"He is being a good alpha"
Two days had gone by extremely slowly. Adriana had not been talking to anyone. She stayed in her room and went out only to visit Selena. She only spoke to three of her children but didn't pay any heed to her mate or her oldest son.
Damien walked into the room while Adriana was reading a book lying on the bed.
He had another meeting with Ryan and Xavier. Connor had joined them too, on Xavier and Damien's request. They were discussing all the things they had received and all the evidence that Xavier had found even though it led to nowhere. But it didn't lead them anywhere.
Damien took off his shirt and threw it in the wash basket. He was planning to go shower but seeing Adriana in the room, he stopped and looked at his wife.
Their silence in the last two days had put a large amount of strain on their mate bond as well and Damien was desperate to mend it.
"Adriana?" he muttered as he sat beside her on the bed but she didn't even spare him a glance.
"C'mon, love. It's been two days, talk to me," He begged but Adriana still didn't pay him any heed.
Damien's patience was running low now. He had been trying for two days, and in his eyes, he had done nothing to be ignored like this.
He firmly took the book away from her hands and spoke again, "Adriana, I know you are upset with what Xavier has done but..."
"Upset?" she asked her husband, for the first time in two days, "I am not just upset, I am living in the past for two days, Damien. Every time I look at you or Xavier, I cannot help but think..."
When her voice drifted off, Damien's face became pained too. He stopped looking at his wife and his face lowered with shame. He didn't know Adriana was feeling that bad.
Adriana also saw the change in his face. Her strong façade weakened on seeing the hurt look. She couldn't understand for the love of the goddess, why she came to a conclusion without even talking to his son.
"I made a mistake, Adriana, I made a mistake years ago. I hurt you, and I am so, so sorry for that, but it's been years, I..."
Adriana crawled on the bed towards Damien and wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Damien closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around his mate as well.
"I didn't want this, I didn't want to make you sad or bring this up again."
"You were struggling with the memories, after seeing her in the hospital," Damien whispered. "You should have told me that day only, baby."
"I thought I will get over it." She mumbled, her face still resting on the crook of his neck.
"I am so sorry for everything, since the time we met to..."
"Don't," she stopped him, "You have apologized for the past a lot of times already."
"Apparently not enough."
Adriana was going to speak again but Damien pushed her back slightly and smiled sadly.
"Sit, let me tell you about the talk I had with Xavier."
Damien explained things to her as clearly as he could about the things he learned from Xavier.
"All the leads led to a dead-end like they vanished just? He said magic?" Adriana asked worried now.
Damien nodded solemnly.
"You really think it is possible? Why the witches be helping the hunters?" Adriana spoke thoughtfully,
"We don't know yet if the witches are actually involved. But there is no reason for the witches to help the werewolf hunters. But we can't rule out the possibility."
"Damien, we know a few witches who have a history with our family."
"That was sorted, Adriana. Moreover, if those witches come back, we can always call Lorcan."
"He must be hurting so much," She said thinking about everything Xavier went through, for the first time in two days.
Damien looked at Adriana, he wondered if the mistake he made years ago was so bad that Adriana would never get over it. He had thought that his mate had forgiven him, but right then, he wasn't very sure.
"Mason had stopped the sedatives on Selena. She will wake up any minute. I am gonna take a shower before I head that way, you should go ahead."
Damien walked into the bathroom without looking at anything else and before Adriana could stop him.
She shouldn't have said it or dwelled on it, she thought. They were both young, and yes he made mistakes, but so did she. It broke her too. It wasn't even completely his fault, it was the witches, and there was no reason for Damien to feel this way for this long.
She needed to talk to him.
On another hand, Connor was in the room with Selena since the morning, he couldn't wait for his sister to wake up. He was meeting his only family left, after years, and the state that she was in, broke his heart.
A knock on the door made him look towards it. He had been so engrossed in the memories he had with his family, he didn't hear or feel Evelyn in the room.
"She didn't wake up yet?"
Connor shook his head.
Evelyn, for the first time in her life, felt awkward. What is she supposed to say to the guy who is sitting in the hospital beside his sister, for which her brother is responsible? More so, what should she say to him when he turns out to be her mate?
Self-control was never a big deal for Connor, he had to master that in order to go live with the humans. But for once, it was turning out to be immensely hard. The urge to hold her hand, to feel her skin, was too strong.
"Um, did you eat anything since the morning? No one saw you, so I am guessing you were here the whole day."
Connor nodded.
Evelyn was going to speak again, but the sound of someone groaning stopped her. Connor was up the chair in an instant and leaned over her.
The pain wasn't completely gone yet, Selena tried to slightly move her hand but something was holding on to it tightly.
She tried opening her eyes but the brightness in the room was enough to make her close them instead. After blinking for another ten seconds, when she finally opened them, Selena was greeted with an awfully familiar face that she was seeing after a damn long time.
"Connor!" She tried to speak, but it came out scratchy because of her dried throat. But she didn't care, ignoring the lingering pain, Selena rose up to hold her brother in a hug.
"You're back, you're finally back," she mumbled, as a single tear ran down her cheek.
"I missed you, Selena."
"I love you, Connor," She whimpered.
"I love you too, doll." He chuckled.
Connor slightly pushed her back and gave her a glass of water to soothe her throat.
"So... How was your dream life?" she asked and he grinned.
"Awesome!" she grinned back at him. He just smiled and stared at her.
"What?" Selena asked, uncomfortable under his stare.
"How are you, Sel?" he asked solemnly.
"I am a lot better than I had been in a long, long time, brother," she smiled but she couldn't hide the pain. How could she, it was Connor, he always knew. However, he didn't say a word as the door opened and Dr. Stevens walked in.
"How are you doing, Luna?" he asked smiling.
"I'm better now, doctor." Selena too smiled back.
"That's good Luna but..."
"Please, just call me Selena. I am not the Luna of this pack."
Her words stopped him. Everybody in the room stilled on hearing her but they didn't say a word. He hesitated but he nodded nonetheless.
"Selena," Mason stopped, as if checking how it sounded, "You need to shift on a regular basis now. It's only gonna get worse otherwise."
"That won't be a problem," she said confidently. Mason smiled at her He looked confused but nodded and left the room.
Connor smirked on seeing the confidence and Evelyn raised an eyebrow, this is a new side of her that she was seeing. Connor noticed the slight movement and looked at Evelyn, making the girl blush a hundred shades of red.
Connor's smirk deepened and Evelyn moved towards the other side of the bed. "I am glad you are okay."
"I missed you, Evelyn," she smiled at the girl.
"Get well better soon," Evelyn said and caressed her arm before she stiffly walked to the door, but stopped right at the gate and turned around with a confused look and another round of blush, "I meant get well soon, or maybe, get better soon... yeah. I'm gonna go now."
"What's wrong with her?" Selena asked with an amused face and looked at Connor to see him grinning, she raised an eyebrow, "Why are you smiling like that?"
"Well, I um... found someone?" he said, more like a question and I raised an eyebrow.
"You found your mate?! Is she from this pack?" Selena asked, excited again.
"She is. It's her, Evelyn."
"Is that why she was blushing so hard? You guys didn't even talk to each other? What... Connor?"
Connor sighed, "I was just too worried about you. I didn't get to talk to her. I was meeting you after so long and you were in a hospital bed, Sel."
"She's gonna think it's her fault,"
"She won't, I will go speak to her as soon as Xavier's parents are here."
Selena's eyes lighted up. That's right, she thought, Evelyn was here meant that Damien, Adriana and Aiden are back too! Her smile this time was even more cheerful.
A knock on the door made them both conscious of the remaining family members standing there.
"Go talk to her, that is important. We can talk later tonight." She smiled at him.
Connor nodded his head with a smile, he leaned down to kiss her forehead and then walked out of the room, nodding at the family members with a polite smile.
Adriana quietly walked in, and pulled her in for a hug, they both remained quiet and just held each other. Xavier stood by the door, watching the scene, Selena didn't even look at him.
"I am so sorry, for everything you had to go through here. You didn't deserve any of it."
"I missed you." It was all that Selena said.
They released each other from the hug and Selena smiled at her, Damien came to the other side of her and kept a hand on her head.
"How was your trip?" Selena asked smiling at Damien.
Damien smiled back at the girl but it was too obvious that the smile wasn't genuine.
There was an awkward silence for quite a while when everybody just kept stealing glances at Selena as well as Xavier who was standing behind everyone, quietly leaning on the wall with a poker face.
After a minute of awkwardly silent glances, Xavier stood straighter. He has never felt this. He stood with his hands behind his back, fiddling with his fingers, a nervous habit of his, as he thought about what he was feeling. Unwanted.
He turned around and walked out the door without a word to anyone.
Damien and Adriana watched their son walk out of the room and her heart broke with the final look on her son's face.
"I can't find enough ways to apologise for what he has done, Selena," Damien muttered and Adriana nodded solemnly, almost close to tears, "It was wrong in so many ways."
Selena scoffed, "You can't possibly think that."
"Selena..." Adriana began but Selena was really not in the mood to hear anything.
"No." Damien and Adriana both stilled, as did Ileana and Aiden, who hadn't yet said a word. He worshipped his elder brother, and he didn't know what to say or feel. "He did what he had to do, what he felt was right. So don't treat him like he is some kind of a cast out for caring for you guys. He is being a good alpha."
"I... I am gonna go," Adriana mumbled with a broken voice, "I need to have a word with my son."
Damien nodded and sat back at the chair in the room while Aiden finally took a step forward, "I don't wanna have to choose. Not between my brother and you."
"Aiden," Selena said with a smile, "You shouldn't have to. He's your brother."
"But..."
"Let's not go there yet."
Ileana sat beside her father and Aiden sat on the chair beside Selena's bed holding her hand. None of them wanted to think about the future.