Page 9 of Watcher's Omega

Eamon

Hemlock Memorial Hospital, Hemlock Mountain

It was Doctor Lee Knight himself that came to wake me up once Glenn was out of surgery and moved into the recovery room. I’d taken a shower and passed out on the sofa in front of the TV. It was a quarter to midnight. This year was really coming in like a wrecking ball. Glenn hurt. Meeting my true-mate. Sleeping in a hospital suite that felt more like the guestroom of a small palace complete with a kitchen and full-sized bathroom. I expected to be shoved into hospital scrubs but Nurse Kat arranged for someone to buy me new comfy clothes to wear while I was here.

The TV was showing everyone waiting for the ball drop at the very tippy top of Hemlock Mountain. The whole walking path to the top was crowded with people and their families. Kids ran back and forth, zooming past the camera lens. Officially launched fireworks would start as soon as the new year rolled in.

“How---” I tried to say but the words lodged in my dry throat.

“He did beautifully,” Doctor Knight said, sitting down on the coffee table in front of the sofa. “We did alpha blood therapy on him with the blood Rhomas donated. Currently, Jolly is watching over him. He’s one of the best guards anyone couldever hope for. He takes pack very seriously and what Rhomas wants even more seriously.”

“Is he really a service wolf? I mean, I know that’s what everyone keeps calling him, but does the pack recognize him that way?” It was such a dumb question to ask at a time like this but I was tired and my brain wanted anything to worry about that wasn’t Glenn dying.

“They do. I’m sure you’ll see what he does eventually besides help with the door watching. Rhomas is still wild born. He’s… When he was a teenager, we worried that he’d go live in the woods and never come back. He might’ve if he hadn’t had such a strong connection to the pack. He’s fiercely loyal and kind. He’s just… Rhomas. Wolves are pack animals and at the end of the day having someone around who can communicate fully on his level is good for him,” Lee said. “Now he has you too. Every mating link is unique, but I would guess that you’ll start picking up on wild wolf speak the longer you’re around him. Bane and I have. Some of his siblings too. We’re nowhere near as fluent in the language of scent and moving a single fur to say whole paragraphs of thought but we’re getting there.”

“I…” I started and stopped again. My mind was running in too many directions. What did I ask next? About when I could see Glenn? Whether or not my mate was back from his hunt yet? What came next for Glenn? For me? For any of us? Had the apartment building burnt to a crisp while we were at the hospital?

Thankfully, Lee was in tuned with the pack link enough to pick up my most demanding questions.

“Uh…. It’ll probably be morning before he’s awake enough to talk, but you can see him in a few hours. Rhomas is witha pregnant shewolf until her mate gets here. She was held at gunpoint and then bludgeoned the guy who hurt Glenn to death with a bag of books. I’m not even making it up. Seriously. With a bag of books. Old blood, how I wish Lotus Cromwell was here to hear about that,” he said, shaking his head wistfully.

“Poor Lotus,” I said, knowing her only as a semi-historical figure. It was easy to forget that some historical figures still had friends and family around.

“We’ll see how Glenn feels when he wakes up. I think he’s going to make a full recovery. We may be treating his scars for a few months before they fade but you did a good job getting him down and put out. That can’t be stated enough, Eamon. It was brave and you probably saved his life or at the very least, his arm from being amputated.”

“I don’t want his fuck buddy to come visit,” I said and cringed, realizing I just said fuck buddy in front of my father-in-law.

“Neither do I. I have him on a no visitors outside of those on the approved list list. That’s you and Rhomas. At least until he wakes up.”

The door to the suite opened slowly and Lee sniffed the air. Rhomas appeared a second later with a takeout bag from Mama Dragon’s.

“You made them cook for you after they were robbed?” Lee stood up.

“Huh? Someone robbed Mama Dragon’s?” I asked, but the information was already flooding over my half-opened mating link.

“No,” Rhomas shook his head. “Well, yes on the robbery. No on the making them cook for us. They just sent me over all this food and left it at the front desk. There’s so much of it. I told Jan just to hand it out to whoever is hungry, I snagged some for you all. How’s Glenn?”

Lee filled in his son with more technical terms than he had told me, but Rhomas nodded along as we ate as if all the jargon made sense to him. Surprisingly, it sort of made sense to me too since linking up with my mate.

I was exhausted and desperately wanted alone time with Rhomas but before I could settle in anywhere for the night I needed to see Glenn. Asleep or not, I needed to make sure he was okay. I wouldn’t rest otherwise. As an only child, my best friend was the closest thing I’d ever have to a brother.

It was a bit earlier than the post-surgical nurses liked, but after we ate, Lee led us both upstairs and past a long line of curtains until he opened one just wide enough for us to slip inside of. Glenn was asleep, with the blankets pulled up to his chin as if someone worried he’d get cold. He was attached to at least five different IV bags and his heart monitor beeped steadily in the back. Jolly laid on his good side with his muzzle facing where the curtain opened as if watching for the next attack. He barely held his tail still when he spotted Rhomas. Being on guard wasn’t his natural disposition but he was a good boy.

I sat in the chair by his bed for a long time watching him sleep. Sooner or later, his parents would find out he was hurt. They’d probably make a fuss and shout about that’s why he should never have left. Only a decade or so before we were born there was a war in London. This could’ve happened there too.I prayed that his parents would be kind to him because he had enough to deal with.

A nurse carried in a vase filled with colorful flowers with ruffly petals that I didn’t know the name of. I held back a huff, wondering if his hookup had the balls to send flowers after everything he’d done.

“No,” Lee said. “Those are from Bane. He’s at home with the little kids right now so he couldn’t be here. You’re family, Eamon. That means your family is ours too.”

“Tell him thanks,” I said, wondering how flabbergasted Glenn would be when he woke up and realized that Lee Knight did his surgery and Bane Hemlock sent him flowers.

“Not flabbergasted,” Glenn coughed. “Not flabbergasted. Re—” he coughed again. “Relieved. Just relieved. Might still be able to use the arm.”

A second later the nurse came back with red ice chips in a cup. For a moment, I thought she froze blood into ice but that’s not quite how it worked. It was inside Rhomas’s thoughts that I discovered that it was the frozen blood substitute they sometimes use in vegan bloodshakes. I spooned the chips into my friend’s mouth, and he dozed back off as they dissolved on his tongue.

That’s how I spent the first night after meeting my true-mate. Sitting in a chair beside my friend’s bed in the recovery room spooning ice chips into his mouth every time he stirred. If Rhomas minded, he never said it or let it cross his mind loud enough for me to hear. He left a few times to take Jolly on short walks to relieve himself in the hospital garden, but besides that he stayed by my side. I dozed on and off and woke a few timesto Rhomas giving Glenn ice chips and then another time blood infused ginger ale.

Come morning, they moved Glenn to a private room and Doctor Lee stopped in to check on his progress. I prepared myself for a long few weeks once we were informed that they’d like him to stay for a while to ensure everything continued to heal on track.