"OH YOU'RE STILL HERE."

Dan wasn't sure if he passed out or just dozed off for a few seconds, but when he cracked his eyes open a little, he was being adjusted on the bed and there were some clacking and moving sounds around him. It was just for a moment and then it stopped, leaving Dan feeling confused and vulnerable. He had no idea what happened but he was a little more comfortable and his breathing was less raggedy now.

"Alright. So we're set." Beta Dante was saying, "Since Prince Ri says so, someone send the ambulance back, we'll move him back to his room…"

"But…" Alpha Henri protested.

"He's fine, Hen." Beta Dante sounded like he was at the end of his patience, "Prince Ri said so. There's nothing more anyone can do for him now."

"There is a limit to the human body's endurance." Prince Ri agreed, "The ambulance delivered adequate supplies specific for humans. We'd use it to help his body recuperate and keep the rest for the unlikely event of an emergency operation… The post traumatic shock and alcohol poisoning, we'd support his body's natural processes... It'll take longer, but it's safer not to put more stress on his organs."

"An emergency operation?" Alpha Henri repeated.

Prince Ri sounded extremely regretful about mentioning it, "It's only in the very unlikely event..."

The healer then decided his best tactic was to steer the worried alpha back on track, "The MORE LIKELY flow of events would be that he remains in bed for the rest of the night. I will check on him in another 2 hours... That would be just before dawn. He should regain some mobility and speech within the next 48 hours."

"See, he's fine." Beta Dante said.

"How is this fine?" Alpha Henri wasn't buying it.

"So…" Beta Dante cleared his throat, "Mien will take care of Hotshot until he is fine."

"Yeah, Hen." Beta Damien promised, "It's been a long night. I'll watch him. You and Tey and everyone else can get some rest."

"He's just a human." Luna Bell grumbled, "Why are you making it such a big deal?"

"Someone tell him I'm still not talking to him." Alpha Henri said.

Naturally, no one in their right mind was going to do that.

"This is worse than the time I accidentally stepped on her hamster." Jax said, "Ooof… ow! Why'd do that for?"

"You won't die if you shut up, Jax." Neil said.

"Actually, you might just live longer." Dave or someone else muttered under his breath.

Dan thought it was quite funny, but the laugh came out more like a spasm and groan.

"Excuse me." Prince Ri busied himself immediately on something around Dan, "Nurse? Where's the nurse?"

"Penny? She just left to sort out the ambulance. I'll go get her!" Someone volunteered.

"Just mindlink her, you fool." Someone else said.

"Oh sorry. I panicked." The volunteer said.

"See, he's FINE." Luna Bell turned back to his daughter, "And for the record, I didn't step on him."

For the record, Dan was not a little girl's pet hamster!

"No, you didn't step on him." Alpha Henri allowed, "YOU STABBED HIM! You stabbed my… my… guest."

At least she didn't say pet hamster.

Suddenly Dan felt himself sucked back down in his body… he knew it was his body because the sensations were returning. He was warm, but his clothes felt wet in patches, his breathing, dammit… breathing hurt. He quickly found that it hurt less if he kept his breaths shallow and slow…

"Vitals are back online, Prince Ri." A female voice said from behind Dan, "Blood oxygen and pressure is on the low side."

"That would be expected." Prince Ri sighed. He sounded tired.

"Take off the pain inhibiting spells Riri." Luna Bell said, "He's a man... He should be fine without-"

"Don't you dare, Daddy!" Alpha Henri was upset enough to call her father Daddy in front of the old warriors.

"I thought you weren't talking to me?" Daddy Luna smirked.

She forgot about that too. Grrr...

"No, Daddy, stop!" Alpha Henri sounded frantic now. It made Dan feel more than a little uneasy. He had actually judged the Alpha Beauty to be the cool and collected type, so the fact that she sounded more like a panicked child right now was disconcerting (but also cute.)

"Riri, you're overdoing the pain inhibition." Luna Bell didn't seem understand "no" or "stop."

Dan struggled… inwardly, since his body wasn't responding in anyway. He was terrified, but it wasn't so much a fear of death, than the memory of Luna Bell's firm cold hand on his shoulder, keeping him upright and conscious after stabbing him - and the hell of hurt that went with it. He didn't want to fall into this particular healer's hand again.

"If you take off all the pain inhibitors, he might go into shock again." Prince Ri tried to warn, which only served to fuel Dan's panic… but his body was unmovable atm. Just lifting his eyelids  was like doing an impossible bench-press. Arugggghhhh… Dan managed a grunt and was rewarded by a bright line of light…he would wince at the brightness except his body didn't seem to quite belong to him at all, so his eyelids just dropped back without any drama.

"Maybe you should go back to the Mountains and learn from your old man." Luna Bell said.

And suddenly Dan COULD open his eyes… and feel the bed and the damp patches, the air that was too cold outside his blanket, and that it was too warm under his blanket. Actually, not all of the feelings that assaulted him were good feelings. Most of them were decidedly unpleasant - including the way there was a sharp twisting pain whenever he breathed, but he could also feel his limbs… heck, he could move his fingers, and clench them because ouch. His side hurt like someone tore him open.

He pushed himself upwards and squinted at the wolves who all at once rushed towards him.

"He's up!"

"Lie down, Dan."

"Hotshot! Whoot!"

"Nurse!"

Nothing they said made any sense to Dan.

Someone grabbed him by the shoulder (not Luna Bell), which helped because he suffered a momentary bout of dizziness, the room spun and Dan felt nauseous. Whoever caught his shoulder carefully pushed him back against his pillows.

The nurse adjusted the mechanical bed so that he was propped up a little.

"Water." Dan wanted to say. But it came out as a croak.

Someone brought a cup of water to his mouth so maybe someone spoke croakian. (That was a joke.)

"Not so much, Wil. Did you forget the last time we gave him water?" Wolf scolded.

Eh? His friends were still here? Dan would have looked for them, but water had NEVER tasted so sweet. His mouth had never tasted so bad either. Dan tried to drink as much as he could before the cup was confiscated by Wolf.

Alpha Henri pushed through till she was right in front of him, "Are you alright Dan?"

Dan nodded and squinted at the Alpha Beauty. Her silver eyes looked bloodshot around the edges… almost like she had been crying.

"I'm fine." Dan answered quite by reflex. He was currently too conscious of the bad taste (and undoubtedly bad smell) in his mouth to face her.

"You look like road kill." One of the warriors informed him.

That was probably what was in his mouth.

"Henri?" Alpha Sam noticed first, "Henri, why are you crying?"

Dan pushed himself up.

"Please lie down, Mr Lion." The nurse told him.

"See." Luna Bell smirked, "He's fine."

"Yeah." Dan brushed off the multiple hands that were trying to "help" him lie back down, "I'm fine."

"Dan, be sensible. You just died." Wolf scolded sternly.

Dan laughed. He must of lost his mind because for a moment there, he thought Wolf said he had died, "I hurt too much to be dead."

He waved the other wolves back to give him some space.

"I really don't think you should be up on your feet yet…" Prince Riri worried.

"He's fine." Luna Bell grabbed Dan and dragged him up, "See, good as new!"

Nobody looked convinced. Dan could barely stand either - he felt his knees buckle and the muscles down his legs tremble.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Dan played along…he refused to let the arrogant luna get the better of him. He was this close to hurling. If anything came up, he hoped it would land on Luna Bell.

"I've seen dead rogues with better color." One of the old warriors informed Dan.

"I've seen vampires with better color." Beta Ben muttered. Alpha Sam jabbed him in the ribs.

The nausea passed quite quickly and Dan felt some strength return to his legs. He pulled out of Luna Bell's grasp and tried to walk a few steps on his own. He made two wobbly ones before Prince Riri caught him.

"Dan, lie back down. We'll transfer you upstairs to your room." Prince Ri seemed to be trying to coax him.

That didn't make any sense, they were wolves, he was one very injured (and allegedly discolored) human. Why were they giving him respectful berth instead of just dragging him up to his room… wait, "My room's upstairs?"

This meant they were still in the packhouse. Dan looked around the room for the door, but he was surrounded so all he could see were wolves with very concerned faces. Dan took pause, it was the first time Dan realized that there were people around him who had been genuinely worried, "Looks like I caused everyone trouble."

And then he met Luna Bell's cold eyes and arrogant smirk, so Dan shrugged back, "But at least I won."

"You wha…" Luna Bell's eyes widened, "You died, human!"

"I got 2 in." Dan knew it was a stupid argument solely because it was inspired by something Jax had said, but he was talking to a Moon Bell wolf, "The score is 2-1 in my favor, Luna."

"See!" Luna Bell turned to his daughter, "He keeps provoking me."

"I told you he was amazing!" Alpha Sam boasted.

And on that note, Dan found himself walking out of the Emergency Room (with Beta Damien's help). Alpha Henri and Beta Dante followed after them.

"So… Like Prince Ri said, Mien will settle Hotshot to his room. Riri will check on him at dawn." Beta Dante was back to his action plan, "You should hit the sack too, Alpha. Tomorrow starts early for you…"

They entered the lift. It was cold, Dan was standing close enough to Alpha Henri to feel her body heat… he leaned over a little.

"Wooahhh… Hotshot, steady there." Beta Damien pulled him back upright easily enough.

Alpha Henri looked at him for a moment of consideration before adverting her gaze. Dan had noticed that some wolves did that. Wolf did that a lot too. Dan also noticed that Alpha Henri didn't physically move herself out of his reach though. Wolves spoke a lot through their body language so it had to mean something.

Maybe it was the alcohol, or the near death experience, maybe he had gone as mad as everyone else in this Wonderland, but Alpha Henri was beautiful and cute and Dan suddenly couldn't bear to be parted from her.

When Beta Damien leaned over to press the lift buttons, Dan let himself lean in closer to the Alpha beauty (like a creep) to breathe in her sweet smell. He was suddenly and completely convinced that meeting her today had been the most magical thing that had happened in his life. She was his miracle.

And then he reached over and wrapped his arms around her, feeling the way her waist was so, so, perfectly sexy under the breadth of his hand. God she was perfect. He wasn't even able to stand properly at this point, and there was a buzzing feeling under his skin wherever he touched her. God he was in love. And damn drunk - wait, could he still blame it on the punch?

---

Dan woke up as if from a long and restless dream. He blinked and tried to remember which hotel he was at before realizing that he didn't recognize this room, or the bed, and  he completely naked - he checked. There was no wound - not even a scar where he was sure the sword had pierced him.

He dropped the blanket back in place and ran his hand down his face. How did this happen?

The room he had woken up in was spacious and airy. The winter sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling glass, and the white four-poster bed smelled faintly of roses and lemon. He actually did have an inkling whose room he was in, but he would probably suffer a full blown panic attack if it were true.

It could be worse.

Two knocks and the door to his room was opened. Beta Dante looked as surprised as Dan was to see him, "Oh, you're still here. Where's Henri?"

What did that mean? And how the hell was he supposed to respond to that?

"Mien says you better get back to your room." Beta Dante told him, "It's nearly lunchtime and Teacher Hotstuff and Sir Wil seems to be determined to check on you before their snow wolf contingent leaves."

Dan felt as if his mind must have short circuited.

"Its one thing to let Riri come up to treat you, patient's privacy clause and blah blah blah, but Teacher Hotstuff will probably blow a fuse." Beta Dante warned him, "So I know you're buddies and all, but whatever happened here last night is black out, understand?"

Dan nodded. Because it was. It was so black out that he could not remember anything after that moment in the lift. 

He knew that Beta Dante meant black out as in the Lycan code for something that should never be spoken of again, but Dan had literally blacked out, so its not like he could say anything about it even if he wanted to.

As for the memories before the lift, Dan couldn't even be sure they really happened - he was probably delirious for the whole second half of it.

What the hell happened last night? But its not like he could ask the beta.

He rested his forehead in his hand and tried to think about it logically. Logically, he was too drunk, too dead… he probably couldn't have. Wait, why did it feel worse that he couldn't?

No one would ever understand a man's pride - which really was the last thing Dan should be considering if he wanted to live through this. He was obligated to apologize for last night either way. By now, Dan was becoming quite aware that his thoughts had stopped being entirely rational for a while now… for some reason he had become quite the mad hatter.

Suddenly the mirrored walks clicked and opened up with a quiet whir, and Henri stepped out in a bathrobe, her hair still damp. If he were the mad hatter, this must be Alice through the looking glass. (Another badly placed joke. Please excuse him.)

She stopped at the sight of him and looked completely surprised, "Oh, you're awake."

What did that mean? And how the hell was he supposed to respond to that?

His body had responded to the sight of her quite immediately. But Dan wasn't drunk anymore. And he was also aware of Beta Dante presence. He wasn't THAT mad. He cast a quick glance to the other man. He didn't want to die like this.

But Beta Dante just backed off, "I'll be back in 10 minutes."

"20," Alpha Henri said.

"Yeah. 20." And he bowed himself out.

Dan swallowed. 20 minutes was… wait, what was he thinking?