CALLUM
“Callum!” I heard someone shouting, but they sounded so far away. I couldn’t open my eyes, and my
body felt numb, like I wasn’t connected to it.
“Callum, wake up, please,” another voice begged.
Oscar. That was Oscar and my dad.
I jolted upright, nearly headbutting my dad in the face.
He caught me before I could fall back when my head swum, my entire body still feeling weak.
“Ava…” I growled. “Where’s Ava?”
Dad and Oscar glanced at each other, faces nervous.
“Callum… She… She hasn’t woken up yet.”
“I need to see her,” I tried to scramble out of bed, but was tangled up in wires and cables.
“Callum, let me get a doctor to check on you, okay?”
I let my head fall back against my pillows. Didn’t really have a choice.
Dad ran out of the room, calling after a doctor as he went.
“How… how are you?” I asked Oscar.
“I woke up a couple hours ago, so did Theo.”
“Theo’s awake?”
He nodded. “He’s going to be here for a few days for observations, but he’s awake.”
“Noah?”
“He… he went into v-fib. They got his heart started again and he was awake for ten minutes or so, but
the doctors had to give him something to help him sleep. He just needs a lot of rest now to give
Hephaestus time to heal him.”
That was when I realised… I still hadn’t heard Ares.
“Ares?” I called out. Even in my mind, my voice was nervous.
“Callum,” Ares’ voice was low, pained.
“Fuck, Ares, are you okay?”
“I will be, I just… I can’t shift yet.”
I closed my eyes in relief. “Thank goddess. I missed your smart ass, Ares.”
“How long have I been out?”
“The full moon was three days ago,” Oscar replied, his voice careful. “It looks like what happened to
Ava took its toll on all of us. I think… I think that’s how we all ended up in that meadow. We were
lost and needed each other.”
Three days?! Fuck.
“Callum…” Oscar’s voice was low, concern evident in his voice. “Your mark is fading.”
My stomach plummeted. I reached for the spot Ava had marked, and it was cold, really cold. “Yours is
too,” I replied, almost a whisper. “I need to see Ava.”
OSCAR
“Callum… wait for the doctor, please.”
“No,” he refused, before detaching himself from everything, jumping out of bed and sprinting out of
the room, not even caring that the back of his hospital gown was open and everyone could see his
backside.
He ran into Ava’s room, and fell to his knees, his heart breaking at the sight that greeted us. Ava
looked so small, so fragile. The doctors were tracking everything; her blood pressure, blood sugar,
salt, pulse, brain waves… they didn’t really know why she hadn’t woken up yet.
The only theory was that her mind and soul needed time, Artemis needed time, so she wasn’t able to
wake up until they were both ready.
I sunk into one of the chairs at her bedside, taking her hand in mine, letting my head fall forwards. I
didn’t even try to hide the tears that streamed down my face. “We need you back, Ava,” I pleaded.
“Please wake up, please come back to us.”
Callum pulled himself up to sit opposite me, holding Ava’s other hand. “She’ll be okay,” he
whispered. “She has to be okay.”
All three marks Ava had were fading away from her neck, and the feeling of the mate bond breaking
was awful. Pain ran through my body, the only thing that was keeping me going was the hope that Ava
was going to be okay. She had to be okay.
“They’ve all gone,” Callum whispered, his voice pained. “All of her marks have gone. Apart from
Elijah’s.”
“They don’t look like marking bites though… they’re just bites… It looks like it’s healing, just really
slowly.”
I held her hand tighter, rubbing her palm, hoping for any sign of movement. A little spark ran across
our joined hands… the mate bond.
“Did you feel that?” Callum asked, voice awed.
“The sparks?”
He nodded.
“Yeah… it was faint, but it was there.”
“Keep going, Ava,” Callum whispered. “You’re a fighter. I can’t wait to see you again, to hold you
again.”
The door to Ava’s room suddenly slammed open.
“Theo! I’m glad to see you up and about,” Callum gave him a small smile.
He tried to smile back, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “What happened? Noah’s mark has gone.” He
glanced at mine and Callum’s necks before looking over at Ava. “Fuck, they’ve all gone?”
Callum and I nodded, our eyes going back to Ava.
“At least Elijah’s bites are healing too,” I added. “Maybe… maybe Artemis is fighting Elijah’s venom,
but can’t identify ours yet?”
A warm breeze flowed through the room; making us all look up in shock.
“Selene…?” Callum asked, face shocked.
She nodded, silently walking towards Ava. She motioned towards the hand Callum was holding,
silently asking if she could take it. Callum nodded, moving to the side, giving her space.
She sat in Callum’s abandoned chair, lifting Ava’s hand, pressing a kiss to the back of it, tears in her
eyes, before standing and kissing her forehead too. At that second kiss, Selene’s hands glowed where
they held Ava’s, giving off some kind of energy that felt like love.
She gave us all a smile, before disappearing as quickly as she came.
“Ava’s breathing is picking back up,” my voice was awed. “She did it, Selene saved her.”
Having heard the change in beeping from all the monitors, the doctor burst in, a smile on his face
when he saw Ava’s vitals stabilising. “I told you you’re a fighter, Ava,” he smiled. “You’ll be just
fine.”
“Thanks, doc,” a tiny, quiet voice replied, so quiet I nearly missed it.
“Ava, you’re awake!” Theo and I exclaimed in sync, Callum was wiping away happy tears.
She squeezed my hand, but she was still weak.
“What happened?”
“Ava… Selene saved you. She… well, I don’t know what she did, but she saved you.”