SWNOVELS Chapter Her keeper.
She furrowed her brow before replying, trying her best to remember any detail, but she kept drawing a blank.
"Did I hit my head on the monkey bars Alpha Tarakona? It wasn't Shadows fault, I swear, he would never hurt me!"
Shadow didn't know what to do. Clearly, the hit to the head had done more damage than anyone thought.
Reaching into the far recesses of his memory, he had a vague recollection of little Lucy Wheeler greasing the monkey bars back in third grade? Izzy had fallen off and hit her head, knocking her unconscious...oh crap!
Someone upstairs had it in for him, Shadow sighed. If his guess was correct, then Bella believed she was only nine years old, which would mean everything up until the battle that separated them was gone.
Not wanting to cause any more damage with his inexperienced fumbling around in her brain, Shadow excused himself and went in search of the doctor, leaving Isabella to rest.
He found Dr. Packard in his office, looking over medical charts, but he quickly jumped to attention when he saw the Alpha's frown.
"Is there a problem with Miss Romano Alpha?"
Shadow let out a sigh of frustration before slumping his large frame into a small chair.
"Depends how you look at it, I guess; Isabella thinks she's in here because she slipped off the monkey bars. The problem with that is she was only nine when it happened, and she doesn't remember anything past that."
He fixed his steely eyes on the portly doctor, watching as he squirmed until reluctantly Dr. Packard started explaining.
"Isabella suffered major brain swelling from Alpha Tarakona's assault; that is where the bleeding from the ears came from. Fortunately, with her wolf's help, we managed to stabilize her, but we won't know the full extent of her brain injury, if there is one at all, until all the swelling subsides. This could take a couple of days or a couple of months. There really is no way of knowing."
David Packard was a cautious man, and enraging a hormonal Alpha was something he tended to avoid at all costs. So he paused, giving the information time to sink in before assuring himself that the Alpha was still in control of his wolf and continued.
"It's likely that Isabella's amnesia is psychological, bought on by the recent shock of finding her mate and the attack she was subjected to from Alpha Tarakona. Put simply; her brain has gone back to a time where her life was at its simplest, where she felt safe and secure. In this case, her childhood memories shared with her best friend."
Well, crap.
"What the hell is going to happen when her wolf starts talking again?" Shadow demanded, his voice rising as he left his chair to start pacing, "Nine-year-olds don't even have wolves!"
Dr. Packard could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end, a fine sheen of sweat covered his upper lip, and he felt his heartbeat accelerate with nervousness.
The power radiating off of Alpha Stalker was intimidating, and saying a quick prayer to the Goddess that the day he met his maker was not upon him, David hurried through the last of his diagnosis.
"The best thing for Isabella right now is to be around things she knows. Anything could trigger her memories, so be aware when people approach her, and monitor what she's exposed to. Perhaps when she's well enough to leave the hospital, tell her she's staying with you for a while, and assign a female buddy to her, someone you trust.."
"But, I'm not eleven years old anymore!" Shadow sputtered incredulously, and the doctor chuckled.
"Clearly Alpha, but that's the best advice I can offer. I'm afraid, from here on in, it's a waiting game."
SHADOW
Luckily Shadow had the perfect female to help with Isabella's recovery. There was no one he trusted more-besides Bella- than Camille. She had been a rock over the past three weeks, and he was sure she would be honored to assist the next Luna.
Smiling for the first time in weeks, Shadow opted for the old fashioned way and called her office by phone rather than using the pack link.
Ring ring ring ring...
"Hello Howling warriors HQ, Beta Menendez speaking, how may I help you?"
"Hi, Beta Menendez, it's Alpha Stalker here. How would you like a personal assignment for the next couple of weeks?"
Camille's voice changed immediately when she recognized Shadow on the other end, and he could almost hear his friend smile from the other end.
"Of course, stranger, what do you need me for?"
Shadow quickly relayed the information he had and asked his Beta to watch Isabella, considering it to be an honor for a Beta to be the Lunas personal guard.
So he was a little taken aback when the voice down the other end of the line came back sounding clipped and a little angry "As you wish, Alpha. "
And then the line went dead as she hung up on him.
CAMILLE
'FUUUUCK!'
How was this even happening to her? Isabella was harder to get rid of than an STI, even her own father was out of ideas when she'd rung him, and he'd ended the call quickly, saying he didn't want his wife and youngest daughter to get suspicious over why he was locked away on the phone.
Santos promised to have a think on things and get back to her in a few days, but no sooner had Camille hung up than the phone was ringing again with this crap?!
Her babysitter? Really?? Wait a minute...
If Isabella had amnesia and could only remember childhood Shadow, then adult Shadow was stuck on the outside looking in.
There was only so much an adult male could do and say around a child, and having Isabella as a mate would make things ten times harder trying to control his wolf ergo, he would need someone a younger girl could trust, that could speak on his behalf.
A sly grin spread across the Betas face as she realized how powerful this position could actually be. It would be the perfect opportunity to get rid of 'el despiadado' once and for all.
Then things can go back to the way they should be. And Camille would become the next Luna.