Kael’s POV
The next day I took Eira to the hospital again, so we could start Sophia’s treatment. Things couldn’t wait now, as it was impossible for me to hold back on knowing the truth.
Meanwhile, Lucian and Jason went to follow up on the leads about Eira’s son and her mate.
And Roman and Rafe were sent on the most important task, that would truly confirm for us if Eira was really the one Kaizan was so desperate to get his hands on, or someone else.
At the hospital, inside the private VIP patient suite, Eira settled into the bed in a patient’s uniform as the nurse helped her. I hadn’t told her yet who she was going to help get better. She didn’t need to know. At the same time, she didn’t look interested in even knowing why she was brought here again.
Even when she was being prepared to be taken to the surgery room, she asked nothing at all. She was truly used to letting people do whatever they wanted with her.
"How long will it take for her to get better?" I asked Liam, who was instructing the nurses on a few things before he headed to operate on Eira.
"Given her wolf helps her heal now, should be a week or so," Liam replied as worry gripped his mind. "But there’s something else to worry about."
"What is it?" I asked.
"She is allergic to anesthesia, so we have to conduct the procedure without giving it to her," he said as he removed his white doctor’s apron and headed to change into the scrubs.
"Will it be painful?" I asked, following him.
"For werewolves, though our jaws and skull are considered strongest and our limbs the foremost, the lower back is what holds our entire anatomy together in the strongest way. Strongest as well as weakest, a unique part—and it’s surely gonna hurt her when I insert a thick needle inside her spine to remove her bone marrow," Liam replied. "And all our strength is in our unique bloodline, and we are just going to draw it from her. The stronger the bloodline is, the more painful it is."
Worry gripped my mind now. "Is there no way to lessen the pain for her?"
He raised a brow as if surprised at my question. "Since when have you started worrying about her pain? I thought you might enjoy seeing her in pain. That’s why I bothered to explain it in detail—so you would feel better."
I clenched my jaw, wanting to punch him right away. Bastard never let any chance slip from mocking me.
He smirked. "Alright! I will try to be careful, but I don’t have any secret magic to lessen her pain. But given how she is indifferent to pain, she won’t be screaming and crying. She can endure it."
I simply hummed.
"At the same time, I am thankful her wolf is not at its strongest. If it was, it would have been more painful," he finally said something good, though the same fact wouldn’t let her heal faster either.
Not having a stronger wolf yet was both a good and a bad thing.
As Liam left to go to the operating room, I followed him. He turned to me. "Want to join me?"
"I will just stand on the side and watch," I told him.
He didn’t stop me and said to the nurse, "Give him scrubs and footwear."
The nurse did as she was told, and soon I was in the scrubs. I could have just stood outside, but I wasn’t sure why I even wanted to go inside.
When I entered the operation room, she was lying on the operating bed on her stomach, her eyes closed as if she didn’t care. The nurse had exposed her lower back to be operated on. As I watched, I saw how thin and delicate her back was.
And when I saw that thick syringe being prepared to insert into her bone, my muscles tensed at the thought of how much pain she was going to feel.
Everything was ready. I wanted to just stand on the side, but I ended up going to her, and no one stopped me.
"You will feel pain, but don’t move. It will end soon," Liam told her, but she didn’t react. The two nurses held her back steady in case she moved from the pain.
I watched that thick syringe pierce her skin first, and I averted my gaze. She flinched a little, but her hand ended up gripping the sheet. Tears started to roll down the corner of her eyes. My fist clenched as if I were the one enduring that pain, not her.
"Just a little more," Liam’s voice came through to assure her.
I quickly held her hand to comfort her. In response, her hand gripped my palm tightly as if she was just looking for something to hold on to. I could feel her trembling through her touch. My own heart was in pain, and beads of sweat started to appear on my forehead.
When it was over, Liam informed me, "It’s done."
It didn’t take much time, but it felt like an eternity, as the pain was truly soul-shattering. Her body finally relaxed, and she opened her eyes, realizing she was holding on to someone’s hand. The moment she saw me next to her, she quickly shrugged my hand away as if she hated my touch even.
"Don’t move," Liam warned her.
She turned her head to the other side so she didn’t have to face me. She truly hated me, but I had my own reason to hate her as well. What happened with my family, my people—that pain was too much to even forgive anyone who was said to be involved.
But now, I am afraid those reasons were wrong all along. We had been deceived by someone else. If that’s the case, I was not sure how I was going to face her or make up for what she had gone through for the past six years.
All these thoughts had started to shake me recently.
But one thing I am glad about: after that incident, I didn’t kill her, or we would have never met her again and never doubted the truth we had been believing all along.
Liam looked at me, his gaze curious. "Why does it look like it was your spine I put this needle into?"
I wiped the sweat away from my forehead and frowned, "This place is hot. Do you lack budget to use stronger ACs?"
"The temperature here is just fine, but your body must be at fault," Liam confronted me, "Are you getting into a heat or what?"
"Shut your mouth." I offered him a cold glare and left that room. This basted was always overly curious.
But I won’t let him know the reason, or he will have more reasons to mock me and rub salt on where it hurt me the most.
Later, she was transferred to her room after that, and I accompanied her despite knowing she treated my presence like air.
At the same time, I had made sure everything was happening secretly so no one—precisely Sophia and her mother—knew about Eira. Meryl had tried to search for Eira after Sophia claimed to see her, but she got nothing at all. This place, this hospital, was mine, and only my words ruled here.
"You are not allowed to move at all," Liam told Eira, who was looking outside the window of the hospital room, lying on her stomach. "If you need anything, press this button on your side and the nurse will help you."
She didn’t respond, and Liam left. I stayed in the room by her side, settling on the couch and looking at her wordlessly. She didn’t move at all. She lay there lifelessly, her eyes fixed on the window, never tired of looking outside continuously.