In the Shadows of the Past (MXM)

Waking Up

Chapter 4 - Present - Callum

Something that Richard loved to say to himself was that he had brought his Mate to stay at the Pack's house because he was a Werewolf now, and it would be dangerous if something happened in a Human hospital out of his reach to cover everything.

However, in the same way, that all the members of the Pack, the Dominant wolves, and his family knew that this was a lie, he also understood it in his heart, no matter how much he didn't want to admit it...

He wanted to stay next to Callum twenty-four hours a day if possible, to be the first one he saw when he woke up, or the first one besides him in case the worst happened... Yet, like anything else in life, this was not how things worked.

... When the man who used to be Human woke up, there was no one in the room with him, and he got lost in the immensity of the white ceiling and walls...

He couldn't remember what had happened initially as his body felt heavy after a sleepless night while he tried to understand where he was.

After all, this place was utterly unfamiliar to him, and it didn't even look like a typical hospital despite the machines around him and the IV on his arm that made him try even more to remember what should have happened to him earlier.

... Sitting with difficulty on the bed, nothing made sense in his mind while he just wanted to drink a good glass of water as he felt the dryness in his mouth as if he hadn't consumed anything in days... And little did he know how correct he was about that...

Looking around the room, there was nothing else but the machines attached to his body, a simple sofa which an adult could use to sleep, depending on their size, and a television in front of the bed he was lying on.

... So as he felt his thirst getting worse, he thought about getting up to get something. However, as he tried to get up, this plan just wasn't possible as his legs didn't seem to cooperate with him, but thankfully, it was at that very moment that someone came in...

The woman who wore a typical nurse's uniform and who shouldn't be much younger than him in his mind, appearing to be in her mid-twenties.

In her hands, a pile of papers stole her attention while she absentmindedly entered there, as usual, not thinking too much until her eyes met Callum's when she was going to check the IV.

"Oh, My Goddess! He woke up!" And it was the only thing that left her mouth when he dropped everything in her astonishment. "... Alpha... The Alpha! I need to go call Alpha!"

Completely ignoring Callum, she went on to say, leaving the room while all the man wanted to ask her was for a simple glass of water, and while a sigh escaped his lips, he laid down once more, hoping that someone else would come in soon to help him.

... While he didn't realize how heavy his eyes became again...

"I swear Alpha, Dr. Raylan! He was awake minutes ago!" Waking up for the second time that day, Callum heard the young nurse's voice say, reminding him of the desire for water he had, even if he also wanted to tell her to shut up.

And despite all the difficulty that his body felt at that moment, he soon spoke up, attracting the others' attention to him, and as if they saw a ghost, they looked at him before he recognized a pair of brown eyes...

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That man... I was more than sure that he was Richard.

... But something didn't seem right about him...

He looked older...

... Much older than the last time we met, and it had been not long ago...

His dark hair, which won the stares of all the girls in high school, was now full of white thread that couldn't have appeared there in just a few days.

"Ray... What... What happened to- your hair?" And so, yet struggling, I ended up asking him after the nurse gave me some water that I didn't know from where she had brought it magically here so fast...

But that didn't matter now as I watched my friend run his hand through his hair while he was still staring at me with an expression on his face that I couldn't describe.

"Cal..." In a sad voice, I hear him calling me, bringing me back from my thoughts. "Cal, what is the last thing that you remember?"

And as if those words were an igniter, I suddenly found myself facing thousands of memories that I wanted to be just a terrible dream.

"Ju-Juliana! The kids!" Desperate, I wanted to know where they were while the nurse and the doctor ran to me, stopping me from leaving the bed as he stayed there... Standing with a look on his face that I didn't like at all before he even said anything back to me...