Chapter 89
Ryker's POV
I looked at the Alpha in his current state, and I could hardly believe my eyes. What was happening to him? I couldn't tell. Something was definitely wrong, however, and I knew that it was going to take a lot of diagnosis in order to figure out what the problem was. He wasn't naturally healing. That was the issue right now that I just couldn't place.
The Alpha was one of the most powerful werewolves in the first place, and therefore he would be the one to heal fastest of all. I had gone around here and had seen a lot of people, and all of them—at least nearly all—were already naturally healing, even the ones who were not healing quickly. But the Alpha now, his condition was deteriorating, and they didn't want to tell me that. It was obvious just from a glance at him. There was something fundamentally wrong with his health at this moment, something that I needed to rectify as soon as possible because it was going to claim a lot more than blood from him. It was probably going to claim his life if I wasn't careful enough, if we weren't proactive in order to save him as soon as possible.
I was thinking about leaving him here, I thought to myself, suddenly feeling very guilty that such a thought could even cross my mind initially. How could I be such a brutal person? I have a conscience to think about. Pushing off the rescue—sure, he would definitely have died if I had decided to stop the soldiers from looking for him. I would have gotten away with it, yes, but the punishment, whatever it was, whoever would judge it, would come upon me. The gods or whoever was in position in the afterlife hierarchy—something was going to happen to me, I was certain. I lived my life by a couple of principles because, well, I simply believed that things would not really end up nicely if I didn't, and that sooner or later, the punishment for every action would come.
I took in a deep breath, taking a sigh as I looked at him. The soldiers were coming—they were coming quickly, but they weren't fast enough. I was already pulling off my shirt and getting it into some kind of binding, some kind of bandage for him. I wanted to tie up his wound as much as I could. I needed to treat him as much as I could right now, at least stop the bleeding one way or another. I wasn't the doctor, but I did have some medical experience, especially since a couple of times I had needed to treat injuries of crucial soldiers on the battlefield in order to keep them alive and able to fight another day.
This wasn't a normal battle injury—I could tell from a glance—but somehow I thought that the same technique applied. For all I knew, lots of blood was lots of blood, regardless of the cause, and because of that, I could use a similar technique to stop the bleeding. I honestly didn't have any other option at this moment. I didn't want the blame to be on me, and I didn't want to feel as if I was powerless, unable to do anything at all. So I simply tried what I thought could work. I was trying anything at all, and I was trying desperately and quickly.
Amelia was staring, her mouth wide in shock, as she was under the Alpha. The fact that she wasn't making any move meant either she was paralyzed completely by fear, or maybe she just didn't have any way of helping right now. And yeah, I was thinking that she would know more about first aid than me, being a girl—and well, why was she supposed to know more about first aid just because she was a girl? I couldn't tell, but I somehow just expected it. I felt disappointed that she couldn't help now that it was very immediate, but I relaxed a little, tying up the wound on his arm and also one on his leg as much as I could.
The other soldiers were here now, and they were lifting him up, putting him in a stretcher. Where had that come from? I looked to see an ambulance, not just one, many ambulances. I couldn't believe my eyes. Somehow the soldiers had arranged everything to come like this. It was glorious that they could think so far into what they needed to do in order to make things work out. I nodded as they put him in one—to the hospital was where we were headed right now, as soon as possible. We needed to get him to a reputable hospital to get him checked up and treated as much as he could within a short amount of time.
I looked at Amelia and whispered to her the only words that I could get out right now: "Thank you." She blinked in surprise, but I walked away, wanting to hide away somewhere. I felt a little ashamed of myself for having those thoughts that I had gotten some time ago. But on her part, she didn't seem to really mind as she took a couple of steps towards me. "You're welcome," she said. She wasn't letting me hide, obviously. I didn't know what to make of that, but it was the truth, and somebody told me that I would have to live with the reality of it.
I smiled a little at her as she took me into a car, one of the cars that we were about to drive back in. Our work here was done, practically—at least we had gotten the Alpha back to a large extent, and so we could simply pretend as if everything was well. It probably was anyway. The other soldiers, well, they weren't that important, sorry to mention. And so even if we didn't really have a lot of them with us, it was still good enough for us as long as we had the Alpha.
She nodded at me. "We are going now?" she questioned, and I nodded in response. No real reason for us to remain now that we had accomplished our primary goal, though it might be nice to stay to make sure that everybody was safe and secure. She nodded as the driver started the car, heading back. I relaxed a little in the back seat, feeling finally relieved now that I had made sure that the Alpha was present and that we had gotten him back safely.
A couple of minutes later, we were on our way back home, probably already very near the palace itself. I looked at Amelia. We were alone now. The Alpha was gone, probably going to be bedridden for a month, but we couldn't tell yet. "What do you think happened to him?" I questioned finally, not finding it in myself to talk gossip or say anything wrong about him that might offend him if he was here. I just couldn't bring myself to be that kind of person. I was his friend, and as much as I would love to say a couple of spiteful words about him, I just restrained myself just this once.
She frowned a little. "I have no idea," she told me. Her words were heartfelt—she clearly really had no idea what was going on, but she was trying to be strong right now, and I appreciated that. At least she acknowledged that things were not rosy at the moment. "What's going to happen to the pack?" she questioned. A reasonable question, but I didn't have the answer. Not now—she shouldn't ask me, she should ask herself. She was the Luna, after all.
I thought about it for a moment. My answer was not going to be one she would like, but that was the only answer that I had to give her right now. I hoped that she would not feel so bad about it and not so pressured as I would feel if someone told me this. As I gave her my response: "You would have to take care of it instead of him, on his behalf," I told her. "It's something the Luna does, like a mother to her children. The father is sick now, and so you have to take things over for his sake."
I told her she looked at me in disbelief. I simply nodded in agreement—there was nothing else to tell her. This was the truth; she simply had to deal with it. "Even I'm going to..." she started, and I nodded in agreement. She had the words in her, but she just couldn't bring herself to say it. I found myself smiling a little, funny to see her so shy when there was really no need to be. Somehow I expected her to be more confident, but then who was I to judge? If I were in her shoes, there was no saying if I would be able to do all that is now required of her.
She frowned at me as I continued speaking. "Don't worry, it's not that hard. You simply have to do your best, and things are going to work out well in the end," I told her. Her look was one of disbelief. I laughed a little. "Relax," I told her, but she looked anything but relaxed. She was as if I had put her in a bowl of hot water. I put my hand on hers. "I'm going to be with you," I told her. I didn't know why I was promising, but somehow I felt like it was necessary for me to give her assurance. I felt like she needed it desperately right now and that it was my job to help her out. She nodded at me, but her expression was still one that suggested she was dead. I laughed a little—it's all going to be fine.