The Alpha Queen

Chapter 10

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was the loud obnoxious beeping coming mostly from my left side. I groaned and tried lifting my arm up so that I could make it stop, but my arm felt heavy and I couldn't even bring myself to move it more than an inch. Giving up, I took a deep breath and the rusty, metallic smell of blood flowed into my nose, causing me to scrunch it up in the process.

It was then that I remembered everything that had happened. Falling asleep to Val's steady heartbeat, the dream, the rogues, Val almost dying, and me pushing him out of the way and taking the damage. Everything after that was a blank.

I heard the beeping start to come out faster as I began to worry about Val. Was he okay? Was he hurt? My wolf was begging me to open my eyes and leave this place to make sure our mate was safe. But I couldn't.

I heard the door open and multiple pairs of feet hitting the floor. By then, I was already struggling to breathe.

Someone came over to my side and held my hand. "Alpha, if you can hear me, you need to calm down. Take deep breaths."

I tried, I really did. No matter how hard I tried to slow down my breathing, I just couldn't do it. All I wanted was to make sure that my mate was alive.

Another voice came from my left side. "Lillian, I need you to go get Val. Go!"

Lillian, one of the pack nurses, let go of my hand, and I heard her running out of the room closing the door behind her.

The other person in the room placed one of their hands on top of my head, and I felt something made out of plastic covering both my mouth and nose.

"Audrey, it's just me, Julia." Julia, the pack doctor told me, as she ran her hand through my hair. "You need to breathe slowly."

With the extra help of what I assumed to be an oxygen mask, I was able to control my breathing just a little bit. It was still coming out fast and a bit labored, so Julia continued helping me.

I heard the door open, and his scent hit me like a pack of bricks. It was intoxicating and I soon found myself being able to breathe normally, the slowing of the beeping being an indication.

"Audrey!" At the sound of his voice calling my name, I began to slowly open my eyes. Everything appeared to be a blur at first, but then my vision cleared and I was able to focus on the one person I wanted the most.

I saw him hurriedly make his way towards me and he took my cold hand in his, warming it up instantly. Searching his face, I sighed with relief to see that he wasn't hurt, but he was sporting some dark under eye circles indicating he had barely had any sleep.

I turned to look at Lillian and Julia who were standing by the door watching us to make sure I wouldn't start to feel bad and took off the oxygen mask with my free hand. "Could you leave us alone for a minute?"

They gave me a smile and walked out of the room, closing the door behind them. I focused my attention back on Val who was staring at me intently, as if at any moment I would just fall back into a deep sleep.

Val brought up his hand and pushed back a strand of hair, something I noticed he did a lot. "Are you okay? Do you need anything? How are you feeling?"

I rolled my eyes. "I'm fine. The real question is, are you okay? I can't send you back to Fire Stone all injured, Derek would murder me."

The concern written all over his face was replaced by anger. "Are you being serious right now? I've been dying to see you for the past three days and all you can say is 'I can't send you back all injured'!"

I clenched my jaw. "I almost saw you die. If I hadn't stepped in, you would've been dead." I looked down at my lap and then at our intertwined hands, the last part coming out in a whisper. "just like everyone else I loved. You're in danger here."