Cole's Redemption (Alpha Pack #5)(49)

Coming, honey. Are you all right?

Better. I just wanted to see your beautiful face.

Just then she walked into his room, her smile only for him. He smiled back, but he was sure his expression looked as drugged as he felt.

“I leave to eat lunch, and there you are.” She sat next to him and took his hand, kissed his lips. “Been awake long?”

“No, just a minute. Where is everyone?”

“The team is around the stronghold somewhere. Some have been in to see you, but you weren’t awake. My father’s been here a lot, and so has Jax. Everyone has been really worried.”

“I’m all right. Especially now that I’m with you again.”

She looked pleased by that. “Our mate bond helped you turn the corner and get well.”

“If anybody could help me do that, it’s you.”

Her happiness dimmed. “You almost died, though. I know Melina is coming to talk with us soon.”

He had a feeling he knew what she was going to say. And he would be able to heed her words pretty much like he had before—not at all.

“I’ll listen to her, but—”

“I know, honey. You don’t have to explain to me. I’ve got my father and a grateful vampire prince who owe you their lives. I know why you do what you do and that you wouldn’t change it.”

“You really do understand.”

“Yes. Doesn’t always make it easier to accept or not to worry, but I get it.”

Noah came bustling in, checked his vitals. After the nurse left, he figured it wouldn’t be long before the doc followed, and he was right. Melina came in, her elfin face wearing a carefully composed frown. He wondered if she practiced that look in the mirror to intimidate her patients and instantly felt bad for the uncharitable thought. The doc was dedicated to her work, and she was good at it.

“Zander, we need to talk,” she began.

“Do we? I already know what you’re going to say.”

“I have to say it anyway—Zan, you cannot heal anyone again for at least six months if you want to stay alive. That’s the short version.”

“And the long version?”

“Your brain has been taxed to the limits of its endurance. On the way here, you stopped breathing. Then you had seizures and a slow bleed that came tenuously close to becoming an all-out hemorrhaging. Your brain is done. It can’t take anymore, or you’ll be done, too.”

“Melina,” he said softly. “I’ve known you for years. You’re an awesome doctor, and you want what’s best for your patients. I know you have to give it to me straight. So here’s where I have to do the same.”

She waited while he rested, gathered his thoughts. He was getting tired again.

“The thing is, being a Healer is who I am, just as being a doctor is who you are. I can’t separate that from myself any more than I could cut out my wolf. I discovered I could heal when I was just a child and a neighbor’s cat broke its leg. I picked it up and just . . . fixed it.”

“I didn’t know that.” She gave him a fond smile.

“I never told anyone about what I did. But from then on, I used it whenever I could. In my mind, there was no need for others to suffer if I had the power to stop it. You see? I have to give my soul to see others well. That’s what I know.”

“I understand.”

“I know you do. I just had to tell you that I’m not being reckless, or using my gift lightly. I know exactly what’s at stake, but when it comes to the lives of my Pack brothers and my mate, there’s no question I’ll risk everything to make sure they’re okay.”

“And if you die?”

“Then I die,” he said with a small smile. “Most creatures do, sooner or later.”

“You’re a rare man, Healer.” She stood and looked between him and Selene. “I hope you both realize how lucky you are.”

With that, she left them alone. Zan stared at the door she’d just gone through. “She’s lonely. I wish she could find a mate who completes her the way you complete me.”

Warmth shone in his mate’s eyes. “I wish she could, too. Did you know her deceased mate very well?”

He cocked his head. “You know, it’s funny you should say that. The team and I worked under Terry for five and a half years. But in all that time, I never felt I knew him as well or was as close to him as I’ve become with Nick in the months since he took over.”

“What about the rest of the team? They feel the same way?”

“I’m pretty sure they do. Especially Jax. He never cared for Terry that much.”

“That’s sort of strange.”

“Yeah. A part of me wonders whether Terry had anything to do with the ambush that killed half our team. Then I feel like a complete shit for even thinking ill of the dead.”

“It’s a legitimate concern. When someone holds himself aloof and then something bad happens, you find yourself questioning what you thought you know.” She suddenly got a strange look on her face.

“What is it?”

“That’s exactly how I feel about my uncle right now,” she said quietly. “He’s always held himself so aloof, up on his moral high ground that nobody else can possibly reach. And now I find myself questioning why he’s always been so against me finding my father.”