Cora, A Sidelines Story from Clayton

So Many Misunderstandings

The Characters of Clayton, Rya, Kennedy, Dallas, and the Valentines belong to Rachelle. The character of Cora is expanded on with Permission from Rachelle, and is written for the pleasure of the International Wildflower Pack, the WhiskeyQueenn fandom. #WildflowersUnited #iwp

::Thank you Rachelle  for letting us run amok in your world::

~Dedicated to all those families who have sat in an ICU and prayed; 

and to all the nurses and Drs who were with them.~

So Many Misunderstandings

Charlie's POV

Beep... beep... beep... whoosh....

Beep... beep... beep... whoosh....

Beep... beep... beep... whoosh....

Rage, the only thing I feel right now is rage as I listen to the sounds of the machines keeping my sister and my niece alive. I can't even hold her hand yet, blistered and sickly pink with charred gray-black smudges that couldn't be cleaned away yet. The smell of cooked wolf under Gretchen's medicinal oils makes me want to puke. This is my baby sister! They keep saying she is going to die, but I won't believe it. She can't! She and Corina can't. I need them to live.

Clayton and Dallas called HIM and HE is on his way here. I can't even speak to them. My wolf is barely staying under my skin. I don't want Mark here, I don't want him near them. Everyone thinks Cora was dealing with the rejection just fine but I knew the truth. I smelled the tears she thought she hid from even me. Heard her sobs in the middle of the night. Saw the computer history, where she stalked images and stories of him. I felt the pain that lingered in her heart every moment of every day. She walked around head high, strong on the outside but inside she was crumbling. Rya's mom and Gretchen were always finding something they needed her to do, and oddly so was Luna Catherine. It was like they knew what she was hiding, just like I did. The rejection was killing her and her wolf, but they were fighting to live for their she-pup, for our Corina.

For four days, there had been no change, everyone and everything was still, hesitant, worrying. Even our usual spring storms had given way to an unusual stillness. It was like we were all waiting for that last beep. I prayed to the Goddess for mercy, if any wolf deserved it, it was my sister.

~

Four days ago, I was in the training center with a group when Cora had shouted through the pack link that the pack kitchen was on fire. Her pregnancy had progressed enough that she had stopped helping me train, not that any wolf every got close to her belly but it freaked the warriors out to face an obviously pregnant opponent who always beat them. We got there almost immediately, but Cora was no where in sight. Kennedy and her court were sitting in the grass sobbing as Luna Catherine paced in front of the kitchen doors. Thick smoke billowed out. Cora had been griping about having to use the oldest oven to have enough to get all the souffles done in time for Kennedy's brunch. The ancient appliance had exploded. Cora had dragged Violet and Mandy to safety before running back in. Kimberly was trapped in the kitchen's small bathroom. Cora burst out of the smoke and flames, with the juvenile under her chefs jacket as a second explosion hit. Both were thrown on the grass. Kimberly was mostly unharmed, mild burns and smoke inhalation.

Cora wasn't so lucky. Most of her hair was burnt off and her skin pink and  ash gray on her arms, neck and face. She looked up at me and I knelt over her and gasped, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water too long. She made no noise before her eyes rolled back in her head and fluttered. I remember Dallas yelling to get her to the clinic, sticking a tube down her throat to try to get air into her. She flailed in pain and I thought he was hurting her so I attacked him. It took Alpha Adams, Alpha Clayton and Beta Killian to restrain me. They locked me up for two days until I calmed down. I haven't left her bedside since. Dallas tried to explain that she had breathed superheated air and burned the insides of her lungs, that her wolf wasn't healing her quickly enough, that we needed to think about the pup, she needed her mate to strengthen her wolf. But I knew having her mate here would only hurt her if she woke up...