70, Waking up

Sean’s POV

Sean was slowly gaining consciousness. He felt tired; it wasn’t the kind of tired he usually got after a long day. This was tired like as if he wasn’t lying down, he would probably have ended up in a pile on the floor. He had a faint recollection of being injured; he had a clear memory of wanting to see Adina one last time.

Was he alive? He pondered as he focused. He could feel someone having their hand on his arm and someone was holding his hand. Sean could feel the sparkles that ran over his skin. His brain got a little clearer, and he smelt the scent of his mates. He opened his eyes and looked to his left.

Besides the bed he was lying in, Colin sat in an armchair with a sleeping Adina in his lap. Adina was holding Sean’s hand in hers, even in her sleep, and Colin had his hand on Sean’s arm.

Sean met Colin’s eye and Colin smiled.

‘Welcome back,’ Colin mind linked Sean and squeezed his arm.

‘Thank you. Where have I been?’ Sean asked.

‘Out of it. You are in big trouble, my friend. To be honest, I don’t know if I should kiss you or punch you,’ Colin told him.

‘Could we wait with the punch until tomorrow? I’m feeling a little tender at the moment,’ Sean said. Colin huffed, but smiled.

‘How is she?’ Sean asked as he looked at Adina.

‘She is tired. She tried to stay awake until you woke up, but your healing took a lot of her energy,’ Colin told him.

‘You should have stopped her,’ Sean said. He didn’t want Adina to get hurt because of him.

‘Like that was an option. And after the stunt you pulled, you don’t get to talk about self-sacrifice,’ Colin berated him.

‘Colin, I’m a protector. I protect Adina and I protect you. That is what I do,’ Sean told him.

‘I’m an alpha. I can protect myself. And Adina, well, she seems to be more capable than I ever gave her credit for. She challenged her cousin,’ Colin, let him know.

“She did what?” Sean said out loud and tried to sit up. Colin gently pushed him down and, as Adina stirred, he gently kissed her head.

‘It’s okay. She did amazing. It didn’t even take her two minutes to tear that bitch’s head off her body,’ Colin told Sean. The pride was clear, and Sean felt it as well. His mate was an amazing woman.

‘She did?’ he asked.

‘She sure did. You taught her well,’ Colin smiled.

‘That means we won, I presume?’ Sean asked.

‘We did, and I think we owe most of the victory to our little mate. She got us the warriors, and she ended it,’ Colin said.

‘Makes you feel a little redundant, doesn’t it?’ Sean smiled.

‘It sure does,’ Colin admitted. They looked at each other and chuckled. The movements of Colin’s chest woke Adina up.

“What?” she mumbled.

“Look who’s awake,” Colin told her.

“Hey, baby cakes,” Sean said and squeezed her hand.

“Sean!” she shouted and before he knew it, she had flung herself at him.

Sean put his arms around her and pulled her closer as she placed kisses all over his face to end it with a kiss that left him breathless.

“If you ever do anything like this again, I will cut off your private parts and send them to the Arctic and the rest of you to the Antarctic,” she told him and punched his shoulder.

“Fine, I got the message,” Sean smiled.

“I heard you challenged a vampire, and won,” he said.

“I did,” she smiled.

“I’m proud of you,” Sean told her.

Colin had stood up and had placed a hand on Adina’s back as she laid half on top of Sean. He bent down and kissed Sean as well.

“We are happy you are still with us,” Colin told him. Adina nodded.

“Does this mean I can get out of the hospital?” Sean asked.

“You need to rest,” Adina said.

“I’m not the only one,” Sean pointed out and ran his hand over her hair.

“But I would prefer to do it in our own bed,” Sean added.

“I wouldn’t say no to a quick shower and then get into bed with you two,” Colin agreed.

“You are healed so it will be fine. You just have low energy levels,” Adina told him.

“Then I say we go home,” Sean said to them. His mates nodded and Colin helped him get dressed as Adina sat on the bed.

As they got out of the hospital, Jason stood waiting by a car.

“Nice to see you up and about, man. Your taxi is here,” he grinned and opened the door.

“Thanks, good to see you are okay. But I could have walked,” Sean said.

“I’m not carrying the two of you back,” Colin huffed as he came walking with Adina in his arms. Both Jason and Sean smiled.

Jason drove them the short distance to the pack house. As Sean made his way up the stairs, he was secretly happy that they had driven back. He had enough trouble just getting up to their apartment.

“Are you okay?” Adina asked him. She sounded worried.

“I’m fine,” Sean said.

They took the world shortest shower and then crawled naked into bed. They curled up in the middle of the giant bed. All of them wanted to feel close and comforted.

“Your brother has been waiting to see you. But I think he can wait until morning,” Colin told Sean and ran his hand through Sean’s hair. Sean nodded. He was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. Adina had already fallen asleep, and Sean drifted off, surrounded by the scent and warmth of his mates.

The following morning, both Adina and Sean felt better, even if they still felt weaker than usual. The three of them opted for a quiet breakfast in their apartment. Afterward, the beta and gamma couples came upstairs.

They all sat down and talked about what was next. The enemy vampires had been locked into the cells. The rogues were too many and had been put into the gymnasium at the school.

“We need to decide what to do with them. Do we kill them? Do we let them go?” Mateo asked.

“We can’t just let them go. They will just start all over again,” Colin said.

“We should hold a trial,” Adina said.

“A trial, baby?” Colin asked.

“Yes. Technically, they aren’t part of our packs. Therefore, it isn’t treason, per se. But by targeting me, they have endangered the balance of the magical world. That can be considered treason towards the community. And the community should decide what happens to them,” Adina said.

“How would it practically work?” Clara asked.

“We ask each race to select five members to be the jury. We hold a trial where we and they can speak for their case. Then we let the jury decide what happens,” Adina said.

“Who would be the judge?” Sean asked after a while.

That was a difficult question. It shouldn’t be any of the races, as that could be seen as biased. Sean saw the smile that appeared on Adina’s face. She had gotten an idea.

“I don’t like that smile,” Colin said.

“I have the best solution ever,” Adina told them.

“So, tell us,” Julia said.

“We will ask Absalom and Selene to sit as judges,” Adina said.

There was a stunned silence.

“As in the gods?” Jason asked.

“Yes,” Adina nodded.

“Real gods?” Julia asked.

“Yes,” Adina smiled

“Can you do that?” Mateo asked.

“She can,” both Sean and Colin nodded.

“Will they agree?” Clara asked.

“I don’t know. We will have to ask them,” Adina said.

They moved to the next topic they needed to talk about, how to get everyone home.

“I’m sorry, but it will take at least a day more before I can start opening portals,” Adina said.

“It’s okay, luna. We have solved most of it. There are some witches that can work teleportation magic and they have offered to help. And the ones that have a shorted distance, we will get home in a non-magical way,” Mateo told them.

“In the end, we will only have the Thorns and Sean’s brother and his warriors left,” Julia nodded.

“My brother?” Sean asked.

“Yes, he informed us he is in no hurry to get home and to priorities other packs before them,” Julia nodded.

“We should have sent word to him you could see visitors,” Colin said, sounding remorseful.

“No, it’s okay. This is more important,” Sean smiled.

In the end, most of the immediate issues were solved. The members of the pack that had sought refuge with the dryads would stay there until most of the visitors had left. Colin sent a message to Liam that he was welcome up to visit them.

Colin was making tea in the kitchen. Adina was sitting on the back of the couch with Sean in front of her. She was brushing his hair and Sean enjoyed every second of it. When it had been just the two of them, Adina had done this sometimes and then she helped him braid the two small braids that kept his hair back.

Sean felt relaxed as he felt the sparks from Adina’s fingers in his hair. She gently tapped on his shoulder to tell him to twist his head so she could start braiding. He happily obliged. There was a knock on the door, and Colin answered.

Liam walked into the apartment together with Colin.

“Sean, you are a sight for sore eyes. Luna Adina,” Sean’s brother smiled.

“Liam, it’s nice to see you too,” Sean said.

“Take a seat, Liam. And it’s just Adina. I thought we were past all that,” Sean heard Adina smile.

His brother nodded and took a seat on the couch.

“You look better than I expected,” Liam said to Sean. Sean smiled.

“All thanks to Adina,” he said, placing a kiss on her leg that was next to his head.

Colin brought in the tea and cookies from their private stash. He poured the tea and then sat next to Sean on the couch.

“What’s wrong?” Sean asked his brother. Liam had the same look about him as he used to have when they were kids and had done something they shouldn’t have.

“Yesterday, after I talked to Colin for the first time. I called home to let mom know what had happened to you,” Liam started.

“I told him it would be a good idea,” Colin said as he handed Sean his tea.

“Yes, well, mom was upset. As you would expect. This morning she called me to tell me she had gotten on a flight to come here and should be here at lunchtime today,” Liam said. He looked very uncomfortable.

Sean could feel Adina tense up and then how she forced herself to relax. Colin had felt it as well and was caressing her leg that was between him and Sean.

“She will have to turn back,” Sean said.

“Sean, no,” Adina objected.

“Sweetheart, you tens up by just hearing that she is on her way. You need rest and not more stress,” Sean told her.

“He is right, Adina. You and the pup need as much rest as you can get after yesterday. I will meet her at the airport and send her home,” Liam said.

“You know about the pup?” Sean asked.

“Yes, Colin told me yesterday. Wasn’t I supposed to know?” Liam asked.

Both Adina and Sean looked at Colin.

“It just slipped out,” Colin sighed.

“Does mother know?” Sean asked.

“Yes, I told her. I’m sorry, I didn’t know you weren’t telling anyone,” Liam said.

“It’s okay,” Adina smiled. “We have told our family, you are included in that,” she added. Sean felt like objecting, but his brother had been there for them when they had needed him.

“And we won’t be turning anyone away at the airport. We have better manners than that. We can surely find a bed for her while your brother and his pack are here,” Adina said, making Sean turn the other way so she could braid the other side.

“Erhm, two beds. Mom didn’t want to travel alone,” Liam said, looking down.