Page 54 of Forced Bonds

“Mr. Green is doing well. I won’t go into detail on just how bad it was right now, but he’s lucky to be alive. No human should’ve been able to survive that brutal of an attack.”

Our Benji wasn’t a normal human anymore, but the kind doctor didn’t get those details, instead he escorted us to another waiting area. We were told to sit down and grab some water and then a nurse would come and grab us once Benji was settled into his room.

As soon as the doctor left, Chris spoke, “I don’t want him staying here after he’s healed. I want him home.”

“They can’t force him to stay if he wants to go,” I reminded my alpha. “We just need to give it until tomorrow, then we can go home.”

Chris glared at me, clearly not okay with waiting even for that long. I wasn’t budging on it, though, knowing Benji needed time to heal and even though I knew Denise and Veron were amazing, they still demanded their patients rest after a major healing, which this would undoubtedly be.

I also had to call Altaur and tell him the whole Hell-might-break-loose-soon thing, but he would have to wait.

Chapter Thirty

Benjamin

Brightness and warmth. That was what I woke up to. I was definitely dead and had gone to some kind of plane before I reached my next destination. Everything had a glowing gold color, and that was all I could see. My pain was gone, not even a trace of it was left as I took stock of myself. I’d never felt better. There was always a slight twinge in my left knee, or a minor tightness in my neck from sleeping oddly. Right now, there was nothing. It was amaziiing.

“Sweetheart?” Zar’s concerned voice met me in my glowing place, likely having followed me in death. I felt awful for taking him with me, but I was selfishly glad not to be alone right now. I might’ve been pain free, but I was also scared of the unknown. “Sweetheart,” he said again. “Open your eyes. Please, sweetheart, let us see you.”

My eyes were open… weren’t they? Oh, they were closed. How did he know? I blinked them open, and wow. So many colors, all swirled together and not really making any sense. I blinked and slowly things came back into focus. White walls, and ceiling. Two people stood next to me, their hands glowing that golden glow I’d seen when my eyes were closed. They had their eyes closed and looked focused on whatever they were doing to me.

“Sweetheart?” Zar said, and there he was, smiling softly to my right. The opposite side of where the two glowing ones stood. “There’s my sweetheart,” he sighed, sounding relieved.

A whimpering whine sounded near my head, and there Chris was, his eyes were glassy, but I had no idea why. Did he not like being dead?

“What’s wrong?” I croaked, hating how frail my voice sounded. At least there was no pain, even if it sounded painful even to my ears.

“What’s wrong?” Chris repeated, scoffing as he shook his head. He was smiling softly at me, so he wasn’t mad that I’d asked. “You almost died, Benji.”

Oh. “So does that mean I’m still alive?” I asked, wanting to still be alive with my men. Wanting that future I was promised, the one I’d started looking forward to.

“Like we would ever let you die on us,” Zar scoffed, sounding awfully choked up. I must’ve been on the brink of death to cause that sort of reaction from them. They really truly loved me, or whatever they felt love was. I knew I’d loved my family and felt like I was walking around without my heart once they were gone. When these two men forced their way into my life, and body, I felt anger, but also flattery. They’d made me feel more alive than I’d ever felt before, and slowly they showed me their true selves. They didn’t once hide who they were at their core. It was hard not describing what I felt for them as love. I doubted there was another feeling as powerful as what I was feeling right now.

“Thank you,” I said, knowing they were the only reason I was still breathing. Then I frowned, “Wait, what happened?”

“You don’t remember?” Chris matched my frown, looking even more worried now.

“No… I remember talking to Hazi and him telling us to get out of town, then I think something happened about wolves….” I closed my eyes and tried to remember. Nothing came.

“He had a concussion,” one of the glowing ones said. “He might not ever remember.”

“Or he’ll suddenly remember it all and might get traumatized,” the other one added.

“Great,” I muttered. It sounded like something horrible had gone down, but for now I wanted to be blissfully unaware and just bask in this feeling where there was no pain, no discomfort.

“How much longer?” Zar asked the glowing ones.

“An hour. He’s got a lot of bruising and swelling and we have to work slowly so we don’t add trauma to his organs,” the woman said.

“Thank you, Denise,” Zar said with a thankful smile.

“Yes, thank you, Denise and….?”

The glowing man smiled at me, “Veron, and it’s our pleasure. You’re family now, Benjamin.”

“Oh, you’re from the coven?” I asked, happy to know at least two people already. It made moving there soon feel less daunting with some familiar faces.

“Yes,” Denise replied, smiling softly. “We’re both bonded to vampires like you.”