Forgiving My Mate

Chapter 12: Running From Him

I waited outside of the room anxiously for hours where they were operating on Lance. The doctors and nurses that went into that room hadn't left yet with any news.

My eyes were starting to water from exhaustion when the pack doctor walked out of the operating room. I stood up quickly and started feeling a bit dizzy.

"Laura are you okay?" he asked and wrapped his arm around me to help me sit down.

"Is Lance going to be fine?" The pack doctor sighed and turned towards me. He went from a little worried to serious very fast. My heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest from the adrenaline.

"Laura, this isn't going to be easy to hear," he started out with, and tears fell from my face.

"He's alive, but there were several pieces of silver throughout his body and countless wounds. Some of the injuries date back to about two months ago. Lance has a long recovery ahead of him so how about you bring some of his stuff so he's more comfortable when he wakes up?" Lance had been tortured for the past two months and I hadn't caught onto it. What kind of mate did that make me?

Though the pack doctor phrased the last sentence with a positive outlook, I could tell he didn't believe Lance was ever going to wake up. He didn't want me to give up hope when he clearly had already.

I nodded, trying to wipe the tears away. I slowly walked away to my car and took the longest route to the office. Silver to wolves felt like acid burning through our flesh. The longer the silver was near us, the more of a toll it would take on our mental and physical state. If my mate somehow survived, I worried there wouldn't be any remnants of the Lance I knew.

I walked into the office and the chatter stopped. I knew I looked like a zombie with dark circles under my eyes and my disheveled appearance. Though I was nineteen years old, I felt like I had aged decades with all of the emotional and physical damage I had experienced the past month.

I didn't dare look up from the ground because I didn't need anyone to get any ideas about talking to the co-worker, they hadn't seen for two months.

"Laura," my dad's voice spoke, and I felt his arms around me. It was as if a dam broke, and the floods were destroying everything in their path. We stood for a while and my dad motioned me to his office with a look of concern.

"Is Lance going to be, okay? I know he's your mate." Thinking of Lance in the hospital almost beaten to death, I started having an anxiety attack. I hadn't had one since high school. My dad stepped away for a moment and brought me a water bottle and a paper bag.

I started breathing into the paper bag until I calmed down.

"Dad, he's not doing well." He enveloped me in another hug and rubbed circles on my back.

"I got you," he whispered, and I rested my head on his shoulder until I fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning in my room, everything restored to what it was like when I moved in. I gave a slight smile at the sight of flowers on my dresser. They reminded me of my mother and how she reacted to Lance. She definitely approved of him and knew he was the one for me before I did. At least, he used to be the one for me. Everyone was acting as if he was already dead, and I needed to accept he wouldn't open his eyes again.

I silently walked to Lance's room, and it gave a silent creak. I hadn't exactly put a name to Lance's scent, but it was earthy as if he just plucked fresh flowers from a garden. I ran my hands over his bed sheets and rested my head on his pillow. It was soft and warm, like him.

Though I had slept for several hours last night, I fell asleep again and imagined my mate was next to me. When I woke up a second time that day, I was hit with another wave of disappointment.

I packed up some clothes and bedding for Lance before I left the office. The drive was quick, and I was standing in front of the hospital before I knew it. No one had tried calling or texting me, so Lance was probably still in the same condition. For better or for worse.

I checked in at the front desk and a nurse escorted me to Lance's room.

"Stop that! You are going to hurt someone! Stop!"

There was a lot of yelling, and I grew uneasy as we got closer to it. I started to increase my speed and left the nurse behind me.

"Restrain him! He shouldn't be moving this much!" That voice belonged to the pack doctor, and I ran towards him. There was howling in the hospital and people started screaming.

"Damn it, Lance!"

I ran up to the room and saw a wolf scratching the wall despite his wounds. It was Lance!

"What's going on?" I asked the pack doctor and his eyes widened on my arrival.

"This isn't safe. We need to sedate him, but we can't get close enough!" he yelled above the howling. I had to do something, or Lance was going to further injure himself. Think. Think. I had to think of something fast. Lance and I had a connection because of our bond.

"I'm his mate!" I yelled and grabbed the needle from his hand. If anyone could get near Lance, it would be me. He wouldn't hurt his mate, right? I took a risk and put the sedation in my back pocket.

"Lance, it's me. Laura. Remember me?" I asked as calmly as I could and took a step in his direction. He growled and took a step in my direction. His eyes were pitch black instead of his usual brown eyes.

"Laura. I'm Laura."

Lance ran up to me and tried to pounce on me with his claws extended. So much for that attempt. I charged at Lance, but he had the upper hand and swept me off my feet.

"Oof," I groaned. He circled me and charged at me. I rolled a foot to my right and injected half of the sedation. It slipped through my fingers as Lance soared through the air and shattered on the ground.

"Dang it," I mumbled and bolted for the door. Without the sedation, there wasn't much I could do for him.

"Run!" The pack doctor shut the door behind me, and we ran for our lives. There was a loud bang behind us. I started to turn towards the noise, but the doctor dragged me towards an exit.

"This way!" We were too slow.

"Shift!" he commanded, and we ran away from the hospital in our wolves' forms. We saw the woods and darted towards them. After a few minutes, we stopped to rest and heard several wolves howl a mile or so behind us.

My ears perked towards the noise, and I decided to run back. Lance ran past me in wolf form, and I followed him deeper into the woods.

Several wolves joined us in chasing Lance, including the pack doctor.

"Hold him still!" The doctor shifted back into human form and a wolf carried him a needle with sedation in his mouth. The needle was injected into Lance shortly after and he whimpered before he passed out.

Several wolves dragged him to a thick tree and chained him up there. I watched helplessly and Anton stepped into my view. I shifted into my human form and gave Anton a big hug.

"Hey. It will be alright. They are going to keep him here for a little while until they can relocate him," Anton whispered.

"Where are they taking him?" I questioned Anton and he frowned. "I don't know."

"The mental institution for wolves," another voice joined in. My dad was here with more chains in his hands.

"He needs to start healing," he paused. "In a place where he can't hurt anyone."

Mental institutions were used more often than we liked. Some werewolves couldn't handle the death of their mate and went on killing rampages. Others were simply violent and needed to be kept away in a place where they would be healed or left to rot in a mental institution. They remained in their cells until a committee of specialists decided it was safe.

As much as I didn't want Lance to go to a mental institution, I couldn't think of another place he could go. The hospital didn't have the proper people or tools to restrict him, as seen through the eventful day I just had. He needed to be restrained so he couldn't hurt others or himself. He didn't even recognize me earlier as his mate and tried to kill me.

I sat on the ground with Anton next to me as they took my mate away. He would probably die in a mental institution and there was nothing I could do but watch.