Chapter His Retribution (Complete His Series) Epilogue/Prologue
LIAM
The soft, consistent beeping of the machines was turning into a monotonous nightmare. It seemed that Azalea and Damien were in sync because their machines just beeped to the same rhythm over and over.
Lily and I were taking turns leaving the room but only about once a day. It was unspoken, but one of us always remained in the room. Nurses would come in and push food toward us, but neither of us were eating very much. I sat by Azalea’s beside, continually praying to the Moon Goddess to give her back to me.
Gavin was a pitiful moping mess in my head. He went from pained howling to overwhelming stress about Azalea and Azly to bitter silence on a constant loop. All I could feel was an icy fist clenched around my heart. If Azalea didn’t open her eyes soon, it was sure to shatter.
Missy was an angel, bringing Azly to see Azalea and me every day. Gavin wanted our pup, and I wanted her as well, but every time I held her, my body ached for Azalea even more. If any of our children were the spitting image of my mate, it was Azly. Missy had even picked such a perfect name for her.
After everything we had been through over the years, I had never felt this way when Azalea wasn’t conscious. Scared and worried, sure? But I have never felt this cold defeat that was endlessly clawing at my chest. The longer she slept, the further I sunk.
The same thought had been playing on repeat since we made it back to the pack, “What if she doesn’t wake up again?”
I sigh heavily for the millionth time in only a few short hours. My eyes wander over her soft, sleeping form for the hundredth time this hour. Azalea looks so calm and peaceful, like she hadn’t been kidnapped and given birth in a medical field tent outside a raging species battle.
While she was forever pale and small, her surgical scars were slowly healing. My uncle said that was a good sign; her body was functioning well. Damien had also healed of all his cuts and bruises except the bite mark; that still lingered. Theodore had done everything he could to remove the venom from Damien’s system, but I had not seen him since that night. It wasn’t safe for him to stay within the pack right now, not after everything that transpired at Warwick’s estate.
“Azalea, sweetheart, please wake up,” I whispered into my hands that held her limp one. She was cold, no matter how many blankets I put over her. I picked her small frame up from the bed most nights and sat her over me to sleep. What was beginning to scare me the most was the diminishing feeling of our bond through our touch. Every time I touched her, the indicative sparks of our bond felt weaker.
I laid my head on the bed next to her, closing my eyes and letting the vexing sound of the monitors fill my head.
“What if she doesn’t wake up again?”
“What if she doesn’t wake up again?”
“What if she doesn’t wake up again?”