Becoming

Forgiven

         I read and reread his card over and over again.  He loves me?  The man who went and had a hot and steamy night with literally my worst nightmare loves me?! I guess he realized that after he had one last night with her.  Whatever.  I did what any rational 18 year old would do, I crumbled it up, and threw it in the corner of the room.  I was aiming for the trash can, I missed.  

             Easton comes in a short while later, "Hey how are you feeling?"  "I'm fine, when is the doctor getting here."  I respond coldly.  I can tell he's caught off guard by my demeanor. I don't think I've ever seen him frazzled, "Uh, um, he's getting here in about an hour or so, he's on our private jet so he doesn't have to go through customs or anything."  "Ok, can you please have Hanna wake me when he comes?" I ask dismissively.  "Um, yea.... I can do that?" 

          I feel as if I had barely closed my eyes when Hanna comes in with a very kind elderly gentleman.  I can't help but feel immediately comforted when he comes in.  This must be what it's like to have grandparents.  I never had the chance to meet my grandparents.  "Hello Charlee you look like you've been through a lot, yes?  Hanna can you please leave us alone while I do my inspections?"  Hanna nods and quietly shuts the door behind her.  "You would have made your grandfather very proud young lady.  That man was as tough as nails and it seems like you have his fighting spirit."  He remarks praisingly.  "You know my grandfather?" "Of course! I am the royal physician I was actually hired by your grandfather.  I was so sorry to see him be replaced by that coward of a man!"  I could feel the rage emanate off of him.  "What did those barbaric people do to you?! It seems that your shift helped repair all the broken bones but it certainly didn't fix all this bruising or the gash on your face."  "They injected me with wolfsbane to keep me from healing."  "Wolfsbane!?! How often were they giving that to you?"  His tone turns frantic and it makes my stomach drop a little.  "They injected me daily for about three weeks."  I respond tightly thinking back over the constant torture.   The doctor pales a little at the information but tries to play it off.  "Well, I'm going to give this gash a superficial stitch.  You burned off all the wolfsbane in your system with your first shift, but because it was in your system so long it suppressed your wolf's immune system.  So, with these stitches, a lot of rest, and some real food in your system you should be healed in at least a week.  I don't know how you survived young lady I don't even know if the strongest wolf would have survived the torture they put you through."  With that he put some butterfly strips on my face and any other gashes that were too deep to heal.  He gave me some cream to help sooth all the bruising and reminded me again the importance of staying in bed.  I guess he knew I would try to get up as soon as possible. 
              Once he had left,  Hanna came in with another bowl of chicken broth.  "Here Charlee, the doctor informed me that you need to eat to gain your strength again.  But that's not the only reason I'm
here.  Easton told me to come see to you.  I know the last time you saw him things didn't end well but please believe me when I say he was a mess without you. He has been searching for you since the day you disappeared he would be out for days trying to find you.  I've never seen him like that before." She began to cry as she started again, "We are all linked to him so we could feel his desperation.  He was a man in agonizing pain.  I know that he is somehow bonded to you so he could feel the pain you were feeling and it would slip through our connection so we all felt it. I'm so sorry Charlee I don't know how you endured all of that alone but, I promise you, Easton never gave up." 

            As I sat and listened to her I couldn't help but feel the rage boil up inside of me.  "He never gave up?! Ha! And at what point was this?  After Eve left his bed the day he told me he couldn't marry me?  Not only did I have to suffer from the never ending physical torture inflicted upon me, I also could never escape from the endless thought of Eve and Easton having one last...." I couldn't even bring myself to say it.  I knew Eve was cruel I experienced all the different ways she could be cruel, but I never expected it from Easton.  They really should be together.  Hanna's voice pulls me from my thoughts, "Who told you that Charlee?  Was it Eve?"  I cant bring myself to look at her I can feel the tears welling up.  The tears I haven't been able to cry in weeks.  "Oh honey, no don't cry.  I'll be right back ok?"  She gives me a quick hug and hurriedly exits the room. 

                Before I even have time to wipe the tears away Easton is back in my room and holding me in his arms.  "Baby doll, it's not true."  I look up at him shocked by the raw emotion I hear in his voice.  "I never slept with that wicked woman.  Once I left your house I went up to the lake in the mountains to clear my head.  I had been up there all night until the  early morning hours thinking about everything you said and kicking myself for how selfish I was being.  When I set off to come talk to you I crossed an unfamiliar scent.  I followed the scent worried it was more scouts, but then the scent disappeared.  Just like that,  it was so strong, and then gone. I started heading back to your house when I picked up your scent heading to the lake.  I followed your scent to the lake but again as soon as I got there it was gone.  I searched for you for hours that first day I went into Canada looking for you.  I enlisted all the packs from across the United States and Canada to send me their best scouts.  Two of them found your scent and chased it but those bastards shot one of them with a silver bullet!"  My eyes widen, "I heard them shoot them.  Did he die?!" "No thankfully it only got him in the shoulder but the silver did some extensive damage he couldn't shift from his Wolf form for a week.  As I've told you it's dangerous to stay too long in wolf form so he was really lucky to have survived." 
                    Easton must have sensed my fading energy, "Charlee all of the explanations can wait until you're recovered for now you need to eat your soup and get some sleep." I nod at him feeling more secure than I have since the day I met him. "Will you stay with me?" "I wasn't going to leave even if you asked me to." He responds making himself comfortable next to me.