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Her father was on the other side of her bed, and her brother and sister stood at the foot of the bed. Sandra stood between them.
Olivia was confused. Why was everyone standing around staring at her like she was some kind of insect under a microscope?
“You’re in the hospital,” her mother said, again.
Just then, the doctor came in and smiled at Olivia. “Glad to see you’re awake. How do you feel?”
Olivia searched her mind for all the snarky comments she could make, but she didn’t have the energy to formulate anything. She muttered, “Awful.”
“Considering your injuries, that’s a lot better than I expected,” the doctor said. “Family, can you excuse us while I examine my patient?”
Her mother squeezed her hand and then shuffled out of the room with everyone else.
“You took a hell of a beating. You’re lucky to be alive,” the doctor said, bluntly. “You aren’t out of the woods, yet. You need lots of rest.”
Olivia tried to nod her head, indicating that she understood, but it hurt too much.
“I’ll give you something for the pain. You are on antibiotics to keep infections from occurring. You have a nasty concussion, so your head and eyes are going to hurt for a long time. Your face and ribs are going to hurt, too. I don’t see anything to indicate long term brain damage, so you should be okay,” the doctor said.
“How are…” Olivia swallowed. Her throat hurt. “Zac and Ian?”
“They’re okay. They suffered quite a few injuries, but they are healing well,” she said. “Zac’s eye was damaged, but it’s healing fine, and his sight isn’t compromised. They both were clawed and had chunks bitten out of them, but they’ve pretty much healed, since shifters heal faster, at least with less extensive wounds.”
“The others?” Olivia croaked.
“All good,” the doctor assured her. “A few claw marks and some bites, but all are none the worse for the wear.”
“Thank heavens,” Olivia whispered.
The doctor left and Sandra came back in. Olivia’s family had gone to the cafeteria for some food.
“Declan?” Olivia asked.
“Dead,” Sandra said. “You are safe.”
“Good,” Olivia said, as the darkness closed in on her again.
Her mother and father were sitting in chairs on either side of her bed the next time she woke up.
“Hey, Baby,” her mother said. “The doctor was in a little bit ago. She said that you are healing well. She thinks that, barring anything coming up, that you’re going to be okay.”
“Good,” Olivia said. “Thirsty.”
Her mother helped her sip some water out of a straw. Olivia looked up and saw a couple of lines going into her from an IV pole.
Her father saw where she was looking and said, “It’s actually less than before. Right now, I think they just have you on some antibiotics, and of course, the heart monitor. Before, you were hooked up to all kinds of machines.”
Her family hung out with her for the rest of the day. They caught her up on all the excitement going on in Nebraska and asked about her life in Angel’s Creek. She told them about Howlers’, Sean, Jade, and Ian. Olivia mentioned that she was seeing Zac but didn’t go into details about her feelings for him. She left out the part about Marsden. There was no need to get them worked up about things that had already passed.
“With Declan gone, you can come home,” her mother said. “We miss you and would love for you to come home.”
“I might come to visit, but I don’t think that it would be smart for me to come home permanently. There are going to be people who blame me for Declan’s death and remind me that the prophecy did come true, because my pack fought Zac’s pack,” Olivia said.
“It’ll pass,” her father said.
“I don’t think so. Besides, I don’t feel like I belong there anymore. I feel at home here,” Olivia said.
“I understand,” her mother said. “But, I do hope you’ll visit. And, we’ll come back here, too.”
