Lyra's POV
It had been hours since the surgery ended, and yet my hands were still slightly numb from the rush of adrenaline.
Worsened by the fact that I had to stare down at the face of the man I had once loved, while trying to fix him up from the inside like a damaged product.
I stared down at my hands as I strolled into the private ward. I folded and unfolded my knuckles, fingers squeezing into the medical chart.
It had been a miracle keeping my hands steady enough to go through the one-hour surgery. But I wouldn't let anyone else operate on him. Whatever had happened between us didn't take away his kindness or my respect for him.
I stopped by his bed to check up on him post-surgery as was required of me. The operation had been brutal. Multiple fractures. Internal bleeding. Severe head trauma. He'd had it all.
Anyone else would have died before reaching the hospital. But not him.
He'd always found ways to cheat death, just like when father had to die for him when the elders mutinied to oust a young king...
I exhaled slowly, shaking him off my mind. He was to me now, a past I wanted buried. And it wouldn't stay buried if I kept thinking of him.
I leaned forward and adjusted the IV line connected to his arm, trying hard not to touch him directly.
My fingers were steadier now than they were during the surgery. Just how I needed them to be.
I lifted the stethoscope around my neck, and I leaned closer and placed the cold metal disc against his chest.
His heartbeat was slow, but strong. Typical of Alpha physiology, and typical of the man I knew. I also noted that his blood pressure was stable. His pulse was improving, respiration normalizing. The heart monitor beside him beeped normally.
I exhaled with more relief than before. He would live.
Alpha King Kael was never one to let something as easy as a car accident kill him.
My fingers moved to check the bandage near his shoulder when suddenly, a faint groan escaped his lips.
My hand froze midway to his head, and I nearly started back, a gasp about to tear from my throat.
I wasn't usually terrified, but right now, I was. Not really terrified of a waking patient, but terrified of the patient.
I swallowed back my gasp of terror before it could leave my throat, and I snatched my hand back to my side.
I moved to leave before he woke up. But his eyelids had already twitched, and finally, they opened.
Steel grey pair, sharp even through the haze of pain. They darted like they were about to search into the room for something, when they drifted up and locked onto mine.
For that moment, the entire world seemed to have frozen to a stop, leaving just us, he and I, confined off in a world of our own.
His gaze widened. At first, it seemed like confusion, then disbelief, and soon his expression morphed into something deeper and raw--guilt and pain. Even the gentle sigh of relief that crashed out of him couldn't take that away.
His lips parted weakly. "…Ly…"
The sound was barely more than air. But I heard it. It rang loud in my head, my chest seeming to contract painfully.
Get your acts together, Lyra. Get it together. I scolded myself again, grinding hard on my teeth in reproach. I straightened immediately and took a step back.
"You shouldn't try to speak yet," I said calmly, my voice flat and controlled.
But his gaze never left my face. Not even for a flicker of a second did he stop staring up at me.
Slowly, painfully, his hand lifted from the hospital bed. The movement should almost be impossible for someone in his condition, yet he forced it anyway, veins popping around his neck, thickening so hard I thought they might burst at the struggle.
Pain deformed his entire look, far worse than the accident ever could.
Still, he refused to cry out, nor stop. "...Ly…ra…" he muttered, through teeth tightly clenched. He sounded rough, discordant, and almost inaudible.
Gradually, his fingers reached toward me, toward my wrist.
I could have just dropped back and out of reach, but I knew he would continue to reach for me.
His skin brushed mine, warm and tender, yet the force that snaked up my skin at the familiarity of that tenderness was scalding hot.
I stepped back and yanked my hand from his immediately, as if they'd scalded me. Perhaps they did. That single touch brought up a whole lot of memories and emotions that I'd buried deep in my heart, stirring our mate bond. My wolf snapped to fore. I exhaled hard to shove Val back to the depths of my mind.
His hand fell weakly onto the bed. His brows drew together in confusion. The agony on his face now was sharper than before.
"…Lyra…" This time, the word came out clearer, but barely louder than a whisper.
I shook my head slowly. "You're mistaken, Mr…" I drawled, deliberately pretending to glance down at the medical chart in my hand to catch his name. "...Mr. Kael Throne. I'm not Lyra. My name is Doctor Elsa Lane." I said, cooking up some random name in my head.
"No… Ly…ra." He whispered once again, staring at me like a man watching the world collapse.
"No." I shook my head again. "I am Doctor Elsa Lane."
His lips trembled slightly, and he tried to sit up, pushing himself desperately against the pillow.
Considering his condition, that was a big mistake. Even as an Alpha, he still needed days to heal after the surgery.
This time, he roared in agony at the struggle, the heart monitor beginning to beep faster.
"Don't move," I said sharply.
But he ignored me. His hand reached toward me again, desperation burning in his eyes. "Ly—" the words cut off by another roar of agony.
He tried his best to keep it all in, bottled up all his pains and agony like always, his neck riddled with veins, muscles rigid. But he couldn't. Everything took its toll on his body.
"Don't move, Alpha Kael. You are going to hurt yourself… You can't… You shouldn't move, it could reopen your wounds…" I cried out now, panic clawing at my voice.
Like always, he refused to listen. He didn't stop trying to sit up, just as he didn't stop trying to fight the pain that came with the action.
Damn it. Just why the hell was he so stubborn?
I rushed to him, grabbed his broad shoulders, and pushed him back gently to the bed. My mind was racing so badly now, my whole chest thrummed with it.
"You shouldn't move, Alpha King. You should just try to rest, you should…" I rambled on, nearly stuttering.
Still, he continued to struggle, trying to reach for my hands on his shoulder. "Lyra." He whispered. "Lyra." He kept calling, like my name was a prayer.
"Just stay still, damn it, Alpha Kael," I finally screamed, frustrated. I didn't know what came over me, but I lifted my palm, and it crashed hard against his cheek.
I pulled back instantly when I realized what I'd just done, a gasp tearing off my throat, my breath roaring on and off me.
I had expected to see fury on his face, rage, something that should yell murder at me for slapping him. Instead, his face calmed, and despite the crack of pain, a grin sliced through his lips. "You… are…" he whispered, resting back on the bed gently, the heart monitor calming to a gentle beep. "...Lyra. My…Lyra." He said, relief unmistakable in his voice.
I was still trying to calm my breath and make sense of everything when the door creaked open. A nurse stumbled in, clutching a clipboard.
"Doctor Lyra, what—" She stopped mid-sentence when she noticed his eyes open. "Oh! He's awake already?" she exhaled loudly.
I just leaned back into myself, clutching my chest, to calm my wild breath. I tried to ignore Kael's gaze as it shifted from the nurse and planted itself on me.
Seeing calm restored in the room, Nurse Abigail continued casually, "Doctor Lyra, your son has been waiting—"
My heartbeat jumped at the mention of Junior. I straightened instantly, and just as I was about to yell her down, tiny footsteps padded into the room behind her.
"Mommy!"
My heart stopped at that moment. It took every effort to keep my eyes from straying to Kael.
Junior rushed past the nurse and wrapped his arms around my leg. His grip was solid and real, just like the heat of Kael's burning gaze on me.
I didn't need to look up to see him figuring things out. It was impossible not to, when the truth was right before him. The resemblance was uncanny and impossible to ignore. Even nurse Abigail was beginning to fit the puzzles together, as her eyes bounced from Kael to Junior, and back.
It was the same dark, wavy hair, the same steel gray eyes, and the lean, straight, and handsome face.
The monitor's beeping roared rapidly again, his breathing growing uneven.
For the first time in years, fear crept into my chest.
"Mommy," Junior yelled when I snatched him from the ground and onto my chest, pressing his face to my chest so Kael wouldn't see it.
"Ly…ra.." he tried to yell, tried to scream, but his voice only came out strangled. "Ly…ra… Lyra." Desperation clutched at each syllable, the monitor roaring nonstop behind me.
I turned for a last glance at him, at the mix of rage, desperation, and confusion that strung his features tight. I could see how much the truth hurts him, but still, I wasn't letting him near my son, even if I had to endure all the guilt in the world.
I pushed the door and raced out of the ward, leaving Nurse Abigail to take care of the very mess I created. I shut my ears to the commotion brewing behind me.