When she opened her eyes, it was bright.
So bright, it hurt her eyes.
Wincing, she closed them tight.
Someone said something, she didn’t understand.
They must have noticed her pain.
The light was gone, and she could open her eyes.
She was in a new place.
It was bright, white was everywhere.
Things were going into her arm.
They felt weird.
She was dressed differently, her skin felt strange.
She didn’t know what to think.
All she knew, was that she would wait.
He would come for her.
____
While it took Calli a while to understand who the strangers were, Regina enjoyed the whole exchange. Soon Alexius, the boy, was asleep in his father’s arm, and Meadow, the youngest, was awake.
“Anyways, there was something I needed to ask you two.”
After that, Xander had pulled them into the hall, and an awkward silence filled the room.
Thankfully they came back before it got too bad, but both girls were crying, tears shining in Xander’s own eyes.
‘I have a name for our boy.’
Finally, it had taken too long.
He pulled Regina close, leaning over her shoulder to smile at the boy. His eyes were open, beautiful hazel eyes staring up at his parents.
‘What do you think about the name Richard?’
Richard Cooley. She liked it.
With her nod, Xander took the child, holding him out for the family to see.
“Everyone, I’d like to introduce Richard Oliver Cooley, the newest member of our family!”
Hearing the middle name, Regina teared up while the family cheered. Richard wiggled in his father’s hold, feeding off the excitement.
Once he was back in her mother’s arms, Regina linked Xander.
‘Oliver, for my wild father?’
He smirked; Xander totally knew what he was doing.
‘I figured there wasn’t anyone else I wanted to name him after. Richard was my father’s name, and I wanted you to have something more for your wild family.’
Right then and there, Regina kissed him.
____
They stayed a while at the hospital; Regina was checked out along with Rich. They wanted to all go home, so they waited until the sisters were released. Ruby had malnutrition, and Robin had some broken bones that the doctors were watching.
Still, something was pulling at Regina.
Annoyed with the feeling, she decided to follow the pull. With Richard asleep in her arms, she walked the hospital halls. The staff didn’t even acknowledge her, but she was okay with that. There was something she had to do; she just didn’t know what yet.
After passing room after room, there was one that called to her. Smelling the air, there was something familiar, something she couldn’t quite grasp.
A sudden flashback hit her, from her wild family.
She was playing with her sister; Zoet kept trying to pull on her tail but wasn’t fast enough. Having enough, Zoet tackled her from behind, forcing the two of them to roll down the hill. Under a clear sky, the two laughed until Marielle found them.
Regina shook her head, clearing it from strange memories. There was no reason to cling to those memories; everyone connected to them was long gone. Regina could only move forward.
Stil stopped in front of the room, Regina took a deep breath and opened it.
It was an ordinary hospital room, clean and neat as always. At first, Regina didn’t understand why she felt so drawn to the room. Nothing stood out. Then she saw the person on the bed.
She looked like a skeleton; that was the best way she could describe it. Her hair was blonde, practically white. Her skin was fair, but it was unnaturally pulled over her bones. Her face was thin, cheeks caved in, and collar bone exposed. If not for the heart monitor on the side, Regina would have guessed she was dead.
Ruby said there was another girl in the basement. This had to be here, held under Mathias’s hand for who knows how long. That would explain why she looked so sick. Still, why did she call out to Regina?
‘I feel something from her, weak and dying.’
This was a werewolf hospital; it would fit if this girl was too.
‘No, Regina, there is something else. This isn’t one wolf to another; I think I know her.’
Before Regina could ask Speranza for more details, a woman gently tapped her shoulder.
“Excuse me, miss, but do you know who this person is? We are trying to find her identity, but finger prints and missing persons gave us nothing.”
Regina leaned closer, asking herself why the girl looked familiar.
‘I could ask you the same thing.’
The nurse didn’t answer, and when Regina looked back, she was clutching her notebook to her chest. People always reacted like this, heaving a powerful voice in your head. It got a little annoying, but it was the only way Regina could talk to someone.
“Oh, excuse me! I didn’t mean to freeze on you. Anyway, we don’t know anything, but it isn’t looking good for her. She’s been mistreated for years; her bones are weak, as well as her immune system. Her eyes are sensitive to light, she is having a hard time breathing well on her own, and we have no one to contact. The doctors are worried she’ll die from her abuse.”
‘Regina.’ She blocked out the woman at the urgency in Speranza’s voice. ‘I do know her; her wolf spirit is Zoet.’
Her breath caught, the white wolf from her past coming to her mind. But in her dreams, the wolf was nothing like this. She was happy, bouncing around, and full of energy. That wolf was killed, and if she wasn’t, where had she been this whole time?
‘We finally found her.’
____
Someone was in the room.
She couldn’t open her eyes.
Everything hurt.
Who was there?
Did he come for her?
They were speaking, she couldn’t understand them.
Then a voice entered her head, one she understood.
‘I could ask you the same thing.’
Who was asking?
What did they want to know?
The voice wasn’t the man’s.
It sounded like a girl, but strong.
It made her pain fade away.
It made her smile.
For once, she fell asleep peacefully.
____
Regina’s shock faded as the girl smiled on the bed. It was a smile, just barely a twitch, but it was something. If this really was her sister, what had happened to her?
That day, she had told Zoet to run away; she had stayed to distract the wolves. Had they caught her, or was it a different pack? How did Mathias get his hands on her?
There were too many questions and no one to give answers.
‘Gina!’
Regina settled into the chair, smiling at Xander’s panic.
‘What is it? Everything’s fine.’
‘Where did you go? One second you were here and then-’
‘I found someone very important, just down the hall. The door is open; bring Atta.’
She could tell her Fated wanted to ask more, but the link was closed. Minutes later, he fell into the room, a boyish smile on his face.
“Why did you, who is she?”
Regina shrugged, waiting until Atta entered the room.
“This was the girl they found with Ruby.”
‘Yes, and she’s my sister, my wild pack sister.’
The two men looked down at the bed where the girl hadn’t moved. The smile was gone; she was back to being a skeleton.
“What happened? Are you sure? I mean, it was such a long time ago; how can you be sure?”
‘I just know Xan; Speranza feels her wolf. Atta, is it possible for a wolf to die?’
Her father rubbed his beard, his typical thinking position.
“I’ve heard but never seen anything. Some say that a wolf spirit dies from being hidden; if they don’t shift, the wolf part of them dies. I heard that this happens to people who never knew they were werewolves in the first place, and they live on because they don’t know what they lost.”
“But for a werewolf who knows who they are, the wolf dying can be dangerous. If her wolf is dying, in her condition, she would most likely follow.”
With the hand that wasn’t holding Richard, Regina grasped her sister’s hand. It was cold; she could feel every little bone. It felt like she could shatter the hand from holding it too tightly. It scared her, how fragile she was, the idea of her dying.
‘How do we-’
Atta shook his head, cutting her off.
“I don’t know as I said, this is just from what I’ve heard. Thetas would know more; Polo is still here, and I’ll go get him if you want.”
Regina nodded, and her father was gone.
Xander stood behind his Fated, watching as she watched the girl. How funny, they had both found family on this mission. But while his was a long-awaited happy reunion, Regina wasn’t prepared for this.
‘What do I do, Xan?’
For once, her voice shook, showing how weak she really was. Without her Royal strength, Regina was just an average person.
He knelt in front of her, tilting her head away from her sister.
“Right now, you care for yourself. The doctors will work on her; there isn’t much you can do. Be by her side, and wait.”
Tears fell from her eyes as she let out a laugh.
‘Wait, how I hate that word. I’m nothing like Julian.’
They shared a smile, Xander kissing her as the Theta entered the room.
“Come on, guys, you don’t have to rub it in!”
Xander hid a smile as the older man pouted. It was strange; he was large and bulky with a frown and puppy eyes. They probably made Clyde do whatever the twins wanted.
“Never mind us or your loneliness Polo, we have some questions.”
Once the situation was explained, Polo’s happy face went gloomy.
“I have to be honest, guys, this isn’t a good situation for her. A weak body, spirit, and most likely mind, I don’t think anyone could survive this.”
Xander held Regina’s waist, watching as she jerked to her sister.
“I have never actually helped someone with a dying wolf. I’ve heard that finding the wolf’s mate can help or connecting them to their family. But since we don’t even know who she is, I would suggest you enjoy the time you have with her.”
He left soon after, Regina didn’t leave her sister’s side. Xander got up, getting supplies, food and talking to his sisters. If what Polo said was true, she couldn’t afford to leave. Time was running out, and she had no idea what to do.
____
Her hand was warm.
She was warm.
She could feel the pillow and blankets.
The sunlight blinded her with her eyes closed.
But the person never left.
She heard talking.
Sometimes there were two, even three.
Even crying.
She was confused.
He wasn’t coming.
Where was he?
Who was the person?
Why weren’t they leaving?
____
Eventually, it was time to go.
Regina was torn. Everyone was in good condition; Rich was healthy, and the sisters were healing. But there was no improvement on the girl with the white hair. She was motionless, not a twitch or a smile. The doctors said she was okay. Regina didn’t believe them.
If she was fine, she would be healing.
Regina didn’t want to leave her. They said she was so frail, traveling all the way home could kill her. The girl lacked so many nutrients and vitamins, her bones could break with any large bump in the road.
The girls wanted to go home, completely understandable, and Xander was going to follow. But Regina couldn’t. This was her sister, who had been alone for who knows how long. She couldn’t leave her alone now.
Xander wasn’t saying anything.
“How long do you think you want to stay, Luce?”
She didn’t have an answer, the family knew that.
Mavis and Atta shared a look and then smiled.
“We trust you, Luce. Stay as long as you need, and we will take care of Mary. Don’t you worry.”
They stood, embracing Regina and stepping away. Sergio stayed still, keeping his promise to never leave his Royal Wolf.
Xander was staring at his hands; Regina didn’t know what he was going to do.
“I love you, you know that, right?” He stood, kneeling down at her chair, so they were face to face. “I would never leave you; I want to be at your side. But I need to go home with my sisters.”
‘I know, I love you, Xander.’
He left, Richard staying with his mother. Regina stayed at the bedside, observing as the young woman’s chest slowly rose and fell. That was her only security, the only thing that made her feel like something was going to change.
Xander drove away, feeling the pull to his Fated stretching. They hadn’t been this far apart in years; it felt off; his wolf didn’t like it. But being able to see his sisters in the mirror and at his side, he wasn’t sure how else he could have done this. Ruby hadn’t let go of his hand in the whole drive.
A couple of days later, they pulled into the packhouse, a young woman standing on the porch with a girl at her side. Then a whole army came out, Regina’s family expecting her to be home. He would have to tell them that she was still states away.
Aisha was at the front, Mary bouncing at her side. Though she was young, her wolf could feel the connection. He ripped the door open, kneeling down to catch his baby girl.
“Xixi! I missed you, Xixi!”
Because Nora and Sammy had called him that, Mary started also. She also called Regina Gigi, but she said she loved it. It made her unique, Regina had said.
“My little baby, were you good for Auntie Aisha?”
She nodded, Xander, looking up to see Aisha smiling down. Xander picked up the girl, giving Aisha a side hug.
“She was a little angel until she got too hyperactive or had bad dreams. We had a bunch of fun, didn’t we, Mary Berry?”
The girl giggled, spilling what had happened for the past several weeks into her father’s ear. With all her aunts, uncles, and cousins, the girl wasn’t alone this whole time, but it wasn’t the same as her parents.
“Xander, where’s Regina?”
Riley came out, baby Andy in her arms. That’s when Mary realized that her mother wasn’t there.
“Gigi isn’t here?”
Xander’s heart broke at her voice, her sad puppy eyes looking around the area.
“Don’t worry, Gigi is safe.” He looked up at Regina’s family, worry shining in their eyes. “Now we just have to wait.”
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