If Only

Chapter 20 - Not Afraid

"This is going to hurt, sorry," she announced, not even giving me the chance to worry before she was running her hands along my ribs. I let out a groan at the motion, balling my hands together, my fingernails digging into my palm. Blood dripped off of my injured hand and onto the bed.

"Definitely broken. I would guess three of them at least. Shit, she's bruising around the umbilicus. Get me Zoey, Ellie and Eli in here for surgery now," she commanded nobody in particular. I watched a glazed over look crossed Greyson's eyes momentarily, there and gone so fast I wasn't sure I really saw it or if my mind was playing tricks with me.

"Done," Greyson rasped.

"They were scheduled for central patrol, so they're nearby. Should be here any minute," Zane continued, staring at me with a hard look in his normally bright eyes.

He looked livid, everyone did for the most part. Nia began setting up an IV, taking the needle to my skin and poking a few times before finding a vein to push it in. My mind was running wild.

Shouldn't I be in an actual hospital for this, I thought.

I slumped back against the bed, not wanting to look at what she was doing any longer. Nia reached up towards my face then, pulling my eyes to meet a light she was flashing in front of them.

"Follow the flashlight," she told me, bringing it left to right. I tried my best to do so, but could feel my eyes straying from where I was supposed to be looking. She clicked off the flashlight quickly, moving back towards the IV bag.

"She's got a mild concussion," she said, her tone short and professional.

"Surgery?" I finally managed to breathe out, fear running down my spine. I didn't need surgery, it was just a couple of fractured ribs. I would be fine... I would be fine, I repeated.

"You've got internal bleeding. You need surgery to stop it," she clarified, pulling out a syringe filled with a clear liquid and wasting no time as she injected it into the IV going into my arm.

"No. I'm fine, I-I'm... I'm fine," I muttered, feeling my eyes begin to flutter. I knew this feeling, that feeling before you were about to get dragged under. I tried to fight it, tried to keep my eyes open like Greyson had asked me to, but unsurprisingly I wasn't able to do so.
Too weak, was my last thought as my eyes fell closed once more.

~~~~

Greyson POV

At this exact moment, I only knew a few things.

I knew that I was standing outside the door to the Healer's den.

Knew that I was livid, beyond that even, I wasn't sure there was a word to describe what I was.

Knew that I was expected to patiently stand and wait as if my mate wasn't being cut open less than ten feet away from me.

And I knew that I was only a moment away from yet another force shift.

What I didn't know was what this racing feeling in my heart was. Couldn't even begin to understand or comprehend it. I felt my breathing increase as images of Sammy flickered in my mind. Her broken body collapsing into my arms. Her head leaning against my chest, sparks shooting through me. Her eyes fluttering closed, not opening like she had forced them too before. I looked down towards my shirt, blood stained across it, my chest heaved.

"He's fucking dead," I seethed, watching as the steam pouring from around me increased.

My body shook with anger, nothing in the entirety of the goddamn world allowing me to push away the shift taking over me. The familiar burn was welcoming, as my body morphed from one form to the other. And while my senses became clearer, the blood filled haze that raged within my mind had never held so much power over me. Only one thought played in my mind.