Chapter Fifty One

Azalea

The next morning, someone came in and left a tray of breakfast food on the table along with some fresh clothes. I did not move from the bed. My body felt weak and heavy with sadness. I laid there, drifting in and out of fitful sleep for what felt like ever.

Later, the door opened once again. Someone came in and closed the door behind them. I made no move to acknowledge them. I simply kept my eyes closed hoping they would leave. A moment later, I felt arms wrapping around me lifting me from the bed. I opened my eyes to see Kol picking me up and holding me to his chest. He sat on the bed, leaning his back against the headboard. My skin erupted in an uncomfortable prickling sensation where he held me.

“Little flower, you do not look well. You didn’t eat any breakfast,” he said quietly. He held me close to him and rubbed circles on my back. It would have been comforting if the prickling sensation were not trailing along where his fingers touched me.

We sat there like that for a while. The longer we sat, the worse the sensation of his touch felt on my skin. Without prompt, the door to my room swung open. I opened my eyes a fraction to see if I could get a look at who the new visitor was. Two pairs of footsteps padded across the wood floor.

“If you wish me to look at her, you will need to put her down,” said a bored, monotonous voice. Kol shifted himself off the bed, placing me back down but sitting against the headboard where he was just at. He looked into my eyes as I looked up at him. John and another male stood behind him.

“Little flower, please tell Doctor Julian what is bothering you. He will see to it that you feel better,” Kol said softly to me. He stood up and made way for the doctor to approach me. My eyes grew wide with the three of them watching me.

“You two can go now,” the doctor said. “I doubt I will get much out of her with such an audience.” Kol gave me one last sad look before exiting the room, John following him. “I am going to check your temperature now, Azalea,” he told me before pulling out a thermometer. He pointed it at my forehead. It beeped and he nodded his head at the reading.

“I need to ask you some questions, will you answer me honestly?” he asked. I nodded hesitantly.

“Do you feel tired?” I nodded.

“Does your body feel weak or heavy?” Again, I nodded.

“Are you in pain?” I thought for a moment. There was a dull ache in my chest reminiscent of my years without Liam, but I felt no other pain. “Can you describe it?” he said before I could give him an answer. I simply placed my hand over my heart. He nodded his head in understanding.

“Does it hurt or feel uncomfortable when Alpha Kol touches you? Like just now?” I nodded again.

He looked down at my wrists. “How did this happen?” I shook my head. I do not care if he is a doctor. I did not wish to relive that while being held against my will. “Okay,” he said. He took out a small notebook from his pocket and took a few notes.

“Are you having trouble sleeping?” he asked, looking up from his writing. I nodded again.

“Okay. I am going to give you something to sleep easier. It should allow you to sleep peacefully until about dinner time,” he said nonchalantly. My eyes grew wide again, and I shook my head holding up my hands. He sighed.

Kol came back into the room. He came to the other side of the bed. “Alpha, please hold her still. If she will not take the sedative willingly, I will have to inject it.”

Kol looked at me. I turned my eyes to him in a silent plea to stop this. “Is this entirely necessary?” he asked, breaking his eye contact with me to look at the doctor.

“If you want my honest opinion, I believe the mate bond she has with her mate is what is affecting her physically. I can see she is unmarked, but I can smell that she has been mated. The time and distance that has separated her from her mate is beginning to wear on her.” Every time he said the word mate, Kol bristled. “Right now, her body should rest.” Kol nodded and looked back at me.

“I am sorry, little flower but this is what will be best for you right now. Don’t worry, it won’t be long before I can stop all the pain,” he said as he grabbed my arms to hold me down. I tried to struggle against his grip, but it was futile. I looked at Kol, panic rising inside my chest, begging him silently to stop this.

There was a sharp pain in my arm. I let out a small moan before everything became hazy. “Sleep, Little Flower,” Kol said as darkness took me away.

-

The haziness began to recede. I was laying on my back. There was an uncomfortable pinch on my arm. My entire body felt heavy. I tried to shake away the rest of the haze over my brain and open my eyes. I groaned slightly as I tried to move.

“Shhhh. Don’t move,” came a voice next to me. I felt a chill up my arm and darkness swept me away again.

-

This pattern continued twice more. I would start to come out of a drug induced sleep only to be put right back under.

Liam

I bolted up in bed. The sedative had worked and allowed me to fall asleep easily. But pain had woken me up.

“Arghh” I yelled. It was as if someone was rubbing some white-hot object in circles over my back.

“Something is happening to mate!” Gavin yelled.

“Why would he hurt her? Uncle said he loves her!”

“We need to get to mate…” Gavin whimpered in my head. This was hurting him too.

The agonizing torture continued for what seemed like forever. I sat hunched over, my features contorted from the pain. I tried not to yell but a few groans did get past my lips. My whole body was covered in a layer of sweat.

Finally, the pain subsided. Whatever was happening to Azalea had to have stopped. I sat on the bed trying to catch my breath. I grabbed my phone. It was only about noon, so I had only gotten a few hours of sleep before this started. I grabbed my phone from the bedside table. There were no calls or messages so the scouts must not have reported back yet.

I sighed. I might as well shower and eat something. I needed to be ready to go when they did return so I could get Azalea back.

-

I sat at my desk absentmindedly twirling a pen staring off at the walls. It was late and there had still been no word from the wolves sent to scout the coordinates. I was getting anxious waiting for news. I was fighting the urge to just go without waiting for any reports or information.

“They are back,” Damien linked me. I needed no preamble. I told him about what happened earlier when I woke up. We decided not to tell Lily as we tried to figure out what could have happened. Our most encouraging theory was that Azalea could not feel the pain that I felt because she does not feel the bond in the same way that I do.

“Come to my office right away,” I linked back.

“Already on our way,” he said back.

Sixty seconds later, Damien stormed right in followed by two of our warriors that were sent to scout the coordinates given to us in the note. Damien stood to the side of my desk while the warriors stood right in front of us.

“Carson, Noah, please report,” Damien told them.

“We found the location indicated by the coordinates. We approached slowly, making large circles around the area to get a view from all angles. It appeared to be a pack house, Alpha.” Carson reported.

“A pack house?” I asked.

“Yes sir,” Noah confirmed. “Although, there were very few people coming in and out of the building. We did recognize one human coming and going. We remembered him from the Inn in the human town. He frequented the Inn for lunch and dinner, and we had also picked up his scent near the cottage house in the back.”

“John…” I said quietly. Damien nodded.

“Any traps or suspicious behavior?” Damien asked them.

“No sir. It appeared to be a run of the mill pack house home to a very small amount of wolves,” Noah said.

“Estimated number of inhabitants?” Damien questioned.

“We counted only 10 coming in and out including the human. The rest smelled of wolf,” said Carson.

“Any other important information?” Damien asked.

“No, sir,” said Carson.

“You are dismissed. I want a full detailed report on my desk in the next hour then you are relieved,” Damien said dismissing them. They nodded and left the room.

There was a silence between us. Both of us thinking about our next move. I finally broke the silence. “Do you think she is there?”

“We can’t be sure that there are not people inside the house that they did not see coming or going. They only watched the property for about 8 hours today before coming back.”

I nodded. “Usually, we would be working on days’ worth of surveillance information…”

“I don’t mean to be rude, but we don’t have that luxury right now.”

“I am well aware. I guess he is simply expecting me to just show up.”

Damien nodded. “I think he is going to want to fight you on his terms where he has the advantage. You coming to him and him having your mate gives him the upper hand.”

I sighed. “Do I have a choice?”

“So, what do you want to do?” he countered.

“I am going to go get my mate.”

“When do we leave?” he asked.