Calla Lily

Hospital ⚪️

  "Calla, I have your food." Azalea knocked and then pushed open the door. "Are you alright?" She asked as she came in. I sat leaned against the headboard watching as she made her way towards me with with a plate and a cup of water. "I'm fine. Is he gone?" I asked looking to the open door behind her. She nodded "yes, he's gone." I nodded once "Good." Azalea said nothing and made her way closer "I'm Azalea, I don't think we've officially met. I'm Jaden's mate." She elaborated further. I'd heard Sorren mention her plenty and although he seemed to be reclusive it was easy to see that he was friends with his beta and Azalea.
  She set the tray on my lap and I began to eat slowly. "Thanks for the food." I said and she nodded sitting down beside the bed. "Is it alright if I keep you company?" She asked. "Sure." I nodded she seemed nice enough. "Are you a doctor?" she'd been the one to give me the medicine so I could sleep. "Yes I am one of the back doctors." She said proudly "That's pretty cool." I complimented. "I love it, I really like helping people. I wanted something to do, with Jaden as Beta he's busy most of the time. Other times he's not busy enough so I needed some space." I smiled as she said that "I understand."
  "Were you going to school at all? I mean before..." she trailed off. "I took a gap year and traveled as much as I could. I worked a lot through high school and my aunt gave me a car so I didn't have to buy one myself. When I turned 18 I sold the car and then used basically all of my savings to go almost everywhere I wanted to go. I worked some odd jobs here and there and came back for my 20th birthday honestly because I had to for the ceremony or my parents would be penalized with prison time. I also decided I should get a degree so I applied to a few schools. I got into Blue Mountain University, the main campus is actually here, and I was going to go." as I said it I realized the irony of it all. I'd probably still run into Sorren at some point going to university on his land. If that had happened instead of the ceremony and the laws allowing me to be stolen from my life, maybe things could've gone differently...maybe. "That's wonderful! What major?" She asked. "Environmental biology with a minor in geology." I said. "That's wonderful! Kind of the opposite spectrum of my field of biology it'd be interesting to compare courses." She said excitedly. "It would be." I agreed, if only I could've gone. "And with your travel, where all have you been?" She inquired. "All over Europe. I started in London and then just took trains everywhere. I speak a bit of Spanish and most people speak English so I was able to get around." I said. "That is amazing! To travel so much at a young age is so amazing." I nodded "I'd like to do more." I said and she looked at me with pity. "I'm sorry about Sorren. He really is a good man, he's just lost a lot of people close to him." I frowned as she said that "His brother and parents." I said confirming who she meant and she nodded. "What happened between them? His brother seemed so threatening." I shook my head. "He is. Sorren's brother challenged him for title as Alpha. As first born, that title is rightfully Sorren's not Aziel's. Aziel gathered a few low ranking pack members who attacked me and Jaden while the challenge against Sorren was beginning. We barely had time to shift, so hyperaware of the fight between the brothers to even notice the approaching wolves. There were no strange scents, they were one of the pack and so when they attacked and caught us off guard Sorren's focus shifted to us and Aziel nearly succeeded in killing him." I furrowed my brow, I only knew what they taught in school about dominance challenges, but even from the limited knowledge I possessed it was clear to see this was not a fair fight. It also was not ended correctly, the fight for dominance often ended in death to show other challengers what would happen to them should they attempt to attack.
"He didn't kill him though?" I stated it as a question even though it was a fact. "No, he wouldn't kill his own brother. He instead exhiled him arguably a worse fate than death. His parents pleaded with him to revoke the punishment, but that was not possible. Sorren has let others that fought admirably live within the pack, but that was only after true submission and remorse were presented. Aziel did not show remorse for what he did and would try again at any opportunity to take Sorren's title."
  "So Sorren took his title as Beta and gave it to Jaden?" Azalea shook her head "No, having an Alpha and a beta in the same family is an old outdated practice. In order to ensure generational pass down and differing genetics, the Beta is chosen from a line arguably as strong as the Alpha. This family line is unrelated to the Alpha line and so can be passed down from parent to child." I nodded, this was all very interesting. I hadn't realized a bit of science that went into it, but fortifying the genes of the lead wolves made sense. Wolf packs benefited from genetic strength and so helping along natural selection via desirable traits seemed logical.
  "Did Sorren kill Aziel for threatening me?" I asked. Azalea shook her head "No. I don't think he would unless...he hurt you. Sorren has begun to have heavy patrols around the house." I swallowed thickly that wasn't only because of Aziel. I'd known since the beginning that this whole bond made Sorren crazy for me, crazy enough to kill. However hearing this fact from someone else was a bit jarring. "I only tell you all of this to try and help explain why Sorren reacted so violently. His brother is dangerous, and is a threat to you." Knowing the whole story did put things into perspective, however it'd been better if Sorren had done it. Instead he declared his intention to find someone else to be Luna, fine by me, but in that case he should let me go.
  "He told me that he was going to find someone fit to be Luna." I then said "He doesn't care about me, he only cares about the bond, or rather the pain the bond causes him." I said. "That's not true." Azalea said instantly. "Isn't it? Everything is about what his wolf wants because 'it's instinctual' I think it's a load of shit and he is so upset that I have not fallen into bed with him on my own, that he needs to get me there his way." Azalea shook her head but I wasn't done yet "He's taken me away from my family without so much as a call, robbed me of my future, all the while reminding me of what he is and what he could do every moment he could. I've seen glimpses of this kind man, but they are hidden behind his wolf." I spat the word wolf bitterly, it was true Sorren. A combination of the bad parts of Sorren and his wolf ruined every good interaction we'd had.
  "Perhaps you should talk to his wolf." Azalea suggested. "Talk like...like speak with him?" I asked stupidly. She nodded "Yes, talk with him and let him know your boundaries so that way they are both absolutely on the same page. Hold them both accountable." I frowned "You say both like they aren't the same person." She shook her head "They aren't. My wolf, Shiska, she is part of me and I of her but we are separate. Yes we share one body, one mind, but I can always hear her in my thoughts and her in mine." The concept to me was insane, two people in one body? "I can understand how this is a strange concept. There is a story about the first werewolf, he was created by the moon goddess many millennia ago. The most beautiful man the moon goddess had ever seen was hunting under her glow. He was very deep within the first and far from his tribe. He was part of a hunting party, but was separated from them when chasing prey. He had his aim on a deer which he hit true. The other of his group had their own hunt and so they all went their separate ways. The man ran after the deer tracking it to the side of a rushing river. The deer had fallen next to the crystal water and laid still. Just as the man approached his kill, a bear emerged from a thick patch of pine trees. The bear wanted the deer and so made his way closer, the man so startled upon seeing the bear raised his bow and arrow to shoot. The bear paused for a moment as if giving the man time and then charged. The moon goddess watched from above and at the last minute, turned the man into a large wolf so that he may protect himself. The wolf fought and killed the bear and now had the gift of the lycan. The man now hunted with his wolf making him much more successful. This gift however lengthened his life, as the moon goddess couldn't bear to see him die. Soon all in his tribe died and he was alone. The man prayed to the moon goddess to share this gift with others, and so she began to bestow the gift on all of his tribe. Now all of the tribe had a wolf to protect them and to protect others in the pack when they otherwise couldn't."
It was an interesting story one I'd never heard before or even thought of. Where did the first werewolf come from? It was interesting to hear the origin story. "So, talk with Sorren's wolf Onyx, let him now your fears it would be different then addressing Sorren with him the background." I frowned the idea terrified me. "Would you maybe want to watch a movie?" I asked wanting to change the subject. "I'd love to." She smiled. I'd found the nagging pain in my chest wasn't as bad when distracted. We walked downstairs and parked ourselves in the couch. Jaden was asleep in an arm chair and didn't even stir when we began one of the Harry Potter movies. "I've never watched these." Azalea admitted. "Really? They're much better than wolf movies." I exclaimed and she laughed. I'd decided I really like Azalea she was so kind and so seemingly human it was comforting.
At some point I'd fallen asleep and woke up to the title of the move displayed on Netflix with the movie info. Someone, presumably Azalea, as Jaden didn't look liked he'd moved, covered me up. She had fallen asleep to at some point. I was surprised both wolves were still here, did Sorren get home and just let us be? Was he upstairs right now? I walked out to the kitchen to get a glass of water and saw the time displayed on the oven, 1:45am it was late. I poured myself some water and stood at the island enjoying the silence that enveloped the house.
After standing there for a few moments I began to feel a burning in my lower stomach. It was uncomfortable, like a cramping which was strange I'd just had my period last week. Soon the cramps turned into a sharp pain causing me to double over. I groaned in pain what was happening? I set the glass down on the island and sat down slowly with my knees bent. I lifted my shirt to foolishly look and see what injury was causing me this pain but I found none.
I sat there for a while this pulsing pain continuing to stab me with each breath. Should I wake Azalea? Maybe my appendix burst? Or I had an ulcer from all of the stress my body has been under and it was just made apparent to me now? I wanted to take another drink and so moved onto my knees to reach the glass up on the island. A particularly sharp pain had me retract my hand quickly. I knocked the glass from the counter and it shattered as I groaned.
Something was definitely wrong. "Calla?" It was Jaden who spoke. I heard footsteps making their way over to me quickly. "Calla what's wrong?" Azalea asked. I shook my head "I-I'm not sure. My stomach it hurts." I said. "Come on, let's get you to the couch." Jaden scooped me up from my crouched position and I grimaced from the movement. "Where exactly does it hurt?" Azalea asked. "It's like cramps, down low on my stomach into my hips." I'd never quite experienced anything like this.
"Can I see?" She asked. "It's all internal I checked." I said as Jaden slid me on the couch. "Please, just let me see." I allowed her to pull up my shirt to see my stomach. Her gaze was fixed onto it confusing me. I raised my head to see what her and now Jaden were staring at and found deep dark bruising. "T-That wasn't there in the kitchen. Is it internal bleeding?" I panicked. Azalea looked very concerned and so I found myself worried she was the doctor here.
"I think I know what this is from, I don't hear Sorren but can you make sure he's not here Jaden?" Jaden had a dark expression and nodded swiftly to his wife. "What does Sorren have to do with this?" I asked confused. "Is he here Jaden?" Azalea called out. "No." Jaden answered making his way back down the stairs. "Go get the car ready we are going to the hospital."

Hey Readers!

Another chapter done! I didn't proof read this one I wanted to get it out before next week, work has me so busy! Hoping to upload another chapter soon. Thanks for reading!

Rosemary