas were responsible for letting in Xie Yili and the other cougars to the packhouse. They let the cougars in through the backyard. Two of her men entered the house and released sone gas into the house that made us all sick. Zhan and the others had to leave the packhouse, that's when Xie Yili and her men surrounded us. Zhan had no choice, he knew he couldn't fight in his human form so he shifted." Yibo's hands fisted at his sides, fury vibrating in his form and it fucking hurt. This was all his fault. He had trusted those men to keep Zhan safe. Yibo had again put Zhan in danger and just like the last time, his firecracker had suffered. "Li Xiao told us that shifting and fighting has put Zhan's health in jeopardy. Zhan has been experiencing severe pain ever since that day. Today it got a lot worse and there was blood." Yibo's eyes misted over at the words and he clutched Zhan's hand to his chest, his eyes squeezing shut at the realisation that his firecracker had been in pain, suffering right beside him but Yibo hadn't done anything to help. It made Yibo feel like a failure.
Yibo placed a hand on Zhan's belly, feeling that the bump was bigger than he remembered and when he felt his daughter move under his palm, tears burned the back of Yibo's eyes. He could have lost her. If his firecracker hadn't been so strong, Yibo would have lost her and maybe his mate as well. When Zhang Wei had hurt Zhan, his mate had been unconscious for an entire day and Yibo had gone crazy. Yibo couldn't even imagine what he had put his firecracker through. "I need to be alone with him", he whispered and his father patted his shoulder before Yibo was left alone with his mate. Careful not to jostle his mate, Yibo lay beside Zhan, burying his face into Zhan's neck and his arm rounding Zhan's waist. "I am sorry it took me so long, firecracker. Don't worry now, your Yibo is here."