Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
Until I could save her I needed to remain strong. I needed to be there for my kids, those that were here with me and those that had yet to be born. I needed to be the pillar of strength for them. That was my job and no one else’s.
I did go ahead and let the kids stay home today. They needed a day to process everything before they were forced to spend time with everyone else. Good thing it was Friday, so they were going to have three days of resting and healing. It wasn’t nearly enough, but I hoped that it would do for now at least.
Right now, the kids were all in their rooms while I waited for Gabriel at Riviana’s side. I was holding her hand and staring at her face. I wanted to say that she looked peaceful. I wanted to say that she looked like she was just sleeping, and I could believe that she would wake up at any moment. And I admit that that is what I initially thought when I saw her yesterday, but not now.
Right now, it looked to me like my Little Bunny was having a really hard time. There were worry lines in her face enough though she was sleeping and there were signs of activity inside her body.
However, despite the lack of apparent life, my Little Bunny was indeed alive. Her heart was beating, she was breathing, and I could smell the life inside of her. Now that her body was rested, I could smell the babies growing inside of her. The triplets inside of my Little Bunny right now smelled like caramel, chocolate, and peanut butter. It was like they were making a dessert or something. Still, it was a unique scent when paired to my Little Bunny’s natural scent.
While I was thinking about these things, there was a knock on the door, and I could already tell that it was Gabriel. He had come to my room just like he had been asked to. That was good. This meant we could talk now.
“Come in, Gabriel.” I called out to him, and he immediately opened the door and came inside. I watched his eyes go right toward my Little Bunny where she laid on the bed. He was a very loyal and diligent assistant, so I knew that this was hitting him hard. He had not been there with her when she collapsed, and now he was blaming himself for everything.
“Hello, King Joaquin.” He inclined his head in a small, respectable bow.
“Thank you for coming, Gabriel.”
“Of course, anything that I can do to make things easier on you during this difficult time.” I could hear the strain and the tension in his voice.
“Gabriel, this wasn’t your fault. Please, don’t blame yourself. You can’t blame yourself anymore than I can blame myself.” I felt the tension in my voice as well. Dammit, this was still so hard on me.
“Yes Sir, I understand that.” He looked over at her once more with sorrow in his eyes.
“The reason that I called you here today, Gabriel, is to ask you if you know anything about the things that are happening to Riviana. In your vast knowledge, with everything that you have learned over the years, have you ever learned anything that was at all similar to what is happening to my Riviana right now?”
I could see the seriousness, the gravity of the situation, weighing on his mind. He had probably thought about this a lot since he heard what had happened. He should have expected me to ask him this question.
“N..no sir, I have not. I have wracked my brain and I have contacted the Abbey, none of them know what seems to be happening. I wish I did though. I wish that I could figure this out right now and just make things better right now. That would be the best possible outcome.” I could see the water brimming in his eyes. This man had faithfully served my wife for years. He had cried tears of joy when our children were born. He laughed with us. He celebrated with us. He fought battles with us. But he has never once failed in his duties. The amount of frustration that he had to be feeling right now, probably was on par with mine.
“Do you know someone that we could call? Someone that we might consult with? Someone that could help us out, or might know where to go next?” I was loading him up with questions so fast that he wasn’t able to answer any of them before the next one came.
“I will check, Sir. I will see if there might be someone in my list of connections that might know about this. I will not stop until someone is found. In the meantime, perhaps you could call Crawford and Queen Gloriana. They are both wise leaders that have been around for quite some time.”
“Yes, you are correct about that. I will call them both soon. I will spare no expense and I will stop at nothing to help my wife. I need her, Gabriel. I need her to fuel my heart. It won’t keep beating without her. I need her.”
“We all need her, Sir. She is the center of the universe for us all. She is our Goddess Queen.” There was a firmness in Gabriel’s voice that told me he was going to push himself and do whatever it was that he could to figure all of this out. He would most likely overwork himself with it if I didn’t keep an eye on him and make him stop to care for himself as well.
Then again, I hoped that this wouldn’t last long enough for it to negatively impact Gabriel’s health.. That would mean that my Little Bunny would be in this state for a long time.
****
Joaquin
****
After Gabriel left the room, it was once again just me and my Little Bunny. I wanted to just hold her and fix everything that way. A warm, loving hug would make the whole thing go away. Well, not this time. Not ever really, but it always made us both feel better.
Now, a hug didn’t make either of us feel better. My Little Bunny was still trapped in that slumber and when I held her, I was reminded of the fact that she wasn’t here with me. It was so hard, so painful, but I wouldn’t stop being here for her. Even this was a form of supporting her in one way or another.
I had to leave her side though. I needed to call people and make some connections. And yes, I could do it telepathically, but we all agreed years ago that if it wasn’t an emergency then we wouldn’t invade like that. It wasn’t polite for anyone to be interrupted in what they were doing at the moment.
No, instead I decided to head down to my office and call Crawford, the leader of the warlocks and head of the Aerie Convento. I know that Gloriana was more likely to have answers for me since she was much older and had a larger wealth of knowledge to draw upon, but I also knew that Gloriana would keep me on the call for a lot longer than Crawford would.
The entire way to my office, I practically dragged my feet. I know that anyone who saw me would think that I was being guided by an old and depressed ghost or something. Unless they knew what had happened, which ninety-nine percent of the staff didn’t, they wouldn’t understand what was going on.
Yes, I knew that I was going to be telling people about my Little Bunny’s condition, but those would be people that I could trust. I wasn’t going to make it public knowledge or anything.
I sat at my desk and brought up the large screen that was on the wall for video conferences. I brought up the contact information for Crawford on my computer and sent the call electronically to the device that I was facing.
The speakers were giving off a pleasant sounding soft ringing (one that I picked out personally because most rings were annoying) and the screen had a rippling effect that was showing the Riviana symbol that adorned my Little Bunny.
After less than a minute, the screen changed and I saw a high tech, sleek office that reminded me a lot of mine. I had known that Crawford had taken inspiration from me when he was forced to modernize and start running the Aerie Convento like it was a business.
“Hello Joaquin, how are you?”
The man on the screen was barely recognizable to the man that I met all those years ago. With his immortality and the reverse aging that a lot of people were going through, Crawford now looked like a man in his late thirties or early forties. Instead of looking wizened and old, he seemed spry and full of energy. Instead of white hair, Crawford now had a dark auburn that suited his younger, barely lined face. His eyes, once hooded and hard to see with excess skin, were shining bright and twinkled like little green orbs. He was definitely liking his new lease on life that he had gotten from Riviana.
“Hello Crawford, I hope all is well.” I didn’t smile but I tried to look halfway pleasant at least. Talking to people was the last thing that I wanted to do right now, but I had no other choice.
“I am doing fine, boy, but I can see that you are not. What is it that has you pulling such a long face?” Crawford could apparently read my mood very easily. That most likely went back to the days that we all spent together in the Abbey in France.
“Well, to be honest, it’s Riviana.”
“HAHA! What has she done now? Did she call you a new dog name or something?” He was laughing happily and that was the last thing that I felt like doing. However, I did my best not to show him how much that laugh of his was grating on my nerves. It wasn’t personal towards him, I just felt so miserable.
