You Rejected Me. Remember?

Cade stared intently at Monica’s sleeping form. It was the second day since they saved her from the rogue palace and the doctors were very satisfied with the progress she was making.

However, Cade was not happy that she was still in deep slumber. At least her pale face was now rosy and her breathing was steady. Cade was positive that she would eventually wake up, however, his patience was getting thin.

“For how long do I have to wait for her to open her eyes. I miss those deep brown orbs. I yearn to gaze into her beautiful eyes and hear her wonderful voice. I want to talk to her and hold her in my arms. I want to k**s her again….. I …..” Cade’s heart thumped as he complained to his wolf through their link.

“I will never let her out of my sight ever again.” He gasped.

A moment of silence passed. Both Aspen and Cade were sharing the same pain. Both of them were anxious. Although they were seeing progress, they couldn’t settle until she woke up.

“I know what you mean. I feel the same,” Aspen sighed. “At least she is still with us and she isn’t as cold as ice anymore,” he mumbled, and Cade nodded in agreement.

“I hope she wakes up soon. The doctors are expecting her to regain consciousness today sometime.”

Cade was lost in his dialogue with his wolf when Calli and Miles entered the room. They stayed back in the vampire territory while the others went back to the werewolf pack with their warriors. Cassy and Elliot went back to the kingdom since everything seemed to be stable. The pack’s beta and gamma couple had assured them that they would take care of the pack’s issues while Miles and Calli stayed with Cade in the hospital.

Everything was going perfectly well, just one thing remained and that was Monica waking up.

Calli frowned when she saw that her brother was lost in his thoughts. Her eyes shifted at Monica, hoping to catch a sign of life. She knew Monica’s body needed time to heal, but according to the doctors, she should be waking up anytime now.

Slowly, Monica’s motionless fingers moved. Calli’s lips stretched in a smile when she noticed that.

Gasping in her excitement, she rushed towards the bed.

“Look! Her fingers!” Her face was as bright as the full moon as she squealed.

“What!” Cade jumped up from the seat while Miles too rushed towards her.

Calli was right. Monica was showing the first signs of life. Cade’s heart palpitated and his breathing accelerated as he grabbed her hand. The sparks of the mate bond erupted when their bare skin touched, easing his nerves to some extent.

Tears welled in his eyes. The sparks and her alluring scent was proof that she still belonged to him. He inhaled, trying his best to compose himself.

“She is coming back to us,” Aspen too was undoubtedly emotional.

“She is..” Cade’s voice quivered as he squeezed her hand.

Calli fought against the tears that kept brimming in her eyes. She knew how hard it was to endure the pain of losing a mate. She had lost her first mate years ago and she considered herself fortunate that she was blessed with a second chance mate. She continued to struggle against her sniffles and sobs. Her throat had tightened as she was overwhelmed with emotions.

Feeling her distress through their bond, Miles stepped close to her. He snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her closer, attempting to calm her down.

“Hey,” he whispered, placing a soft k**s in her hair.

“Babe,” she gasped, glancing at her mate.” She is waking up,” she chuckled through her tears.

Smiling, miles nodded in encouragement.

“I know,” Miles whispered and looked at Monica who was now moving slightly. He was glad that he didn’t lose a pack member, especially since she was Cade’s mate – the boy who gave him company and pulled him out of anguish when he needed it the most.

Monica g*****d as she winced. Her eyes fluttered open, yet closed as soon as she opened it since the brightness of the room was too much for her to handle.

Beaming widely, and trying to prevent the tears from rolling down his cheeks, Cade leaned forward and caressed her hair.

“Moni?” He whispered, addressing her with the nickname he had given her. She g*****d in response. She was now conscious.

Softly kissing her forehead, Cade let the tears of joy roll out of his tear ducts.

“Babe….” He gasped. When he looked into her face, she was smiling and looking at him in contentment.

“You came…” her voice was frail.

“Of course, I did,” he chuckled humorlessly.

Sucking in a breath, she smiled weakly.

“I thought… I thought I was dying…” she mumbled.

“Shhh,” Cade hushed her. “I’m sorry I let that happen. I should have done more to protect you,” Cade muttered, smiling sadly.

“No. It wasn’t your fault. He hypnotised me. I was under the influence of a vampiric trance. It was inevitable, I guess,” Monica responded, denying Cade’s statement.

“She is right, Cade. Don’t beat yourself. Our Monica is strong enough to survive this,” Calli’s face was now streaming with tears of joy.

Monica’s weak smile widened a little when she realised that the alpha couple was in the room.

“Alpha, Luna,” she whispered.

“Shh. It’s ok. And it’s Miles and Calli. We are family, aren’t we?” Calli forced a little laugh.

Sighing in contentment, Monica looked around and realised that she wasn’t in the pack. The place looked different. The pack’s infirmary wasn’t new to her, and this for sure was not the pack.

Frowning, “where are we?” She asked.

“Wait, first have some water,” Calli offered, pouring a glass of water for Monica.

“We are still in vampire territory. The King and the Crown Prince offered to treat you in their hospital since you needed urgent medical attention. We were waiting for you to wake up. I think we can go home now,” Cade told her, as she drank the water.

Monica’s frown deepened. “But….Draven? Wasn’t he the Prince?” She was confused.

“Draven is the king’s second born. He is now captured and the king promised that he will punish him,” Miles explained. “He is in the mental hospital at the moment. The king hoped to treat him before the retribution,” he added.

Monica’s eyes widened. “Wow. A lot has happened,” she mumbled, shifting on the bed. “I hope he never gets out of there. He was the worst….worse than Baron, and all my life I had been thinking he was the worst.”

Sighing, “he won’t get you again. Don’t worry,” Cade assured her.

Suddenly, Monica’s eyes widened. The memories of the horrific room she had seen flooded back to her.

“Cade!” She gasped. “The room! The ladies! They…he… they need to be saved!” She exclaimed, suddenly jerking up from the bed.

“Hey….relax. Are you talking about some females he had enslaved?” Cade spoke as softly as he could.

“Enslaved? I don’t know what that was! It was the most horrifying thing I have ever witnessed!” She wheezed.

“They are all released now….well, all those who survived,” Miles informed her.

She blinked. A moment of silence followed.

“You mean…they are free now?”

They nodded their heads as a response. Calli pursed her lips. It was a pity that some lives were lost, yet she was happy to learn that at least some of them had escaped the clutches of death. At least they were now free. She didn’t even know who they were. Perhaps they were females of different species Draven managed to lure into his trap. Her mind drifted to the young vampire female she met in the house of horrors – Celeste. She just hoped that Celeste made it.

“Who were they?” She wondered out loud.

“It seems that Draven had a habit of enslaving females, vampires and humans. He used them as s*x slaves and b***d bags,” Calli told her.

Monica shook her head in disbelief. Gulping, she closed her eyes.

“He is a dangerous maniac. He should never be allowed to walk free,” she stated. “I don’t care what he says or does, I will never trust that lunatic!” She said, clutching the bedsheet in her fists. She thought she hated Baron the most, but Draven was undoubtedly worse than him.

“But that doesn’t make Baron any better. He rape.d our mom, remember?” She heard Asena’s voice in her head.

“Asena!” She gasped in excitement. Her heart fluttered in joy, thankful that her wolf had survived the ordeal.

“Hi, girlfriend.” Asena giggled.

“How are you?” Monica wanted to know if her wolf was weakened because of what she had gone through.

“Better than ever!” She exclaimed. “I’ve never felt this energised. I am back, girl! I can’t wait to get the eff out of this hospital!” She chirped, making Monica laugh internally.

“The doctor will arrive in a few hours. We will request them to discharge you and when the sun rises, we will go back to the pack,” Miles said after some time.

“That sounds great!” Calli agreed. Cade too nodded in agreement. “I can’t wait to go back home,” he said, running his fingers through Monica’s hair.

She finally was able to smile in contentment. “Me too,” she whispered as closed her eyes to rest for a while.

***

Meanwhile, in the deserted packhouse of the Red Wings pack, Elijah contemplated his life choices. It had been only a couple of days since his mate cursed them and left. In addition to the agony of not having his mate beside him, he had to endure the humiliation of turning into a toad in front of the few remaining warriors.

He had to listen to their jeers and taunts. What was worse than not being able to say anything in response to their insults? Baron seemed to have shut himself in his quarters and Elijah was too exhausted to make an effort to speak to him.

Each night, his usually silent wolf complained to him. Being cursed to be a toad was painful for him.

“It is all your fault! Didn’t you have a brain? Didn’t you know that what you were doing was wrong?” He scolded Elijah every night.

“I’m sorry… I now realise that it was wrong. But….”

“It is too late! You’re half-witted! Did you know that?” He huffed. “I don’t want to be cursed forever! You better find Monica and beg her to forgive us. If you don’t, I’ll leave you forever!” His wolf, Fenris warned.

His wolf’s warning made his heart race. If his wolf leaves him, the situation will go from bad to worse. Then, he’ll be a toad by day and a human by night. But, his wolf too didn’t do his part.

Grimacing, “Well, you could have tried to make me understand. I mean, I accept that I’m at fault. I was wrong and nothing will change that. But you too didn’t make an effort to stop me,” Elijah pointed out.

That left Fenris speechless. Both of them knew that what had happened couldn’t be reversed. Their only hope was finding Monica and pleading with her to forgive them.

“Fine. Let’s find her. I think she’ll be in vampire territory. We have gone there once, and risking our lives once again would be worth it. Too bad we can’t go there during the day anymore,” Fenris mumbled.

“Right,” Elijah glanced at the starry sky and sighed. “We better hurry. We will be able to reach the domain of the vamps before sunrise if we leave now.”

He quickly shifted into his wolf and sped out of the packhouse. Without glancing back, he dashed towards the thick foliage of the woods. He was determined to reverse everything.

“She’ll forgive me,” he kept repeating in his head.

When he reached the vampire territory, it was pretty late at night. He was shocked to find the palace they met Draven was now abolished. Just a pile of broken rocks and debris remained. There was no sign of Draven or any of the rogue vampires.

“What happened?” He wondered as he looked around.

“Focus on what’s important!” Fenris ordered.

Elijah used his wolf senses and sniffed the air, hoping to catch a whiff of her scent. But nothing.

Soon the sky started to show signs of the rising sun. Elijah stared at the horizon in horror.

“No!” He gasped.

He wished the sun wouldn’t rise, however, who was he to stop that? As soon as the natural torch rose over the horizon, Elijah’s body morphed into that of a slimy green toad.

His eyes moved around. He was still aware of what was happening, however, he was a toad now.

He hopped around the ruins of the palace that Draven once owned.