The Afterlife

Chapter 9: Connect

"Kaori, you have got to wake up." It was Steven's voice... maybe, Kaori thought. He wasn't sure.

For a moment, Kaori wondered how long he'd been out. He remembered... being hit. A bullet? A gunshot? Something else from his ceremony? He hoped it wasn't as bad as he thought.

"He needs to wake up so he can tend to his mate. If they are together, maybe they can heal," said an unfamiliar voice.

Kaori wanted to laugh at them. If they were together, they'd probably die, he thought. He missed Allie, though. He hoped Allie was all right.

Time passed. He wasn't sure how long, but he knew Steven had left and he was alone for a while. Then someone else spoke.

"I told him not to do it. They told me to tell him to reject her, but she didn't. Now look at him," said a woman's voice.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," another man replied.

"You know I went to that girl's pack. She got the same injury that he did. It's a waste of time. The Moon Goddess won't help them, only hurt them. How do we know that his mate isn't already dead?"

"Hush, Viv. He's not supposed to know about your involvement."

The woman snorted. "Babe... He's not going to remember any of this when he wakes up. You know, if he wakes up after what I did to him..."

"Viv! Hush!" the man said again.

"Like I said, he's not going to remember. He needs to get back to serving the pack, not chasing after a mate that will never happen. Our warriors are weak, and people will start complaining that we focused too much on serving the children and leave our pack defenseless!"

"Cut him some slack, Viv. Every wolf needs their mate," the man said.

"And we need to have a pack, babe. You've given him enough time and leniency. It's time that he appreciated it!"

Kaori tried to move his arms and legs. Viv... the name sounded familiar.

"He's moving, Viv. I think he just moved. What have you done?"

Kaori tried to move his fingers again, and his eyelids.

"He's not moving now. I think you're imagining things."

Kaori felt so, so tired... he couldn't move anything. It was time he went back to sleep.

When Kaori came to again, he heard Steven's voice. "Kaori, you there?" his friend asked.

Kaori tried to open his mouth to respond, flutter his eyelids, anything.

"Good, good," his friend said. "You'll probably wake up soon. The wound on your neck is healing quite well," he continued, evidently in his pack doctor mode. "We're still not sure what caused it, but I'm hoping you can give us some answers, man."

His friend laughed nervously. "Didn't know finding your mate would cause you so much trouble, my dude. If I'd known, I never would have teased you. Sorry, man."

It's okay, Steve, man, Kaori wanted to say. Steven was one of his few friends in the pack. He wasn't close with anyone other than Hiroki, and after what had happened, he didn't want to get close with anyone except his mate. He only trusted Steven because they'd been friends before Hiroki's death, and Steven had been Hiroki's friend, too. They'd both shared in the loss together, albeit differently.

"Anyway," continued Steven, "we've cleared you for being released from the pack hospital, so we're going to bring you to your father's house until you wake up, which we hope is soon."