The Alpha's Fallen Princess

Ch. 8: Concussed

(Jakes POV)

We ran to where we heard that explosion as quickly as we could. When I saw April and Alex lying there my heart plummeted to my stomach. As I grew closer, I saw all the blood that seemed to be pouring from a wound on April’s head and panicked.

I mean, there was a LOT of blood. And it all seemed to be April’s.

“Let’s get Alex first so I can get a better look at April.” I told the guys in a calm voice even though I was a frickin mess on the inside. This is something I’m working on with my therapist. The crippling fear that she’s gonna die every time she has even the slightest of injuries.

I’ve even been taking a course to become a paramedic. I’ve been learning how to triage people and I’m certified in CPR. So I know it’s likely that April only sustained a minor head injury.

“We got him.” Austin said as he and Conner gently moved Alex over by several feet, so I could check April over. Thankfully, it looked much worse than it was, so I pulled my shirt off and used it to wipe away some of the blood, then pressed it against the wound firmly to try and stave off the bleeding.

“Aus, hold this for me, will you?” I asked as I turned my attention to Alex. “Sure!” He said, and I moved over to check Alex out and Conner helped me.

Alex seemed fine, just unconscious. He was likely concussed as well, but not as badly. “Help me wake him up, man.” I said to Conner, who began tapping Alex’s cheeks as he said, “Yo man, wake up. No sleepin on the job, dude.”

“Very funny.” I heard Alex reply and smirked before moving back over to check on April again. “What the h*ll happened?” Alex asked as he slowly sat up, rubbing his head.

I listened as Conner told him what had happened but by then Alex was fully conscious. What surprised me was that he showed no concern for April.

Weird.

(April’s POV)

I woke up in the hospital and after looking around to get my bearings, thought to myself, “they oughta just keep a room in reserve for me at this point”.

I heard a wolfy little snort just before Raine spoke. They oughta name an entire wing after you. No! The whole building. Then she laughed. I mean, like, hard! Like borderline hysterical laughing.

Okay, how hard did we hit our head that you’re acting like this? I asked, rolling my eyes. She sobered right up, thank Goddess, before answering, Hard enough. You had a really bad concussion. Once I woke up, it took me hours to heal it.

Raine was a little p*ssy with me these days. While I’ve gotten a lot better about not running headlong into dangerous situations, she still thinks I put my life at risk far too much. And she’s right. I know it and I’m working on it.

Everyone thinks it’s because I think I’m invincible, but they’re wrong. I do it because I want to know I’m human. That I can be beaten. I’m not looking to get myself killed. I just need to know I’m not some sort of inhuman freak.

It’s why the gang has taken to escorting me pretty much everywhere I go. They want me to be safe, sure. But they’re also afraid they might lose me again. It’s a vicious circle for all of us.

It’s also annoying as h*ll and why Ale… Wait! Alex! Is he alright? I asked Raine, figuring she’d have spoken with Max by now. I don’t know, A. He and Max are down the hall but neither are answering my mind-links so they may still be out cold.

That had me concerned. But Max has your healing powers now. How can that be? I was out of bed as I was speaking and removing the IV from my arm in the process.

I don’t know. But he’s not been answering me. Raine said in a quiet voice. Now I understand why she's acting strangely. She's worried. So am I. Which is why I walked out of my room without even getting changed and went to find my mate.

I left my room and sniffed, picking up his scent. Something about it seemed off, but I pushed that concern aside for the moment and followed the scent to his room. When I walked in, Uncle Wyatt leapt to his feet, “April! You’re awake! No one told me, or I’d have come to see you.”

I smiled a little at his concern and caring as I said, “No one really knows. I just woke up, then came to find Alex. How is he?”

As I was speaking, Uncle Wyatt pulled a chair over for me, then helped me over to it. Not that I needed the help, but I didn’t say anything. “How are you feeling, sweetheart? Can I get you anything?”

I just smiled and shook my head a little as I said, “No. Thank you, though.” He nodded as he relaxed back in his chair and picked up the file he’d been reading when I walked in.

“Is that the report on what happened today?” I asked curiously and he nodded again. “Landmine. Those dark elves are really p*ssing me off at this point. They’re smart, though. I’ll give them that much. We’ve got our guys tied up scouring the forest for more mines instead of out looking for them.”

I nodded in agreement as I said, “But we’ll get them. They can’t be as smart as Bart and Jeremy. Or Arsyss, for that matter.”

Bartholomew, or Bart as he likes to be called, is our head scout. He’s in charge of pack security and one of Uncle Wyatt’s Gemma’s. He’s Jeremy’s Dad. He’s known Alex since they were all pups.

Bart's one of the world's best scouts. There are only three others who could rival him. One's dead, one belongs to a neighboring pack we’re allied with, and the other's his own son.

“So is there anything useful in there?” I asked as I made myself more comfortable. “Not really. A lot of stuff we already know about. Though these mines have me a bit perplexed. According to Bart, they’re old school military weaponry. Not the sort of thing we’re told Drow Elves use.”

“I seem to recall reading somewhere that Dark Elves are more war-like than other Elves. Maybe they’ve learned to incorporate human weaponry into their arsenal?” It was a total guess on my part, but it was also the only reason I could think of, too.

“Well, if we knew what they were after, maybe we could figure some of this out.” Uncle Wyatt answered as he sighed, frustrated. “I’m sorry, Uncle Wyatt. If I would've just stayed away, none of this would've happened.”

“Don’t do that, April. No one, myself included, thinks we’d be better off had you not returned. And I certainly don’t blame you for what’s going on, either. For all we know, they would've shown up here anyway. So don’t start blaming yourself for anything. Okay?” His voice was firm and confident. It left no room to question if he was being genuine or not.

Though I also snuck a peek at his thoughts as well. Thankfully, his thoughts were the same as his words. Only his thoughts were actually a more harsh rebuke. What bothered me was that he kept reminding himself that I wasn’t fully back to myself due to my memory issues.

I know they all pity me because of it. I guess it’s what I get for being honest with them all. But a promise is a promise and when I was back on my feet they ganged up on me and made me promise to never keep secrets from them again.

Uncle Wyatt was just about to speak again when Alex groaned and we both turned our attention to him. Max is awake! He’s healing Zander now.

I breathed a sigh of relief from Raines' words before passing them along to Uncle Wyatt, who visibly relaxed. Alex didn’t actually wake up, though, so we sat there quietly talking about a variety of different things for the longest time.

It’s the first time in a very long time that Uncle Wyatt actually seemed to want to be around me. I know he loves me. But over these past five years, he’s pulled so far away from me that sometimes I wonder if we’ll ever get back to where we were before.

(Alex’s POV)

Goddess, my head is pounding. What the h*ll happened to me?

We stepped on a landmine. Max answered my internal question and as I started to become more aware of my situation I realized my ears were ringing loudly. It’s from the concussion. I’m sorry. I’m working on it, but something seems to be throwing me off.

I didn’t understand what he meant by that. What could be throwing him off? Are you alright, buddy? I asked, and he chuckled a little as he said, Yeah, I’m fine. I had a good nap thanks to our dark friends, but I’m fine.

Max was normally good at this stuff. I’m surprised that he’s struggling. It’s been about four years since he gained his healing powers, maybe a little longer. He developed it right after Raine finally woke up.

That was a very difficult time for him, though. He could sense her, but he couldn’t communicate with her in any way. I knew exactly how he felt in that respect. Though he had it doubly rough because he had to go through it twice. Once with April and then with Raine.

These days, being around her isn’t easy for me. We don’t seem to get along very well because she’s always nit-picking everything I do. No she’s not. You’re just touchy because you’re keeping secrets from her, and you’re afraid of her finding out. Max growled.

It was a very touchy topic for him. And one I wished he’d get off my back about, too!

Of course, because he was intruding on my personal thoughts, he heard that, and now he’s no longer healing me at all. And this ringing is driving me bonkers. Come on, man! That’s not fair! You’ve got no business listening to my private thoughts. If you weren’t doing that you wouldn’t be mad right now!

Yeah, actually, I would be. I’m not just mad at your thoughts, Lex. I’m also mad because you keep pushing our mate away. One of these days she just might go, and then where will we be? And if she rejects us, I’ll never forgive you!

Max was now snarling at me. As if she would actually reject us? I mean, we’re a marked pair. A rejection might just kill us. So I highly doubt she would do that. Is that really a chance you wanna take? He said and I had enough of him.

I snubbed him to the back of my mind. If he won’t heal me, then I’ll just suck it up and ride it out. It’s not like I’m a stranger to pain, after all. Besides, I know right where to find some liquid healing.

Right now it was the whispering going on around me that was annoying the h*ll out of me and I gruffly growled, “Goddess! Do you ever shut the f*ck up? I liked you better back when you had to sign everything!”

“Alexander!” My Dad snapped, and my eyes flew open. I didn’t even realize it was him she was whispering to and boy-oh-boy am I regretting it now. “It’s alright, Uncle Wyatt. Leave it alone. I should get back to my own room anyway, before someone sends the Royal Army out looking for me.”

She laughed in an attempt to lighten the mood, but I could sense how hurt she was from what I’d said. As*hole! Max broke through the block to snarl at me, as though I weren’t already feeling like a grade-a pr*ck as it was.

If it weren’t for this stupid f*ckin headache you refuse to heal, I wouldn’t have said that! I bit back. I wasn’t gonna let him blame this all on me. I’m so tired of his bullsh*t anymore. All he does is nag, nag, nag.

“What is wrong with you? She did nothing to deserve that.” My Dad said with a disappointed frown. Honestly? I’m surprised he even noticed she was here. She used to cry about how he was avoiding her all the time. Now she hardly even mentions it, even though nothing has really changed between them.

In fact, according to Max, the day he asked her to call him Uncle Wyatt instead of Poppa Bear was the last time she cried over his sudden need for some distance from her. He’s kept her at arms length ever since. That was about four years ago, now.

As for Max? He’s now shut me out. As if I care if he speaks to me right now. “Look, Dad. I don’t know why you care all of a sudden, but what goes on between me and my mate is none of your business.”

Dad arched a brow in surprise that I’d speak to him that way. “Is that right?” He sounded like that was some sort of challenge. I wasn’t sure how to answer that.

“All I mean is that you’d brook no interference if it was you and Mom.” My Dad sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. He sounded tired. And weary. Very weary.

“You’re right about that, son. I wouldn’t. But the difference is, I’d never speak to your mother that way. She’s my mate. Not some stranger out on the street poking their nose in my business. That girl just hauled her a*s out of a hospital bed of her own and rushed here to see if you were alright…

… I’d think that alone would earn her some sort of appreciation from her loving mate. Unless her mate isn’t so loving anymore. And if that’s the case, then maybe it’s time you two addressed that issue because whatever it is that’s between the two of you is starting to affect the entire pack.” With that said, he got up and started towards the door.

He was about halfway there when he said solemnly, “I’ll go get the nurse.” The hospital staff didn’t like us using mind-links with them, because when they’re in surgery, or something like that, it can be extremely dangerous for the patient. So the general rule is that we refrain from mind-linking unless it’s an emergency.

Though I think he just needed to get away for a few minutes.