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Chapter 40 - "Playing The Martyr, Now?"

Micajah Rye's PoV:

I'm floating in a state of nothingness, not able to comprehend where I am, or why I'm stuck in this dreamlike state.

It was then, I hear her melodic voice first.

"Cage . . . Do you remember the time when we first met? I can't describe how I felt the first time I saw you . . . y'know? It was like—like, everything fell into place at that moment. Until then, I was just existing, pushing through the motions of life and leading the Pack the best I could . . . " She takes a deep breath, "But I'd always felt like there was no one who could really understand me and be with me for who I am—well, Ezra is, but it's kind of mandatory for him, it's not something he can escape from—anyway, at that second, when I saw you lying on the ground, looking at me with those big blue eyes, scared, yet somehow confident that I wouldn't hurt you, I just knew that I'd fall for you. Hell, I fell hard the instant I laid eyes on you . . . and you were there, just looking at me with such hope, with so much happiness and affection despite the things you'd been through and I'd felt like the biggest failure."

What? No, Seneca, you're most definitely not a failure!

"Because . . . well, it was clear that you'd suffered a lot more that bullying, I could tell you were a fighter, because if it weren't for your attitude, you wouldn't have been able to retain that hope and smile in a way that makes me weak in the knees every time I see you. And to think that I'd been through something hard as well, but had only managed to be a tenth of the human you are, I'd felt so ashamed. That was only for a split-second, before I felt pride. Pride that I'd had such a strong Mate, a Mate who refused to go down without a fight. . . " She trails off, and I can almost envision in my head the small nostalgic smile pulling up the corners of her lips. I then hear a heavy exhale, the single breath loaded with so much emotion.

"I wasn't used to expressing much, but even then, if Lenora hadn't come barging in and breaking the moment, I might've done something stupid like throwing you against the wall and ravishing you . . . And that scared me shitless, because in my 18 years, I'd never felt an emotion or a pull so strong that constantly warred with my self-control, and that just made me angry on everything. The second I yelled at you and Lenora in front of the whole Cafeteria, I regretted it. She was wrong on her part, she shouldn't have provoked me, but she was your friend, and you deserve to do whatever you want, but I couldn't bring myself to apologize, my ego was too big for that. But now, I want to apologize for it. I'm sorry, Cage . . . I'm so so sorry."

'Stop apologizing, you idiot!' I want to yell, but my mouth is sealed shut, and my senses are under chains, and I can't seem to move anything. It's like I'm underwater, my brain disconnected from my body, and I can't do anything except listen, listen to my Mate opening up for the first time.

"When you said that you wanted to become strong, I was so proud of you, I wanted to boast about my Mate to everyone—and when you punched Ezra the first time, the sound was like heaven to my ears. Because you'd finally did it, proved that you weren't what everyone thought you were. And I was so happy, because I was right about you. You were, indeed born to be a leader."

I want to grin, I want to grin so huge and hug her and kiss her, but I can't do it, I can't move.

"That's when it started. The transformation. You were like a beautiful pupa evolving into the most wonderful butterfly. Everyday, I saw it in you, little changes, and the constant effort you were putting to make yourself better, the work you were doing to push yourself as much as you could, and I fell for you. Hard and fast, I was falling in love with every single thing about you, and there was nothing I could do about it. I could only convince myself that what I felt was just 'like' and it will eventually fade away when you decide to leave me, and I will be able to move on, when that happens. Little did I know, that I'd fallen so hard and deep into the rabbit hole already, it was impossible to come out." She chuckles mirthlessly, a sound skin to a sniffle reaches my ears and I realize that maybe she's crying silently.

No . . . No, Red. Please don't cry . . .

"It all bit me in the ass and I finally realized that I had completely and utterly fallen for you, and it would tear me apart to shreds to watch you leave when you met me in this same hospital room after Daemon attacked. You asked me so naïvely if I realized that I could've died that day protecting you.

"And it was like an epiphany moment, because it hit me like a bucket of ice water, yes, I was ready to give my life to protect you. Yes, My love for you was soul deep. Yes, I would do anything to bring that smile on your face, and I began to panic, because the next thought I had was, I had to pull away immediately.

"If I spend more time with you, you were gonna leave an irrevocably destructed heart when you left me. And I couldn't have that, because—call it self-preservation or whatever you want to, but in my defense, there was a Pack dependent on me, and such recklessness would only lead to the destruction of the only other thing that was constant in my life."

"But despite all my attempts to keep my distance, you and  your big mouth pushed me more and more everyday. You storming out after yelling at me, you about to cry after Lenora accused you of dumping your lunch on her, it was all little little things that pushed and pushed, and I broke that night when you were roaming around shirtless. If I'd known then that Nicole was lesbian, maybe we could've prevented that incident on the dining hall," She snickers, "but when you moaned my name . . . " She swallows, "It was like a switch was flipped and I was that scared little girl again, lying under her drunk father, motionless and hoping against hope that he didn't know what he was doing, or more precisely who he was doing. I just . . . I couldn't—I couldn't bear to stand—" Her voice wobbles and I want to comfort her, I so badly want to envelope her in my arms and yell at her to stop saying all this, and that's when I feel it.

My hand tightly wrapped in hers.

I hear the heart monitor beeping louder and louder, and I put everything I have, trying to squeeze my fingers in hers.

And damn if I didn't succeed.

"Micajah!?" Seneca is shocked, I can hear the chair scraping as she probably jumps up, scrambling in a hurry, "Doc! He's waking up!" She hollers, and I can feel her scurrying away, so I grip her hand tighter, making her take in a sharp breath.

It's a mammoth task to open my sticky eyelids.

I'm blinded by the sudden lights assaulting my retinae, before I slowly open my eyes, blinking once, twice, thrice, as the three Senecas hovering over me slowly merge into one. The whole world seems soft around the edges. I know I should be in pain, but I think I'm buoyed up by the amount of drugs they'd probably injected into my body.

I open my mouth, but that's when I realize that an oxygen mask is held around my nose and mouth by an elastic around my head. Seneca discerns that I'm trying to speak and pulls off the plastic mask, leaning close to me.

"Shu . . . Shut the hell up," I croak, feeling tears of pain prick the back of my eyes as my throat burns, my tongue dry and scratchy like sandpaper.

"Huh?" Seneca asks, confusion painting her features.

"I—I know y-you—" A violent cough wracks my body, and sharp pain shooting from my chest and spreading everywhere as cough after cough plagues me. Seneca jumps to grab the cup of water on the table beside the bed and place it close to my lips. I take a few greedy gulps of water, enjoying the cool liquid sliding down my throat and easing some of the burn.

I take a moment to compose myself and finally, when I'm sure I won't wince with every breath, I speak again.

"Shut up. I know you love me." I rasp, smiling. "You don't have to prove it."

Seneca's red rimmed eyes fill with tears as she blinks thousand times a second, struggling to stop them. She turns to me with a giddy grin, leaning forward and pressing her lips to mine in a small, sweet kiss. She pulls back and leans her head on my shoulder as she takes shuddery breaths, trying to regain her composure.

I let her, because the doctors will probably be in soon

That's when it strikes me. "Wha—What's today's date?"

"7th of September. You've been out for 3 days."

"Wow."

"Yes, the doctors said that it will be critical until you woke up. And the past two days were bad, they were not sure you could pull through. A few hours back, Dr. Storm said that the odds were in out favor. Thank Goddess, he was right."

"You look like shit," I observe, taking in her disheveled hair and rumpled clothes, her puffy red eyes and hunched shoulders. "You didn't leave." I gather, trying my best to glare.

She crosses her arms across her chest defensively, "I would've missed you waking up, if I had left."

I remain silent at that.

Dr. Storm chooses that moment to walk in, and Seneca moves to the side, letting the doctor do his thing.

* * *

So I've gathered a few things in the past hour.

Delta Wolf biting a part of my lower chest is not the biggest damage, and not the reason why I'm hooked to so many machines and bedridden. After biting, he'd pushed me to the ground with a shove hard enough, and fallen over me, crushing 3 lower ribs, which had punctured my lungs and had come dangerously close to poking my heart.

In addition, my head had suffered some heavy injury as it crashed to the ground. Some biological part too complicated to remember of my brain had been bruised too.

Goddess.

So I'd been in a medicine induced coma for the past 3 days, and had been in danger of not waking up, or probably losing any one of the senses.

But after a thorough checkup, I'd been declared to have all organs intact.

Thank Goddess for that too.

I'd also learnt that Daemon hadn't in fact betrayed Ezra and Seneca—shocker—and that they'd all been under a huge misunderstanding. There won't be any future wars—hopefully—and the Alpha couple of the Kyler Pack, Alpha Daemon Kyler and Luna Lenora Andrews had profusely apologized for the damage caused to me, and had promised to extend the apology to me as well when I wake up.

No thanks, if you ask me.

And the last thing was, Beta Ezra Anthony Harland was pissed at me.

Like clockwork, the door flies open, and I feel a sense of déjà vu as the angry Beta strides in, his determined pace leading him to the cot in the middle of the room, where I'm almost sitting—I'd forced Seneca to take a shower because she was stinking—with the help of the button that pushes up the cot.

He comes to a standstill near me, his arms crossed and jaw locked as his eyes flash with fury, fading pink scars marring the skin across his bulging biceps.

Nobody has escaped unscathed, I see.

"Playing the martyr, now?" He asks finally, breaking the terse silence.

"Yup," I acquiesce, raising both brows in amusement as I watch him struggle to put a leash on his varying emotions.

"I could've handled it, you know?" He says after an instant, pursing his lips to a thin line.

"You're my only family, you know?" I shoot back, mimicking him as I cross my arms and purse my lips defiantly.

"I—" He looks speechless, "You, um—ugh!"

I grin, unable to help myself, "Friends again?" I extend my hand for a shake, hoping he'd take it.

He stares at it like he's looking at an alien, then looks up at me with the same befuddled expression.

Then I'm wrapped in the arms of the Beta, making me go still with surprise.

"Brothers." He says instead, and I jerk out of the momentary paralyzation, wrapping my arms around him.

"Brothers." I nod, grinning.

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