Liam
Waking up to Lily next to me, holding my hand in the hospital room I thought it was a dream. Or maybe I had died, and this is wolfy Heaven. And then I shifted a little and pain tore through my entire body.
Yep, still alive.
The pain made me clench my fists, one of which was wrapped around Lily’s hand. The movement had her stirring and she popped her head up like a ground hog out of his hole. It was fucking adorable and I probably would have laughed if my body didn’t feel like it was on fire.
“Hey, sweetheart.” I do my best at flashing her a reassuring smile.
She is not fooled.
“How bad is your pain?”
Ha. Typical Lily. No ‘are you ok’ or ‘I was so worried’. No bullshit. Straight to the point. A girl after my heart.
“Oh, it’s just a scratch, babe.” I try to say with nonchalance. She stands next to me and rolls her eyes while grabbing the little remote to call the nurse.
“On a scale of one to ten, one being no pain and ten being the worst pain you’ve ever experienced.”
“Eh, a two.” She gently pokes the bandage on my abdomen, and I let out a very unmanly screech as I move my arms protectively over my wound.
“Ok, ok at least an eight.” She nods as a nurse enters the room.
“Could he get some pain medication please?” She asks politely. The nurse nods and hurries to her task.
Once the nurse leaves, Lily looks at me for a long moment, her arms crossed over her chest and I see tears brimming her eyes as she bites her lip and tries to keep them from falling.
“Hey, hey I’m alright.” I say soothingly. She nods and leans down to rest her head on my chest without touching anywhere else to avoid causing me pain. I wrap my arm around her back and rub gentle circles while trying to breathe in every drop of her scent.
A scent I thought I would never experience again.
I came a lot closer to dying than I’d like to admit and the only thing I could think of as my world faded to black was never seeing Lily again. Making love to her, seeing her pregnant with our pups, spending more Thanksgivings and Christmases making memories together.
I was fucking terrified.
And now that I lived, I’m going to do everything in my power to make her the happiest woman who has ever existed. If that makes me a pathetic, love-sick wolf puppy, so be it.
“How’s the pack?” I ask her as she hands me a glass of water.
“Everything’s fine. Callum and Kara are handling the clean-up. We had no fatalities.” I nod as I chug the water. I look over at Sam, sleeping on a cot. His face is swollen and bruised, and it’s set in a grimace as if from pain.
“How’s Sam?” She smiles weakly at him.
“Sore, but ok. He just needs to rest and heal.”
Dr. Sommers comes into my room and looks at my chart on the computer.
“How are you feeling, Alpha?”
“Like I got hit by a truck, but otherwise fine. When can I go home?”
“Any time. You’d probably heal better there than here anyway. Your vitals look good, I want to take a look at that wound, but you’re lucky to be mated to one of the best nurses on the territory so I’m sure she can handle your dressing changes.” I smile warmly at Lily
“Yes, I am lucky.” She blushes before clearing her throat and watches as the doctor removes the bandage.
The gash is long, ugly, red and painful.
Great.
The doctor slathers some kind of ointment on it and covers it again.
“Just let me get your instructions for at home and then you can leave.” She says as she leaves. Lily walks over to Sam and nudges him gently awake. He looks over at me and springs to his feet where he sways gently like a tree in the breeze.
“Alpha! Are you ok?” I smile at him.
“Sam, come here.” I say and motion him towards me. He leans over me, and I wrap my arms around his neck and squeeze tightly.
“You did an incredible job protecting the pack and you saved my life. I’m so fucking proud of you.” He gives me a crooked smile.
“Someone has to watch out for your ass. Besides, that was just a warm-up. I could have killed fifty more of those bastards.” Lily and I both chuckle at him as Callum enters my room.
“You ready to go home, Alpha?” He asks.
“Hell yes! Not that I’m not happy to see you, but what are you doing here?” I ask him. He glances nervously at Lily.
“Um… Luna said you would need help at home. She said you can’t get up those stairs by yourself.” I scoff and narrow my eyes at them.
“Of course I can. I’ll be fine.”
“Liam…” Lily warns. I throw the covers off of my legs and go to stand, only to have my knees buckle. Sam grabs me and attempts to set me back on the bed, only for both of us to fall on the floor, me on top of him.
“God damnit Liam! Sam was already hurt! You could have punctured his lung!” Lily screams at me as Callum lifts me off of Sam.
“I’m good.” Sam waves off Lily’s concern and stands.
“Liam Mathew Caulfield! You listen to me and you listen well. You had this entire pack worried sick about you, including me. Which considering a few months ago my regular daydreams included fantasies on how to murder you in your sleep, it’s kind of a big deal. So you owe all of us the respect and decency to listen to your doctors and take care of yourself. And the order from your doctor is that you need to listen to me. So, from now on, consider me your fucking Alpha. Got it?” I stare at her with wide eyes and my heart flutters between terrified to turned on about half a dozen times before I nod.
“Yes, ma’am.” I say quietly.
“Good. Now you are going to let Callum help you get home and into bed while I help Sam and we will go from there. Understood?” I sigh and nod my head again as Callum helps lift me up from the bed.
I sling my arm over his shoulder and allow him to take some of my weight while Lily gets the instructions and medications for both Sam and I from the staff. After Callum practically carries me up the stairs, he leads me toward my bedroom. I shake my head and point at Lily’s door.
“That one.” I say. Lily gives me a confused look but doesn’t say anything as Callum puts me down on the bed.
“I have him from here, thanks Callum.”
“Sure thing, Luna. Where’d you put Sam?”
“A couple of rooms down. It’ll be easier to keep an eye on him here.” Callum nods and exits the room. I hear him talking quietly to Sam before the front door closes.
“I wanted to be around your scent. It comforts me.” I say to Lily who nods and helps me to lie down.
“You want to try and shower?” She asks. I nod and she goes to turn on the water.
“You won’t uh…” I start to ask as she eyes me curiously. “You won’t help Sam shower, will you?”
She chuckles and shakes her head.
“I’ve seen more penises than most prostitutes, but if it bothers you, I’ll ask one of the nurses to come help Sam bathe.”
“Thank you.” I say earnestly. She helps me into the bathroom and stutters around for a second.
“Do you… want me to stay?” I flash her a smug grin.
“Sure thing, sweetheart. Look all you want. I’m all yours.” She groans and rolls her eyes as she exits the room. After I’m clean and resettled in bed, she brings me a hearty dinner.
I hear Sam calling her pathetically from down the hall.
“He sounds like he’s dying.” I say as she stands to go check on him.
“He’s a whiny baby when he’s hurt apparently. He asked me to fluff his fucking pillows.” I snort and nearly choke on the stew she made for us.
After Sam is asleep and Lily has showered and changed, she comes to lay next to me in bed. I pull her close to me and she rests her head on my chest while gently placing her leg over mine. I tuck her snuggly into my side and kiss her forehead.
“Lily. I need to tell you something.” I state nervously.
“What is it?” She looks at me with those big, beautiful blue eyes and I almost lose my nerve. I sigh and continue.
“When I was hurt and bleeding out on the snow, all I could think of is you. I was worried about you, but I was pissed and upset. I really thought I was dying, and I was mad that I wouldn’t get to see you ever again. I wouldn’t get to hold you like this, to make more memories with you. It put these last seven months into perspective for me. I don’t just want to be friends that sleep in the same bed. I want everything with you. I want the hearts and flowers shit. I know I’ve fucked up and treated you like shit, and I wouldn’t be surprised if you could never forgive me for that. But I just want you to know, I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make it up to you. Trying to make you the happiest mate in the entire world. If you can just give me a chance.”
She pushes herself to a sitting position and stares at me with wide eyes as she contemplates what I just said. Her breathing turns rapid, and her eyes start to glisten with her tears. One falls down her cheek, and I reach up to wipe it away. After what feels like hours, she gives me a bright smile and leans down towards me.
She presses her lips to mine, pulling my bottom lip into her mouth and nibbling on it gently. I reach up to thread my fingers in her hair and pull her face harder against mine. It’s a passionate kiss, that is also sweet and holds desperation, lust and a lot of hope. Much too quickly she pulls away and looks at me with mischievous eyes and my heart nearly bursts.
“Here’s your chance.” She says. “Don’t fuck it up.”