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Asher groaned out painfully, eyes struggling to open only to be momentarily blinded by the overhead light. He swore harshly at it as he turned his head and closed his eyes once more. A chuckle came from the side of him causing him to quickly turn his head towards it. Instantly regretting his decision when the bite from his neck made itself known again.
“Careful there sunshine, don’t want to open the stitches that they just put in.”
He snorted as he carefully massaged his neck, fingers barely brushing over the bandage. “You’re one to talk, the hell you doing out of bed already?” Eyes moving over to Darlin who had their elbow on the armrest and their cheek resting on their fist. He examined them in slight shock. They were still very bandaged up but sitting upright casually like they hadn’t just been almost torn in half by that centuries old vampire.
“Hospital beds are shit and I was getting tired of lying down, my legs were getting cramped,” they replied, stretching their legs out for exaggeration.
He rolled his eyes at them with a grin. “David’s going to throw a fit if he sees your ass up already,”
They retorted, “He’s going to throw one anyways after the state those hikers found us in. I swear that man looks for an excuse to bitch at people.” Asher slowly lost his grin as he thought back to what had just happened. A somber silence filled the room for a few seconds.
He winced, not able to stand it for any longer. “Did you really have to go after Quinn?”
They stared at him silently for a moment, eyes shifting back and forth. “He was getting too close for comfort. Angel and your mate got cornered by him and were so shaken up they could barely even tell us what happened.” They moved their hand from their cheek to cross their arms over their chest. “Standing by would've just let him know that he can get away with this. And I've been with him long enough to know it's best not to let him get too comfortable.”
“We were working on a plan, barreling at him headfirst put you in so much danger. You could’ve died!”
They shrugged carelessly, “Better me than anyone else.”
“No. No!” He snarled, attempting to sit up but whimpering when he put pressure on one of his many broken ribs. They leaned forwards like they were going to help but only watched with worry as he attempted to sit up. It took him a minute of pained whines before he was fully upright with his one good arm wrapped around his abdomen.
“Tank,” he finally continued when he could catch his breath again, “I get that we weren’t close when we were younger and I get that even now we aren’t exactly best friends. But fuck, I care about you so much. You’re my pack. My family. I'm sorry that you haven’t been as included and I'm sorry that you feel so isolated from us. I wish I can go back in time and slap my past self silly for not doing more but unfortunately my powers are limited to that of turning into a giant ass wolf who sheds an ungodly amount.” They laughed a bit, making him grin slightly again. “So even if you don’t think it, your life is no less valuable than any of the others in the pack. We would all fight for you just like you would us. So please, let us help you instead of trying to run off to shove a foot up his ass on your own.” A watery smile crossed their face as they looked at him with a look that made him want to pick them up and squeeze the shit out of them. He toothily smiled back, his eyes starting to blur making him rapidly blink to shoo away the tiredness.
He then yawned before asking, “You know if Babe is going to be here soon?”
They shook their head, leaning back in their chair again. “Haven’t heard much, but knowing them I guess they’ll be breaking several laws to get here as quickly as possible.”
His grin only widened at that imagery. "Our poor alpha's going to get so many gray hairs with our asses." The two broke into a fit of laughter at the thought. It eventually died back down into silence.
Exhaustion finally started to weigh heavily on his mind too much for him to ignore now. He slowly began to move back down not wanting to risk falling over while sitting upright.
“Can you do something for me?” Darlin then softly asked as he adjusted the pillow under his head before finally settling.
“Of course, well…actually I can’t really do much right now.” He tiredly grinned, making them snort with an eye roll.
“Don't worry I’m not asking you to run a marathon,” they replied, “But, can you keep an eye on Sam? Make sure he’s alright? I just…I don’t even want to imagine what he’ll think about all of this. Quinn…he really messed me up this time and Sam just…” trailing off, eyes downcast in deep thought.
He scrunched his eyebrows at the request but nodded nonetheless. “You know I’ll be there for him. But if you're worried he's going to be mad at you then you can stop those thoughts there. I mean he’ll definitely be giving you an earful but he’ll be more worried than anything. I mean it'll take a lot more for that guy to actually be angry, especially at you.”
They bit their lip, nodding a bit. “Just…Just promise me you will. And let him know I love him and that I'm sorry. I'm sorry to all of you.”
He yawned once again with a nod and wave of his hand. Each time he blinked his eyes stayed closed for longer. “You should..you should get back to bed and rest some more though,” he murmured, looking up at them through his lashes. Somewhere in between his blinks they had stood up and were beside the bed.
They quietly replied, “Get some sleep, sunshine, you did your best please know that." He didn't have much time to process that before he was drifting off into a painless sleep.
When he woke up once more his head turned to where Darlin once was only to see David now in that chair with red eyes and exhaustion on his face.
Asher groaned, "David?" Said man looked up, body relaxing slightly at the sight of him awake.
Leaning forwards as he asked gently, "How are you feeling Ash? Do you need the nurse?" His beta shook his head a bit, eyes moving around the room to see it was empty besides the two.
"Where's Babe?" He asked, looking back with worry.
"They're fine, hospital only allowed family to stay overnight and made an exception for me as alpha." He nodded as he rubbed the tiredness out of his eyes.
"You already lay it into Tank and it's now my turn?" He joked with a slight chuckle.
David instantly tensed, eyes watering which caught Asher completely off guard. A sinking feeling already in his gut now.
It took him a moment to collect himself, holding back the tears as best he could before he spoke, "They didn't make it." His breathing halted.
"..what?"
"They were found dead in those woods with you. I'm sorry Ash, they're gone."
He shook his head frantically, trying to sit up but was whimpering in pain by the sudden movement. "No no no, I saw them. I saw them! They were here! They talked to me!" David shook his head, unable to stop a tear that fell as he watched his friend panic.
"I'm sorr-"
"No! They're not-they're not dead! I talked to them!" He grasped at David's arms who instantly held him tightly, letting his friend sob violently against him. "They can't..I saw them, they were sorry," he cried out, throat painfully tightening. He felt like he could barely breathe. "I saved them, I promise!"
David whispered, "You did your best Ash, I'm sorry."