Forced To Love You

Blair

I was really out of it when I regained consciousness. I was lying in a hospital bed with various machines surrounding me beeping and tracking some vital. Something plastic covered my nose and mouth and it made me feel claustrophobic.

My vision was blurry but I could see Madison sitting beside the bed when I woke up. She was trying her best to curl up in the chair but she didn't look comfortable. Her eyes were closed and her head was tilted in an odd position.

I reached over with my right arm and placed it on her arm. I didn't have the strength to do much more than that.

Madison jumped and forced her eyes open. She looked down at me and had to take a second to understand what she was seeing. "Blair, you're awake."

I couldn't do much so I nodded my head.

She sat up and turned her body so she was facing me. "Blair, you have no idea how stressed you had us. You literally died on the way here. They had to revive you when we got here."

Jeez. I didn't think I was in that bad of shape. It scared me to think I was so close to death that I almost didn't come back.

"I'm glad you're okay. I just... I don't think I could have lived with myself if you died and we never got the chance to work things out."

With the thing over my mouth, I couldn't talk. I didn't really have the energy to talk anyway. I tried my best to show her I was sorry with my eyes. I wanted to build back our friendship, too. Madison was the first person to be nice to me when I moved to Twisp. She helped me in more ways than she knew and I hated the way things ended between us. She was a good friend and I wanted her to know that, even if we didn't get to continue being friends.

Looking down at my right arm, I saw that there was a monitor over my index finger and an IV sticking out of my arm. Bruises littered my skin. I could only imagine how the rest of my body looked.

I turned my head to the left and saw my entire left arm, all the way to my shoulder, was covered in a cast. I could feel it wrapped around my stomach as if it were connected. Was that normal?

As if I needed anything more to deal with.

"My mom came by earlier. She was really impressed with how the doctors are taking care of you. It's not that she doesn't trust them but we're used to doing things ourselves, you know. It's hard for us to branch out. Especially when it's to humans."

I knew what that was like. When I first came to Twisp, I remembered asking Felix and Madison questions and being left in the dark. I assumed it was because Christian wanted to tell me himself. But now, I suspected it was because they weren't sure if they could trust me with their secret.

It was something I was going to have to be careful about, too, since I was now a werewolf.

My room was quiet. There was only one bed in the room so the machines hooked up to me were the only ones that made noises. So when we heard a noise coming from the hallway, it was loud.

Madison's eyebrows furrowed and she got to her feet. She walked over to the door and looked out the small window right above the doorknob. She sighed. "I had a feeling this was going to happen."

I wanted to ask her what was going on but I didn't have the energy. Whatever was going on, someone else was going to have to deal with it.

She walked back over to me but she didn't sit back down. She stared at the door as the noise got closer. There was a lot of yelling going on out in the hall. Whoever it was wasn't happy with the nurses.

The door opened from outside and hit the wall pretty hard. I jumped and winced at the pain in my chest as my body jerked in response to the sudden noise.

"Back off, Zeke. I might not be at my full strength but I'll still kick your ass." Christian. Just hearing his voice sent my heart racing. The monitoring started making noises more than it should have been.

Madison looked the machine over my shoulder and she smiled. "These nurses are going to have a fit."

"Christian, wait!" Zeke tried to stop Christian but Christian didn't have to listen to him. Zeke wasn't the Alpha. Christian was.

Christian stepped into the room and everyone grew silent. Or... maybe it sounded that way to me. I couldn't even hear my heart beating. It was like I had tunnel vision. All I could see or think about was Christian.

It had been days since I'd last seen him. I wasn't sure if he'd ever wake up or would be okay. I still hated myself for leaving him. I knew I had to and I had a good reason for doing it but I wished I wouldn't have had to. I would've stayed with him until he either woke up or... didn't.

He looked better than he had the last time I saw him but he didn't look nearly as healthy as I would have liked. There was a bandage on his nose and his eyes were bruised. They were yellow so at least the bruising was healing. He was still in a hospital gown and it was pretty wrinkled, probably from the fight he put up to come see me. I couldn't see how badly the rest of his body was injured but as long as he was alive, I didn't care.

"Blair." Christian didn't talk very loudly but it didn't matter. It wasn't meant for everyone else. It was only meant for me.

I couldn't talk with the thing over my mouth but I didn't really have the energy to talk so it didn't matter. There would be time for talking once I healed.

I lifted my index finger and scrunched it as if I was waving at him. It was all I really had energy for.

As Christian walked over to the side of the bed, Madison quickly moved out of the way. She wasn't about to get yelled at like Zeke had. She was smarter than that.

Madison walked out of the room and yelled at Zeke until he did too. I wasn't sure what it was about Madison that got Zeke to listen to her but it was amusing, to say the least.

"I'm sorry you got caught up in the middle of this. It was my mess. I should have-"

I grabbed his hand while he was busy talking and squeezed his fingers.

He looked down at our hands and sighed. "I'm sorry, Blair."

He didn't have to be sorry. I would save him and fight for him a million times over. Him telling me that it wasn't my drama wouldn't have done anything to convince me otherwise.

Christian leaned against the bed and lifted my hand up to his face so he could kiss my beat-up knuckles. "Zeke filled me in on what I missed. He said I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for you. I can't believe you were able to hold your own in a fight. I mean... I'm not surprised but... Fuck, Blair. You shifted. I mean, you actually shifted. I know you aren't really interested in doing it but you have to do it at least once. Just for me. I want to enjoy it when the situation isn't so dire."

I smiled. I never was thrilled about doing it. The first-time jitters passed as quickly as they arose so I figured it wouldn't be too hard afterward. I wanted to show him. I wanted to see his reaction when he could really devote his attention to me.

"Shit, I'm sorry. You're probably already exhausted enough. You don't need me talking your ear off."

If I wanted anyone to be in the room, talking my ear off, it was him. I didn't care if he was talking or not.

He leaned in and kissed my forehead. I wasn't sure how I stayed intact on the bed when I felt like a pile of mush. Maybe it was because I saw him at his worst or because I was doped up on pain meds but I didn't want Christian to leave my side. I wanted him closer but I knew that wasn't possible given the conditions both of us were in.

"Get some rest, Blair. I'll be here when you wake up."