Chapter 207

Chapter 207
Lyra sat on the throne in the Lycan Kingdom. It was now called the werewolf kingdom, where both werewolves and Lycans lived.

It had been four months now. Four months since she finally escaped that trap house. Four months since Varkas’ death.

Four months since…

And Ryker was still in a coma.

The council of elders at Shadowclaw had moved the capital to Ironclaw. Lyra had sat on the throne overseeing the affairs of the kingdoms. She had appointed Ironclaw as the place where the council would leave. The council was now a robust cell of both werewolves and Lycans.

Lief and Ezren stayed with her in the palace as she cared for Ryker daily. She only sat on the throne when the business at hand was far beyond necessary to show her presence. Dimitri was always present, too, but he never interfered with the way she ruled.
They had just completed the electric tram tracks that connected Shadowclaw and ironclaw making movement between both sides take less than three hours compared to when they had to drive the distance.
“The kingdom is thriving now, and that’s all thanks to the Queen’s foresight—” One of the Alphas spoke. He was also a noble. But Lyra’s thoughts were elsewhere. They were on Ryker.
The discussion on the newly concluded tram launch inter-pack was concluded.

“We are yet to finalize on the punishment for the vivarium sect.” One of the Elders spoke.
Lyra sighed. It wasn’t as though she couldn’t handle this particular one, but they reminded her of why her mate was still in the hospital bed, in a coma.
She stood up immediately because she felt the ache in her heart so strongly. If she didn’t leave the hall now, she would break down in front of everyone. And she was the Queen. There was no room for weakness.
She had summoned her powers thrice to wake him up. The first time was when they rushed him to the pack hospital after the fight, but he didn’t wake up. The second time was days later, when the wizards advised she save her strength because of the baby, and the third time was when she felt the baby kick. She was desperate to wake him up so he could feel the child.

She couldn’t hold on anymore. She had tried to be strong, had to be. But she missed him dearly. She missed the way he teased her, the way he made her laugh. The way he always wanted to make her happy. She even missed his overbearing and overprotective nature. She just missed him.
Her eyes twitched, and she stood up suddenly, walking out of the meeting while another noble was speaking. Lief and Ezren flanked her as she gave a slight nod to the council present to continue the meeting without her.
Lief and Ezren knew where she was headed. They were quiet too as they followed her into Ryker’s room.
Lyra walked over to Ryker’s bed and placed her hand on his forehead and neck to check his temperature. She took a wet cloth and cleaned his lips, then handed over the cloth and bowl to the restroom.

“Today, we had a few deliberations on the newly completed electronic trams. It’s amazing, isn’t it? Been able to connect between all packs—” She always did this every day. Talk to him about everything that happened.
After a while, she stopped talking.
“I couldn’t concentrate,” She picked up again. “I couldn’t concentrate because I was thinking about you. It’s been so long, Ryker, and I’m scared. I’ve used my tears, my blood, and I even channeled Liora’s light to your heart with the new things I learnt from the texts on my kind in the library. There are so many things I want to say to you—face to face. Like how much I miss you,” She swallowed and laughed slightly, but the laughter died in her throat just as it came out.

“The wizards say you could be trapped in the past, and it might take forever to get out of it. I wish I knew what you can currently see so I could call you to me with the sound of my voice. I don’t know what to do without you here. I don’t—” She cried, and her tears fell little droplets on his eyelids.
Her shoulders shook, and she couldn’t stop herself. Lief and Ezren tried to comfort her, but they didn’t know what to say either. Everyone was quietly waiting for Ryker to wake up, but at the same time, his comatose state was also giving reasons to certain ambitious persons to start having ideas. Ryker and Lief, seeing as Lyra wouldn’t stop crying, excused themselves and stayed outside the door. Their faces were as hard as rocks as they clenched their jaw harder. They were in as much pain.

Ryker’s eyes fluttered slightly. The sheen of tears coated his eyelashes, making them quite blurry. He gradually opened his eyes to see Lyra crying by the bedside.

“Why are you crying?” He finally asked. His voice was hoarse and raspy. For the past four months, he had heard her. Her voice had been an anchor drawing him firmly to earth while he was faced with a bloodline of the Stormbornes in a fierce trial, as he was not originally tied to this bloodline from birth. To emerge as a revered King among the Lycans. It had been a battle of the mind and soul until he had finished every part of the trial. It was a single trial, but he had lost track from the beginning, and so it had to take the help of Lyra’s voice to draw him back till he found himself back at the beginning of the trial. And here he was.

Awake.
“I’m scared, Ryker, that you would leave me. I don’t want you to die. What do I tell our son? How do I live without you?” She kept on crying and lifted her hands to cover her face as she cried into her hands.
“I’m scared because I never got to tell you that I love you. I’ve been in love with you. I’ve just been so scared, but that was in the past. I—” Then she stopped and slowly removed her hands from her face. Her eyes widened as it occurred to her that she heard Ryker’s voice.
She didn’t want to turn to him for fear that it was all in her head. Until she felt his hands brush against her tear-stricken face lightly, and she gasped. A rippled shudder coursed through her bones as she turned to look at her mate.

“Ryker,” She gasped lightly. Her voice was barely above a whisper. “Is it really you?” She grabbed his hands, refusing to let go. Ryker smiled and winced slightly. His body hurt from lying down for months.

“Oh goddess! Lief! Ezren!” Lyra jumped up from bed and rushed out of the room just as Lief and Ezren opened the door to come in.
Their eyes mirrored their confusion. Lyra was smiling and crying at the same time.
“What’s wrong?” They both asked in unison as their gaze travelled towards the bed and met Ryker’s weak, roguish smile.

“He’s awake.”