Silenced: Book 1 of the Bound Trilogy

~Devin’s POV~

I paced the waiting room with my wolf going crazy to get to our mate. I was stressed from waiting, stressed from my wolf complaining, and stressed that I hit my mate with my f-ing car!

I ambushed every nurse that walked by to see if they knew anything about my mate. Every time they would tell me she was still in surgery, and to wait for the doctor.

Sighing, I ran my fingers through my hair for the umpteenth time and collapsed back into one of the waiting room chairs. I laid my head back against the wall and prayed that she would be all right. I don’t know how long I stayed like that when I finally noticed the presence of someone else in the room with me.

Thinking it was someone else waiting for news of a loved one, I didn’t open my eyes right away. The other person cleared their throat and I finally looked at them. Instantly I was on my feet. The doctor was standing there looking exhausted.

“Sue! How is she? Will she be all right? Can I go and see her?”

Sue held up her hands to let me know to slow down and take a breath. She inhaled and exhaled slowly, as if she was getting ready to impart some really bad news.

“Sue, what’s going on? Is she…” I didn’t get a chance to finish as Sue interrupted me.

“She made it through surgery and is stable. If she makes it through the evening then she will recover. As of right now it’s not looking good.”

“Wha…what…what are you talking about?” I stuttered out.

Sue took another breath and exhaled dropping into a chair across from me. With my legs feeling like jelly, I collapsed into my chair.

She continued, “It looks like getting hit by a car wasn’t the only thing she suffered from. She is severely malnourished. It looks like she has been held in captivity for quite some time. How long, I have no idea. I just know that this girl has suffered a lot in her short life. Amongst the many cuts and bruises were scars and other injuries that appear to be recent. Her feet look like she ran across glass. Her eyes are nearly blind, like she had been held in the dark for a long time. They have very little pigment to them. However, what I find most disturbing is the fact that her vocal chords had been removed. On top of that, she suffered from a cracked skull, broken collarbone and five broken ribs. Her right arm was broken in several places along with her right hip bone.” Throughout the recitation, I remained silent. I could barely breathe listening to everything that my mate had suffered.

“If she wakes up then she will be in physical therapy for quite some time as her wolf is weak and cannot heal her like a normal werewolf. She will heal at a rate slightly faster than a human but even then it will take weeks for her to recover fully.” With that said Sue stood up and headed for the door. I just sat there staring at the chair she had vacated. I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to find whoever had hurt my mate and kill them with my bare hands. But, the thing is, I was one of the ones to hurt her. Although not intentional, I still hurt my mate. I wanted to curl into a ball and cry. I wanted to run out into the woods around our town and howl out my pain and frustration. I couldn’t move. I was immobilized as one phrase kept repeating in my mind ‘if she wakes up’.

Sue hesitated at the door and finally turned to face me again. I looked at her with dull and lifeless eyes. “Who is she to you?” she asked.

“My mate,” I said in an emotionless voice. She nodded and then motioned for me to follow her.

She took me down a long hallway to a part of the clinic that said ICU. She spoke to the nurse on duty and entered her code into the pad next to the door. Motioning for me to follow she went through the doors and to a room on the right.

Looking past the open door I saw my mate lying upon the bed. She was almost as white as the sheets she was resting upon. There were bandages over most of her body and tubes everywhere. Her head had bandages wrapped around it covering her left eye and cheek. Underneath I could see some of her pale hair peeking thru. Without looking at Sue I walked into the room and pulled a chair up next to her bed. I grabbed her left hand and rested my head upon our joined hands. I tried not to put pressure upon the hand, as even though it was not broken it was still scrapped and raw.

I made a vow right there that I would stay with her until she woke up. I was not going to leave her ever again. I was going to protect her from all harm and hope against hope that she will forgive me for hitting her with my car.

~Girl’s POV~

I was in a void. I was aware of an empty nothingness. All around images would flash by only to be sucked into the void. I did not know what the images meant so I did not pay attention to them. I was looking for a way out of this. I did not want to stay in this place. I knew I was sleeping and I desperately wanted to wake up and never come back to this place again.

Slowly, the emptiness started to recede. I became aware of a light above me, shining through my closed eyelids. I was aware of a pressure on my hand. Before I could think of what the pressure was the pain exploded in me.

I opened my mouth to scream but nothing would come out. I don’t know why I can’t scream. I don’t know where I am or who I am for that matter. All I know is that I’m in pain and I can’t make it stop. My eyes shot open and I realized that I was only able to see out of one of them, and what I did see was blinding me. Quickly I shut my eye again so I would have one less thing hurting me.

The pressure on my hand intensified and I was aware of someone hovering over me. This person was saying something but it was all just a buzz in my ears. Finally, whatever was hurting my eyes was gone and I was able to open the one I could see through. Above me was the most amazing man. He had black hair that flopped into his eyes and over his ears. His eyes were the most amazing deep blue, and there were purple bruises under them. His nose was straight and he had cheekbones to die for. His lips looked incredible, but they were turned down in concern and his eyes filled with worry.

He was saying something but I was too busy fighting against the pain to register what it was. I saw him look over his shoulder and yell something to the person coming into the room. I was aware that this person moved next to where I was and then the pain started to recede. I felt myself being sucked back under into the void and I looked at the man above me in a panic. I didn’t want to go back there again. I realized his hand was in mine and I gripped it as hard as I could to let him know that I did not want to be left to the void alone. He seemed to understand and gripped my hand firmly.

His face became unfocused and I was once again pulled into the black.

~Devin’s POV~

It’s been three weeks since I found my mate. Three weeks she’s been in a coma. Three weeks of me not leaving her side unless it was to use the bathroom or take a shower. I had called my Beta back from the hunt for his mate to come and help take care of the pack while my mate was sleeping. It helped me to cope to think of her as sleeping and not of her being in a coma. Sleeping meant she would wake up. Coma meant she might never wake again.

There was a knock on the door and my Beta, Jack, entered. He sent a pitying look to my mate and then a sad look my way.

“I take it there is no change?” he asked.

I just shook my head. I hardly spoke at all anymore. It didn’t seem right to speak when my mate did not have the ability to.

“I just came by to check and see how things were before heading into the station. Do you need me to bring you anything from your home? Do you want me to get you anything to eat or drink while I’m here?”

Again, I just shook my head and kept my eyes on my mate. Jack sighed and was about to head out the door when I saw my mate twitch.

“Wait…” I whispered.

Jack stilled in the door and I could feel his eyes on me. I stared intently at my mate and she twitched again.

“Get the doctor!” I yelled at him and he was out the door like a bullet from a gun. Just as I said that, my mate lifted off the bed and opened her mouth into a silent scream. I stood up so I was over her looking into her face. I saw her eyes open and almost gasped at the paleness of her irises. Instead, I kept trying to get her to calm down and yell for someone to hurry the hell up and get in here to help her. Just as fast as her good eye opened it slammed shut. I left her long enough to shut off the lights as it looked like it pained her when she opened her eye. In a flash, I was back at her side trying to get her to calm down as a nurse came in with a needle. Quickly she came to my mate’s side and injected whatever was in the needle into my mate’s IV. I looked at my mate and saw she was looking at me again. I saw her eyes were filled with pain and I tried to comfort her.

I noticed that her eyes were the palest form of brown, almost tan. They were mesmerizing and I couldn’t look away. I saw from her good eye that the drugs were taking affect and they filled with panic. I felt her grip my hand and I squeezed back firmly to let her know that I was not going to let her be alone. She seemed to accept this as her eyes closed and her hand went slack in mine. I dropped into my chair next her bed and let out the breath I didn’t know I had been holding.

Taking calming breaths, it finally registered that she had woken up. My mate had woken up and she was going to be ok. I let out another sigh and let tears of relief run down my face.

She was going to be all right…