Chapter 798 Chapter 798
“You’re awake.” Amari stood in the doorway. She smiled. “I thought you were going to sleep for days.”
“How long have I been sleeping?”
“Almost two days.”
No wonder she was so sore, Calla thought.
“Shaelan said sleep would help you heal.”
Two days. “How’s Edda?”
“Fionna removed the chip yesterday.” Amari laughed. “Tripp wasn’t a good assistant. Seeing the inside of muscles made him turn green.”
Calla found that amusing, considering he had no problem shooting or killing anything.
“I assisted.” Amari’s smile widened. “I might have missed my calling. It was cool seeing inside someone.”
Calla grinned. “I think you’re proficient at killing. I don’t know about fixing people—wait, did you burn the van and that truck?”
Amari nodded. “Whoosh!” She threw her hands in the air. “It was very therapeutic.” She nodded.
“I’ll be right back.” Bear touched her hand and then stepped away from the bed.
Amari watched him leave and then moved over and sat on the edge of the bed. “He hasn’t left your side for longer than two minutes since they loaded you into the van.” She looked at the door while nodding. “He’s a good one, Calla.”
“Yeah. I don’t think I’m in any shape to work on the mating ritual, though, Amari.”
Amari grinned. “To hell with the ritual. That is to protect nonconsensual women.” She shrugged. “I see the reason for it, but times are different now. With all the chaos—” She smiled. “I love the chaos—to even find your mate is a thousand times harder than it was fifty years ago.”
“I thought it was Beck,” Calla confessed.
“Thought what Beck was?”
Calla shook her head. “My mate. He handed me a shirt to put on after I shifted when I was at those houses, and the scent…”
“Wait.” Amari held up her hand. “You thought your mate was a wolf?”
Calla nodded.
“Wow. That must have caused some serious thinking.”
“It did. I was very relieved it was Bear.”
“What was Bear?” He came walking in with a cup in one hand and a glass in the other. He held out the glass to her. “Fionna says no caffeine, so I got you some juice.”
She took it from him and noticed it felt heavy, and her hand had a slight shake.
He took a sip of the coffee. She could mall it and wished for some of her own. “Today’s goal,” he nodded. “Is get you up and the catheter out.”
He said it like it was a major milestone. All she could think was, catheter? She looked at the fabric covering her and wished for another hand to push it down her body again.
“Blaise and Griffin are on their way here.”
Calla’s gaze flicked to Amari. “Edda must be excited.”
“She’s nervous and cleaning. Fionna keeps chasing her around and telling her to be careful lifting or straining because of the stitches.” Amari patted the back of her neck.
Bear pulled the blanket up her legs and folded it at her waist.
She almost sighed in relief.
“Tripp and I are going to the factory to help out until they get back.” She smiled in a purely evil way. “Everyone is scrambling with the information from that Ellery guy and Zuri—thanks to you.” She did a mock bow. “We’ve got teams heading out to do some major damaged to this trafficking network.”
Calla’s hand felt weak; she turned and tried to reach the table to set the drink down.
Bear took it from her and gave her a concerned look.
She tried to convey with a glance that she was fine, but his expression didn’t change.
“Zuri—” She looked back at Amari. “I remember Jesse saying an entire clan disappeared. Is he from Leah’s?”
Amari nodded. “There aren’t a lot of people with that name, so he thinks so.”
Calla relaxed into the pillow. ‘What about Ellery’s sister? Is she on any of the lists?”
Amari shrugged. “I’m not sure. A lot of names and destinations are being mentioned on every call.” She pointed to her. “You need to call our team. Deva and Webb have been losing their minds.”
Calla smiled. “I will once some of this fog clears.” She touched her head.
Edda walked in, stopped, and smiled at her. “I heard voices.”
“How are you doing?” Calla asked her.
“Me? I should be asking you that.” She came over to the side of the bed and studied her face. ‘I am so happy you’re going to be all right.”
“I’m glad they got that tracker out of you.”
Edda smiled. “Tripp took it for a drive and put it in a river, just in case it was still active.”
Calla glanced at Amari, who nodded.
Edda adjusted the blanket at her waist and smoothed out any wrinkles.
Fionna came in and looked at them. “I need to reassess Calla.” She looked from Edda to Amari. They nodded and left the room.
When Fionna looked at Bear, he didn’t budge.
“Bear.” He jerked his head and looked at Calla. “I’m a little hungry.” She turned to Fionna. “Can I eat?”
Fionna nodded. “Start slow.”
Bear touched her hand. “Toast?”
Calla nodded.
He leaned down and kissed her cheek softly. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
When he walked out, Fionna went over and closed the door. She turned back to her. “Are you hungry?”
Calla shook her head. “Not really.”
“Well, let’s get that catheter out while he’s gone.”
“Yes.”
“After I check your legs, we’ll see if you can stand any weight on them.”
“Can I shift later?”
She opened a cloth-wrapped tray sitting on the dresser. “I want to do another ultrasound and check everything, and we’ll take it from there.”
Calla felt her animal stir. “Okay. Just as long as I can soon, that’s all that matters to me.”
“Your energy is going to be very low. Healing takes a lot out of you. So, shifting when you’re too weak is going to be hard.” Fionna flipped the blanket back and looked at her legs. “And painful.”
Calla bit her lip and nodded. As long as she could shift, she didn’t care if she screamed the whole time.