CHAPTER 53

CHAPTER 53
DALTON

"Sir, nothing bad will happen with a nurse," says the doctor in charge.

"I repeat, if you want to heal my wounds, fine, but I won't let go of my son," I have Eros with me, and we're in the hospital. The nurses wanted to take him away as soon as I arrived because they saw me covered in blood, but they stopped insisting when I refused for the tenth time.

Why can't they understand? I almost lost my son once; I won't risk that again. He's the most important thing I have in this world right now, and nothing will separate him from me, not again.

"Dalton, it's for the best," says Gwen, attempting to take Eros from my hands.

"I said no, do it here, now," I pull Eros closer to my body.

"Sir, we have to administer anesthesia," says the frustrated nurse.

"Do it without anesthesia then."

"You'll have to sign some documents; it would take less time than doing it without anesthesia," says the doctor.

"Bring the papers," I'm getting more frustrated myself.

"As you wish," she says with a sigh.

The nurses place my arm on a movable table and begin to suture some of my wounds. The needle pierces my skin, and I feel pain, but it doesn't matter. If I have to endure this to stay close to my son, I will.

Once the damn sutures are done, the nurses leave the room, and only the doctor and Gwen stay with me.

"Mr. Black, the police want to talk to you," says the doctor.

"Sure," I say grudgingly.

The doctor leaves, leaving us alone.

"Gwen," I say.

"Yes?" she asks, coming closer.

"Can you find out how Blair is doing in surgery?" I look into her eyes. "I doubt they'll let me leave this room."

"Of course, I'll be back in a moment," she leaves the room somewhat apprehensively.

My eyes go straight to Eros, that smooth, slightly reddish skin. He has a pacifier, one of those things that babies use. He looks so tender, so unaware of everything that's happening around him. What terrifies me most about this situation is that if something were to happen to Blair, what will become of Eros? I would try to take care of him as best as I could, but what if I don't do it right? We're not talking about breakfast that I can mess up and throw away; no, we're talking about a little boy whose life is in my care.

There's a knock on the door, and two officers, Gwen, and another man enter the room. One of the officers said something I didn't understand, and then the stranger spoke.

"Mr. Black, we have some questions for you about what happened."

Gwen immediately left the room.

"Go ahead."

Everything I said and what the officers said, the man translated.

"Start, Mr. Black."

"A while ago, I was estranged from my wife, before my son was born. She came to Russia to get away from everything..." I was interrupted by one of the officers speaking in Russian.

"They ask, Mr. Black, what did your wife want to get away from?"

"Well... we had some marital problems."

"Can you be more specific?"

"Problems with another woman," I say to summarize.

"Alright, continue, Mr. Black."

"Well, as soon as I found out my son was born, I came to Russia, and when I arrived at the apartment where she lived, the door showed signs of being forced open. So, I entered without hesitation. Inside the apartment, everything was... destroyed. There were two bodies on the floor, and another man was on top of her."

"What do you mean, Mr. Black?" the man asks.

"Just as you heard, a man on top of her, and two on the floor."

"Mr. Black, there were only the bodies of two men in the apartment," one of the officers takes out a folder and shows me some photographs.

The photographs are crude, with the main color being blood. The image is illuminated by the characteristic flash.

"One, Mr. Black, had a sharp object buried in his throat, and the other had severe injuries on the upper extremities, but there was no third body."

"That son of a bitch was alive, that son of a bitch was alive."

The door opens, and Gwen enters.

"Dalton, Blair is out of surgery," I immediately stand up with Eros in my arms and leave the room.

"Mr. Black, I suppose you've been informed about your wife," says the doctor.

"That's right.

"She won't take long to wake up; it was a somewhat difficult surgery, but she went through it almost perfectly," she laughs while clutching the papers. "It would seem like she was healing herself in the operating room.

If you only knew that werewolves don't need doctors, except in extreme cases, and I brought her here to avoid any complications.

I slowly open the door to the room, and there she is, lying on that bed, with parts of her face bandaged. Gwen is behind me, and I still hold Eros in my arms. I turn a bit and place Eros in Gwen's arms; I want a moment alone with her.

"Something happens to my son, and you'll pay with your life," I say threateningly.

"Don't worry about him," she responds without looking up from Eros' face.

I step into the room and close the door slowly. This reminds me so much of the time I fell down the stairs, only this time I have no idea what to do. If it were up to me, I'd go out to search for that bastard who attacked my family because I'm sure the scumbag must be injured. But I can't leave my family alone, not now, not when I'm all Eros has.

I drag a chair until it stands beside the bed. She looks so expressionless, her face has a severe bruise on the left side just above her eye, and dressings are covering that part. She has more bruises, but that's the biggest one.

Her hands rest at her sides and are paler than paper, with deep purple bruises on them, and there are small, barely noticeable skin-colored bandages around her wrists, obviously covering small cuts.

There's also a bandage around her neck, and I assume it's because one of those bastards tried to strangle her—damn sons of bitches. But I'll make sure the asshole who escaped pays for everything they did to her, and I'll personally make him suffer even more.

I'm a fool. I didn't make sure that bastard was dead.

A moan escapes Blair's lips, and I rush back to the bed as if struck by lightning. Her face turns slightly in my direction, and it feels like the air is sucked out of my lungs. She has only one eye open; the other can't open due to the blow.

"You're here," she says in a hoarse, dry voice.

"I'm here, my love."

"I thought I was going to die... and I didn't know..." she starts to speak rapidly.

"No, no, calm down. That doesn't matter now," I carefully take her hand and bring it to my lips. "What matters is that we're together."

"I'm sorry," she says with a tear rolling down her cheek. "If I hadn't left, none of this would have happened."

"This isn't your fault," I say firmly to make it clear. "If anything, it would be my fault. I practically forced you to run away from home."

"That's not true. But I don't want to argue," she tightens her grip on my hand. "Where is Eros?" she asks, looking around.

"He's outside with your friend."

"Gwen," a small smile forms on her face.

"Yes, that's her."

"I love you," she says suddenly, and my heart stops; I was practically dying to hear those words.

"I love you too, my love," I stand up and kiss her forehead.

"I want to go home, Dalton. I don't want to stay a minute longer in Russia."

"And believe me, we won't. As soon as you're discharged, we're going home," and that's what I plan to do. I've estimated that in about two days, Blair will have almost fully healed, and we can go back home.

"Dalton, we need to talk," I swallow hard. "About that man who did this to us."

"I know."

"After today, I feel like I don't know anything about you," those words hurt again, but I know they're true.

"I want you to know that no one knows me better in this world than you do, but there are certain things only I know. But I think it's time for me to give you everything about me, just like you did with me.

She stays silent, so I continue.