Chapter 53

It has been two weeks. Two weeks of waiting by his side and he has still not woken up. There have been a few times that I have felt a finger twitch or he would attempt to squeeze my hand, but nothing else. I have not been able to bring myself to leave this room.

His parents have become frequent visitors, as well as my family and Oliver. They have tried relentlessly to get me to leave this room, but I have refused. Not until I could see with my own eyes that he was well. I need him to wake up. I need to feel his arms around me, his lips on mine, and to hear his voice. Fuck, I would kill to hear his voice.

I have not been eating. I have not been sleeping. I stare at myself in the mirror and I can tell that I have lost some weight. They bring me food all the time and my mom goes as far as to bring me food from home, but nothing seems appetizing. I feel as if I would have better luck if they just stuck an IV in me, which Emily and Leigh have threatened to do to me. Sleep comes and goes. In the past two weeks, I have probably had about ten hours of sleep-in total. All cat naps that take place at random points throughout the day.

Today, is my 21st birthday and my parents have begged me to leave the room for a few hours, but I have still refused. Today should have been a happy day, but it isn’t instead I am still stuck in this hospital room because my mate won’t wake up.

I punch my fist through the mirror and hiss as the shards of glass slice into my hands. I have been angry lately. To the point that Michael and Oliver have taken to telling me that I have been volatile and they are scared to say something around me, for fear of saying the wrong thing to me, but I cannot help it. I am mortally terrified of what is going to happen to my mate.

Aziel rushes into the room, “What the fuck happened?” He looks between my hand and the mirror that is laying in pieces beneath my feet.

“Kat, maybe you should take a break. You are no good to any of us in this type of state. You aren’t able to help Justin if you are losing your temper at the smallest of things. I will stay with him for you. Go home, get some sleep, maybe grab a granola bar or a banana and then you can come back. Justin is going to be upset when he sees that you have not been fully taking care of yourself.”

The more I think about it, the more I know he is right, but I just cannot bring myself to leave his side. I need him right now…I need to know he is okay.

“I am fine, Aziel. It was just a small lapse in my judgement, I promise. Will you stay here with me for a little bit? I could use some company. It might take my mind off everything going on with Justin.” I whispered to him, looking at the ground. I was embarrassed about my lapse in judgement. I knew I should not have done that, but it felt so damn good to do it. It helped me release some of my pent-up anger and frustration.

He nodded his head towards me, “Of course, I will stay with you. We all want him to wake up as much as you do, Kat.”

The warriors have been switching out periodically, taking turns guarding the corridors and making sure no one that is unwanted comes to bother us.

Several hours pass and we continued to sit there in silence. Aziel was playing games on his phone and I continued to hold Justin’s hand and pray that a miracle would happen.

Come on, baby. I would do anything for you to come back to me.

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**Justin’s POV**

Darkness. I was surrounded in complete darkness.

“Ares,” I called out. I was met with silence. “Kat?” Nothing. There was no one there.

Time passes weird here. I don’t know how long I have been here. I can’t remember anything that has happened. The silence is killing me. I need to know what is happening.

Just open your eyes.

But I can’t seem to get them open. I am struggling, but it is a fruitless struggle.

Sparks. I feel sparks. My chest is tingling. “Kataleya,” I called out again. Still, nothing.

“Ares?”

Fuck! There is a sharp sting in my neck by my marking spot. I touch it and I feel the sparks.

“Kataleya?” I called out again.

Goddess, this is so fucking frustrating!

I heard something behind me and I am met with a feral wolf.

Fuck!

This wolf should be familiar to me, but. I can’t remember the significance this wolf is supposed to have to me…

I run in the opposite direction from the wolf. I can hear my heart thumping in my ears and my adrenaline racing.

What is going on?

Why am I being chased?

I have been running for what feels like hours.  All of a sudden there is this bright light emanating. It is blinding. I hold my hand, shielding my eyes from the light.  I looked towards the ground and see that I am standing on a grainy, sand substance. It feels like sand at the beach, once it has been wet.

I turned around and all I can see is the blinding light and the wolf standing in front of me.

I felt the urge to close my eyes and I stood there for a second. My eyes fly open and I suddenly remember who the wolf is standing in front of me. I glanced at him and I saw the recognition in his eyes as well.

Ares.

My wolf.

I ran towards him and wrapped my arms around his next. I missed him so much. You never realize how good something is until it is no longer there. It is too quiet here. I was going crazy with nothing but my thoughts occupying me.

Now, I need to remember what happened to me…I need to remember what happened that landed me here. How do I go back? I can remember Kataleya, my family, friends, pack. I remember her telling me she loves me, but everything after that is a blur. I can’t remember any of the rest…

“Ares,” I whispered, “Do you remember how we got here?”

“You don’t remember anything?” he asked me.

“Last thing I remembered was Kataleya told me she loved me. After that, everything is blank.”

Ares told me everything that had happened the night she told me she loved me. He told me about the battle with the rogues and how Kataleya jumped in to help us. He ended with my injury and how there was too much blood loss to heal me.  That was the last thing he remembered before we fainted and then he felt that we were separated. Then, when he was placed here with me, he couldn’t remember why I was important to him, but it was important that he chased me.

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**What feels like several days later**

I have been making marks in the ground with my fingers, keeping track of how many days I think I have been here. I am currently at day 13.

The silence is killing me. The only company I have is Ares, while he is good company, he is not what I crave right now. I crave hearing Kataleya’s voice and seeing her smile…her laughter, feel her touch…

Most of the time, I feel the sparks on my hands and chest, sometimes my forehead and lips.

The other day, or what I am assuming is the other day, I heard a voice calling for me to come back, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not reach the voice and I always end up back in the same spot.

I miss her. I want this to end. If this is how I am going to feel, I just want it all too end.

All of a sudden, there is another bright light. Ares begins to go crazy.

A beautiful woman appears, but I cannot make out very many of her features. She seems ethereal almost.

“Ares, what’s wrong?”

“Mother. It’s mother.”

“What do you mean it is your mother, you crazy wolf?”

“My children stop bickering. Young Justin your wolf is correct. I am his mother, even though you may not see me as your mother.”

“She is the Moon Goddess!” Ares shouted excitedly at me.

“Moon Goddess? Why are you here? Where am I?”

“You are in the in-between. You are halfway here, but halfway there. Your mate and the doctors have done everything they can to save you, but now the choice is up to me….ultimately, I am leaving the choice up to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can let you go back to your family, pack, and mate or I can bring you to the other side with me. You will be happy and never have another worry.”

“What about Kataleya, though?” I asked.

“Kataleya may never move on. I took a chance when I made the decision to pair you with her. See, Kataleya, had several possible outcomes for her life and I decided to intervene in fate, which I usually try to stay out of. Whenever, I make the pairs, it is usually easy because the pairs typically ‘choose each other’ because of them being like-minded. With Kataleya, though, I had made a mistake and paired her with someone she should never have been paired with. I broke their bond, so that I could pair her with you. See, I needed someone that would help Kataleya. Someone who would push her boundaries, but most importantly, someone that would not let her continue to succumb to her traumatic past.

I wish I could have change what happed to her, but I always let my children make their own choices, and sometimes my children go down dark and dangerous paths. Now, onto your choices. You can either choose to go back now or you can choose to come with me. What you choose, will alter Kataleya’s fate, so choose carefully.

You have been here for 15 days in the human world. Many have lost hope that you will wake, but Kataleya has held out hope. She has remained by your side the entire time. She isn’t eating, she isn’t training, and she hasn’t taken care of herself.”

“The obvious choice is I would go back to her. I need her, just as she needs me, right?”

“Let me show you a snippet of what has been going on while you have been stuck in this in-between state.” She waved her hands into the empty space and a small projector like screen appeared.

I see a hospital room. In the center of the bed, I laid their motionless and Kat was curled into my side, tears running down her face. “Please wake up,” she whispered. She was holding my hand. That must have been the sparks I was feeling. It was her. She was touching me, trying to wake me up.

The door cracked open; Michael walked into the room. “Kataleya, come on, it is your birthday. Please leave this room. He would not want you hiding here. At least come have dinner with us. Mom made your favorite. She shook her head no. Michael sighed lately. “Kataleya, you have not eaten in days and a nibble of a banana doesn’t count. We know what you do with the food you are brought…Please, we miss you. Justin will still be here in an hour. Mom has been looking forward to your birthday for weeks.” She growled at him. Actually, it was Skye that growled at Michael. “I am not leaving this room until he wakes. I need him…” The scene fades away and I am left looking at the Moon Goddess.

“How will me staying here help her? How would it hurt her if I go back? What sort of fate awaits Kat based on my decision?” I whispered brokenly.

“Fate is a fickle thing, child. Just know, if you choose to go back to her, it will not be easy. There are going to be many challenges to come your way and they will not all be easy. Choose wisely, my child.”

My chest begins to tighten and I am struggling to breathe. I looked over and I see Ares on the ground whimpering.

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**Kataleya’s POV**

“He is coding! Get someone in here!” Emily yelled out the door.

I sat in the corner with tears rushing down my face. Michael and Oliver are holding me back, out of the way of the doctors. Please don’t let this be the end.

I hear the final beep of the monitors flat lining and my heart stopped.