After her surgery, Amara was placed in the ICU where she was closely observed. Lucas had reassured him that she should wake up in a couple of days but that soon stretched into a week. Worried, Austin constantly barraged him with questions as he was adamant to know what was going on. Eventually, even Lucas was losing sleep due to the numerous questions being thrown at him.
Luckily for Lucas, Austin didn't have the luxury to stay in the clinic twenty-four-seven and had to eventually leave to work.
.
.
He gradually fell into a routine of leaving to go to work and then head straight to the clinic where he stayed beside Amara until he had to leave again in the morning. These past few days he had been getting slimmer and slimmer with faint shadows becoming apparent beneath his eyes showing that he had barely eaten or slept.
Austin sat behind his wooden desk filled with papers waiting to be read and signed. His work productivity had obviously been reduced because he wasn't able to concentrate or put any effort into completing it. It was hard to focus on anything when his mate was lying unconscious in the ICU unsure on whether or not she was going to wake up.
He put away the last of the papers that he - by some miracle - was able to finish. Once all of his work for today had been finished, he stood up and hurriedly left his office to head straight to the clinic. When he arrived, he sat beside Amara as usual. The room remained silent except for the rhythmic beeps the machine beside Amara was making.
Austin stared at the woman who laid on the bed. Her skin and lips were pale, making the person look very frail and sickly. He watched as her chest moved up and down, the only thing assuring him that she was still breathing. He leaned over and gently brushed his fingers across her pale cheeks and slowly travelled down to her hands where he tenderly played with the tips of her fingers. His eyes softened but he still felt a dull ache in his chest.
The rest of the world seemed to fade, leaving only them in the room. His eyes grew heavier as time passed, lulled by the sweet lullaby of silence. The endless sleepless nights had finally caught up with him, and he couldn't fight it any longer. He slept peacefully with her hand in his.
.
.
Amara found herself drifting aimlessly across an infinite expanse of darkness, unable to hear or see anything in her around her. She felt a chill in her skin she hadn't felt before. She was slowly being sucked into a void she knew she would never be able to escape if she let it. Something inside of her fought to break free from the desolate darkness that was engulfing her being.
Her breathing became more rapid as sweat glistened on her brow. As she tried to open her eyes, they trembled and felt oddly heavy. When she first opened her eyes, the light was so bright that she quickly closed them again. She held them firmly closed for a few seconds before gradually opening them. Her eyes began to adjust to the blinding rays and she was finally able to see her surroundings.
Everything was unfamiliar to her, which made her hyper vigilant of any dangers around her. She forced herself up, ignoring the searing pain from her freshly stitched wounds.
"Argh!"
Her grunt had Austin instantly wake up from his sleep. His eyes were wide and awake and the first thing he saw was his mate leaning on her side, trying to get up. Her eyes were wary as they darted across the unfamiliar room. He knew that she was in a state of hyper-vigilance so he slowly stood up from his seat without trying to scare her. He held his arms up in the air showing that he didn't have anything in his hand that was going to hurt her.
"Hey..." he called out with the softest voice he could muster.
Her eyes immediately landed on him, someone she hadn't noticed to be in the room before. She instinctively shuffled back to create as much distance between them as possible when suddenly, the door opened revealing four people: Jessie, Felix, Jackson and Lucas.
During this period, they would often visit and bring some food for Austin as well as leave some gifts.
They stopped at the doorway looking at Amara with both surprise and joy. But before they could say anything, Austin with his hands up in the air, warned them with his eyes to be careful.
When Amara saw more unfamiliar people appear, she felt the level of danger to rise and quickly yanked the IV needle out of her arm, causing it to bleed. Austin's eyes darkened but continued to remain still.
The atmosphere in the room was tense with everyone remaining still.
"Don't worry, we're not going to hurt you... You were injured when we found you and took you to get treated." He explained.
Austin's explanation was confirmed by the people at the entrance, who nodded their heads. They were slight taken aback by his gentle tone because they had never heard him speak in such a gentle manner before, and worked hard to keep their faces straight.
Amara could only understand half of what he said because her mind was too foggy for her to form any coherent thoughts. Her vision became more dazed and blurry -her breathing became heavy, and her head glistened with sweat. Her body began to lean over, on the verge of collapsing, when she felt two powerful arms grab her.
"What's happening?" Austin asked, his voice harsh and urgent.
Lucas quickly ran to Amara's side and took out one of his medical instruments from his white coat. He gently pried open her eyes and checked it with the instrument before telling Austin, "She's all right. she only fainted,"
Austin breathed a sigh of relief and visibly relaxed. He gently lifted her up as if her weight mean nothing to him, and placed her back on the bed. Lucas inserted the IV need back into her arm.
"This is all I can do. Press this button if you need anything or if you notice any changed in her condition,"
Austin nodded.
The tense atmosphere in the room finally eased, the three that were still standing in the doorway quietly made their way into the room, careful so as to not disturb the girl. Jessie placed the basked full of gifts on the table before coming round to the bed.
"She's beautiful," she said as she looked at the sleeping girl.
Her overall attractiveness was not diminished by the fact that her face was a little pale; rather, she exuded a frail grace that seemed to break if held too tightly.