Chapter 624: IN THE END, MY GOOD BETA WAS THE MOST RELIABLE
23 FEBRUARY, TUESDAY, CONTINUED
Two smart knocks on the door signaled my beta... All three of my betas to be exact. Ben who had knocked, entered first. He was dressed in a clean set of Lorent training gear. Harvey came in next, with Ki draped over one shoulder.
"Excuse us." My good beta nodded a bow. Ben quickly followed suit. Ki looked ragged. I could smell blood even though I couldn't see it.
When Harvey leveled him down him on the sofa, Ki's smile looked more like a wince.
I winced too.
"He's torn up pretty bad." Ben didn't mince his words, "Dumb dog requested his jacket removed before the whipping."
I looked at Ki who managed a weak smile. He was glowing but his light was really dim, like he was low on batteries or something. He wasn't wearing a tie, but other than that, he was in his full suit. I walked over and tugged at his jacket to look in and regretted it the moment I saw the dark red fabric and smelled his blood, dried blood, with a tinge of fresh red.
I saw red all over again.
"It's not all mine." Ki tried to reassure me, "I haven't changed since tending to Bell."
"If you kept your jacket on, it wouldn't have cut this bad." Ben pointed out.
I ignored their banter, my hair rising. WTH.
I looked from Ki to Bell, he was still sleeping. Harvey had removed Bell's jacket and hung it over another chair earlier, but wasn't my luna also in a full suit while in bed? Grrr... What was it with Lorent Princes and wearing suits when they were half dead?
Did they think anyone would care? Or was the death god allergic to Prada? Or maybe it was Zegna. Who knew?
I shook my head, my hair flaring. Of all the stoopid things to worry about - what's with the fancy suits? The only useful thing about a well pressed suit is that if they should die, we could have put them whole into their coffin.
"Hoo man," Beta Lucas said to my dad, "Here we go again."
I decided to ignore that too. Where should I start?
I pointed at Ben, "You! Why did you shift?"
"The guard wouldn't tell me where Ki was." Ben shrugged coolly, but I wasn't having any of that today.
"And how would you be able to ask anyone else in your wolf form?" I flared, "Aren't you supposed to be a genius? Was that what your genius mind came up with on the spot?"
If so, Ben really shouldn't run into things on the fly.
"Look, I got Ki back, didn't I?" Ben tried to argue.
"Harvey got Ki back." I corrected, "You just terrified the Lorent household in general."
Ben chuckled, "Heh, yeah. I did, didn't I?"
No remorse whatsoever.
I turned to Ki, "And you! Why didn't you shift? If you knew you were going to be hurt, why didn't you fight back? I don't believe your wolf is any weaker than the others here either. And even if you couldn't bear to spoil your suit, you could've mindlink for help! Don't just meekly let yourself be beaten!"
"Apologies, goddess." At least Ki had a decency to look ashamed, "Old habits die hard."
I pointed back to Ben, "One who shifts too much."
Then I pointed back at Ki, "One who doesn't shift enough."
I sighed, "It seems like Harvey is the only reliable one after all."
Which finally got to Ben. He growled lowly at me.
"What? You don't agree?" I challenged, "Did you think you did better?"
Ben sulked, "Yeah, yeah, Sam. I got it."
Ode to Ben's bad attitude. If I ever write a song, I think this one could be a hit.
I huffed, "Okay, whatever, as long as you two know it. Someone fix Ki up. We're going home."
"Delta Oran, if I might trouble you for your assistance." Harvey prompted.
"Ah, yes yes, not a problem." Delta Oran agreed with an easy smile. He removed his own jacket and folded up his shirt sleeves - lest he got his own suit messed up too, "I've have him good as new."
I watched for a moment, at first because of that thing with the suit - were all Lorent men like that? You'd never find a Night Leaf guy fussing over a suit (or wearing a suit on a normal day either), but then I noticed how Delta Oran was healing Ki, his hand hovering just over Ki's chest, "Why is it that only your hand glows?"
I was used to Ki's full metal goddess kind of glow.
Delta Oran looked surprised, "What? Oh you mean this?" He held up his glowing hand as if just noticing it for the first time, "Well, I'm just from the branch family. Only Ki has inherited the bloodline to exhibit the full ability."
Delta Oran went back to healing. It was like using a steam iron, just hovering it over the wound waiting for it to unwrinkle. Unlike Bell's immediate heal, or Ki's brightly lit overall restoration, Delta Oran's healing looked like it needed a lot of patience to do.
I patted Ki on his shoulder, "Did you hear that Ki? You're like an endangered species or something."
"He's the only one left actually." Delta Oran informed me cheerily.
Oh. My wolf considered this for a while, "It's okay Ki. It's only temporary."
I patted Ki on his shoulder some more, careful not to pat over the blistering parts of his skin, "You're still young and strong. You can get mated and make lots of little Kis to keep you company."
Ki didn't bother to hide his wince anymore, "No thank you, goddess."
"What a terrifying thought." Delta Oran smiled, a very gentle smile.
{So fun.}
Ki adverted his gaze from the elder Oran, "I'm fine now, Delta. Conserve your strength."
"What happened to the mutt who used to follow me around and call me Uncle Harry?" Delta Oran asked.
Ki smiled then, his beautiful smile, the one like a rose that hid thorns under its petals, "That mutt died in the fight cages."
"Oh?" Delta Oran stepped back and righted his shirt sleeves, "What a pity. He was such a cute kid too."
Yeah, and for what it's worth, Delta Oran, I could see how that cute kid had loved your smile too.
When everything was done - well mostly when everyone had their jackets back on, Dad said, "We should be heading back."
"Ah, yes." Alpha James nodded, "I'll walk you out."
I took one last look at Bell. He was still just lying there.
"He'll be alright Sam." Ben said.
"I'll stay with him, goddess." Ki volunteered.
I shook my head. After what just happened, there was NO WAY I was going to let Ki stay here, "You're coming home, Ki."
At any rate, Ki needed rest.
But I couldn't quite bear to leave Bell here alone either.
Ben would probably tear up the place all over again. Harvey... would probably have to cover for Ki back home.
"Can I take Bell with me too?" I asked.
"What?" That was Mum. Was my request that shocking?
"Sam, Bell needs special care right now." Mum explained as if to a little puppy, "Our home doesn't have the equipment or healers for him to recuperate."
I looked at the set up they had Bell hooked onto. I guess that's true. But my wolf couldn't feel at ease about leaving Bell here. What if they tried to stretch out the treatments or something? Wouldn't Bell be suffering here all alone?
"Then can I stay with Bell?" I asked.
Mum shook her head, "Oh, Sam!"
"You don't have to worry." Alpha Lorent tried to reassure me, "I know how to take care of my own son."
Which didn't reassure me in the slightest.
"I'm sure Sam doesn't mean that you don't." Mum said, "Her wolf is probably just uneasy about parting. Separation anxiety is quite normal."
The adults all nodded like that totally made any sense.
Yeah, I guess I was anxious about what they might do to Bell the moment we were separated.
"Don't worry Sam," Mum tried to console me, "You'll see Bell again in a couple of days. Oh, Alpha James, would Bell be able to travel by then?"
"It shouldn't be a problem." Alpha James said, "We'll just let him rest for now."
I flared a little. I know Mum didn't want me to kick up a fuss and cause the Lorents any more trouble, but... Ki's words about old habits dying hard worried me beyond measure. What if Bell had old habits here too? If anything happened to him here, I'd never forgive myself.
So I dug in my heels, "I won't leave Bell."
"Fine, I'll stay with him." Ben said - actually, he more like threatened.
I grinned, "Okay, Alpha James, I'll have to trouble you."
Ben grinned, "Please take care of me, Alpha."
Omo. Alpha James' face... and it was reflected all around. Ben turned out to be very unpopular among the Lorents. Hahaha. I had a good mind to really leave Ben behind. Take that for hurting Ki!
Perhaps it was because Alpha James could sense my wolf's dissatisfaction with him, or thirst for revenge, or maybe he really didn't want Ben around, but he suddenly changed his tune.
"That won't be necessary." Alpha James declared, "I think his condition is stable enough, and we can have the machines moved over too - just to be safe."
No one looked entirely convinced. Not even me - even though that would be exactly what I wanted. Bell belonged to me. MINE. ❤️
"Ki is qualified to use the medical equipment, and he's the only one who can deal with him anyway." Alpha James said. He took one look at Ki's condition, "I'll lend you Delta Oran for the time being. Delta Oran is one of only two healers besides my own sons whom I allow to cast anything on me. Since Ki being this way was my doing, you can do as you please with Delta Oran."
Wait, what?
Delta Oran smiled, "If you say so, Alpha."
So I knew he was not entirely psyched about coming along with us. Why? Did he think we would mistreat him at Night Leaf? Maybe I should lock him in the dungeon. Lol. Just to scare him a little. Lucky for him, my wolf wasn't interested in scaring wolves who had no way or retaliating. {What's the fun in that?}
I would have let Delta Oran off the hook, but Ki did look like he was in a bad way. I'm not sure how long Ki was going to hold out, and I really didn't want to risk Bell's life should anything happen while Ki was out cold.
"Okay." I nodded, "Thanks. I'll take good care of him."
I had meant to reassure everyone, but that sort of backfired. Its was as if I said, "I'll take GOOD CARE of him." You know, like the way black-and-white movie gangsters might say, "Take GOOD CARE of him" and the next day, the guy's body would be found in the harbor. Everyone here had watched way too many Godfather movies.
I accidentally caught Alpha James' mindlink to Delta Oran, {Go with the princess and see to my son's care. Send for Charles and Anthony to return home to take over your duties while you're away.}
{Understood, Alpha.} Delta Oran agreed. He sounded as happy about it as Ki or Bell when they said they had to return to the Lorent Pack.
Delta Oran smiled at us once again, "Shall I help you load our young alpha into your car?"
And he started work detaching the tubes from my luna.
"Well, then I suppose that is that." Lady Amber said.
"Don't worry," Mum tried to reassured her, "We will take care of your boys."
And for whatever reason, no one took it in a Godfather movie way. Everyone looked a little more relieved.
"Th...thank you." Luna Edith even said.
WTH. I already said I'd take care of everyone, didn't I?
"No matter how angry Sam gets, it blows over quickly." Mum continued - needlessly. I mean, why are we talking about me being angry? I wasn't angry at all. Did I look angry? I flared indignantly.
Dad quickly coughed into his hand and pushed Mum towards to door, "Let's talk outside."
I folded my arms to sulk. I was NOT angry. Okay, I was angry, but that was like a full five minutes ago! I was way over it already!
"Come on, Sam." Ben was the only one who didn't seem bothered by my hair, "Let's go."
That was my line! But Ben was already pushing me out the door. Harvey hefted Ki back up.
"Let's get you to the car buddy." Harvey sounded kind and strong.
"Thanks, Harv." Ki managed a wane smile.
Delta Oran had lifted up Bell in a princess hold, "Might I trouble one of you to grab the young alpha's jacket?"
I flared again, "Leave the jacket!"
Ben laughed, "Sam, you're a terror, you know that?"
What? I just had it with this jacket thing! Was it just me who thought this entire fuss over Lorent fancy suits was ridiculous?
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