Chapter 7: How Much Longer?
Chapter 7: How Much Longer?
Alpha King Caspian's POV:
"I will be swift in my examination yet thorough," she stated as she was standing there in front of me. "I will call you back in when I am finished."
I could not shake the feeling that my mind was spinning. I did not know how to react to what was going on right now. Without another word, I turned and headed toward the door. I could not help the growl that was emitting from my throat as I walked out and closed the door behind me. I was not sure as to the extent of her injuries but I knew that they were not good, as to how I originally found her earlier that morning. I did not know what to think next, so I started to pace back and forth in the hallway. It did not seem to be all that busy that morning, so there were not a lot of people walking in the hallway other than the other Aides who were working that morning. As I continued to pace up and down the hall, I would look over at my Beta who was standing guard at the entrance of my suite, as he did not move other than occasionally looking over at me, then back to his forward position back across the hall.
All of a sudden, the door to my suite opened gently, causing me to almost jump out of my own skin. Well, I was not expecting the examination to be concluded that soon it seemed. Technically, it was about 10 minutes later while I was in the hallway, but it seemed like an eternity with every passing second that I had to wait for an explanation as to what I was going to be informed about. I swiftly walked over to the doctor who stood just outside the door now as the other Aides walked out of the room pushing their trays back to where it was they had come from. I watched the Aides for a moment, then looked down at the doctor and waited for her to speak. My thoughts were going a million places and I wanted to know what the verdict was.
'Mate? What happened to Mate?' (Cash asked nervously.)
"Well?" I asked without wanting to wait another moment for the condition of our mate. "How bad is her condition? What is the news about my Mate?!"
"Your mate?" the doctor said in a hushed tone, shocked as she looked up at me from the clipboard she was reading in her hands, as it was obvious that she did not like my expression as to her reaction. "Forgive me, Your Highness, I mean no disrespect. What I mean to say is, I am pleased to hear that you have found your mate. However, I will give you grave news."
'How could she not know that she was Mate? Who else would we be carrying into our room?' (Cash asked interruptedly.)
'Patience Cash. I am sure she did not mean for it to come across like that.' (I responded.)
"What do you mean by that last statement?" I asked her, without wanting to wait another moment for her to continue.
"What I mean is, she is very weak," she started to say before she continued again. "These next 24 hours will be crucial. Mind you, I have her hooked up to a few different machines. I need you to try to control your wolf when you first lay eyes on her. He would not like the matter of seeing her in that state. However, it is crucial that she remains hooked up to the leads that I have her on. One is a heart monitor so I can monitor her heart rate. Her pulse is very weak due to her frail current condition. She seems to have been starved and her muscle tone is very minimal and extremely weak. She has numerous lacerations and several broken bones, although I will not know how many until I get an x-ray to determine that number. However, I want to wait for those until I have had a chance to get some fluids into her. She is extremely dehydrated on top of her other conditions."
'If it is for Mate, then I will try to do what is necessary.' (Cash responded to her previous statement.)
'You mean our Mate?' (I asked, responding to Cash, as his statement was a bit annoying.)
"What other conditions could she have possibly had other than her current broken bones, no muscle tone, and her lack of hydration?" I asked, extremely confused as I could not believe there was more I had yet to hear about as if that was not enough for her to already have gone through up to this point.
"Well, this is just a guess, Your Highness, but from what I can tell," she started to say at first and then took a brief pause. "She seemed as if she was made to suffer through a variety of elemental changes. She is showing signs of being through some extreme weather or forced to be placed in some extreme weather conditions. I am a bit confused by all of that due to the fact that the weather we have here is pretty fair all year long."
"Elaborate on what kind of weather conditions you think she was being subjected to," I said in a bit of a question, as a low growl started to be emitted from deep within my throat.
"Well," she started to say and then paused once again, almost as if she did not believe what she was going to say, but continued anyway. "She shows possible signs of being in some hypothermic conditions, meaning extremely cold conditions as to the condition of the burned lesions that I found on the bottom of her feet. Then, in other locations, different parts of her show that she has been through places in an extremely heated environment. I am not sure how that could be unless she was placed in a freezer or in a heated oven."
At that moment, I could not help myself as there was a growl that finally broke free from my mouth. That one growl was sent echoing down the hallways in the Imperial Clinic and when it did, it shook the very walls. The doctor even took a step back at that moment, for fear that my wolf was going to break free and break something when he did. I then closed my eyes, trying to gain control over my emotions. I had to think as to what was best for our mate at that point. She needed me to be strong for her, now when she wasn't strong at all. I did not want to leave her side, not even to deal with those who were responsible at that moment. However, tomorrow will be a new day, and our Mate had better live to see another day. I did not want to think about what would happen if she did not make it through the night.
"Will she make it through the night?" I started to ask, as I was in a bit of shock at hearing all of this news. "Will she ever wake up?"
"Only time will tell, Your Highness," she said as she took a step forward toward me once again before she said her final statement before she started to walk away. "However, tonight is going to be a very long night for you both. It would be good if you took this time to get something to eat. I have a feeling that you will be here for a while. If you would like, I can have one of the Aides bring you something to your liking.
I nodded to her and then she finally walked away toward the Aid Station. Then I slowly walked toward the open doorway that led into my suite. Once I walked into the room, I paused a moment before I walked around the corner to where I could view the bed. I knew what Cash was able to do. Even at the best of times, he would break through the barrier and go off on a tangent to deal with individuals who certainly had it coming. Considering my mental state, that is not what I wanted to happen. I then took a deep breath and turned around and closed the door behind me. I took another deep breath and let it out slowly before I let go of the door handle and turned back around.
Once I turned around, I reached for the handle of the bathroom which was right there, and walked inside. I left the door open as I placed my hands on the sink. I turned on the warm water and started to splash my face a bit to try to calm down a bit. Then I turned off the water and looked at myself in the mirror before I stood back up again. I was trying to control my thoughts. I did not want to think about what would happen if things went badly. I needed her to get through the night and see how she was in the morning. But, the question remained. What was she going to look like when I walked around the corner now?
I wiped my face off before I turned to walk back into the room. I went around the corner, just standing there. I couldn't believe the sight before my very eyes. Will she be okay?!