Chapter 38 Partial Shift

It turned out that she wasn't allowed to eat the food. Anything that took any effort to chew was off the menu until the next day when Steven expected the inside of her cheek to be healed. He didn't want to chance food getting in the wound.

Steven used the mind link to have a tray sent up to her. While they were waiting he changed her bandages and cleaned the wounds. Sara dreaded a tray of chicken broth and applesauce that she was sure would be her meal.

Two minutes after Steven finished replacing the bandages the tray arrived. He laughed at her look of joy and her mumbled, "HMMM."

"Your not a prisoner, Sara." he said humorously. He helped her sit the bed up.

Sebastian added his pillows to her bed.

The porcelain plate was covered with a stainless steal dome cover. Sara pulled the cover off and sat it aside. There was a bowl of Clam chowder, a little plastic cup of strawberry jello and peach yogurt, 8 ounces of iced sweet tea, a little plastic cup of apple juice, a bowl of oat meal, with melted butter, also cream of wheat, with butter, cream and sugar on the side. There were even mashed bananas in a small desert bowl topped with whipped cream and pureed cherries. Her stomach trembled in anticipation.

"We've added protein powder to the cream of wheat so be sure to eat all of it. It will help satisfy your wolf more then the carbs or fiber. Tomorrow for lunch you can have something more substantial."

She tried to smile, "I'll eat it all." She promised.

He just smiled. Sebastian said. "If you do I'll give you the filling from my pecan pie, if Steven says it's okay."

Sara realized shaking her head was a bad idea. It made her dizzy and caused her vision to blur. They noticed.

"Are you okay?" Sebastian demanded. It came out harsher then he intended.

"Dizzy." she mumbled looking down at the blanket. Her vision cleared as Steven reassured them both.

"It's normal. But try not to move suddenly. For now I'll let the two of you eat in peace."

Sara didn't manage to eat all of the food on the tray. The oatmeal, apple juice and yogurt remained untouched. She started to drift in foggy sleep while attempting to eat the banana sundae.

"I think you should sleep before you end up wearing that." Sebastian said taking the spoon. He used the napkin to wipe the splatter from the tray table. Sebastian moved the tray helped her get comfortable.

"Why my so sleepy?" she grumbled. Sebastian chuckled at her child like protest.

"You'll feel better tomorrow." he said as he stroked her chin. "Go ahead and sleep I'll be here when you wake up."

"Lay here." she demanded her eyes closed and her voice soft and dreamy. She lifted her hand in a attempt to pat the bed beside her. She sighed as her muscles only lifted her hand a few inches and dropped them silently on the bed beside her hip. She barely heard Sebastians reply.

"Okay. Scoot over." He said. Sara didn't have the energy to do as he said. Sleep was setting in and there was nothing that she could do about it.

Sebastian waited but she didn't reply or scoot over. He smiled down at her.

Lay with mate. Taron demanded. She wants us close.

She wasn't even aware of what she was saying, Taron. I don't want to wake up and have her angry because I'm in her bed.

Wake before mate. Before Sebastian could respond Sara whimpered in her sleep. Sara wasn't a tiny insubstantial human but he had little trouble shifting her to the other side of the bed. The rail kept her from falling off the bed. He took special care with her IV lines and arranged them so he wouldn't pinch the line or pull it from her body.

He made use of the small space the bed allowed and tucked her up against his side. He had to shift a few time to get comfortable but finally managed. He had only been still for about a minute when she sighed and turned to her side. Her elbow settled over his stomach and her fingers rested over his chest. Taron purred at the contact. Mine. He said. Sebastian smiled and couldn't help the urge to correct the wolf. Ours. He said. Taron didn't seem to mind the correction.

Yes. He heard over a link but it hadn't been sent by Taron. It was Sara's mental voice that gave the confirmation. Sebastian knew she was asleep and wondered if she were simply sending a link like a sleepwalker would do. He hoped she that on some level she knew what she said and that it meant what he wanted it to.

Sebastian woke slowly. His body hard and warm. He was instantaneously aware that Sara's body had pressed closer in the night. Her leg lay over his legs, her hand lay heavily spread over his sternum just above his heart. Her head rested on his arm. Her breathing indicated she was already awake. His heart sped up a few beats.

"Do you want me to move?" she asked but she hadn't so much as twitched a muscle.

"No. I want you where you are. I'm just waiting for you to freak out." He told her honestly.

"Think I'll stay. I don't much feel like freaking out." She said sleepily. She actually snuggled closer.

Sebastian wanted to ask why but he kept his mouth shut not wanting to push his luck and cause her to change her mind. Taron was growing in his head that if he so much as said a words to cause mate to move he would shift and never give the human control again. As far as Sebastian knew that was impossible

Steven came in just minutes after Sara drifted back to sleep. Sebastian glared at him. "Come back later." he demanded in a whisper.

""No." Steven told him. He crossed the room and stood by Sara's side of the bed. He lifted his stethoscope from around his neck as he shook his head. "Stay there." he instructed Sebastian. Sebastian relaxed. Steven listened to Sara's lungs.

"Breakfast will be over in an half an hour. I want to do a MRI before I release her. So I scheduled it for one o'clock."

"She'll go home today?" Sebastian asked as he frowned.

"From the look of the wounds this morning I'd say yes." Sebastian gave him a questioning look. Steven smiled. "I changed her bandages this morning at 6." He wrapped the stethoscope back in its place.

"That's not possible. I would have woke up." Sebastian whispered as Steven picked up Sara's wrist. He checked her pulse as he looked at the watch on his left wrist. When he put her wrist back on Sebastians chest he looked at Sebastian.

"Neither of you woke up. Your wolves are very strongly connected regardless of your human selves. I think Taron is assisting her healing. Its such a sever injury that her body is struggling to keep up even with the medical help and energy from Taron."

"How is that possible? We haven't completed the mate bond." He asked Steven as he searched his face for answers.

"The wolves don't care?" Steven replied but it sounded like a suggestion and not a fact. "This is rare Sebastian. One in a thousand, if not more. I noticed it when you leave. Her heart slows, her brainwaves too. Even her breathing and body temperature change."

"That's why you didn't insist I leave last night to go eat." It wasn't a question. Sebastian wanted to yell at Steven for not telling him sooner but he kept his voice low so he didn't wake Sara.

"This isn't a fact, Seb. This is what I think is going on. It's not like either of your wolves are explaining it. Hell, Sebastian, I'm not even sure they know. Evodine is new to all of this and as for Taron he may be acting on instinct alone." he made a helpless gesture with his hands. "I told you this is rare. And it's not like each case has been in a situation like yours. Usually it's just the manifestation on of mate aspects before the mating. There has never, to my knowledge, been a situation where one mate died and was pulled back by the other."

Sebastian sat up in shock. He was lucky he didn't wake Sara. "What do you mean died?" he growled at his friend.

Steven took a step back. "Sebastian, calm down." His eyes shimmered with gold reacting to the golden spiral in Sebastians eyes.

Sebastian moved slowly, his motions that of a stalking wolf. "What do you mean my mate died?" It was Taron that demanded answers, his voice deep and coarse.

"Shit. Seba- Taron, your mate is sleeping. If you give control, complete control to Seb I'll answer you." Steven forced himself not to take another step back. He held Mingan from taking control. The wolfs fear could get them both killed.

"You will answer me anyway." Taron growled. He had continued to shift and now stood there as a man and as a wolf.

"Sara died while we were operating on her. It took us almost eight minutes to get her back." he noticed that Taron stopped advancing as he spoke so he kept talking. "Her heart stopped an hour after we started. The alpha and luna ordered me to keep doing chest compressions even after I thought she was beyond saving." This caused Taron to growl and take a step forward. Steven took an involuntary step back. "You have to understand, Sebastian, the fact that her skull was crushed should have been-" he paused and shook his head. "There is no way she should be breathing now. I'm glad I was wrong, glad she's alive, but I think It has to be your bond with her." he held up his hands in a manor that begged understanding. "It is a miracle that she has any brain function at all."

"Mate lives." Taron said.

Steven nodded. He would have agreed to almost anything at that moment. He had never seen anyone hold a partial shift for that long. After the first shift shifting didn't hurt any more but holding a partial shift stated to be painful after less then a minute.

Taron turned to look at Sara and Steven felt relief that his gaze was anywhere but on him. He knew it would take him days if not weeks to overcome the feeling that the situation had instilled in him. He wasn't a low ranking member of the pack and Sebastian was a fairly high ranking member but at the moment Steven felt like a child.

"Mate." Sebastian growled as his skin shifted. Sebastian felt the pain of the half shift more then Taron. It had taken a lot of energy to keep hold of the body to ensure that Taron didn't completely shift and cause damage to Steven. Taron now ignored Steven as he moved back to his spot on the bed.With each step his form converted back to human. In completely human form he cuddled with his mate. Sebastian looked up at Steven, Steven could see the apology in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Steven. Taron has been on edge for a while. I could barley keep him from shifting out." he said softly trying to not wake Sara.

"I get it, Seb. But he has to realize her injury wasn't our fault and we were doing everything to help her when we thought we lost her." Steven said and took a cautious step forward.

"No one told me about any of that." his tone held a slight accusatory accent.

"I'm sorry, Seb. My mind has quite frankly been on her slow healing. Since she woke up her healing has advanced to Lycan healing. I don't know why or how this proceeded the way it did." he shook his head.