Chapter 48 Aftermath of Truth
RYAN'S POV
The explosion left many of the pack members injured and the clearing looked like a war zone. Bodies lay scattered, some moving and groaning in pain while others remained still.
Lisa was badly burnt while protecting others and my heart stopped when I saw her unconscious form lying in the dirt with burns covering her now exposed skin.
My throat was still bleeding from Viktor's earlier attack but I dragged myself to Lisa's side, ignoring the pain screaming through my body. I fell beside her and pressed my fingers to her neck, desperately searching for a pulse. When I felt the steady beat beneath her skin, a huge relief flooded through me so powerfully that it made me dizzy.
The pack doctor arrived with a medical team and worked on multiple casualties. Emma was giving attention to others despite her own injuries from the battle.
Nathan was busy organizing everyone, directing the medical team, making sure that the people most wounded received attention first.
Daniel was furious and I watched him chase Viktor's retreating forces with warriors at his back. But the rogues disappeared into disputed territory where pursuit became too dangerous. Viktor had escaped again, it made my chest burn like acid.
In the medical wing, I sat beside Lisa's bed holding her hand while the doctor worked. They had cleaned her wounds and wrapped burns in specialized bandages. Her shoulder from Viktor's bite was heavily bandaged and stitched. She looked small and fragile in the hospital bed in ways that Lisa never looked normally.
The mate bond pulsed weakly between us and I realized she had suppressed it so thoroughly that even in unconsciousness the barrier remained. She was keeping me out even when she could not consciously choose to do so. The rejection hurt more than my physical injuries.
Hours passed in tense silence broken only by medical staff checking vitals and adjusting treatments. I did not move from Lisa's side, I could not force myself to leave even when the doctor suggested I get my own injuries properly treated.
Nathan found me there as dawn light began filtering through the windows. He looked exhausted and his face was drawn with worry and pain from wounds he had not yet addressed.
"You should rest," Nathan said, settling into the chair on Lisa's other side. "Your injuries are serious too. That throat wound needs proper attention before infection sets in."
"I am not leaving her," I said simply, my voice rough from the damage to my throat.
Nathan studied me for a long moment then nodded. For a while we just sat there, two brothers existing, both worried over the woman we both loved. The rivalry between us felt distant and unimportant compared to the fear that Lisa might not wake up or might wake up changed by everything she had learned.
Nathan broke the silence eventually. "I heard what Viktor said before the explosion. About her father being involved in the assassination. About the coalition of Alphas who ordered her mother killed. She is going to need serious support when she wakes up."
What Viktor said still felt unreal to me. Alpha Marcus, Lisa's father, is complicit in his own mate's murder. The betrayal was incomprehensible and the damage it would do to Lisa when she processed it fully terrified me.
"She will need you," I said honestly, the admission costing me pride but feeling necessary. "She trusts you in ways she does not trust me anymore. You can give her the support she needs without all the complicated history weighing it down."
"She needs both of us," Nathan corrected gently. "And Adrian, apparently. He is in the waiting room and he refused to leave when the doctor said only family was allowed to stay. He has been there for hours."
I felt a pang of jealousy at Adrian's name but I also realized something important. Adrian genuinely cared for Lisa, not just as a political alliance or because of a supernatural bond, but as a person he had come to know and respect. That mattered in ways I was only beginning to understand.
"He is a good man," I admitted reluctantly. "Better than I have been."
"You are trying to be better now," Nathan said. "That counts for something."
We fell silent again and the medical equipment beeped steadily in the background. I held Lisa's hand and willed her to wake up, to come back to us so we could help her navigate whatever came next.
Minutes turned to hours, Medical staff came and went, checking Lisa's vitals and adjusting medications. The doctor assured us repeatedly that her injuries were serious but not life threatening, that she just needed time to heal and rest.
I wanted to believe that but I could not shake the fear that something was wrong beyond the physical damage. Lisa had learned truths that would fundamentally change how she saw her family, her past, her entire identity. How did someone recover from discovering their father murdered their mother?
Daniel visited briefly, reporting that Viktor's forces had scattered completely. They had lost the trail in rogue territory and attempts to track them further were too dangerous. Viktor was gone and we had no idea where he would surface next or what his next move would be.
Emma stopped by as well, her own injuries treated and bandaged. She sat with us for a while without speaking, just being present in the way good friends are during crisis. Her recovery from captivity had been remarkable but I saw shadows in her eyes from everything she had endured.
Adrian appeared in the doorway eventually, his expression anxious. Nathan waved him in despite the family only rule and Adrian approached Lisa's bedside with obvious concern. He looked at her unconscious form and something raw and painful crossed his face.
"Any change?" Adrian asked quietly.
"Not yet," I answered, my voice rough.
The four of us sat vigil together as morning turned to afternoon. An unlikely group brought together by shared care for the woman lying injured between us.
Then Lisa woke suddenly with gasping breath that made all of us jump. Her eyes flew open wild and disoriented as she struggled to remember where she was and what had happened. The medical equipment spiked with her elevated heart rate.
"Lisa, you are safe," I said immediately, squeezing her hand. "You are in the medical wing. Viktor is gone."
But Lisa was not focused on her injuries or Viktor's escape. Her eyes found mine with intensity that made my chest tighten and her first words tore me apart completely.
"My father," Lisa said, her voice hoarse and breaking. "He ordered my mother's death. Did you know? When he told you about Daniel's contract, when he explained why he sent me away, did he tell you about Mom?"