Warrior (Relentless #4)(137)

Even Desmund left his rooms to come spend time with her. He brought an ancient stereo, which he set up in a corner of the room, and a stack of classical albums. He informed me that Sara liked Tchaikovsky and hearing the soothing music might help her.

I was willing to try anything at that point.

The second day dawned with me pleading with Sara to open her eyes.

“Please, come back to me,” I implored as I rubbed her hand between mine. “I almost lost you once. Don’t do this to me again.”

I knew the more time that passed, the lower her chances were of coming out of her coma. The healers had stopped saying it could happen any minute now, and they looked more worried each time they came to check on her.

Roland arrived at noon. He walked up to the bed then made a face. “Dude, you’re a mess. You need a shower.”

“I’ll shower after she wakes up,” I said without looking at him.

“She might not want to if her nose is as good as mine.”

I looked down at the clothes I’d been wearing for two days. He was right. I didn’t want Sara to see me like this when she woke up.

I let go of her hand and stood. “Stay with her. I won’t be long.”

When I got back to Sara’s hospital room twenty minutes later, I found Roland and Peter plugging in an iPod and a pair of speakers.

Roland pointed at Desmund’s stereo. “Sara might like that stuff, but it’s not her favorite music. She needs some good old classic rock. That’s her thing.”

Tristan walked in an hour later with one of the healers. I stalked toward them, determined to either get some answers or to find someone else to help Sara.

“It’s been two damn days. Why hasn’t she woken up?”

“Physically, there is nothing wrong with her,” the healer said. “All I can guess is that her mind needs to heal from the trauma she suffered, and she will wake when she is ready.”

“You guess?” I needed more than a guess. I needed someone to tell me what the hell was wrong with my mate.

Tristan raised a hand. “Nikolas, calm down. There is nothing to be gained from yelling at the healers. None of us has seen anything like this before.”

Roland snorted. “Dude, I wouldn’t want to wake up either with you shouting like that.”

Peter pointed at Sara. “I think I just saw her eyes move!”

Roland leaned down over Sara. “Sara, it’s Roland. Can you hear me?”

He let out a whoop. “There! Her lips moved. See, Pete, I told you the music was a good idea.”

I pushed the two of them out of the way and took her hand in mine. “Sara? It’s time to wake up, moy malen’kiy voin.”

“Ah, is our beauty still sleeping?” Desmund said from behind me. “Perhaps a kiss from her prince is all she needs.”

I gritted my teeth. “This is no time for your humor, Desmund.”

Desmund scoffed. “On the contrary, laughter is just what she needs. It is far too gloomy in here…and what is that awful noise?”

“Hey, she likes this music,” Roland said defensively.

Roland, Peter, and Desmund began to argue, and I was about to order them all from the room when…

“Stop it.”

My breath caught, and I looked down as Sara’s eyelids flickered.

And then her beautiful green eyes were gazing into mine.

“Hi,” she rasped, that one word melting the icy knot that had been lodged in my stomach for two days.

“Hi, yourself.”

Her eyes narrowed in confusion. “What’s going on? Why is everyone in my room?”

She coughed, and I picked up a glass of water from the table by the bed. Lifting her head, I held the glass to her lips so she could drink.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Roland asked. “You scared the crap out of us.”

“Roland? What are you doing here?”

He glanced at me. “You don’t remember?”

“No, I…” She made a choked sound and buried her face in her hands.

“Oh God, I killed Nate.”

“No, Sara, he’s okay,” I told her, but she was too distraught to hear me.

She began to gasp for air, and I pulled her into my arms to calm her. She pressed her face into the crook of my shoulder, and her heartbreaking cries filled the room.

“Shhh. It’s okay, Sara. Nate’s alive,” I said to her over and over.

Her sobs stopped suddenly, and she pulled back to stare at me. “What did you say?”

“Nate is alive,” I repeated.

She shook her head. “That’s not possible. I killed him. I felt him die.”

Tristan came over to stand beside me. “You killed the vampire. We have no idea what you did in that room, but Nate is alive.”

“You’re not making any sense,” she cried. “How can the vampire be alive if I killed him?”

“Sara, the vampire is not alive. Nate is,” I said. “Nate is human again.”

“What?” Her stunned gaze went to everyone in the room. “Human? He’s human…and alive?”

“He smells human to us,” Peter said.

Sara reached for Roland who stood on her other side. “You’ve seen him?” she asked, her voice rising.