Page 49 of His Blue Moon Princess (The Silver City #1)

“Are you sure?”

Liam’s voice. He sounds so impatient...

“Hundred percent. She’s definitely waking up. I can feel her wolf again. Can’t you?”

“Nope. But then again, I don’t have your bond, so...”

Our bond. I can feel him, Damian’s wolf. A magnificent jet-black wolf, waiting for mine to come back. She’s waking up slowly, reaching out to him. I am waking up, slowly, steadily; It’s like reaching the surface and catching my breath.

I open my eyes.

“Holy Moon Goddess Mother!”

I’m facing the ceiling. When I turn my head slowly, the first thing I see is... Him. Damian, so close and smiling to me. I smile back to him, feeling overwhelmed. He leans over me, gently kissing my forehead.

“Good morning, my Love.”

I’ve never seen him look so overjoyed... It’s contagious, I can’t stop smiling at him, even though I’m feeling so drowsy. I hear footsteps running, and suddenly Liam comes in the room, panting, followed by people in white coats.

“Damian! Damian, is she still awake? Oh, Moon Goddess, she really is! Doctor, she’s really awake, right?” He asks without catching his breath.

What’s going on? I recognize Granny Ariana, smiling at me, and people start patting my wrists, checking my condition, and discussing my vitals. A doctor shines a small flashlight in front of my eyes and moves his finger.

“Miss Bluemoon, can you hear me? Can you follow my finger, please?”

It’s a bit annoying, but I nod and do as he says. I’m a bit confused and overwhelmed by all those people in the room asking me questions. Still, Damian and Liam both look thrilled. My mate isn’t letting go of my hand and stays by my side as long as the medical team keeps examining me.

“Her vitals are normal; she is indeed completely awake... This is amazing. Miss Bluemoon, are you feeling discomfort in any way? How do you feel?”

“I am... drowsy.”

Behind the doctor, Liam squeals, totally excited. Why won’t he calm down? The man examining me nods while taking some notes.

“Well, that is perfectly normal in your condition. But your reflexes are fine for now, and your vitals, as well. We will have to work on your reeducation, of course, but overall, this is... A positively great return. Welcome back, miss Bluemoon.”

Welcome back? I turn to Damian, a bit lost. I feel like I’ve been sleeping, but now I’m a bit confused again. He raises my hand to his lips to kiss it, and I realize I have trouble moving my fingers. I frown and try to move my limbs again. It’s like my whole body has gotten twice as heavy as I remember it.

Granny Ariana gives me a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, it’s going to take a while. Your body will need some time to readjust, but it will.”

“Who cares? She’s back! Damn, Nora, I’ve missed you!”

I take a look a Liam, smiling from ear to ear behind Granny Ariana. He looks... Different. He’s visibly slimmer, a bit more muscular and taller, and his hair is a bit longer, too. He has a new piercing on his left ear. It’s like he’s lost all the teenage attitude to look more like his brothers...

I turn to look at Damian.

My mate, too. His hair is cut shorter, and he’s not wearing a beard anymore, either. His eyes look darker and more profound. He looks thinner than I remember, too... How did they change so much?

“How do you feel, Love?” Asks Damian in a soft voice.

“I’m okay... What happened? You look different. Liam, you, too. I... How long was I...?”

Liam sighs and nods. “Nora, you saved my brother’s life with your Moon Power, remember? He was dying, and you did that whole kissing thing. Next thing we know, you were unconscious, and he was completely fine!”

I turn to Damian, who’s still caressing my hand.

“You healed me, Nora. You used your power, but it put you into a very deep sleep. You stayed in some sort of coma for a long time.”

I gradually remember everything from before now. At least, my farewell to Damian, and the sight of his injuries... But a lot of my memories are still blurry. I have vague images of a big battle, a forest, a hospital... It’s gradually coming back to me. My whole life here. My childhood, life with the Jade Moon Pack, my life with Damian...

A long time? That would explain why they changed. I take a second to process and look at the window. It’s snowing outside... I turn to them again to finally ask.

“What day are we?”

“December 23rd...”

I try to remember vaguely.

“The fight... It was last Thursday, right? The 20th...”

Damian looks at me and sighs, a bit surprised and uneasy.

But Liam laughs awkwardly. “Nora, that Thursday wasn’t two days ago but two years ago! You stayed in the coma for 23 months and over three weeks, girl.”

Moon Goddess... Two years? I was asleep for two whole years? I’m in shock. It did feel like awakening after a very long time, but... I turn to Damian. He waited for me to wake up for two whole years? Oh, Moon Goddess... I open my mouth to apologize, but he shakes his head and holds my hand against his cheek.

“It’s okay, Nora. I don’t care how long it took. Don’t apologize, Love. I’m just happy you’re back...”

“Everyone will be happy you’re back! Holy shit, I have to tell everyone!”

Liam takes out his phone and walks out of the room in a hurry, but I don’t care. All I’m focused on right now is Damian. No matter what, I can’t hold back a tear.

“Two years...” I whisper, still astonished.

“727 days,” he says. “I counted every single day without you... That’s a long time to catch back up, Love.”

I slowly nod, smiling at him. I realized how much I’ve missed him now that I can contemplate him. The warmth of his skin, and his lips against my palm. His beautiful, unique silver eyes. He’s even more handsome than I remember, with his new haircut and clean-shaven face. I concentrate on moving my fingers and caressing his smooth chin.

“…What happened to your beard?”

He smiles. “I was waiting for someone to grow it again. I’m happy you’re back. It was a pain shaving every day...”

I giggle and nod again. “All right, you can start growing it again, then. I miss it. You...”

I stop talking, suddenly noticing something shiny on my hand. This is new... Damian realizes I noticed and smiles proudly while holding my hand up for me to see. I gasp. A gorgeous ring is placed on my finger, mesmerizing me. It’s a thin ring, but I can’t miss the shining sapphire stone on it, flanked by two moon-shaped diamonds.

“Damian, this...”

“Your engagement ring. ...You like it?”

I can’t ignore his mischievous smile. He’s obviously enjoying my surprised reaction, playing with my fingers, and waiting for my answer. I smile, too, but I’m just overwhelmed by emotions right now. Eventually, I can’t hold back a little laugh.

“Damian Black, when did I ever get engaged to you?”

“Since you saved this stupid man twice, miss Bluemoon. I thought that you had paid a huge price for my life, so... It might as well be all yours.”

He shows me his hand and the matching ring he’s wearing, too, a simple platinum one. Oh, this man... I can’t believe him. Damian has changed. He looks more peaceful now, not as restless as when I met him. His eyes have this gentle warmth to them, too.

“So?” He asks.

I smile.

“I like it... Mr. Black. I’m glad I woke up before we had our wedding ceremony, though.”

He laughs and leans in to kiss my forehead.

“It was high time you woke up, Nora. I don’t know how much longer I would have waited for that, too.”

Right after he finishes his sentence, someone suddenly bursts into the room. Oh, Moon Goddess, my Bobo! I smile like a child, and he looks at me in disbelief, like he can’t believe his own eyes. My best friend has changed, too. His hair is way shorter and arranged in neat little braids instead of his former dreadlocks. He seems bulkier, too. Moreover, a pale scar is visible on his left temple.

“Nora!” He exclaims, before running to me.

“Hey, hey, easy, big boy!” Says Liam, holding him back. “Don’t knock her out!”

Bobo stops right on my bed’s side, and grabs my free hand gently, holding it tight.

“Seriously, Nora... I can’t believe it...”

“Hey, Bobo... I missed you, too.” I say. “How are you? That scar...”

He shakes his head. “It’s nothing. Danny says it makes me look cooler.”

“Hey, we got cool scars, too, okay?” Says Liam.

“What are you talking about? You barely had any scratches...”

I turn my head. Sylviana just entered the room behind Bobo, and she gives me a soft smile, sitting at the end of my bed. She’s the only one that hasn’t changed a bit, surprisingly, even looking a bit younger than I remember.

“Hi, Nora. We all missed you a lot...”

“Hi, Sylviana. Looks like I made it, after all.”

“Yes, with a lot of luck. Moon Goddess obviously loves you too much to let you go...”

I can only agree to that, though I feel the weight of those two years. I turn to the guys as Bobo is pushing a button that puts my bed in a sitting position.

“You’re going to have to fill me in.”

“What do you remember?”

“Not everything. Until a few days before the fight, and after that... It’s a blur. I vaguely remember us taking the car to the meeting, I think. And the Alphas came... And we started talking... I remember bombs exploded, and there was a huge fight.”

Damian nods, and Bobo starts talking.

“We lost you in the confusion. I think The Gold Moon was targeting you from the start to weaken the Boss. Some wolves jumped at me right after the first explosions, and you were taken away.”

“They isolated Damian and me too,” adds Liam. “So, Damian was badly injured, as you know, but Nate and I made it through the first attack thanks to Sylviana. We had to participate in the fight, but we were worried about Damian and couldn’t reach out to you. We realized something was wrong when the fight stopped with the Gold Moon wiped out and the Rising Moon surrendering. But you were nowhere to be found, and William told us the people he had sent to protect you had died. None of us could reach you.”

“I… I was taken…”

Boyan nods.

“We realized that soon. Witnesses said they had seen a man taking you out, but they thought you were being evacuated, not kidnapped.”

“Someone gave a description that was exactly that of… Marcus Sickels,” says Liam. “We soon understood what must have happened, and we looked around for clues. But Damian was taken here in critical condition meanwhile. We didn’t have many people to send to look for you that were not already helping evacuate the Stadium…”

“William helped,” explained Damian. “The Jade Moon, too, looked everywhere for you…”

“Believe I or not, it was Alec that found you.”

I turn to Liam, shocked.

“A-Alec?”

“Yes,” he nods. “It turns out your brother was in the hospital, and when he saw all the werewolves coming in, he had somehow heard everything about you being missing. He knew about Sickels having a secret hide-out somewhere in the Jade Moon forest, so he went first to look for you. The Jade Moon Clan spotted him, so Sylviana and I ran there as fast as we could right after that.”

Sylviana nods.

“You were in a critical state,” she says. “Alec was arrested, and we took you to the hospital. You went several hours under surgery to stop your internal bleeding and save your leg.”

The more she talks, the more it all comes back to me. Marcus’ voice, his kicks in my stomach, stomping on my painful leg. Just the memory feels so painful… And Alec’s hands taking me out of there. He carried me to safety. So, it wasn’t some faraway dream. My brother was really there, he took me out of there.

“Why…”

I can’t understand why Alec went there to help me. I still can’t understand how he appeared out of the blue to help me. He felt different, too…

“Your brother had been in rehab for a while, Nora,” explains Sylviana. “Since the last time you had seen him, he was… thriving to get better, to get out of drugs.”

“Sylviana actually helped, too,” adds Liam.

“I didn’t do anything he didn’t want,” she says. “Alec was… remorseful of what he had done.”

I choke up a little bit, hearing those words. Alec did? Are we talking about the same person who abused me for years? That Alec, my brother? The one who tried to sell me to a rapist? It is still a bit too hard to believe.

I don’t want to think about that now. I turn to Damian.

“Then?”

“Liam and Sylviana brought you back here,” he says. “You were in critical condition like she said. Yet, when you woke up, you decided to do something even more dangerous.”

Yes, I remember that too.

I remember the sad memories. How people died in the attack or succumbed to their injuries. Damian was one of the first to fall, but my mate was still alive when I came to. I remember my discussion with Sylviana, and my eyes naturally go to the witch.

I decided to use my Moon Power to save Damian. My mate was on the verge of dying when I woke up from my first coma, and I just couldn’t have that. Sylviana nods, reminding me of what happened, but it’s all coming back to me now.

Once she’s done talking, Damian sighs. “That was a crazy thing to do, even for you.”

“I wouldn’t have lived without you,” I answer.

He nods. “I said the same... If you had died in the process...”

He frowns from the thought, as we all know the result of my bet could have taken my life instead of those two years.

Liam claps his hands, taking us away from any depressing thinking, and smiles. “Anyway! Our princess is back now, for good! Right, Nora?”

I smile. “To be honest, I feel awfully sleepy...” I whisper, playing a bit.

Liam shakes his head. “Oh, hell, no! Girl, you are not going to play sleeping beauty again! You’re back to the living now, so get ready, because you have a lot of people waiting for you and a whole bunch of things to catch up on, too!”

I nod to Liam’s words. He’s right, I missed two whole years! Those two years I will never get back… It saddens me a little bit, of course. I look at Damian, Liam, and Bobo, my three men, all looking a bit older. I smile and turn to Damian, with a mix of curiosity and apprehension.

“So, what did I miss?”

“Well first, it took a few days to settle everything after what had happened... Surprisingly, the events served as a lesson for everyone. All the remaining packs finally agreed to your idea of a Peace Treaty between the Clans. Sylviana used her magic to seal it, so no Alpha can break the peace vow as long as their turf is located in Silver City.”

“Oh, come on, Damian, tell her about the Liege,” says Liam, visibly excited.

I frown. The Liege?

Damian nods. “They also... agreed to recognize me as the official Alpha King of Silver City. It’s more of a title than anything else, but everyone thought it would be best to make it... official. That way, no one would dare to raise up any more conflicts or take advantage of others under my name again.”

“You should have seen it, Nora. Even William agreed to it, and all the Alphas discussed in one room, like equals.”

“Anyway,” resumes Damian, “there was a month of mourning, and then we began the reconstruction of the stadium. We also had to reconsider all the packs’ territories and sort out the situation of the ones who had lost their Alphas.”

“The Jade Moon is all yours, by the way,” says Bobo. “They didn’t have any Alpha or Beta left, so they just agreed you were their legitimate leader now. Until now, they answered to Damian while you were in the coma.”

“Most importantly, we abolished the physical boundaries between the territories within Silver City,” explains Damian. “No more frontiers between the turfs. Anyone is free to go wherever they want. Each pack still has its own establishments and properties, but when it comes to the streets, no more fighting.”

Moon Goddess, that’s amazing... Before that, any wolf was constrained to their own pack’s territory, and would go anywhere else at their own risk! It also kept Damian from finding me all those years, as he couldn’t go everywhere freely. This is such a huge change; I can’t believe everyone agreed to it so quickly!

“This is great… Is it really happening?” I ask.

Damian and Liam both nod.

“Yep! It made things easier for a lot of people, actually, and reduced the fighting by an awful lot. I mean, there’s still some bickering here and there, but trust me, it’s nowhere what it used to be. And now we have a lot of new couples from different packs, too! Do you remember Marina Seaver? She got engaged to a guy from the Violet Moon!” Says Liam, looking all excited.

While listening to him, I suddenly remember another couple, much closer to us, that was struggling about being from different packs and turn to Damian. “What about Nate and Elena? And their baby? It must be born by now!”

As soon as I ask about them, Damian’s expression suddenly goes dark, and Liam’s smile drops. Both brothers look sorry, and I’m scared of their lack of answers. What? What’s going on?

“Damian? What about them?”

“Love, Nate and Elena... They aren’t together anymore.”

I stay stunned for a few seconds.

“Wait... What? How come? What about their baby?”

For once, Damian stays silent, and Liam is suddenly the one looking angry. Since neither of them is talking, I turn to Bobo.

“Bobo! Tell me!”

“Elena left Silver City, Nora. A few weeks after you fell into a coma, she... she and Nate had a big argument. I think she had issues with her pack, too, and she… she left while still pregnant.”

What...? She just left? Months ago? How could this happen? And the baby, too, did she decide to give birth to her child alone? I can’t believe it...

Sylviana moves over and takes my hand, softly smiling at me.

“Nora, don’t worry. I went with her when she left and made sure her baby was fine. I helped her find a place and give birth. They are both doing great. I came back a few weeks later.”

I sigh in relief. So, Elena is fine... Elena and her baby are okay. Although, that doesn’t erase the rest. I turn again towards Damian and Liam, angry.

“You do realize I’m going to kill your brother once I’m better?”

Liam, looking pissed off, nods. “Trust me, we both did it for you already. Nate is a fucking idiot, and he knows it, but he’s one damn stubborn dog.”

Damian’s hand tightens around mine, and he gently caresses my cheek.

“Nora, you’ll get angry at Nate later. You just woke up, I don’t want you thinking about anything but getting better for now, okay? And Elena and her baby are fine, I swear. So, you can scold Nate all you want, but later, Love. Later.”

I frown, but I don’t have the energy to face Nathaniel about his attitude now, anyway. Despite all the medication I’m probably on, I’m well aware of my sore muscles and drowsiness. I sigh and push my head back on the pillow. While doing so, I realize my hair is back to its dark black color.

Sylviana sees my expression. “It went back to black right after your kiss, although it turned white again a few weeks later. Turns out, it changes color into a pale white at night, when the moon rises.”

“So, I’m...”

“I would say you’re harvesting Moon Power every time the sun sets. Whatever happened two years ago, your power unleashed completely. You can use your aura again and somehow recharge it as long as the moon rises.”

Damian lets out a low growl. “She won’t use it again. I’m not risking Nora going back into the coma.”

“You should have been dead, and Nora used way more power than her body could handle to bring you back. No wonder she had to pay for it. I doubt she will ever fall into such a state again unless you are severely injured. Her power probably works just like mine: Too much power has to be paid at a high cost...”

I exchange a look with Damian. Sylviana’s probably right about this, but I think it will take some time for my mate to accept it. He decides to ignore her and turns to me, kissing my hand again.

I want to chat with them some more, hear what else I missed, but before that, the medical team returns. They have even more people and has most of my friends leave as I need to go through a few more medical examinations.

For the whole afternoon, I pass several tests, checking my memory, control of my limbs, and cognitive response. As the hours go by, it’s obvious I retrieve all my memories and mental faculties back, but my body is still in a weak state. Though the doctors explain that it’s natural and expect a quick recovery, I must adapt to sitting in a wheelchair and being taken everywhere like this. My legs can’t hold me at all and moving my arms ask me a lot of energy and focus.

When the head doctor comes to explain everything, Damian is sitting with me. “Your results are great, miss Bluemoon. As predicted, you were not in a regular coma; hence, your cognitive faculties all returned within a few hours. Your body, however, will need longer to readapt.”

“How long are we talking about?” I ask.

I feel like a puppet, some doll that can’t stand on her own.

“I don’t usually give optimistic estimates, miss Bluemoon,” he says. “But judging from how you can already move your head and arms, I would confidently say a few weeks. With a good therapist and efforts, it shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Can I go home, then?”

I just want to leave the hospital, breathe some air, and go back to a normal life as soon as possible. I miss it so much already. The doctor exchanges a look with Damian. My mate gives him his imposing glare, until the poor man clears his throat, coming back to me with a weak smile.

“Well, I will ask you to stay for the next 24 hours, at least, so we can prevent any unforeseen issue with your awakening. However, this is clearly a magic issue linked to your... wolf, miss Bluemoon, and a grey area for us. If you can have a proper caretaker and constant surveillance, going home tomorrow shouldn’t be an issue, miss Bluemoon. I would still request you come back within the next few days for a couple more check-ups, though.”

I smile brightly and turn to Damian. I can go home tomorrow! I don’t even have to spend Christmas there! My mate smiles back at me and kisses my forehead.

After that meeting, I insist on Damian to take me to the inner garden of the hospital. It’s covered in snow, but Moon Goddess, it’s beautiful. Damian pushes my wheelchair on the little road. He wraps me in a thick blanket, but I lean back and enjoy the cold air on my face. It feels amazing... Being alive.