Chapter 83: On the Mend - The Royal Court Regroups

Chapter 83: On the Mend - The Royal Court Regroups
“Ouch! Frankie, don’t touch me there. That hurts.”
“Stop being such a big baby, Max.” She continued to check the healing wounds on his torso and rub salve on them.
“Ouch!”
“Really? Everyday?”
Max started laughing. “Okay, that tickles. Stop it!”
“I want you to get better. You’re taking a while to heal. It’s probably because I’m not a werewolf.” She finished the salve and bandaged up his wounds.
“It’s probably because of the wolfsbane, baby. Come here.” He winced quietly as she cuddled into him. She tried not to hit his wounds, but they were pretty big.
“I’m just thankful you’re alive.” Her voice cracked as she tried not to cry.
Max kissed her forehead tenderly. “I am too, Babygirl.” He kept giving her light kisses. “We should head downstairs for breakfast.
She nodded as she enjoyed the sensation of his lips on her skin. The thought of never feeling him next to her again scared her.
“It’s alright, baby. I’m here. I’m okay. The doctor said I’m gonna be okay and I’m healing well.”
She nodded and moved as close to him as she could.
“Come on, let’s get dressed.”
“Not yet. Please, Max. Just a couple more minutes.”
He hugged her as tightly as he could and nodded in understanding.

It had been 5 days after the attack at the hotel. They had all come to Bruce and Cordelia's palace and settled in.  They had realized how unprepared they were and felt quite defeated. Their humbling experience put the perspective of Stark being an imminent threat at a heightened status for them all. Including Georgia. She was amazed and felt very stupid for not knowing how far he had gotten in his own research. It made sense with all the random questions he would ask her from time to time. In hindsight, she should have known. But she was too blinded by his charm. Looking back, she felt foolish and used. She had to remind herself that that was no longer her life and she would never have to feel that way again.
A day after they arrived at the palace, Velvette showed up with a very dizzy and confused Alexander. She explained to everyone that she noticed that he and Lexy were trying to run with the rogues, and she was able to get them away. But when the rogues saw what was happening, they chased after them. Alexander was able to fight the effects of the chip for a period of time, but Lexy was not and dropped to the ground. Though Velvette knew she wasn’t supposed to intervene, she did. She took Alexander to her cottage to see what she could do and that was where he fell and became unconscious. Just as Lexy had. She was able to revive him for short periods of time, and he would be dizzy and confused. So she let him rest until she brought him to the palace.
Velvette, Georgia and Dr. Price, the palace doctor studied Charles, Lexy and Alexander to figure out how the chips worked while Bruce and Cordelia looked in their archive room to see if they might also have one of those remotes. They couldn’t find one, but surprisingly enough found one on an app at a pawn shop in a nearby human city and had someone go pick it up. Georgia’s previous quick studies proved useful, and it helped the doctor find a way to sever the connection to the nervous system. The spinal cord and brain waves were the harder part. Charles kept volunteering to be the guinea pig, but since Lexy and Alexander were unconscious and still in their wolf forms, they were better candidates.  For two days straight, they worked on it until they were close enough for the doctor to feel comfortable enough to operate on one of them. Georgia was able to reconfigure the remote to the three chips. She knew that this may take them off of Stark's remote and possibly cause him to do something drastic, so they knew that they didn’t have much time once she changed the connection. 
Charles insisted that he be the first for the operation. Reluctantly, the doctor agreed. Unknowing of the implications and possible damage, he operated with his team and Georgia in the room for assistance. Georgia had pointed out that it was easier to locate the chip when the subject was in wolf form so Charles changed into Liam. It took him four hours to take the chip out of Liams spine. It had embedded itself so far in that Dr. Price started panicking halfway through the operation. He had never had to do anything this in depth before. Georgia explained that Charles, rather Liam had been chipped far earlier than the twins had and once he got through this surgery, the next two would be much easier. It calmed him a bit and with Georgia’s help, he was able to remove the chip successfully. 
The doctor chose to work on Althea next. He knew that once Liam woke up, he’d be looking for his mate. He did notice that her chip implant was much newer and more recent. Luckily, it only took him two hours to remove the chip from her spine.  She was placed on a bed next to Liam in the recovery wing.
For Adelphos’ surgery, he asked Georgia to step out of the room. She was upset, but she understood and left the operating room to wait with everyone else in the waiting parlor. About two hours later, the doctor came out to let everyone know that all three surgeries were successful. Liam was wide awake and watching Althea slowly wake up while Adelphos had just come out of surgery and it would be a while before he woke up. Georgia was given permission to go to his room to wait for him to wake up.

Frankie and Max entered the dining hall to see everyone was already at the table. They all smiled at each other warmly.
“You two are late.” Cordelia’s stern yet playful tone caused them both to smile sheepishly as they sat down at the table.
“So, why did the doctor call you away, Mother?” Rosemary asked in continuation of their conversation.
“The doctor told me that he was informed that the new council needed to work things out on their own. Which was why Sandra and your father also left you. He didn’t tell me who told him either.” She looked at Velvette who pretended to be interested in her piece of toast.
“So what do we do now?” Rosemary asked concerned.
“You regroup, you recuperate, and you get stronger as a team. And don’t ask how. That is for you all to figure out. There are many things that you will need to figure out on your own.
The group sat together pensively talking about the seriousness of their situation and what to do next.