Chapter 103

Eleanor:

I knocked on Natasha’s door twice, catching her attention and her eyes widened in surprise.

Having just heard of what happened to her from Killian, I couldn’t help but find myself aching for her.

After finding out about Nikolai, I didn’t even know how she was going to take the information. But to find out that the man shot her, now that was a completely different scenario that I did not put in mind.

“Eleanor?” She said, her eyes widening. I nodded and ran toward her, sitting on the edge of her hospital bed before she wrapped her arms around me, hugging me tightly. I hugged her back, allowing the tears that I was holding in to fall from my eyes when I felt hers on my shoulder.

The two of us pulled away to look one another in the eye, and I was quick to wipe my tears, smiling at her before extending my hands to wipe hers. “How are you feeling?”

“You’re asking me? Eleanor, you’ve been gone for…”

“I survived,” I said, stopping her. The pain that I felt was one that I did not want to talk about, and the fact that I relived everything that I ran away from, over and over again, without a reason for the man to stop, was something that I was more than a little scared of. The anger that I had inside me, and the fear, the number of tears that fell from my eyes; everything just kept repeating itself in my mind to the point that I felt like I just wanted to leave this world. 

She put her hand on my stomach for a second, and my eyes welled up with tears.

“Is it…?”

“It’s Killian’s.” I said, not wanting her to think that it was Elton’s. “He threatened to kill my baby when I gave birth to give it to Killian later. I had to play him into thinking that I was going to be doing something for him to break Killian. I found out that he…”

“Nikolai was telling him that Killian was catching on to everything, and that was how I found out.” She said, and I nodded, knowing that already. It pained me that she had to deal with that because of me. In theory, the man was betraying Killian, but she didn’t have to suffer the consequences for my sake.

“I’m so sorry that you had to deal with that pain, Natasha.” I said, and she shook her head as she looked down at my stomach. She put her hand on hers for a second before clenching her fist and removing it. 

“It had to happen somehow. Someone had to find out that he was a traitor, and if I didn’t hear him in the room, you would have been with him until now.” She said, and I looked down at my lap. My chest burned at the idea of that, and I smiled. “Is he dead?”

“We left him in the building as it exploded. I stabbed him with a piece of glass that I managed to break in the mirror. He fell off the stairs, but we were forced to leave if we wanted to get out without perishing with the building as it went down.” I said, explaining the situation and she nodded. She put her hand on mine, gently squeezing it, and I smiled, putting my left one on top of hers. 

“As long as you not only fought back, but came back home, we all know that things went well somehow.” She said, and I smiled. “Did the doctors check on you? The baby?”

“I asked them to wait until I saw you first. Killian is waiting for me in the infirmary room with the pack doctor.” 

“Well, what the hell are you doing here? Go…”

“I couldn’t have gone without seeing you first.” I said, stopping her. “He didn’t say it, but I wouldn’t have been here today, right now, if it weren’t for you being injured right now.” 

“Eleanor, don’t think that.” She said, and I smiled at her. 

“You are my hero, Natasha,” I said, getting up from bed. Her eyes were fixed on mine for a few seconds before she lowered them to my stomach. I noticed her closing her eyes and looking away from me, making me frown in confusion, but I knew better than to ask her something right now when she was still injured. “I’ll see you in a bit, yeah?”

“Okay,” she said, and I smiled before taking a step back and turning to the door. My eyes met Killian’s as he stood by the infirmary room door. And he opened his arms for me, hugging me tightly. I buried my head on his chest for a few seconds, fisting his shirt as I did, and he kissed the crown of my head.

“You have no idea how much I missed you, malyshka.” He whispered, running his hand down my lower back. I had to force myself to close my eyes as I feared my tears that were going to smudge his shirt. 

“I was so scared that you would think or believe that I was going to marry him willingly or that I was carrying his child. The pain that I felt…”

“I wouldn’t have believed that even if I saw you walking down that aisle toward him. For me to believe it, I would have had you killing me yourself, and only if you manage to push the trigger, hitting my heart, would I have believed that you would have ever thought of being with a prick like him.” He said, pulling away to look me in the eye. “I failed to keep you safe against the one thing that you feared most…”

“You didn’t.” I said, stopping him. “You were with me the entire time, and if I survived anything that I lived, it was because my wolf and I fought for you and our baby.”

I took his hand in mine and put it on my stomach, and he smiled. My eyes teared up, and he cupped my cheek, gently wiping the tears that fell from them before leaning in to kiss me. His kiss was gentle, and I knew that he was savoring every moment of it, making me know that he was there for me.

“How about we have the doctors check on you? Then we can go and freshen up? I’m sure that you are going to want to wear something of your own clothes and lay on our bed for a while before getting something to eat.” He asked, and I nodded. I wasn’t hungry, and I could tell that he knew that, but I knew that he wanted me to eat to ensure me regaining my strength for both me and our baby. 

My wolf purred in response, and he smiled, purring back before looking down at the bite that was on my neck. I knew that it was swollen and black from the poison that Elton kept pushing inside me with each of his bites when he aimed to hurt me, but that was something that I tried my best not to think of. He ran his finger over it for a second before kissing my forehead.

“Let’s go inside, malyshka.” He whispered. “The doctors are waiting…”