Hello! I am so sorry it's been so long, but here's another update! Thanks for reading :)
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Lilia took a deep breath before she opened the office door.
She was terrified that there could be no option for her to see her mother again, but she was also nervous because most of the options she could think of involved Alpha Howie finding her again.
She took another breath and pushed open the door. As soon as it was open she gasped, took a step back, and looked at the ground. Blood flooded her cheeks in embarrassment as she grasped Lev to steady herself.
A male climbed off of Alpha Blaton's lap, his cheeks red from embarrassment as well. Lilia looked up again and tried to keep her eyes off of his swollen lips, clearly indicating they had been kissing.
"I'm sorry, we haven't been introduced," the male stuck his hand out with a shy, embarrassed smile, "my name is Luke Blaton, Alpha of the North Woods Pack."
Two Alphas? Lilia had never seen this before, but her pack was very sheltered to the outside world, so she hadn't seen much at all.
"It's nice to meet you." Lilia shook his hand and let him lead her to a seat.
"I'm sorry you walked into that," Alpha Blaton admitted, "Luke wasn't supposed to be home until tomorrow."
"I thought it would be a nice surprise for my mate, sue me," Alpha Luke scoffed and plopped down in the other chair.
"This is Lev, my mate," Lilia introduced. Alpha Luke bowed his head slightly and Lev bowed the same way. Alpha Blaton shuffled some papers on his desk and gave them his undivided attention.
"I've only thought of one option because I was distracted. My apologies." Alpha Blaton turned a pointed look at his mate. Lilia smiled.
"What's going on?"
"I will brief you later, Luke," he responded quietly. Lilia was sure he was sick of explaining—hell, she was too.
"I think our best option here is to ask an ally who owes me a favor. You can tell your family to tell Alpha Howard that they wish to relocate."
"Okay," she said, sounding unsure.
"Your family will stay there, under the care of the Alpha until Howard's suspicion disappears. He will see you are not there and leave them alone."
"That makes sense," Lilia said in awe. He'd thought of that in such short time? If this worked, it would be a miracle.
"I will contact Alpha Blackwood this evening, he owes me some favors, so tell your family the plan and about the Blackwood pack."
"Yes, Alpha." Lilia was practically speechless. Goddess, she hoped this worked.
"It was really nice meeting you both," Alpha Luke said, standing up. Lilia took that as a tone of dismissal and stood as well. She shook hands with both of them and followed Lev out of the room.
With a blush, Lilia realized they probably want to finish what was started earlier. Lev walks beside her silently as they make their way to their room. So much had happened in one day it was hard to keep track of what was going on.
"I'm sorry I've been dragging you everywhere today," Lilia sighed as they laid in bed next to each other. Lev was curled up on one side of the bed, and Lilia's human form curled up on the other side.
He licked her hand, accepting her apology.
"Tomorrow, we'll go see the doctor and help you shift again, alright? I'd love to communicate with you, know what you're thinking..." Lilia trailed off, wondering what her mate's voice sounded like. Even he hadn't heard his voice.
They were both living strange lives at the moment, but they would get through it together.
"Oh!" Lilia sprang up. "I forgot to call home. I hope they're not asleep yet." The phone rang only once before it was answered.
"Lilia?"
"Aunt Johanna, you know you shouldn't be answering the phone like that. What if it was Alpha Howie?"
"I'm sorry, Lilia, we've just been waiting for your call. Your mother is here, would you like to speak to her?"
"Can you actually put me on speaker?" Lilia bit her lip nervously. "I have something to tell the both of you."
"Lilia," Kate sighed, obviously relaxed now that she knew her child was there.
"Hi, mom. I spoke with Alpha Blaton today about a way to get you guys up here."
"What are you talking about?" Johanna asked, confusion littering her tone.
"A doctor checked me out today, a real one...and he says mom's case shouldn't be as severe as it is."
"How are you, though?" Kate's voice came through the phone.
"I am fine, mom, they even have medication here. You have to come."
"You know we can't do that, Lilia," Johanna answered sadly. She didn't want to get Kate's hopes up.
"Alpha Blaton created a plan after I told him my situation. Alpha Blackwood owes him a few favors, and he's willing to use them for us. All you have to do is convince Alpha Howie that you'd like to leave the pack to search for more medical help."
"What then?"
"Alpha Blackwood will take you in until Alpha Howie is no longer suspicious, then you'll make the transfer to our pack."
"That sounds like a good plan, Lilia. You did great," Kate said, obviously relieved.
"What? You can't be serious! We will never be able to convince Alpha Howie to leave," Johanna shouted. Kate shushed her immediately.
"I will do whatever it takes to see my daughter again," Kate said vehemently.
"For now, I will try to call every night for updates. I'm sorry I called so late tonight."
"Don't worry about that, sweetheart, just get plenty of rest. We'll talk to you tomorrow."
"I love you," Lilia said, and two choruses of the same words filtered through the phone before she put it back on the stand. She turned around to see Lev fast asleep, and she quickly followed.
The next morning, Lev was very grumpy and Lilia couldn't figure out why. They had woken up fairly early in the morning, but she didn't think that was it...maybe she'd find out later.
A chef appeared before them at breakfast, dropping a thick slab of raw meat on the ground for Lev. His tail wagged happily, and the cook laughed, accepting a thank you before moving back to his station.
"Doctor Walahan, it's nice to see you again," Lilia was very glad she was able to find her way back to the medical wing after only a few hours of being there the day before.
"You as well, Lilia. Let's get him on the bed," he murmured. Lilia pet his head while he jumped on the bed and laid down, ears perked up. He was terrified of shifting again and feeling so helpless...what were they about to do?
"Lev, let's shift...I have a gown waiting for you." The doctor's voice was gentle as he showed Lev the hospital gown. He let Lev sniff it, then put it to the side. Lilia just whispered encouraging words in his ear, just like she did when he shifted the first time.
His wolf let out a whimper as bones started shifting and Lilia tried to wrap her hands around his face to calm the pain. It took a few minutes but eventually he was fully shifted. She kept her eyes on his face as the doctor put the gown on him.
He had long, shaggy, brown hair that needed to be washed and brushed out, maybe cut if he wanted it to be cut. His face was fairly clean, dark grey eyes were open wide, staring back at her. His eyes looked innocent, scared, and there was something else there that Lilia couldn't place.
"Good job, good job, it's okay," she encouraged him. Just like last time, he was scared because he couldn't really move any of his limbs. He was probably fearful that someone would take advantage of him in some way, but Lilia would never let that happen.
"Okay, Lev," The doctor said loudly and clearly, "I'm going to examine you now. Let me know if anything is uncomfortable, alright?"
"Just do the thing I taught you, right? Thumbs down, and I'll tell him you don't like it," Lilia murmured quietly. All Lev could do was blink back at her.
The doctor went through the motions, checking him for illnesses, diseases, moving over his muscles to stretch them and make sure they were all right.
"Okay," the doctor sighed a few moments later, "I would say to keep him in his human form so he could get used to it, but he can't chew, doesn't know how to swallow, and is probably very fearful right now."
"So what do we do now?"
"Now, I'll have you guys come in every morning at this time and we'll keep working on movement, amongst other things." That sounded good to her, she wasn't expecting this process to be fast, so this was no surprise to her.
"Okay," Lilia said, "sounds good. Lev, can you shift back?" There was no hesitation for Lev to shift back. He wanted to be able to control himself again.
The problem lied in what they were supposed to do now. Were they supposed to wait in their room until dinner? Goodness, she wished her family was here.
"How is everything going?" Alpha Luke came into the medical room they were in, giving her a brief but large smile.
"Good, good. We're going to be coming in every day to work on his shift," Lilia answered with a smile. Lev hopped off the bed and came to a stop beside her.
"I just want to be able to talk to him," she whispered.
"I know something that might be able to help."
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Thanks for reading! :)