Shadows of Dawn

Chapter 13

I smile as I hear that familiar voice and I turn around to be greeted with Sawyer's warm brown eyes. I smile softly as I make my over to his bedside.

"Well don't you look dashing," I say playfully as I sit on the edge of Sawyer's bed. He's shirtless and has a white bandage wrapped diagonally across his chest.

He looks me up and down before trying to rise from the bed. I push him down by his shoulder to keep him on the bed. "You need to rest," I say.

"Aeralyn, you shouldn't be here you need to rest. I'm taking you back to your room," he says as he tries to get up again. As he does this he groans, clearly hurting.

I hold both of his shoulders down. "Stay put, would you. I'm fine, okay?" I state.

He looks at me ready to argue but the look on my face must be enough confirmation for him, so he relax's back into the bed.

My hands move up to my face so I can adjust my breathing tube. "Oh Landon paid me a visit earlier," I say in an annoyed tone. "I hit him..."

The look on Sawyer's face couldn't be showing more shock than it already was. His mouth is agape but he quickly closes it. "You hit him? Aeralyn are you crazy?" He exclaims, clearly not happy with my actions, "He could have killed you."

"Okay I admit it probably wasn't the best decision but I already told you I don't like the guy," I say looking away from him.

After a moment of silence, hearing him chuckle behind me has me letting one of my own out. I turn to look at Sawyer and he is smiling. "Where's Leo? Is he okay?"

As he says his name, I'm reminded of the accident, of the man that took my only family away from me. Tears well in my eyes but I don't let them fall, I have to be strong. "He's... gone, Sawyer," I say looking at him.

Sawyer stares at me in disbelief. "What do you mean 'he's gone'?" He questioned calmly, but every passing second I could tell his emotions were bubbling up.

I let out a deep breath. "Remember that scientist that ran that facility I was in?" He nods. "He took him. I don't know how they found us but they took him right out of the car in front of me and I couldn't do anything to stop them. He tried to take me too but then they just left... It should have been me," I croak.

Sawyer's hand reaches out to touch mine. "It's not your fault. We're going to get him back," he reassures.

I look at Sawyer and shake my head. "I can't lose him, Sawyer, he's all I have."

"I know. We'll track them down and-" He starts before he cut off by the door opened quietly.

I turned to see who came barging into the room at such a late hour only to see Landon. I groan and roll my eyes. "Now what do you want?"

Sawyer gets visibly angry and sits up straighter and taller in his bed. "I think it would be best if you left," he seethes.

Landon's eyes make their way to Sawyer as he points a finger at him. "I'll deal with you later," he shoots back in a growl before turning to me, "As for you, you're going back to your room." He states as he moves to pick me up from my spot on Sawyers bed.

I swat his hands away. "I can make my way back on my own," I snap as I slowly get off the bed. "Sawyer, I'll see you later. Goodnight."

As I walk out into the hallway and begin making my way back to my room I feel exhausted. That accident really did a number on me. Before I can even make it 10 steps away from Sawyer's room I'm lifted up and being carried by Landon. "Let me down. What is it with you and carrying me?" I complain.

All I get is a huff from him as he starts walking. "I would appreciate it if you didn't fight with me right now."

"You know you're a real pain in-" I start to say another smart remark but quickly think otherwise when I see the look in his eyes. From his eyes alone I could tell his wolf was on the brink of taking control, so I stayed quiet as he carried me to my room. 

He enters my room and gently places me on the bed before going to the cabinet and grabbing some disinfecting wipes before coming back over to me. He sets the stuff on the bed and then looks at me expectantly.

"Landon, I do not need to be coddled, so back off. I'm not some fragile doll that will be broken," I seethe as lay down and turn my back to him.

"Well I'm sorry that I'm such an inconvenience and bother to you. But I'm not sorry about caring for you and wanting to help you. And if you don't see that, I'm not sure I'm the problem here," he says before I hear his receding footsteps, the door open and shut, and then silence.

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The next two days go by in a blur. Sawyer and I get discharged from the hospital but end up staying in Winter for a little while seeing we have no idea how Smith found us, so we figured it probably wasn't the safest idea to be driving on the road again. I haven't seen Landon since two nights ago in my hospital room and I'm glad for the fact.

For the duration of our stay we are allowed to stay at the Winter pack house. In the evening, we are driven from the hospital and arrive at the pack house shortly. When we walk inside we are greeted with the warmth of a nice fire. The inside of the pack house is very homey with wood floors, soft leather couches and blankets covering each one.

Landon's beta, Eli, leads Sawyer and I to our respective rooms that are right down the hallway from each other. Eli asks if I want any dinner but I can't muster up an appetite, so I decline his offer before slipping into my room. For the first time since waking up in the hospital I feel a moment of peace now that I'm finally alone. I look around the room and see it is a regular pack house room with a full sized bed, reading chair, desk, dresser, and TV.

I sigh and make my way to the attached bathroom and strip myself of my clothes. As I stand in front of the mirror I take a good look at my body. Due to my Alpha healing, my stomach and leg wound have healed up quickly, but in their wake have left these two nasty and jagged scars. I trail my hands over the two areas as I press my lips together and try not to cry. I pull myself away from the mirror and step into the shower and turn on the water.

As the water cascades down my body, I let my magic flow in my hand like a piece of string weaving in and out of my fingers. I wash my hair with the shampoo and conditioner already in there and then wash my body. After about 15 minutes I shut off the water and step out of the shower, wrapping my body with a towel.

Opening the bathroom door I walk over to the bed and sit down next to a stack of clothes that were not there when I left. I suspect that Landon is the one who put them there. Drying off my body, I put on the clothes; which consisted of loose sweatpants, an oversized t-shirt, and of course underwear. They smell just like him and I hate that I like it. 

I lie there in the bed tossing and turning because I can't get my mind to be quiet, so many things are happening at once. I have a mate, even though I don't want one, Leo has been taken and I don't know where to even start looking. Everything is just falling apart. I let all the tears I've been keeping in fall because here in the dark no one is around to judge me and tell me what I should be and I could just... be.