Chapter 156

Elena POV

Time passed based on the light coming in from the only window in my room. I knew the rays of dawn, the brightness of noon, the fires of dusk, and the silver of moonlight at night.

Everything else was a guessing game.

I've never been allowed a clock or a calendar. I tried to count days by marking them on the wall beside my bed, but they just painted over my marks on one of the days they took me for their tests.

'Tests' were supposed to determine how safe I would be in normal society, but they consisted of a series of random questions I couldn't follow with all the drugs in my system.

Every time they asked me something I knew there was a right answer and a wrong answer. I just couldn't make my mind identify which was which so I played the part of a mute after a while.

If I didn't speak at all, they didn't give me more drugs. I was given a little more autonomy. I was left with books to read and, for a time, paper to write on.

I learned writing was a bad habit, too.

They read every word I wrote. They analyzed the thoughts I spilled onto the paper I thought would keep my secrets and they medicated me for those words.

It has been years since I last wrote words to be used against me and more years since I last spoke aloud.

"Elena Campbell-Flores?" came a voice from my door.

Turning my head to look at the sound, I had to take a few minutes to determine what I was hearing. Was I hallucinating? Had my mind finally snapped for real? Was I now the madwoman they claimed me to be?

"Elena, are you in there?" asked the person on the other side of the door.

A woman!

I realized the voice belonged to a woman and breathed out a sigh which was expressed as a groan.

It had been so, so long since I'd said anything. Could I speak to her? Could I answer?

"Ngh," I tried, my tongue thick and foreign in my mouth.

"Elena?" she called again, "Try again for me!"

Stumbling to my feet, I swayed from the cocktail of medication they kept me on to ensure my compliance. My feet shuffled me forward to the door and I slapped my palms against it partially to signal I was here and partially because I needed the door's support to remain standing.

"There you are," she said, "Good! I'm going to get the door open. Stand back."

I made a sound as loud as I could to agree, to understand, to demonstrate I was still here, alive and fighting even through the haze of hateful drugs meant to keep me suppressed.

The door burst open all at once, banging into the opposite wall where the knob sank into the drywall. I smiled at the dust floating away from it. I couldn't believe how good it felt to see a little destruction to this Hell which had been my prison for so long.

The woman who had come for me was human-looking. She was startlingly beautiful, but petite. Her expression was fierce, making me believe she was used to fighting in her life.

Cocking my head to the side, I felt the curtain of my hair fall away from my face and blinked in surprise at her gasp.

"I'm sorry! You just---you look like you could be Rachel's sister. Goddess. Her twin. You're her mother?" she asked.

I smiled in spite of myself. It had been too many years to count since I had last seen my reflection. I'd thought my body surely must have aged alongside my mind.

Nodding 'yes,' I gestured to the door and gave her my best questioning sound.

"There's too much iron for me to shift us out of here with a slide. We're going to have to use a portal. Here," she said, "My name is Justice. I'm from the Alpha Council. You hold onto my waist."

Stumbling to her, I wrapped both arms around her waist and she proved to be surprisingly sturdy as she bore up my weight. Justice threw a stone at the wall I'd been leaning on before; a portal opened to a white room I had never seen before.

"Okay, here we go, Elena. Hold on tight," Justice said.

I held onto her as she walked us through the open portal. It didn't feel any different than walking through a door. Justice made sure I was able to stand on my own before turning and picking up the stone she'd thrown. She pocketed it into a pouch on her waist, unimpressed by the fact the portal vanished as suddenly as it had appeared.

I looked around in confusion because I could tell we were in a lobby somewhere. I just couldn't imagine where Justice would have taken me with so much white and such a clean smell. Everything was shockingly sterile---like a hospital.

"Ho-ho-hos-" I tried, frowning in frustration as my vocal cords refused to move the way they were meant to for sound to come out.

"Hospital," Justice agreed, nodding, "Yes, Elena. I brought you to Our Blessed Goddess Medical Center. I figured you needed to be checked out then you might want to see your kiddos, right? I'm a mom, too. I know I'd want to see my babies as soon as I could."

Justice helped me shuffle my way to the desk where she explained I had been held captive -yet didn't say where or for how long- and required emergency care. She insisted on a wheelchair as well as immediate action.

As soon as she showed her sigil from the Alpha Council, things began to happen very fast.

I was helped into a wheelchair and taken away for a barrage of questions I couldn't answer and I was stuck multiple times as they drew my blood for test after test.

They kept telling Justice what they were doing to me as if she needed to be informed more than I did.

I was largely ignored once they realized I couldn't -or wouldn't- speak to them.

"We've got fluids going into her now, but it will be a few hours before we have all the results we'll need to determine what cocktail she's been dosed with if we're able to determine it at all," the doctor said, sounding as if he were apologizing to Justice for the inconvenience.

"I've got to check in with Art. How about you tell me what you can do for her? Why can't she speak? Is that from the dehydration or the drugs or was she injured?" Justice asked, gesturing for the doctor to elaborate on his answer at any time.

I was interested in his answers. He said a lot about dehydration and lack of use of the cords. There were evidently many ways to injure the vocal cords, but wolfen kind healed so fast they shouldn't have remained injured. I should be able to speak.

Swallowing against my dry mouth, I tried, "H-h-huh?"

The word didn't make much sense, but it was close to a real word. It was much closer than I thought I would get. I was interested in trying again.

There was so much I wanted to say! Would I be able to speak? Would I heal? Did I need to heal?

"Try some water," the doctor urged, nodding to a nurse who brought me a pitcher and a tiny cup.

Water was a precious commodity in the asylum. I was allowed two glasses a day: one at breakfast and one at night with evening meal.

They controlled how much I was allowed to eat, too. If I were to grow too strong for them, they'd lose their edge over me. I was an Alpha she-wolf and they were humans. They had to use every advantage they could to keep me ground down.

I drank my cup of water and the nurse moved to offer me another. I was startled by the gesture, dropped the cup and fell to my knees as I tried to retrieve it.

So much happened all at once for me. I didn't have enough water in my body to cry. All I could think about was retrieving their cup and trying to get another drink.

Kneeling beside me, the nurse shushed me, "Shh, shh, shh! It's okay! I've got another cup. They're paper. They're just throwaways. Here drink some more and then we'll try to talk again. They've done a number on you, Luna, haven't they?"

I nodded before offering the cup again. I'd found it none the worse for wear. I didn't care it was paper. The water it was bringing to me was far more valuable than anything else at the moment.

"We'll work on her bloodwork. I understand you want to see if she can donate to the Flores boy?" the doctor asked, attracting my attention to him instead.

Flores boy? Ethan? Were they talking about my Ethan?

"Yes. Art will be back to give you some more instructions. Can you take care of her while I get him briefed?" Justice asked then she came over to squeeze my arm before saying, "Relax, Luna. You'll be with your babies soon. They're both here."

Both my children were here in this hospital? My children needed a hospital?

Had I traded one Hell for another or what?