Knots of the Hybrid Queen: Claimed by Four Alphas

Chapter 41: Recovery

So here’s what nobody tells you about winning a battle: the winning part lasts about thirty seconds and then you spend the next week dealing with the aftermath, which turns out is just funerals and guilt and watching people you care about heal slower than you need them to. fгeewebnovёl.com

Thorne was still in medical. Still hooked up to machines that beeped in rhythms I’d memorized by now because I’d been sitting in this chair for—what, five days? Six? Time was doing weird things where hours felt like minutes and also like years, and I’d stopped asking healers when he’d wake up because the answer was always "soon" which was medically accurate and emotionally useless.

The demon poison was out of his system—they’d confirmed that yesterday or maybe the day before, time was still being weird—but his wolf was exhausted from healing and apparently wolves needed sleep to recover which, like, obviously? But also frustrating when what I needed was for him to open his eyes and say something in his one-word way so I’d know he was actually okay and not just alive.

Alive and okay were different things. I was learning that the hard way.

"You need to eat." Isabelle appeared with food I didn’t want and the kind of expression that said she wasn’t leaving until I at least pretended to try.

The tray had soup that smelled incredible and also made me vaguely nauseous because eating when Thorne couldn’t eat felt wrong on some fundamental level I couldn’t explain, but arguing with Isabelle seemed exhausting so I picked up the spoon and managed three bites before my stomach decided it was done cooperating.

"That’s something." She sat in the other chair—the one Draven usually occupied when he wasn’t handling pack business or alliance politics or whatever else required the vampire hybrid who could navigate coven dynamics. "Have you slept?"

Define slept. I’d closed my eyes a few times. Dozed in the chair while holding Thorne’s hand. That counted, right?

"Some." The lie was transparent but she didn’t call me on it.

"Kael wants to see you." Her voice was careful. Gentle. "There’s a pack meeting in an hour about the alliance ceremony."

Oh right. The ceremony. The thing where all the factions formally recognized me as Hybrid Queen and bound themselves to fighting whatever the demon threw at us next, which sounded great in theory except it meant standing in front of two hundred people and pretending I had my shit together when I very clearly did not.

"Can it wait?" I knew the answer before she shook her head.

"The Witch Council is pushing for it to happen within the week. They want the alliance formalized before the demon recovers enough to attack again."

Right. Because demons didn’t care about recovery schedules or grief processing or the fact that I’d been wearing the same clothes for three days because leaving Thorne’s room felt like abandoning him.

Through the bond with Kael I pushed frustration mixed with exhaustion mixed with please just give me one more day, and got back understanding layered over but we’re out of time.

Fantastic.

"Fine." I set the soup aside. "One hour. But I’m coming back here after."

"No one’s asking you to leave permanently." Isabelle stood. "Just long enough to show your face and make the visiting Alphas feel heard." ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

The visiting Alphas. Right. Because we had four allied packs camped on our territory now, plus twenty vampires from Lysander’s coven who kept looking at me like they were still deciding if I was worth the risk, plus fifteen witches who reported back to Morgana about everything I did.

No pressure.

I stood and my knees did this thing where they forgot how joints worked and I had to grab the chair to keep from face-planting, which was embarrassing but also nobody was watching except Isabelle and she’d already seen me cry into Thorne’s chest for two hours straight so clearly dignity was dead.

"When did I last shower?" The question came out before I could stop it.

"Three days ago." She didn’t even hesitate. "There’s a bathroom attached to this room. I can have someone bring clean clothes."

Three days. Great. So I definitely smelled like medical building and anxiety sweat and grief. Perfect way to show up to a pack meeting where people were deciding if I was qualified to lead an alliance.

Twenty minutes later I was clean and dressed in clothes that didn’t smell like I’d been living in a hospital, and when I walked into Kael’s study every conversation stopped and all eyes turned to me and oh good this was already going fantastic.

"Selene." Alpha Marcus was the first to speak. "How is Thorne?"

"Healing." The word came out rough because my throat was doing that tight thing again. "Slowly. But healing."

Nods around the room. Understanding. Everyone here had lost people or watched people almost die, so at least I wasn’t alone in the trauma.

Small victories.

"The Witch Council wants the ceremony in five days." Kael jumped straight to business because apparently we were skipping pleasantries. "Formal recognition of you as Hybrid Queen. Binding oaths from all factions. The whole thing."

Five days. Five days to figure out how to stand in front of everyone and not completely fall apart.

"Okay." What else was I supposed to say? No? We couldn’t afford no.

"There’s protocol." Morgana stepped forward with a tablet. "Ancient protocol, actually. The last Hybrid Queen’s ceremony was recorded and we have the transcript."

Oh good. Ancient protocol. My favorite.

She pulled up text that looked like it had been written in Old English or Latin or possibly ancient gibberish, and started explaining what each part meant and what I’d need to say and what the factions would pledge and honestly my brain stopped processing after the first three paragraphs because it was all just words words words and none of it mattered if Thorne wasn’t awake to see it.

Through the bond with Draven I caught his concern spiking and tried to push back I’m fine except he could obviously tell I wasn’t fine because bonds didn’t lie.

"Can we do the abbreviated version?" The question interrupted whatever Morgana was saying about oath structures. "I mean—is there an abbreviated version? Because standing there for three hours reciting ancient pledges sounds like a great way to make everyone regret this alliance."

Silence.

Then Alpha Sienna laughed. "She’s got a point. Half my pack would fall asleep."

"There’s a shortened form." Morgana didn’t look offended, which was a relief. "Two hours instead of six. Same binding effect."

Two hours. I could survive two hours of standing and pledging and being stared at.

Probably.

"Let’s do that one." I heard my voice go flat. Exhausted. "Anything else?"

More discussion about security and positioning and what happens if the demon attacks during the ceremony, but honestly I stopped listening because through Thorne’s bond I felt something shift—not waking up, not yet, but closer than he’d been in days.

I was on my feet and moving before my brain caught up with what my body was doing.

"Selene—" Kael started.

"Thorne." Just the one word but everyone understood.

I made it back to medical in under a minute and when I burst through the door his eyes were open.

Actually open. Looking at me. Aware.

"You’re awake." Brilliant observation, Selene. Really stellar conversational skills.

"You smell better." His voice was rough. Hoarse. The most beautiful sound I’d heard in six days.

I laughed and it came out wet and broken. "I showered."

"Good." He held out his hand and I took it, settling into the chair I’d basically lived in, and through the bond I felt his exhaustion mixing with relief that I was there.

"You scared me." The confession came out quieter than I meant. "Don’t do that again."

"No promises." But his thumb traced circles on the back of my hand. "Demon?"

"Wounded. Retreating. We have time." I hoped. "There’s a ceremony in five days. Alliance formalization. You need to be there."

"I’ll be there." Simple. Certain.

Through the bond I felt Kael’s satisfaction that Thorne was awake mixing with Riven’s relief mixing with Draven’s concern that he was pushing too fast, but honestly I’d worry about that later because right now Thorne was awake and talking and that was enough.