Carys' POV
After telling mum and dad about Segolia's helicopter, and explaining to mum what a helicopter is, I make my way to our tent to say goodnight to Jana. Rhydian and I are staying with Bryn tonight.
"Jana?" I poke my head through the tent, making sure they're not asleep yet. They're both sat up talking. Jana sees me and gives me a tight hug.
"I don't want to let you go," she mumbles.
I've barely paid any attention to her feelings this whole time, she must have been so scared, especially up on the mountain. It was only a few hours ago but I can't believe I went back to a place where I thought throwing myself off a cliff and leaving her and my family behind would make the world a better place.
I stroke her hair and kiss her head. I rest my hand on the side of her still-bruised neck, and she does the same.
"Bryn will be okay, I'll be okay. Everything's going to get better now, I'm here, I'm here," I assure her. "I love you."
"I love you too," we kiss, rather passionately until Maddy mocks a gagging sound and we laugh ourselves apart.
"Think my dinner's coming back up," she jokes.
"I'll see you in the morning, and we can finally get home," Jana says. I give her one last little kiss goodnight and head back to Bryn.
Mum, dad and Alric are sitting a few feet away from the tent, probably talking about the pack and its future. Mum and dad are doing everything they can to make sure Alric keeps his word to be the best Alpha he can. Keeping him in line is like they've got another kid. I think Alric has changed though, not just since everything that went down when Jana came to Stoneybridge. The whole Ingrid situation changed all of us, but seeing his daughter with another Wolfblood's claws around her throat seems to have taught him a lesson.
Inside the tent Rhydian and Bryn are already asleep, Bryn doesn't look any better, but he doesn't look worse, which hopefully is a good sign. I curl up next to my brothers and shut my eyes. Within minutes I'm asleep.
I wake up to what sounds like a giant chainsaw along with the howling of the pack. Bryn's still sleeping, but Rhydian isn't next to me anymore. I rush out of the tent and find him with my family looking up to the sky. I tilt my head back, straining my neck and see the trees first, blowing to and fro violently. Then I see the black helicopter above us. With a long rope dangling from it, a man in all black hangs onto it.
Alric is supposed to be keeping the pack calm but even he's freaking out just at the sight of it. Mum and Dad did their best to prepare him for Segolia's arrival, but in his world the only things that can fly are insects and birds. To see a box full of humans floating above us must feel like and invasion to him.
Mum tries to shut everyone up, it takes some time, but eventually, with the help of Jana, they all calm down enough to listen when mum orders their silence. Jana runs to my side.
They're barely quiet for ten seconds when a thundering voice booms from above setting them off again.
"We're looking for Bryn," the man on the rope is using a megaphone.
"He's in here!" I shout back and wave my arms at him.
The man gives a thumbs up to the pilot and the rope starts to lower to the ground. At the bottom of the rope is some kind of bed with straps on it that will hold Bryn in place. I thought this kind of thing only happened in the movies.
"Where is he?" The man asks me, he's not remotely fazed by the snarling and howling from the pack that surrounds him. My family and I lead him to Bryn. He brings a stretcher with him. "Take that side," he says to dad.
The two of them gently lift Bryn from the cot to the stretcher and carry him outside. Bryn winces in pain. Mum walks with them, holding his hand.
"Be careful with him," mum says.
Aran comes to help them gently lift Bryn onto the contraption that will raise them all up into the helicopter.
The man secures him in place, and turns to us, "We have medics onboard, trained in Wolfblood physiology, he's in safe hands. You can make sure of that, we can take one more person up with us," he says.
Mum looks back at us hesitantly.
"Mum, you should go," Rhydian insists.
She just sort of nods and lets the man strap her in place too. He secures himself and gives another thumbs up to the pilot. They start to rise, and mum looks like she's about to puke, but she turns her attention from the ground as it gets further away and focuses on Bryn.
Everyone watches as they are pulled into the helicopter and the door shuts, they start to fly away until the view is eventually blocked by the towering trees that now sway gently with the wind.
"Does this mean we can go now?" I ask dad.
"If we run for a little while, we can make it back by lunchtime," he says.
We all pretty much leave then and there, only Jana takes a short moment to say goodbye to her dad and Aran. I give Alric a hug, which at first he resists, then he relaxes into it and says, "I wish you well, Carys," and smiles at me.
We run for a little while and I'm the first one to admit I need a break; we've been running for almost an hour. My dad wants to keep going, so Jana hangs back with me while the others continue.
"He will be okay, won't he? To humans, this is nothing, right? With all the medicine they have lying around."
"Yeah, he'll be back to normal in no time. Although, I don't think he'll be okay to go back to school tomorrow," Jana says.
"School. Right. I completely forgot about that."
I'm the one who's always pressuring Jana to think about the future, but I'm the one who's always falling behind in my studies. I missed so much last year, and I don't know how I'm supposed to focus on school while Bryn is recovering.
"At least you didn't forget the reading assignment." My eyes widen. "You forgot about the reading assignment didn't you," Jana laughs. I facepalm. "Maybe Jeffries will give you more time if you just explain what happened?"
"Jana, you know I hate special treatment. I was supposed to have it done before we left. I'll just have to pull an all-nighter and get it done tonight. I read half of the book before we went to Norway for that full moon, I guess I just forgot because we had such an amazing time. I'm surprised Shannon didn't remind me about it,"
"That's because you told her to stop reminding you because you promised you'd have it done."
"Oh. Well, I guess I forgot about that too."
After about 10 minutes of walking some more, we pick up our pace and run to catch up with dad, Rhydian and Maddy. We arrive in the village and manage to just about make it in time for the only bus that comes through Stoneybridge on a Sunday. I sit down next to dad; it's about time he and I talked.
"Did you go home and get your phone?" I ask him.
"Yeah, I just got off a call with Ava, she said she had a feeling something was wrong and she left a little while ago, she's going to meet us at Segolia," he just seems so sad.
"What's wrong?" I take his hand. "Are you worried about Bryn? Segolia will help him."
"I know love," he pats my hand, and then says nothing, avoiding having to talk about his feelings.
"Dad," I look at him, forcing him to look back, "What is it?"
He sighs, "I'm just- I'm so sorry, Carys. I'm a rubbish father to you and your brothers. I don't know how to help, you're mum's the one who's good at all this stuff."
"Hey, don't say that, you're a great dad. You've barely left Bryn's side. You helped me on the mountain, you've always been there for me."
"Not always, I missed most of your life."
"That wasn't your fault, dad, and anyway that's all in the past. What matters now is the future, okay?"
"Oh Carys, you and the boys mean the world to me," he puts his arm around me and kisses my head.
I love how close we've become. It does make me reminisce on times with the man that I thought was my father, but those memories seem tainted now. As I said, what matters now is the future, I have a lifetime to make new memories.
We get off the bus by Segolia and run to the doors where Ava is waiting for us. She hugs Rhydian and me and we make our way inside. Most of the staff at Segolia know us and we them, what with all the trouble we've caused (not to mention everything that happened before I rolled into town) but when we walk into the building none of the faces on the security are familiar, they've hired a whole new team.
"We need to get to the medical wing, our brother's there," Rhydian says to the man.
"Names," the security guard is big and quite intimidating, but I get fed up with waiting and push past him to the reception desk and beg the lady at the desk to let us in.
"We're here to see Bryn, he should've arrived a few hours ago."
"Family only," she says.
The rest of my family are allowed past the guard and we head to the lift, I look back at Maddy and Jana. I watch as they try to get past the guard, dropping the names of as many Segolia staff members as they can think of. We get in the lift and go up to see Bryn.
Dr Whitewood is there when we arrive, she smiles, "He's a very resilient young boy," she leads us to the room.
As we get closer to Bryn's room I realise that this is the room I spent months in. The room I battled my demons in. I stop outside the doors as the others go in, they don't notice. I stand for a moment. Analysing everything. The metal on the door is cleaner, and shinier since I last saw it. I look to the floor on my left. There used to be a tiny blood stain on the floor, I used to look at it every time I left my room for an appointment and every time I went back in. I used to wonder whose blood it was and if they were a Wolfblood or a human, or maybe it was neither. But whenever I looked at it, I felt that if it was there it meant that I wasn't losing myself. I wasn't changing, like that little blood stain. And now it's gone. This past week I haven't felt more like I'm losing myself since I left the hospital. It's like it's some kind of sign.
I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn around to see Shannon, "Shan!" I hug her, "I've missed you."
"I missed you too," she smiles. "Carys, your neck!" She gently touches my bruises with a sad look in her eye.
"Oh, yeah, a lot happened out there."
"You should get that looked at." I zone out, staring at the doors and Shannon notices pretty quickly. "Oh, it's the same room."
"Yep." It's been almost two months since I left the hospital, but it feels like it was just yesterday that I woke up in that room, strapped down after Rhydian and Shan brought me here.
"You know, it's just a room. It only means something if you let it, so don't." I nod. "I have to get back up to the lab, did Maddy come back with you?"
"Uh yeah, she and Jana are downstairs trying to get in, what's with the new security?"
"Oh, it's the new boss, she's a bit cautious," Shan gives me a look and heads off to let Maddy and Jana into the building.
With baby steps, I edge closer to the doors. I hear my family talking on the other side, I can't tell if Bryn sounds okay or not. He's definitely awake. Knowing he's alive and well, and my family are happy makes me feel a little better. I have my pack, and at this moment, I feel like I'm finding myself again.
"Where's Carys?" He squeaks. I hear footsteps come towards the door; I take a few steps back as it swings open. Mum stands there.
"Come in cariad, someone wants to see you," she takes my hands and slowly leads me inside. I look at my family standing at the foot of the bed. I can't help but bring my eyes to the very faded patch of dried blood on the floor, that was my blood. I'm entranced for a moment.
"Carys?" Bryn says. I look over to the bed. He's sitting up with a beaming smile.
"Hi Bryn," I reach out to give him a hug, avoiding his injury. He really does look so much healthier already. "I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault Carys, how many times do we have to tell you?" He playfully nudges me.
"Yeah, it's not always about you," Rhydian smiles and we laugh.
Just like that, everything starts to feel a bit more normal now that we can laugh together again. Dr Whitewood smiles at us.
"So, is he okay now? Did you get rid of the infection?" I ask.
"Not me, but the surgeons here managed to cut away the infected flesh and stitch the wound up. There's still a risk for further infection, but it's easily manageable with antibiotics. I'd like to keep him in tonight and you can bring him home in the morning, but I suggest keeping him home from school for at least a week. I'd like to see him every other day for the next few weeks just to check on the wound," she hands mum a packet of antibiotics.
"Thank you Dr Whitewood, you've helped us so much. We are in your debt," she says.
"You don't owe me anything, I'm here to help," she smiles again, "Plus it's my job." Mum hugs her, she's so... human these days. I like her this way.
"I'll leave you to it," she gives us one last smile before leaving the room, a few seconds later, Maddy, Jana, Shannon and Tom come in. I give Tom a big old hug. Feels like years since I saw him and Shan last and it was less than two weeks ago.
We try to catch him and Shannon up on everything that's been going on, all they knew was that a cub had been hurt and that it could only be Bryn, so they weren't surprised to see us. I listen as the Maddy fills them in on all the stuff with Ingrid, and I embrace their hugs when they tear up on my behalf.
Normally this would make me feel uncomfortable, because I never feel like I deserve it, but I do. And I deserve this pack. We belong together, we might be a bunch of misfits but that's what keeps us close. I've never felt more like I belong somewhere in my entire life, and I never want it to end.