Chapter 195
Blair
POV
Long hours passed. At one stage, I became aware of Sarah coming in to hand me food, food that I stared at blankly and pushed to one side. I had no appetite, no desire for anything other than to see my mate come through his surgery safely. Nurses flitted back and forth, asking if I needed anything and it took everything inside of me not to scream. Didn't they understand that the only thing I needed was Braedon? The endless waiting was t*****e. To my shock, the next visitor to come was not James, nor Sarah, but my father himself. He paused in the doorway, his eyes widening with shock as he took in how pale I was, how listless I looked as I stared dumbly at the space where Braedon's hospital bed had been in the room. The room felt cold and empty.
"Blair," my father said quietly, coming in uncertainly, his eyes narrowed as he came and knelt by my chair, his gaze on me.
I turned my head, fixing my eyes on him, as though I was seeing through him, detached from reality. He reached out tentatively to take my hand, and rather than pull it away, I allowed him to touch me, feeling the comforting warmth of his hand as he rubbed soothing circles on the back of my hand.
"Blair," he said quietly, glancing at the food I had deposited abruptly on the table "you need to eat sweetheart" he admonished me.
"I'm not hungry," I said automatically.
Who cared about food at a time like this?
He gave me a sympathetic glance.
"I know you're hurting right now, but you need to eat, if not for yourself, then for the pup you are carrying" he insisted, but I shook my head.
"I'll just be sick" I whispered, protesting, and he straightened, releasing my hand and grabbing another chair, placing it so that he could sit facing me.
"Any news?" he asked gruffly.
Tears welled in my eyes as I shook my head "None. What is taking so long?" I choked out and then looked at the man who was my father with horror "Do you think he's died and they're too afraid to tell me?" I said in a cracked voice, beginning to rise from my seat. "No," he said hastily, stopping me in my tracks, "I think that they are doing the best they can. Why don't I..." he trailed off as there were noises outside the room, the distinct sound of a hospital bed being maneuvered through the hallway and the sound of several nurses footsteps accompanying it. Finally. It had to be Braedon coming back.
My eyes lit up with hope. I stood up so abruptly I almost toppled the chair over. My father stood, putting his hand on my shoulder and turning to face the doorway, a grave expression on his face. I could feel my body trembling. I wrung my hands together. The doctor came in, a tired expression on her face, but a small smile curving on her lips. "The surgery was a success Luna Queen and your mate came out the other side of it. The bleeding on the brain has been drained but I'm afraid to inform you that right now, we can't tell if he's still in a coma until the anesthetic runs out."
"But he's alive" I whispered, the doctor nodding gravely and I almost sank down to my knees, my father moving to quickly hold me up.
"Thank god" I breathed, the nurses wheeling Braedon in.
I inhaled sharply, taking in the bandages wrapped around his head, the dark circles underneath his eyes, the paleness of his skin. He looked gaunt and sick. In order to avoid an incomplete reading experience, visit Job n ib.com. Not like the strong, powerful, Alpha King that he usually portrayed. My father stepped back as I rushed forward, the nurses carefully putting the brakes on the bed, hooking Braedon back up to several machines.
"You must be careful of his head" the doctor warned "It will still be quite tender. His wolf at the moment is healing him but at a very slow pace. Take care not to knock his head" she added, "as it could cause him injury and pain."
I nodded. "When does the anesthetic wear off?" I asked.
The nurses gave each other a sidelong glance, before busying themselves. Something was wrong. Very wrong. The doctor cleared her throat and glanced down at the clipboard she was carrying like it was some sort of lifeline. My heart jumped into my throat. "Doctor?" I asked, fear washing over me.
She coughed. "Technically it was supposed to have worn off about half an hour ago" she admitted, avoiding my gaze "but every patient responds to the anesthetic differently and it might just be leaving his system slower than normal. Give it another hour or so, until we can determine for certain that it's gone and before we make any further decisions" she urged
me.
My shoulders slumped. "You're saying he should have woken by now," I said numbly, my spirits sinking.
"I'm saying we need to give him more time" the doctor corrected me "before jumping to conclusions Luna Queen." The nurses began to silently file out of the room. The doctor began to check his vitals as I pulled the chair over to Braedon and took his hand. I breathed shallow breaths, fighting back the urge to break down and cry again. I could hear my father speaking to the doctor quietly in the background, but couldn't muster the energy to eavesdrop, all my focus on my mate. Eventually, the doctor left and my father joined me, a look of concern on his face. I felt defeated. My wolf was broken, either howling pitifully or silent with despair. Neither of us could deal with the pain of the other and I had been forced to put a block up, if only to hold onto what little sanity I had left. "He's not going to wake up, is he?" I said, without turning my head "That's what the doctor didn't want to tell me."
I had never felt so defeated.
My father shook his head "You're jumping to conclusions Blair. Stop thinking the worst and start believing that Braedon is going to come out of this. That man loves you" he said fiercely as I met his eyes "so much that he would kill for you. Do you think that anything on this earth would cause him to abandon you and his pup? Do you think he would ever give up fighting to make his way back to you? He would move heaven and earth if it came to that to find you. I don't think something like this is going to stop him. Not the Alpha King and not your mate. Not with a love as strong as yours."