Chapter 12: Audrey's POV / Elizabeth's POV
2579 Words
Elizabeth has been unconscious for a few hours. After she passed out, no one could touch her because her body was too hot. We had to wrap her in cold, wet towels and that's how we got her body to cool down. The heat radiating from her body burned half of the table and chairs, as well as a part of the wall in the meeting room. Susan and I are still shocked, but we're now convinced more than ever that Elizabeth is not human.
"Hey Mike, is she awake yet", I said as I entered her hospital room.
We all stayed with Elizabeth for a while after she got to the hospital, but Alpha Gideon had to leave after a while to go deal with pack matters relating to today's attack and Jonathan left to plan how to rescue Sebastian, Mathew and the rest of the kidnapped people. He was also trying to figure out what kind of magical creature Elizabeth is. Susan asked for a room to rest following all of today's events and Elder Anaia was sitting by a corner in the hospital room. She and Mike hadn't left Elizabeth’s side.
Mike shook his head despondently after hearing my question.
"I brought you guys some sandwiches, snacks and drinks", I said as I handed Mike and Elder Anaia some food.
"Thank you, dearie", Elder Anaia said. Mike didn't touch his food. He was just clutching at Elizabeth’s hand and stroking it.
"You're a very powerful seer, luna", Elder Anaia suddenly said.
"I think you're mistaken. I don't even know how to use my gift", I said as I sat down next to her.
"And yet, it is because of your gift that you tried to help your friend here and met your mate. I'd say that's not too bad", Elder Anaia said.
"If you put it that way, I guess it's not that bad at all", I said to Elder Anaia. "My grandmother told me powerful seers can see the past, present and future as it unfolds. Is that what you see, Elder Anaia?"
"Oh no, I'm nowhere near that powerful", Elder Anaia said to me. "Most of my visions appear in the form of symbols. It takes a whole lot of deciphering to understand what I've been shown, and whether I've been shown the past, present or future."
"That sounds kind of difficult to navigate", I said to Elder Anaia.
"It's not as difficult to handle as the visions seen by the seer who lives with the others here on the pack grounds", Elder Anaia said as she ate her sandwich.
"What do you mean?", I asked with a confused look.
"Well this pack has two seers. Me and a young mother named Esther. Esther had a vision of the first attack launched by the witches against our pack. In her vision, she saw her pack members die and get kidnapped and saw her mate and the former luna die. She was crying for weeks. She couldn't sleep, she couldn't eat. She was plagued by all the suffering she was seeing. All the while, this suffering hadn't even happened yet. No one could comfort her, not even her mate."
Elder Anaia continued telling me about this other seer.
"Of course, she told the alpha and luna of every little thing she saw. The pack was able to prepare for the incoming attack. But that wasn't enough to save us."
"Why wasn't it enough?", I asked Elder Anaia with shock evident in my voice.
"You see, we can prepare all we want to fight the witches, but so long as they can use their spells on us, we're sitting ducks. Everyone realised that when the pack first got attacked, Elder Anaia said. "We lost 106 pack members during that battle. Had it not been for Esther's vision, we would have lost so many more."
"So she was able to help?", I asked as I moved my chair closer to Elder Anaia's.
"Well, yes, but she also had to experience the death of her friends and family, her luna and even her mate, twice. Not many people can survive pain of that magnitude once, let alone surviving it for a second time."
I gulped. "Elder Anaia, can I ask when this all happened?", I asked her.
"It happened five years ago. That's when this pack lost their beautiful luna." Elder Anaia was wiping a tear from her eye. I held her hand.
"And how's Esther doing?", I asked her.
"How about you find that out for yourself, luna? Perhaps speak to her as one seer to another. I think the two of you can help one another", she said as she squeezed my hand.
"I'll do that. Thank you, Elder Anaia", I said as I squeezed her hand back.
"It's my pleasure, luna. Sometimes I need to break some rules and interfere with pack affairs. This right here is one of those times", she said with a chuckle. "Now, how about you get closer to your friend's bed. She's about to wake up."
Elder Anaia then called for one of the nurses and asked to be led back to the house of elders.
"Wait, you should stay elder Anaia", I said as she was about to leave.
"My job is done here, luna. I must go back to my home now."
I gave her a hug and then rushed over to Mike who was still holding Elizabeth’s hand and stroking it.
"Hey Mike, you should mindlink Alpha Gideon and Jonathan. Elder Anaia said Elizabeth is about to wake up. You should tell them to bring Susan too."
Mike's eyes turned foggy for a few seconds and then he went back to stroking the back of Elizabeth’s hand.
When Jonathan stepped inside the room, he immediately walked in my direction. He embraced me in his arms and I nuzzled my nose in the nook of his neck. He pressed his body hard against me and I couldn't help but release a small moan from my mouth. I could feel him getting harder and that made me release another small moan.
"You and I need to make time and get better acquainted as mates, Audrey", he said with a low seductive growl.
I chuckled. "I couldn't agree more", I said while my hands were holding his back tighter. He inhaled my scent deeply and then tilted my chin upwards. "I don't want you going anywhere without assigned guards. Please, it will make me feel better with all this going on."
I sighed. "I told you I can protect myself. I don't need it."
Jonathan groaned at me.
"Please, baby; just do it for me", he said. I reluctantly nodded my head.
I started feeling Jonathan's hardness press up against my belly button. I wanted to sit on his lap and rub myself against it. Alpha Gideon and Susan's entrance into the hospital room snapped me from my dirty thoughts.
"Is she awake yet?", Alpha Gideon said as he barged inside.
Mike stood up while holding Elizabeth’s hand. "Not yet, Alpha."
We all grabbed a seat and sat around her hospital bed. Jonathan put me in his lap and I could feel his hardness in between my legs. I almost started grinding on him and it took all my willpower to just sit still in his lap.
"Come on Liz, it's time to wake up now", Mike said softly.
"Liz?", Susan asked Mike with a confused look.
"I decided I'm going to call her "Liz" from now on. I think it suits her more", Mike said.
Susan gave him a light smile.
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Elizabeth's POV
I woke up to a bright light shining in my face and the sound of beeping machines. It looked like a bunch of people were staring at me. I couldn't be sure because this bright light made it impossible for me to open my eyes properly.
"What happened?", I said in a raspy voice. Someone brought a straw near my mouth and I started sipping cool water while Jonathan answered me.
"You passed out, Elizabeth" Jonathan said. "The doctors say your body temperature got too high for you to withstand it and that's why you passed out."
I just groaned. I was still struggling to open my eyes because of the blinfing light shining in my face.
I heard someone open the door and enter the room.
"How are you feeling, Elizabeth? I'm Dr Smith. You can call me Joanne", I heard a woman say.
"Uhm, I'm good Joanne, except for this blinding white light that's shining in my face. Do you mind removing it? I can't see a damn thing", I said to her.
I felt the person holding my hand start to tense up.
"Elizabeth, there is no light shining in your face right now. I'm going to open your eyes and examine them. Is that okay?", Joanne asked. I nodded my head.
I was starting to get scared but then I heard a familiar voice in my head.
Just breathe, the voice said. I started taking deep and slow breaths and tried calming down.
I felt Joanne lift my eyelids and heard her gasp and take a hurried step away from me.
"What's wrong?", I heard Mike yell.
"I'm so sorry. Uhm, her eyes are gold", I heard Joanne say. "Her irises are gold and well, there's definitely some heat coming from them. It even looks like there are flames in there. I've never seen anything like it. Elizabeth, has this ever happened to you before?"
"No, my eyes are dark brown and they've never turned gold before", I said as I squeezed the hand that was holding me."Try examining them again. The bright white light seems to be disappearing."
She lifted my eyelids again. The blinding white light was completely gone now and I could see Dr Smith's flash light shining into my eyes.
"Still the same gold flames", Dr Smith said with a curious smile. "Well, at least I can see now. I was afraid I had turned blind", I said with a relieved sigh.
The room was quiet for a moment, but then Dr Smith broke the silence.
"Elizabeth when Beta Mike brought you here, you were wrapped in wet towels, but his skin was still burning because of the heat coming from your body. You had a body temperature of 84°C and this was after you body had been cooled down. To put things into perspective, humans can't survive body temperature of more that 50°C. Beta Mike was able to carry you because his wolf kept healing him as his skin was burning off."
I looked at Mike with concerned and tearful eyes. He was holding my hand and just smiling at me.
"Mike, I'm so sorry I hurt you", I said to him with tears in my eyes.
"You could never hurt me, Liz", Mike said. "I promise you I didn't even feel a thing. I just wanted to make sure you were alright."
I gave him a tearful smile. "My mom calls me 'Liz'. I like that", I said to him. "Uhm, did I hurt anyone else?"
"No, but you did burn down half of my meeting room", Alpha Gideon said with a chuckle.
"Alpha Gideon, you didn't mention this before. Her body would need to release heat of approximately 600°C for that meeting room to start burning. You don't know how lucky you are to be alive, Elizabeth!", Dr Smith said with a voice filled with shock.
"Are her eyes going to be okay?", Audrey asked as she reached for my hand.
"It seems her vision is fine for now, but I don't know how they changed colour", Dr Smith responded. "We'll run some tests and hopefully find out more."
"Thank you, Joanne. Do you mind giving us some time to talk to Elizabeth privately?", Jonathan said.
"Of course. Elizabeth, I'll be back to check on you later. I want to keep you overnight for some observations", Dr Smith said as she left the room.
As soon as Dr Smith left the room, everyone stood up and started inspecting my eyes.
"Oh my gosh, I can definitely feel heat coming from your eyes. How are you doing that?", Susan said.
"I don't know, but I think I know how to find Mathew and hopefully even find Sebastian and the others", I said to her.
This got everyone's attention and they sat back down in their chairs.
"Did you come up with a plan?", Jonathan asked while rubbing Audrey's back.
"I had a dream while I was unconscious", I said in a shaky voice. I knew I was going to sound like a crazy person, but I am certain that that wasn't just an ordinary dream. "In the dream, I saw a golden path stretching a couple of kilometers from this pack. It went all the way into the forest and ended near a cave. I think that's where we'll find Mathew."
"There aren't any caves anywhere near the pack. The nearest cave is more than 300km from here. Are you sure?" Alpha Gideon said.
"I can't be sure of anything", I said to him. "There's a voice in my head that's telling me I need to hurry and follow this path."
"A voice?", Alpha Gideon with a shocked voice. "Elizabeth, I can't put my men's lives in danger just because you had a dream and heard some voice in your head. We're going to need a bit more than that".
"Maybe she's a seer! Maybe that's why she had this dream", Audrey said.
"But she's not though. We would've scented her they same way we scented you. All we know is that whatever is in her is destructive and could've killed this pack's future luna", Alpha Gideon said almost angrily.
"Dad, you're not thinking straight!", Jonathan said, trying to calm down his dad.
"No, Jonathan he's right", I said as I interrupted him. "I put all your lives in danger. I put this pack in danger and we still don't know what I am. What if I'm evil?"
"Elizabeth, magical creatures choose to be good or evil and you are not evil. We just need to ALL calm down and figure this out", Audrey said sternly.
"Dad, we can take a small number of our warriors and follow this path Elizabeth saw", Jonathan said before I could respond.
Alpha Gideon gave a deep sigh.
"Okay, I will allow a few of my warriors to accompany you, Elizabeth", Alpha Gideon replied.
"Alpha Gideon, Jonathan, I would like to be one of the men to accompany her please", Mike said.
Alpha Gideon looked enraged by this request.
"Mike, you are this pack's future beta. I can't let you do that, son", Alpha Gideon said.
"Dad, Mike and I WILL be one of the people going with Elizabeth. You heard what Elder Anaia said", Jonathan said as he stood up.
"I'll be coming as well", Audrey said as she stood up from Jonathan's lap.
"And so will I", Susan said.
"Son, you, Audrey and Mike are the future of this pack. You can't just go on reckless missions. Please son, I already lost your mother. I can't lose you too", Alpha Gideon said with teary eyes.
"Dad, you won't lose me. We need to help Elizabeth. I will come back to you and to my pack", Jonathan said while hugging his dad.
- Writer
