Kingmaker (Ace of Queens #5)

Pt.39 Fill in the blank

Chapter 39

The first thing Ella felt before she opened her eyes was the soreness in her back. Her muscles itched to stretch but she was too afraid that if she moved too quickly, she might pull something. She tried to move her arm up to scratch her nose, but her ams felt as if they weighed a ton. She wasn't even sure if her arm was doing anything when she pushed with all her might to lift it.

"Careful," Maksim's low voice broke through a vibrating hum in Ella's ears. She turned her head towards the sound and regretted her decision immediately. Something sparked to life and she was overcome with a pounding headache.

Ella tried to open her mouth to call out to her mate, but her throat was so dry. Her lips were sealed and as she opened her mouth, she felt them peel separate from one another like stickers.

"Max," she said, her voice groggy.

"I'm here, baby," Maksim took her hand and Ella felt the soft ground dip beside her. "Open your eyes, love."

Carefully, Ella willed her eyelids to open. She was greeted by the harsh lights before her blurry vision focused on Maksim sitting in front of her.

"Hi," he smiled as he rubbed circles on her wrist.

"H...hi," Ella said, a bit confused. She tried to sit up but her headache got worse. Maksim watched as she shut her eyes tightly and looked away.

"I called Mimzy, she should be here any second," Maksim reached out and rubbed the back of his hand against her face.

"Where are we?" Ella asked.

"The hospital, babe," Maksim said. "What do you remember?"

Ella slowly opened her eyes. Her heart began to pound as she saw flashes of Roman's face in her mind. The monitors picked up her elevated heart beat and started to beep.

"I'm here," Maksim said quickly. He leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Don't worry, you're safe."

"You.....you were shot," Ella's eyes began to burn with tears as she turned her head to look at her mate. "How...how did..."

"It wasn't too mad," Maksim lied.

In reality, it was bad. It was very bad. The silver bullet has grazed his heart, tearing apart everything in its path. By the time Owen and Alec had found the couple at the stairwell, Maksim had lost a lot of blood. He was rushed into surgery with Gemma on standby. Mavi stood right beside her as she let the nurses take as much blood as they needed from her.

After four long hours in surgery, Rye and the other surgeons were finally able to remove the bullet. And then afterwards, it was all Mavi's blood and healing clay that sped up his recovery.

Ella on the other hand took much longer to recover. Her human body would not accept anything beside small doses of healing clay. Maksim had taken only a week to recover, but Elal took almost three. She faded in and out of consciousness for days. Her body took it's time to heal as her mind soothed itself somewhere deep in her head.

"Are you okay?" The tears in Ella's eyes spilled as she tried to raise her right hand. Maksim stopped her and told her to keep her hands still.

"Your fingers are still healing," he said to her. "Don't move them."

"Give her some space, Mackey," Rye's voice came from the doorway.

Maksim looked over his shoulder as Rye entered the room. She wore blue scrubs and her dark hair hung behind her in a ponytail.

"How are we feeling, sweet pea?" She asked as she leaned over Ella and checked her eyes.

"Thirsty," Ella said. "May I have some water?"