Alpha Zander
Chapter 65

The pain that radiated throughout my body is now gone. I can’t feel anything .. I can’t see anything.

Instead, I replace myself alone in this pitch-black void.

‘Kia, Kia’, I try to call out to her, hoping she will help me pull out of this. Once again, I’m left with emptiness.

My mind spirals, thinking of all the possibilities, the” what ifs”, and trying to figure out what just happened.

I’m numb; it feels like nothing exists anymore. If this is death, it is a horrible place to be … a black void with nothing by me and my hazy, uncertain thoughts. I miss them … Zander, my family, my friends. The idea of never seeing them again scares me.

I feel like I’ve been floating around in this void for hours when suddenly I smell this odd yet familiar scent.

It is a sweet, floral scent making my mind spin, trying to remember what it reminded me of. I try to move in the void to get closer to the scent. I need to get closer.

A strong pull snaps me out of the darkness as the scent becomes overwhelmingly powerful, and pain immediately fills my body. A horrible beeping sound fills my ears, and I hear a familiar voice I recognize. I try to move my hands, but the heavy weight of the anesthetic doesn’t allow me to move. I try to move my head from side to side, but even the slightest movement causes me to g***n in pain.

“Come on, sweetheart, come back to me,” I hear him plead. Sparks move through my body as he holds my hand and tugs on one of my hair curls, softly brushing a finger across my face.

I try to speak again, but my throat is dry and scratchy, barely letting me say anything.

“Here, love, have some water.” He places a straw against my lips. I carefully sip as the cold water trickles down, providing some relief to my throat.

“That’s it. Can you open your eyes, sweetheart?” He asks softly. I slowly open my eyes, and I see him .. my mate.

His hand is intertwined with mine sending fireworks through my body. Every fiber of my being aches for him.

He looks like an absolute mess, like he hasn’t slept in days. His dark hair is messy and flopped all over the place, his hazel eyes have dark rings around them, and his clothes are unkempt. Even looking like this, I want nothing more than to reach out and pull him in for a k!ss, just to be close to him.

I look around the room… the blinds are closed, so it is dark except for the light from a nearby lamp. Near the lamp is the small pull-out bed that is unmade and smells strongly of Zander. To my left are a tap and basin. There are two doors. One, I assume, leads to the corridor. l can see the monitors next to me flashing and beeping, really starting to frustrate me.

“Oh, thank f**k,” he sighs, still holding my hand tightly and moving the other through his hair. “How are you feeling?” He asks softly, stroking my face.

I allow myself to lean into him, yearning for his touch, giving in to what my body wants. “I feel like crap,”

I sigh, but my voice comes out in a croak. “You gave us all a scare, sweetheart, you were out for three days,” he whispers.

I could feel through our bond how terrified he was of losing me. He wasn’t sure he would be able to live with himself. I frown. Three days is a long time for shifters.

Considering we have fast healing. I should have woken up on the same day, more so because we were marked and mated.

“Why so long?” I ask curiously, yawning.

He chuckles at me, amused by how tired l am even after three days of sleep.

“Doctor West can explain more in the morning. I’ll let him know you woke up tonight. For now, just get some more rest. Do you need more painkillers? I can ask the nurse to bring some,” he asks, placing a soft k!ss on my forehead.

“Hmm, how long till morning? Maybe just something to get me through the rest of the night?” I whisper, not wanting to strain my voice anymore.

Zander nods as his eyes glaze over, requesting the nurse to come in.

Moments later a young woman dressed in Iight blue scrubs enters the room. Her dark hair is pulled back into a ponytail. In one hand she is holding a clipboard and in another, she has a small cup with some pills.

“Hello Luna,” she greets me with a smile. “Welcome back. I’m Natalia, one of the night nurses who has been looking after you. Here are some painkillers, hopefully, they will be able to help you rest until we can give you something stronger later on,” she softly says passing me the medication, looking between Zander and me before moving along the machines making them finally stop beeping.

Jealousy runs through me at the thought that he has been around them the last three days. She looks at Zander, but he has his eyes trained on me the entire time, not even paying her any attention, just holding my hand tightly and letting his love and affection flow through our bond.

“Let me know if you need anything else. Doctor West will be around first thing this morning to check on you,” she bows her head and walks out of the room.

“No need to be jealous, love,” he whispers against my neck as he leans in, giving me a k!ss on my mark, allowing my body to relax completely.

I roll my eyes taking the tablets, despite how much it hurts lifting my arms. “I wasn’t jealous,” I mumble as I feel the heat of embarrassment flush on my cheeks.

After a few minutes, the tablets have helped my body relax, and I fall into a deep sleep, the worry of ,missing Kia fills me. I didn’t tell Zander but l’m sure he has already figured it out since there has been nothing but silence through our link. Even Jace hasn’t said anything which worried me a little, I hoped he hasn’t also lost his wolf because of me.

It didn’t feel like I was asleep for long before I feel him trying to wake me softly, shaking me as the sparks fly through my body. I smell him before I see him, smiling as the familiar scent of wildflowers and honey flow through, but another odd smell, someone else was in the room with us.

My eyes quickly snap open, alert to my surroundings. I see Zander standing at the foot of my bed with an older gentleman. He is dressed in a collared long-sleeved light-blue checkered shirt and dark navy dress pants. A lanyard is draped on his neck and he is holding the same clipboard the nurse was holding last night. His deep blue eyes hold concern as he watches me carefully, observing me.

I start to panic and Zander moves closer to me, sensing my unease. “It’s alright, sweetheart, this is Doctor West. He has been looking after you and monitoring your symptoms the last few days,” he says softly before k!ssing my forehead.

“Doctor,” I manage to choke out, giving him a small smile in acknowledgment.

“Good Morning, Luna. My apologies for coming this early, but I wanted to see how you feel before my first round of surgery this morning.” Doctor West quickly explains, moving through the notes on the clipboard. “I see they gave you some tablets last night when you woke. How are you feeling this morning?” He asks, ,looking at me.

“Good, actually, a lot better than last night when I first woke up. There isn’t as much pain anymore. I mostly feel heavy and weak,” I try to explain this weird feeling moving through my body. I look up at Zander to see how he is. I wonder if he felt the effects of everything through our bond.

“Yes, that would be the effects of the wolfsbane and poison wearing off. We tried to flush out as much as we could so it wouldn’t affect your wolf or our Alpha, but there is still some left in your system that we couldn’t get out,” Doctor West explains further.

“Do you remember much more of the events that happened? Maybe that can help us understand how it entered your system in the first place,” he asks, looking between Zander and me.

I try to recall what happened that day. It feels so long ago, yet it was only three days. My mind is hazy, and the exhaustion is making it harder for me to remember. “I remember seeing them moving towards the school buildings, and them killing the boy before moved on them. It sort of goes a bit hazy from there,” I try to explain as much as I could.

“It’s alright. This is to be expected. You have a concussion, and lost a lot of b***d. It may take your memories a few days to return,” he explains. I hope l didn’t lose any memories, but considering the events that happened, it’s a very high possibility.

Before he leaves, Doctor West does a routine checkup and lets the nurse know to provide more pain reliever every couple of hours if I need it. He then lets me know I can head home with Zander at the end of the day if everything feels back to normal.

Zander climbs onto the bed with me and wraps his arms around me, pulling me against his chest, and holding me close. “I have never been so scared before in my life,” he whispers, breathing in my scent, and placing another k!ss on my mark, making my entire body shiver.

The thought of losing you, I don’t know if l would ever recover from that”

“I’m sorry. I know I should have waited, but when they killed that boy, I knew they were going to do the same to others if I didn’t try to do something. I couldn’t let that happen.” I try to explain why I had to, why it was a part of who l am, growing up being Beta and even more being Luna and wanting to protect everyone, not just my own pack members.

“I know. That’s why I love you so much. You don’t run. You stay and help fight. Just promise me you won’t do it again,” he asks. I can hear the pain in his voice as he holds me close to him.

I know it was probably something he didn’t want to ask, but l can’t ever promise that just like I can’t ever ask him to not fight for them, because he always will.

“l can’t promise that, Zander, if someone is going to hurt the innocent people of our pack, do you really want me just to sit back and do nothing? Especially since I have been training as a Beta, and am more than capable of trying to stop them myself.”

I turn slightly to face him, and I see the pain etched all over his face. I never want to hurt him, but I won’t be one of those Lunas who sits back and does nothing. He should know that by now.

He lets out a frustrated sigh, knowing I’m not going to back down.

“We just missed you, little mate,’ Jace’s gravelly voice rings through my head, and I see him peeking through Zanders’ eyes.

I lean in and give him a deep k!ss, I feel his desperation and frustration, but most of all l feel his love for me. Everything combined in the last few days has had him nearly losing his mind.

“I love you,” I whisper, breaking out of the k!ss.

“I love you too, sweetheart,” he says, pulling me in closer to him. The tingles of our bond dance along my skin as l relax and I drift off to a peaceful sleep.

A soft knock at the door wakes me. Zander is still holding me tightly, in the same position as before, his soft snores filling the room.

Mum’s head pops in, and she looks around before spotting me on the bed. “Ohh, hun,” she says, rushing into the room before standing next to my bed, bending over, and examining me.

Zander is suddenly jolted awake by her arrival but quickly relaxes when he realizes who it is.

I’II, um, give you guys some space to talk,” he mumbles before releasing me and maneuvering his body from mine. As he moves away from the bed she grabs him and pulls him in for a tight hug.

“Thank you for saving my daughter” she sighs, releasing him.

I can feel overwhelming happiness come from him as he tries to regain composure.

“I love her, so, no thanks is needed,” he says, looking back at me with a small smile, before leaving the room.

“Oh baby, how are you feeling? When Zander called, Oliver had already filled us in. We were so worried. Your father was furious because the school didn’t even call us to tell us you were in the hospital.” Mum rushes as she brings me in for a hug and starts playing with my sheets, making sure everything is tucked in nicely.

I’m ok, Ma, a lot better now than last night.” I sigh.” How is dad? Is he around too?” I looked towards the door hoping he would walk through. I was half surprised that Brent and Ollie didn’t come with her.

“No, I’m sorry, darling. They are trying to figure out what happened. The council is blocking us left and right, even though we have more than enough to interview the rogues they captured, they still won’t allow anything,” mum says watching me as she sits down in the chair next to the bed.

“It’s ok, thank you for coming. I’m sure it was uncomfortable considering the circumstances.” I say.

I’ve missed Mum. Everything that has happened in the last few days has been such a roller-coaster of emotions I almost don’t know how to deal with it. But I was so glad I had Zander, and he was willing to allow my family into his territory despite the issues.

I ‘m sorry uncle treated you that way. If I had known, I would have tried to talk to him before you told him,” Mum says after a little while of silence. It was nice to be able to be in this room and have her around. I wondered where Zander went, but I could still feel he was close, giving us some privacy to talk like he said.

“It’s ok, Mum. I mean, I expected some sort of problem, but obviously not to that extent. I’m just glad I was able to be accepted into Zander’s pack, his father mentioned he will hold a ceremony in the next few weeks, but maybe that will be pushed forward considering the circumstances.” I quickly tried to reassure her that everything was ok because, despite the things that happened, Zander and I were more than ok, we have marked each other, and we are starting to build a future together.

I was more than happy being beside my mate.l needed him, and he needed me.