Chapter 69: Sixty-nine.

Colt awoke two days later. Still in the same room and reattached to the heart monitor machine, though with the noticeable difference of the one to measure her brainwaves missing.

"Hey there sleeping beauty." Mark called out to her.

Colt's mouth instantly drew up into a smile at the sound of her brother's voice, as her eyes searched him out.

"Hi." She mumbled, pushing herself upright in the bed. "What time is it?" She asked blinking away the bright light that was shining in the window, and feeling like it was awfully rude for someone to have put the sun on so brightly.

"What? No, I missed you so much, favouritist brother of mine?" He joked with her, lightening the mood. "It's only been months since we spoke, nevermind seen one another."

"That's not a real word, you know that right?" She said smiling, reaching over for the water beside the bed, and feeling a bit despondent that she now needed yet another shower, when she caught a whiff of herself from the movement. "Also, I can't confirm or deny, anything about favourites." She winked, forcing a facade of cheeriness into her countenance.

"Smooth." Mark nodded. "It's nine in the morning. You should be able to grab a shower quickly, while I go get you some food." Her brother offered. "Yes, I can also smell you from here. By the way, I brought you a hair dryer." He winked at her.

Colt, yanked the sticky plasters that attached her to the machine off of her chest and back, followed by haphazardly removing her canula again, and leapt into Mark's arms.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you." She cried out in delight, as the alarm sounded loudly on the machine.

Ashley and a team of panicked nurses came barging in the door, at that very second. They didn't look impressed.

"For the love of God, Colt!" She scolded, making Colt sheepishly duck behind her brother. "Press the buzzer for the nurse! We will let you move about, you know. Jesus, Woman stop ripping your drip out as well, how does Rebecca put up with you?" Ashley admonished her, while going to turn the monitor alarm off.

"Sorry." Colt offered, with a smile. "I got excited at the prospect of a shower and breakfast." She smiled as innocently as possible.

The nurses vacated the room muttering their annoyance, as Ashley switched the machine off. "Both things we will gladly allow. Just press the damn button, and we can remove the monitor."

"I only need it at night, anyway." Colt stated, without thinking. .

"What?" Ashley looked perplexed.

"The monitor. I will only need it at night. That's when my heart rate goes iffy, isn't it?" She asked, already knowing the answer, while internally face palming herself for having brought it up.

"What aren't you telling us?" Ashley asked her.

Colt sighed, changing the subject, "I really do need a shower." Then she ducked into the bathroom before anyone could respond, leaving her doctor stunned, and her brother adding up his suspicions.

When Colt came out of the bathroom, with the towel still upon her head, her brother was there again, only this time he was bearing food, and her stomach growled very loudly in appreciation.

"Okay I'll admit it, you may well just be my favourite, for this very reason alone, Mark. Everyone else steals my food, you deliver it." She smiled happily, before shrugging off the towel and plugging in thr hair dryer.

"Well, as long as I have my uses." He laughed out as Colt dried her hair.

When she was done, she tied it away neatly, but before Colt could reach the BLT sub, Mark had brought her, he hoisted it out of reach and into the air. "First you are going to answer a question for me."

Colt sagged, knowing it was pointless to argue with him. "Fine, but I rescind my previous statement, brother. I haven't eaten in weeks, this," she said pointing back and forth between herself and her hovering breakfast, "is cruel."

Mark laughed shamelessly at his little sister's pout. "A man has gotta do, what a man's gotta do, I'm afraid." He shrugged in response, as Colt flopped onto the bed crossing her arms.

"Is it Elijah?" He asked her straight out, opting to rip the band aid off so to speak.

"Is what Elijah?" Colt tried miserably to dodge the question.

"Don't bullshit me." Mark bit out at her deliberately obtuse response. "Causing the, what did you call it - 'iffy heart rate' and your passing out?" He growled in annoyance, not so much at his sister, it was a more of a preemptive response to his suspicions being confirmed.

Colt gulped, then sighed, looking at her brother with tears in her eyes. "How did you know?"

Mark sighed, and handed over Colt's breakfast without hesitation, as he lowered himself into the chair opposite her. "Because, you're my baby sister, my tough as nails baby sister, and no one but your mate, has ever brought you down before. Also," He added, "From Dad's reports, Elijah is drinking from about three in the afternoon onwards. He then meets a random woman at night. Not every night mind you, but when it's over he is hungover all day, till he repeats the process." He said, wrapping an arm about her. "Sorry, Colt. That was tactless " he said annoyed at himself, for stating the facts so callously.

Colt forced a smile, feeling very small all of a sudden. "It's not like it's anything I didn't already know." She shrugged. "I can feel it, everytime. Every time he betrays me. Even under the sedation I could feel it. But, with that I felt like I couldn't escape it. I was just held there in suspended animation, having to endure it, you know. At least when I passed out last night, I was out for it altogether, you know?" She stated honestly.

"Two nights ago." Mark corrected her.

"Shit." Colt shrugged. "That sucks."

"Eat up." Mark suggested. "You have a throng of visitors waiting to see you, and some as we have discussed will try and steal your food, hospitalised or not." He pushed, changing the subject awkwardly.

Colt laughed at this, feeling a little bit lighter. "Thanks." She said, taking a bite.

It was like heaven in her mouth. Being sustained so long on a drip, had left her utterly ravenous, and how she had prioritised showering over food suddenly seemed beyond her. 'Screw Elijah, and the horse he rode in on,' she thought, all Colt wanted right now to keep her going was food, not even sex could compare to this, this culinary masterpiece that was melting in her mouth as she devoured the six inch sandwich. It was the most amazing six inches she had ever had.

Mark coughed uncomfortably. "Colt!" He shouted, not able to bare it any longer and gettingready to walk out the door.

"Hmmm?" She answered, only half paying him attention, as she licked the mayonnaise, as it was dripping out the side.

"Stop moaning, its fucking weird." He said with a grimace.

Colt swallowed the last large mouthful with difficulty before looking at her brother, "Sorry. Its just really really good, and I'm so hungry."

"Whatever, but you're my sister, the sex sound effects aren't fucking needed." Mark complained, with a disgusted look plastered over his face.

Scott walked in at this point hesitating. "What the fuck did I just walk in on?" he asked appalled.

Mark laughed, as Colt's face lit up and her arms opened wide. "Baby Brother, Numero Uno!" She called out to him, but when he stayed in the doorway, Colt rolled her eyes and explained further, "Don't worry, Mark's just being a dirty minded old prude. I was only eating."

Scott took a deep breath in, "Bacon? Where'd you get bacon from?" He asked longingly, making both Colt and Mark laugh out loud. "What?" the second youngest Merrier responded, missing the joke.

"Never mind." Colt shook her head. Then patting the bed beside where she was sat, she said, "Come and tell me about West Point, how are your studies going?"

"Really, that's what you want to discuss?" Scott asked speculatively, not trusting that there wasn't more bacon to be found.

"Yes, yes I do." Colt nodded enthusiastically, just happy to be around family. "I can't deal with a pity party, so, distract me."

Scott sighed, "Well, I have my orders." He said sitting down. "Okay then, if you really want to know, I am due to go stand up in front of a faculty board and orally defend my interdisciplinary thesis on National Security in a weeks time, so it's been pretty damn hectic, what with needing to ask for leave and all."

Colt looked at her little brother and blinked twice. Then she sighed and stated, "I'm sorry my dying has inconvenienced you. Would there be a better time, that I can schedule it in, should it happen again?" She asked with a sarcastic smile.

"Hey," Scott replied lightly punching her in the arm, "You aren't actually dead, and you said no pity." He stated innocently, turning both hands upwards.

"Dude, my heart stopped, everything faded away. I was defacto dead." Colt argued punching him back harder. Then changing the subject, "Are there at least any cute girls on campus?"

Mark snorted.

"Sorry, or boys." Colt amended, shrugging herself at the oversight.

Scott laughed, shaking his head, "What was the coursework talk over your head, Sis?"

"In my defense, I've been under heavy sedation for quite a while, so yes it was. Tell me then, are you feeling confident about your talk?"

Scott smiled warmly at his big sister. "Pretty much, the literature I have drawn from is solid and I have more than enough evidence to back myself up. I just hate waiting. Rather just get on with it. I'm actually here to say bye. Now you are awake and I have laid my eyes on you, I have to head back to school, my requested leave runs out tomorrow."

Colt smiled and draped her arm over her brother's shoulder. "Thank you for coming. I love you too..." She paused, her arm having dragged his shirt out of place. Colt's face lit up and she couldn't contain her smile! "Oh my god! You've been marked!" She shrieked triumphantly.

"What!" Mark shouted, wondering how he missed it.

"Shit!" Scott replied, trying to pry his sister's fingers from his collar, to cover it up as she exposed his mark further.

Colt laughed, "No wonder you dodged the cute girls question! Who is she? He? Tell me!"

Scott was a fantastic shade of beetroot red. "No chance, I'm not letting any of you lot, near her."

"Oooh, did you hear that, it's a her!" Colt chimed over to Mark. "Now, fellow student? Professor?"

Scott gulped at Colt's questioning, he had been wanting to tell his family but with everything going on, it just didn't seem like the right time.

"Look! He gulped! Wait till Mom finds out you have mated a professor at college!" Colt teased.

"What! Shit, no. Colt don't you dare. Jasmine isn't a professor!" He defended.

"Well what is Jasmine then? That's no wolf mark on your collar." Colt stated. "Either you tell me or I'm telling Mom you're mated to your professor called Jasmine." She threatened.

"You are so fucking lucky you died, Colt, otherwise I wouldn't put up with this shit!" Scott stated annoyed at being backed into a corner.

"Watch it Scott." Mark growled, and Colt stuck her tongue out at him.

"She is studying dance at Julliard. We met when she got lost during a shifted run. She is a leopard, with the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen." He reminisced."Now, keep your trap shut."

"Ha, no chance! I'm going to sing like a canary. Scott and Jasmine sitting in a tree..." Colt teased her brother.

"Mark, please." He begged his elder brother for help.

Mark laughed, "What, and give up being her favourite brother, no chance." He joked.

"Oh come on, you would be my favourite brother." Scott offered.

Mark snorted and threw him a wrapped package from his rucksack, "Like I'm not already."

Scott caught the wrapped sandwich and opened it inhaling the bacon, he knew there was more somewhere..

"What!" Colt objected. "Dude, not cool you were holding out on me."

"Yes, well he eats quietly." Mark snorted, in response.

"I've changed my mind. Scott your my new favourite." Colt mockingly teased.

"No, chance, Mark brought bacon to the table, Colt." Scott replied around his sandwich, while holding out his fist to bump against Mark's.

"You gotta know how to play the game, Colt." Mark teased.

"MOM!" Colt shouted like a fog horn, knowing Isla would be somewhere nearby. "Oh I can play the game, you just wait."

"Dude! That was low." Scott said.

"Smart though." Mark shrugged, sitting relaxed in his seat.

"How come your so confident?" Scott asked all of a sudden.

Mark smiled, "The benefit of parenthood, I have new videos of the boys to show her as a deflection."

"And I died." Colt shrugged with a laugh. "But you, you're the son who is hiding his mate, and who ate my bacon sandwich." She threw at him shamelessly.

"Shit!" Scott exclaimed as Isla barged through the door.

"Watch your mouth, Scott." Isla stated, before turning to Colt. "Are you okay, Sweetie?"

Colt chewed on her lip for a second before blurting out, "Mark thinks he can manipulate you with pictures of his children."

"What!" Isla asked, her eyes narrowing in on the eldest in the room.

Mark sat up straight suddenly as his Mom's eyes bore into him. "Mom, I.. I... I love you. I was only saying how much you enjoy watching the boy's videos. I.. I... I have some new ones," He stammered, looking around himself like a lost and very nervous child.

Colt and Scott were barely able to contain their laughter, at their elder brothers expense. They were all so very protective of one another, but when it came to getting each other into trouble with their Mom, a hidden rivalry came out and Colt wasn't ashamed to use any circumstance to her advantage.

"Mark Thomas Merrier, how dare you treat me like an idiot!" Isla snapped. "I love those boys more than you know, so I suggest you damn well start sending me every video as it happens, or I swear, I will move in with you!"

"Yes, Mom. I'm sorry." Mark said solemnly having turned very pale all of a sudden. All the while throwing Colt a side glare when he thought his Mom wasn't looking.

"I saw that! Grow up, what age are you to be glaring at your sister, she is in hospital for pitys sake!" Isla rounded on him again.

Mark was normally about six foot one, right now, he felt about two feet tall. "Sorry, Colt." He muttered.

Colt accidentally let a giggle out at this, squeaking silent when Isla turned on her.

"I'm sorry, is this funny to you?" She hissed out, her arms folded across her chest.

"What? No." She spoke, as her two brother's faces started lighting up, thinking their sister would get a telling off now too. "No, Mom, I'm just so happy." Colt diverted, thinking fast.

"What have you got to be happy about?" Isla asked suspiciously.

"I'm alive aren't I?" Colt began, then forcing an even brighter smile she added, "Plus Scotty found his mate, and is wearing her mark. Her name is Jasmine, and she's a dancer, as well as another cat type of shifter for the family."

Scott's eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. He couldn't believe his sister outed him like that, actually he could, he would have done the same had she eaten his bacon.

"Really?" His Mom shrieked, spinning on the youngest in the room, and pulling him into a hug, just as Kalvin snuck in the door.

"Cats out of the bag now." Colt said winking.

Scott looked at her and mouthed, "I hate you." While his wrestling his Mom off of his collar as she tried to look at his mark.

"Isla, leave the boy alone." Kalvin laughed, "What's going on?" He asked coming round the bed to help his son out.

"He's all grown up, now." She responded with tears in her eyes, as she pulled him in for another cuddle before Kalvin could pull her away.

"Bloody Hell, Mom." Scott mumbled as she pulled him off of the bed, and he almost toppled to the ground.

Mark intervened catching his brother, then answering his Dad. "Scott is now a mated wolf." He stated proudly.

"Well there is some excellent news." Kalvin stated, slapping his son on the back and removing his own mate from around the boy's neck. "Isn't it, Beautiful? "

Isla was half whimpering, with happy tears filling her eyes, as she nodded her head.

"Well as there's only three allowed, Colt. It's been.... yeah, let's not do this game again for a while." He shook his head moving to give his sister a hug, and whispering in her ear as he did, "Thank you for throwing Mark under the bus first, and please, please take care of yourself."

Colt couldn't even laugh at his private joke, the sentiment in his voice was too real as he asked her to take care. She just held him tight for a moment, noticing how much more muscular he had become since the last time she had hugged him.

"Take care, Scott." She smiled. "I'll try too." She added on.

"I will walk you out Scott." Mark said standing up. "I have to go call Paul and check in as well."

He hugged Colt with a smile "Well played." was all he said before exiting the room, leaving Colt with both her parents.

Kalvin's eyes were twinkling, they had been just down the hall for the entirety of their children's conversations laughing away. It was all very nostalgic hearing them arguing like teenagers again. Isla had almost ruined it by bursting in when Colt first spotted Scott's mark. Damn antiseptic scent of the hospital, he would have picked up on it sooner himself, otherwise.

Colt turned to her parents in a now or never type manner. "I need to talk to you both. I have made a decision, one I won't be pressured out of, Dad." she said warningly.

"Okay?" Her Dad said cautiously, sitting down in Mark's vacated chair, while Isla sat on the bed beside Colt.

"I won't condemn Elijah, by removing our bond. It isn't who I am. I don't sacrifice others to save myself." Colt said, assuredly. "And, I will not allow his actions to push me to change that."

Author's Note: I had elder siblings growing up, but they lived with their mother, and I didn't always spend too much time with them. Thus was pretty much raised as an only child. So, I hope you like my interpretation of friendly sibling rivalry. Also, to answer a frequently posted question, "Why can't Elijah feel Colt's pain? Their bond is corrupted now. Also he only felt a flash of it before when it was healthy and her life was in immediate danger. But now, as I wrote previously, "its broken". I hope this helps. Thank you for reading. B x.