HYHM PART 2

CHAPTER 1

A/N: I apologize for the delay in writing and posting this. It has been a crazy and stressful time for me.   More chapters coming as soon as I can manage.

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HYHM Book 2 Chapter 1

The steady and rhythmic beeping was slowly becoming louder.  As the fog lifted, her ears seemed to recognize the sound and urged her to wake up.

“Wake up!” her brain nagged.

But her fatigue was stronger, like weights tied against her consciousness, pulling her back under. Images of herself in the water, kicking frantically to surface for air played like a movie in her mind. Her lungs burned and her eyelids felt too heavy to open. She was confused. She couldn’t feel the cold water. In fact, she didn’t feel wet at all.  What she felt was warm and comfortable as if wrapped in a blanket of fur.

“Fur!” her mind screamed.

“What are you going on about?” she questioned herself. “Let’s go to sleep.”

“Estela, we are in wolf form. We aren’t drowning.”

“We aren’t?”

“No!”

“Wait a minute…who’s ‘we’? Am I talking to myself? Have I gone nuts?”

“No, you idiot! I am your wolf.”

“Oh...hi wolf.”

“This is not the time for hellos. I’m freaking out and you need to snap out of it and wake up.”

“Ugh…What’s happening? What’s the beeping? And what is that god awful whining sound?”

“I don’t know. Open our eyes so we can find out, will you!”

Estela willed herself to open her eyes. The effort needed was paramount but the results were slow.  The harder she tried, the clearer the sounds became as the fog began to lift from her mind. Gradually, her senses began to return. Her ears were the first to recover, identifying the beeping as a heart monitor, the whining as her mother’s controlled cries, and the whispers as her father’s soothing voice.

Her attention then shifted to the warmth on her limbs, rejoicing in the touch of her parents’ hands as they affectionately stroked her fur.  The contact caused her body to relax, her muscles releasing the tension that had built up over the past week. Free from focusing on the stresses that had plagued her for so long, her brain registered the familiar scent of her parents and the clean and pungent smell of hospital disinfectant mixed with the coppery smell of blood. It was then that the memories came flooding back.

 It was her blood; she had been injured in the fight.

The fight.

“Why are they crying? I’m alive.” She thought, confused. She opened her mouth to speak intending to comfort her parents and tell them that she was okay, that they didn’t need to cry.  Moving her long tongue against her sharp fangs she was reminded that she was in wolf-form.

“Crap!” She cursed.

She opened her eyes and looked up at her parents. They looked distraught.  Her mothers long, dark hair had lost its lustre and her face looked pale and gaunt. Her swollen, red eyes were cased in circles of dark blue indicating that she was exhausted.  Her father didn’t look any better. She had never seen him look so weak and frail. Estela’s heart sank as she took in his appearance.  His hair had greyed exponentially and his face had lost all of its lively pallor.

“It’s not like I’m dead or anything!” She thought to herself. “Come on people!”

She opened her mouth and growled in annoyance causing her parent’s heads to snap up.

“My baby!” Gia whispered amidst sobs. “Are you okay?”

“We are so glad you are home, sweet heart. We love you so much.” Scott added, his eyes brimming with tears.

“So why are you sobbing, then?” She thought as she rolled about on the enormous hospital bed in an attempt to shift back into her human form. 

“Calm down, honey.” Scott said. “You have been restrained.”

Estela growled in annoyance.

“What is it?” Gia asked. “Do you want to shift?”

Estela whimpered in reply.

“Hang on a second, honey. I’ll go get a nurse,” Scott said as he stood up from the chair. Walking to the door, he opened it and yelled for the nurse.

It was a while before the nurse appeared and even then, she had needed to perform a thorough examination before removing Estela’s restraints. She had informed them that some of Estela’s wounds would reopen during the shift and they would need to be re-dressed before Estela could have any visitors.

Gia and Scott waited impatiently outside Estela’s room, too scared to let her out of their sight. Once the team of nurses had finished, they rushed back inside.

“Mom! Dad!” Estela shouted, tears running down her face. “I love you both so much!”

“We love you too, baby. We love you too.” They cried holding her in their arms.

“What’s wrong? Why are you guys crying so much? It’s not like I’m dead or anything.”

Her statement did nothing to console them, but only caused their cries to worsen.

“What is going on? You are scaring me.” Estela questioned, concern dripping from her voice.

“Honey, we are so happy that you are back and okay. We are crying because we almost lost you. We are crying because we are relieved that you are back, and we are crying because we weren’t able to keep you safe.” Scott spoke.

“Tell her the rest, Scott. Tell her!” Gia interjected bitterly.

Estela looked at her parents, her face contorted with confusion. “Rest?”

There was silence in the room while Scott gathered the courage to speak.

“As you probably know, we haven’t been honest with you.  For starters, we didn’t tell you that we were werewolves. And that is only the tip of the iceberg. We didn’t tell you about that because we were in hiding and wanted to live normal lives. What we also didn’t tell you was that you have…had…a sister. She was taken from us when she was a baby, but we always held the hope in our hearts that she was alive. When we saw you in your wolf-form, we came face to face with the one revelation that we have been dreading for a long time. When we saw you today, we also found out that your sister is dead.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Your sister is dead, our Elara is dead.” Gia wept.

“How would you know that just by looking at my wolf?” Estela asked, anger and confusion coursing through her veins.

“Because…because you have the mark.” Scott whispered.

“God! Would you stop speaking in code! What mark? Just tell me!” Estela screamed.

“Your sister, our firstborn was the heir to the werewolf throne. She bore the mark of the crescent moon on her forehead. And since you have the mark on your forehead, it means that you are the heir to the throne and your sister is…is…gone.”

Bile crept up Estela’s throat as her brain connected the dots.  Her fingers rose to her forehead and examined the skin. It was unmarked, smooth like a baby's bottom but then again she was in her human form.  “The mark of the crescent moon…why is that so familiar?” She pondered. And a few seconds later, when she realized the implication, she leapt up from the bed and ran into the corridor.

Her heart was thumping wildly in her ribcage sending blood to her tired and injured limbs as she fought the pain in her body. The effort caused her hair to dampen with sweat and her breathing to become shallow. The voice that left her throat strained, but she didn't notice. All she wanted was to find Jane.

“Jane!” she screamed. “Declan!”