Sanctuary

Chapter 18

Luke

I stormed into the clinic and demanded to see Krystal. Tami was right behind me, running to keep up. She caught up as I stopped in front of Jaynah's bed. She looked so peaceful while asleep. Only the bandage on her upper arm showed that there was anything wrong with her. Tami ran in and climbed up on the bed. As if she could sense the small body beside her, Jaynah's arms moved in her sleep to wrap around Tami.

One healer, a woman named Althea, appeared to my right and smiled as she looked down at Jaynah. "Relax Luke. She'll be free to leave once she wakes up. You told me yourself that she will often sleep for two days after a big mission."

I looked down at the sleeping woman that held my child in her arms. She was so beautiful. If anything happened to her, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. I'd grown to used to sparring with her. In the last few days, she'd become more important to me than anything, even air. "I know. Just the thought she might never wake up has me terrified."

Althea's smile broadened as she looked from me to Jaynah. "She will be fine. Aside from the gash on her arm, the rest of her injuries were minor. The wound on her arm was deep, but healing well a few hours ago when I changed the bandages. They should be able to come off when she wakes."

The sound of rustled sheets drew my attention back to the bed beside me. I looked down and saw two sets of eyes looking up at me. They turned to look at each other, then giggled. "Daddy, you're supposed to use your inside voice around someone that's sleeping."

My cheeks turned a bright crimson with embarrassment. I was glad that only a few people were around to hear my daughter scold me. She was right though, I had been speaking louder than usual. A soft chuckle behind me made me groan. Dad had overheard it. My mind braced itself, expecting one of his lectures. It never came. He held out his arms to Tami. She went to him and gave him a hug. "Tami, you've seen Jaynah's okay. How about you give your Dad and I some time to talk with her? I think I saw Julian looking for you a few minutes ago."

He placed her on the ground and she took off, running out the door of the clinic. It was still early in the morning and Tami needed to help Julian feed and water the horses. Grant could do it all himself, the stronghold only had about a dozen horses, but he encouraged the children to help with feeding them as it helped the children learn about responsibility and caring for others.

Jaynah frowned as her eyes flitted between each of us near her bed. The landed on Dad and the frown deepened. "I haven't done my report yet, have I?"

The sigh of relief I let out at her words was loud enough to have Dad and Jaynah both shoot a glare at me. I didn't care though. Those words told me she would be okay. Dad's glare softened and a momentary look of sympathy crossed his face before he turned back to smile at Jaynah. "You had good reason not to. Andrew gave me a condensed version last night. Your version can wait until exhaustion isn't clouding your mind. I'll let Pete deal with your brother. He was on the phone every few hours yesterday, demanding updates on your condition."

Jaynah's face fell and her fingers toyed with the light quilt covering her. "Blaise can be overprotective. It gets worse when I'm sick or injured." She sighed and nibbled at her bottom lip for a moment. "I can't blame him though. When our parents died, he became sire, mother and big brother, all in one, overnight. It can't have been easy for him."

My eyes shot up as I ran my eyes over her face, drinking it all in. "You've softened your attitude towards him."

She shook her head and a small grin appeared on her face. "Bonding has forced me to look at a lot of things from a different perspective. I still think he's an asshole. But I think I understand him a little better. He had just found his mate when vampires killed her around the same time as our parents."