Filed to story: Cara Nelson The Guardian: Werewolf Book PDF Free
I put the to-go boxes in his lap and turn back to the kitchen omega to get a carafe of coffee. “Here you go sir.”
I turn to head back into the dining room. “Thank you Alpha.” Mr. Nelson says to me.
“Please, call me Rik.” He nods and rolls out of the pack house, headed back to my girl.
The next time I wake up, not only do I feel stronger, but I have a minute where Artemis is forward. She let’s me know that she’s countering the venom but it will be another week before she’s back to full strength, but she has effectively eliminated his mark from our neck. The bruises will take longer as she has been focusing on healing other things first.
When I open my eyes, Lacey, Jason and my father are in the room. Dad’s attention immediately snaps to me. “Honey, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”
“I’m better. Artemis says she’s winning the battle of the venom and that Eli’s mark is gone. Is that true?” I pull the hospital gown to the side and see everyone’s eyes go wide. Lacey jumps up, pushing my neck to one side before pushing it to the other, and pulling the other side of my gown away from my body. “Oh my goddess! Your wolf is amazing! All the marks are gone!”
“Wait. ALL the marks? How many were there?”
They all look at each other uncomfortably. It’s my dad that answers my question. “Honey, you had multiple puncture wounds on both sides of your neck. It appears he was trying to put as much of his venom into your system as possible to force your body to shut down so he could cement the mate bond.”
I’m shocked, although I shouldn’t be. “I’ll remember to tell Artemis how awesome she is then.”
I ask about what has happened in my absence, how they found me and I listen as they fill me in on all the details, Liam’s and Rik’s roles in helping to find me and bring me home.
My dad leaves to go get me some real food from the packhouse. I take the opportunity to ask Lacey and Jason what has been weighing on my mind. I’m a bit surprised to hear that Liam and Rik played such a central role in my return but I haven’t seen either one of them. I know they are busy, but I thought that Rik at least, after everything that happened, would have come by.”
They look at each other. 1/
“What?” I ask.
It’s Jason that responds. “Well, your dad may have gone all Guardian on them.” “Yeah,” Lacey picks up the conversation, “They apparently had some sort of pissing match in your room and your dad kicked them out and told them they weren’t allowed to come back.”
Jason jumps back in, “Yeah and that if they wanted to get to you, they’d have to go through him.” He says with awe in his voice.
I don’t know what to say. First, that whatever happened between Rik and Liam in my room seems to be similar to what happened in school on the day Liam brought the bear. And that my dad got all protective and basically pulled rank on two Alphas.
“Alpha Anders didn’t say anything?”
“Nope, he gloated that his old Guardian was back. Did you know that your dad is training warriors?”
“What?? What else did I miss?”
Lacey responds, “You mean besides the fact that your father is trying to kill us all with his ridiculous training? I’ve never been so sore in my entire life.”
I’m laughing when my dad and Dr. Harris walk in. “Well, that’s a great sign.” Dr. Harris says seeing me laughing.
“Hi doc. So, what’s the verdict? When do I get to leave?”
He begins checking over vitals and nurse notes. He looks back up at me. “You and Artemis are pretty amazing. I can’t believe that you are healing so well. At this rate, I think you can leave tonight.”
I am so excited. I don’t want to spend another minute in bed. I need to be outside. smelling fresh air, sleeping in my own bed, healing in my own home. “What do I have to do?” I ask.
“I need to take some more blood and I need you to eat a full meal.”
“Deal. What are you looking for in my blood?”
“We’re checking to see how Artemis is doing getting rid of the venom.”
“She told me it’s working and that the marks are gone.”
Yeah,” Lacey interrupts, “Look at her neck, doc. It’s still bruised but the puncture wounds are all gone.”
Dr. Harris checks my neck on both sides and seems very happy with what he’s seeing or isn’t seeing. “Ok, let me get this blood work run, eat the dinner your father brought, and I’ll see about getting you out of here.”
I’m actually famished and easily finish the food dad has brought me. It’s better than the nasty, boring food from last night. After eating I feel even stronger, so when Dr. Harris returns, I’m ready to get released.
“Okay,” he tells Dad and I, “I’m going to release you, but you must come back tomorrow for more blood work and maybe on Thursday as well. We’ll see how tomorrow goes.
Lacey stays to help me get changed as Dad goes to get the car and Jason heads off to afternoon warrior training. I look at Lacey. “Won’t you be in trouble for missing training?”
She gives me a devious smile. “Nope. When your dad banned Alpha Rik from your room, he gave us a free pass to miss as long as we were here with you and provide him updates on your progress.”
I stop mid-way pulling my shirt over my head and get stuck with my head and arms inside as I take in what she said. “Wait. Alpha Rik said you could miss training to be with me?”
– we fill him in on
Lacey helps me get untangled as she replies. “Yep. As long your status every hour, which we have done, even overnight.”
I stare at her. “So, he really means it. He was really staking a claim?”
“Yeah, he’s your…” She stops abruptly, her brow furrowing. She opens her mouth a couple more times and looks like a fish out of water before she finally rolls her eyes and says, “Yes, he means it. He’s very serious Cara. You need to know that before you see him again.”
“Good to know. And I won’t be seeing him until Dad agrees to let him see me, right?”
“That’s what I hear. I wasn’t actually in the hospital when it all went down, but Jason was, and I trust him as a source. But I also heard it from several others, and it was the same, so, yeah.”
I finish getting ready and then follow Lacey out to the room where a nurse is waiting with a wheelchair. “Is that necessary?” I ask her.
“Sorry, hospital rules.” I sigh but sit in the chair.
As we leave the room, there are several warriors from both Canyon Ridge and Shadow Falls packs. They gather in two lines on either side of the walkway cheering me on as I leave the hospital. I’m stunned. I had no idea this many people were here waiting to see how I am doing.
Just before we exit through the automatic sliding doors, I ask the nurse to turn me around to face the crowd. “Thank you all, so much. I really appreciate all of your support, and I’ll be back to fighting strength in no time.”
A cheer goes up as the nurse turns me back around and helps me into dad’s van. As we pull away, and head home, I see Rik standing near the packhouse, watching. I lock eyes with him and I lift my hand in a wave. He smiles and lifts his hand back as we pass by.
Ilaaleat mu fathar “our long before you lift the ban on Liam and Rik?”