Chapter 40

Cheyenne's POV

I could hear people whispering around me but wasn't sure where I was. I tried to open my eyes but they wouldn't budge. I even tried to move my fingers, toes, anything, and nothing would move. I was still very tired and I tried to remember what happened to get to this state. That's when it all started to piece together in my head slowly. The memories from the fight. I felt a tear slid down my cheek just before the blackness of sleep overtook me again.

I'm not sure how long I was out before I came to again. I felt someone holding my hand and I slowly started to open my eyes. As they fluttered open to adjust to the light in the room, I looked around and realized that I was back in my room. I looked to my side to see Jax sitting there holding my hand with his head hung down. I couldn't tell if he was sleeping or not so I just squeezed his hand slightly to let him know I was awake.

His head jerked up and looked straight at me "Alida you're awake!" He said.

"How long have I been out?" I asked.

"It's been 4 days." He responded.

"4 days!!!" I tried to scramble out of bed thinking about the people that I had to get out of here and everything else that had to be done before my pack showed up, but Jax grabbed my shoulders and pinned me back down before I could even get the blanket off me.

"Whoa there little one. Calm down. You are not going anywhere. At least not yet." He said calmly.

"But I have to get the people out of here!" I exclaimed.

"The second round of people went out yesterday. Everything is still going according to plan. Don't worry. Alex is doing her best and has it taken care of. All you need to do is get better." He said while sitting back down.

Knowing I wasn't going to be getting out of here anytime soon, I relaxed a little bit and let me head fall back on the pillows and just stared up at the ceiling.

"I know that look. What you thinking about?" Jax asked.

"Do you think he felt it? My mate, I mean." I asked reaching towards my neck and feeling the bandage.

"I don't know. You are of royal bloodline here. There's a lot you can do that even full blooded lycans can't. But also having an actual wolf, I just don't know. Normally I would say it would be a possibility, but not completing the mating process means that he wouldn't have felt it full force. He probably just had that feeling that something was wrong." I knew he was trying to reassure me and that when anything of typical lycan or werewolf behavior came into play, I was the exception to everything.

I just nodded my head slightly and then remembered Koa. How could I forget about my wolf!? I felt horrible for not reaching out to her first. I searched my mind and called out to her but got no response. Was she mad at me? Did I lose her? What happened?

"Jax! Koa's gone! I can't find her!" I said frantically.

"You're still very weak. She's still healing herself. She's still there, just needs some time to heal and regain her strength." Jax said rubbing my arm.

"By the way…you look like shit. When's the last time you showered?" I asked just now taking in his state.

Jax chuckled and rubbed his hands up and down his face a couple of times before running them both back threw his hair. "You look like shit too." He laughed "Nice to know you haven't lost your attitude. What would we do without our bluntly honest smartass future Queen?"

"Fuck you. Better the truth that draws a tear than a lie that draws a smile." I shrugged. That was something my mother always said. I looked down at my hands that were now in my lap and started picking at my nails.

"Hey I was only giving you shit. You know that." Jax said while reaching for hands to get me to stop picking at them.

"I know. Ok seriously…when's the last time you showered because you seriously stink?" I scrunched my nose up at him.

Jax laughed, "I just came from training thank you. I stopped in here to check on you before hitting the showers."

"Well I'm fine so go. Shoo. Get out. Raunchy ass." I motioned towards my door.

Jax put his hand over his heart and mocked a hurt expression and I just laughed at him.

"Ok I'm going gesh. I'll have someone bring you something to eat." He said.

I just nodded my head knowing that there was no arguing with that one even though I didn't really feel like eating at the moment.

It wasn't 15 minutes later, there was a knock at my door before one of the servants slowly opened it and poked their head in.

"I was asked to bring you some food." I recognized the girl as one of the younger ones from the kitchen.

"Come on in." I waved her in. I was trying to remember but for the life of me, couldn't remember her name.

She must have seen the look on my face because she smiled at me and said, "Ariel".

Of course! I threw my hands up and rolled my eyes in frustration of the fact that I couldn't remember her name. She just laughed lightly and asked if I needed anything else and when I told her no she left the room. Now that the food was in front of me, maybe I was a little hungry. Not eating for 4 days I'm surprised I'm not dead.

I could smell grilled chicken, potatoes, corn, the smell was to good not to look. I removed the lid and there was a half a grilled chicken, grilled potato cubes, corn on the cob, which was also grilled, and fresh green beans with onions and bacon bits. Just at that moment my stomach decided to growl so loud it made me jump. I grabbed the chicken and started eating away.

After I finished everything on the tray I decided to get up and stretch my legs. I knew I was weak so I took it slowly. Baby steps as one might call them. I made sure to hold onto the wall or bedframe or dresser as I walked around to keep myself from falling. As I was making myself around my room, I could feel Koa starting to stir in the back of my mind.

"Koa? How you feeling?" I asked.

"Still weak but I'll recover. Not the first time they've tried to put my fluffy ass down." And she says I'm the smartass. Hmph.

"Yeah, speaking of which. You knew Miah?" I asked her as I made my way back towards my bed.

"Knew her? Yeah, I knew her. She was my sister." I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the floor. Good thing I was already sitting on my bed before she dropped that bombshell.

"Sister? So you killed your own sister? Why?" I asked.

"Highlight reel?" She asked weakly.

"Sure." I said.

"Miah was my sister back then, but back in those days, same sex relations were not allowed within our kind. 'There's no way to reproduce' was the elders reasoning for it, but Miah didn't care. She loved one of the village girls and she was bound and determined to be with her no matter the cost. Fast forward through all the drama, the war had started and I was busy fighting some of the king's men that had tracked me down. I found out to late that they had grabbed her and beat her within an inch of her life. With no mate to help her heal, and no alpha around that would help a gay wolf, she was fading quickly. So instead of sitting there and watching her suffer, I ended it. Apparently she still thinks that I could've saved her or something but there was nothing I could do. She was already too far gone by the time I got to her." Koa let out a weak sigh, "I'm going to go lay back down and get some more rest. You should do the same." She said as I felt her retreat to the back of my mind.

I had just laid back down and got comfy when my door opened slightly and Jax poked his head in.

"Come on in." I motioned for him to close the door behind him.

"I see you ate…all the food." He chuckled.

"You really going to stand there and acted surprised by the amount of food that I can eat?" I raised an eyebrow at him.

"No. No sure ain't. Think I've learned by now not to question that." He laughed. "I came by to let you know that the last boat will be here in about a week. The second boat is on its way back and made it off the coast with no issues. It will take them a couple days to dock and get everyone off the ship and into hiding, and then they want to give it a couple more days to see if any red flags get thrown up over here. If there are none then the last boat will arrive and take the last of the people who want to go. Now with that being said, that also means in just over a week, the war will begin. Are you going to up for it? Because if not, I am putting your little ass on the last boat back to Iceland." Jax said sternly.

"You will do no such thing! I am staying here! 'Chosen One' remember. I can't leave you guys here to fight the King and his minions. Just remember, that my people will be here sometime after the last boat leaves. So we have to try to hold out for them to arrive before starting anything. In the meantime, I think I should get back to training."

"Are you nuts!? You're still not fully healed and you are still weak." Jax said.

"Awe you do care!" I teased him. "I need to regain my strength and that's not going to happen laying in this damn bed!"

"You're not going to take no for an answer are you?" Jax smirked.

"You can tell me no all you want, but I'm doing it with or without you." I said.

"Fine! But we take it slow and when I said enough, then that's it. Understand?" He asked.

"Yes sir!" I saluted him and he rolled his eyes. "I wanna start now."

"Let's start tomorrow after breakfast. Get some more food in your system first." He suggested.

"Ugh, FINE!" I through my head back on my pillows in defeat.

Over the course of the next few days, I started training again and I could feel myself getting stronger, or at least getting back to where I was before the fight. The others were watching me like a hawk, some still in disbelief that I won and others pissed because I won. Everywhere I went, the looks and whispers didn't go unnoticed. I was able to get in touch with Gunner once I had regained some of my strength and he filled me in on everything that had happened on their end. I couldn't believe that it was almost time to end all of this once and for all.

It was the night of the last boat to arrive and the people leaving were packing the last of their essentials. I was sitting in the dining hall with Jax when Alex appeared out of nowhere.

"We're almost ready." She whispered so low that I almost missed it. Jax and I both just nodded our heads and she walked away without another word.

"Have you thought about what you're going to do after all this is over with?" Jax asked without looking up from his plate.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"When we win this fight, once the King is defeated, you will be our Queen. What are your plans?" He asked.

"Actually I hadn't even thought about that. I was just trying to get home in all honesty." I shrugged.

"You're just going to leave everybody here? Alida, these people here don't know the life outside of these walls. They don't know freedom. Some of them…"

"I know I know. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. We gotta win the war first." I said rolling a green bean around on my plate.