He didn't know where he was or what was happening around him, but all he could hear was a beeping sound as well as voices talking all around him. So many voices yet still none of them were the one he was yearning for.

There were so many unanswered questions on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't even open his eyes or open his mouth to tell anybody that he was awake and that he was fine.

Sol couldn't remember completely what had happened. All he remembered was the impact of being hit by the truck. Luckily Apollo had managed to swerve the car a little. If he hadn't then he was sure that the truck would have driven over all three of them with absolutely no intent of stopping and sparing any of their lives.

But other than that, everything else seemed to be hazy.

For the next few hours, Sol drifted in and out of sleep.

When he finally woke up, he squinted and closed his eyes nearly immediately due to the harsh lights that were shining down on him. A grunt escaped his lips and he squeezed down on the warm object he seemed to be holding in his hands.

He heard shuffling all around him, still waiting for both his vision and hearing to clear.

Things continued to remain hazy from that point on. He could feel the doctors poking and prodding him while a soft voice whispering into his ear, the hot fanning over the side of his neck making the hairs stick up, the words urging him to open his eyes and wake up.

Little did she know that he was already awake.

And so, he tried again.

The lights were less harsh this time. Blinking his eyes a few times, he finally managed to keep them open though he did squint a little but that was expected.

He couldn't feel anything. His body seemed to be numb.

Sol was grateful that all the pain didn't come rushing back to him as soon as he woke up. He was already pretty overwhelmed.

There were multiple nurses in the room. They were talking among themselves as they studied papers which he assumed to be his medical details. There was a doctor in the room that was asking him a few questions but his mouth was too dry to respond.

A hand reached out and brushed the hair away from his forehead. Sol was immediately alert as the hand trailed back and rested on the back of his against the pillow, slowly helping him to push him up. It took a few minutes and the woman halted whenever he would grunt in pain but finally, he was sat up against the headboard.

She raised a glass of water to his lips, angling it only slightly so it prevented him from taking gulps that would be too large and possibly cause him to cough up.

Sol watched her from over the brink of the glass.

Her fiery hair was brushed back into a messy bun with a few tendrils having escaped to frame her delicate face. Her mouth was turned down into what seemed like a permanent frown.

He had missed her even when he was unconscious.

Artemis gently pulled the glass away from his lips once he gestured with his hand that he had, had enough water for now. Pulling her hand away, she started to walk towards the door.

Sol panicked.

Reaching out a hand despite the pain that was now all rushing back to him as he was awake and more in control of his senses, he wrapped his fingers around her wrist and tugged.

Artemis gasped as she was forced back to face him.

He pleaded with her silently not to leave him.

Artemis' lower chin trembled a little but she remained strong for him. Understanding that he didn't want her to leave, she nodded and held out the glass towards a nurse that had been walking past.

The nurse snorted and sent Artemis a dirty look even though she accepted the glass before walking out of the room.

Sol was more aware of the senses, especially of the feeling that Artemis' hand brushing through his hair sent down his spine.

"How are you feeling?" The doctor asked, his pen ready to take notes on the clipboard that he was holding. The doctor's eyes were trained on Sol, watching his every movement. Some patients had the habit of down-playing their pain as to not worry their loved ones and so over the years, the doctor had learnt to listen to both his patients' words and body language.

"Fine."

"How are you really feeling?"

Sol's lips twitched at the corners. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself to enjoy the sensation of small, soft fingers sifting through his hair. "My stomach hurts whenever I move." He admitted truthfully. He hummed when her fingers stilled in his hair momentarily, though she was quick to carry on the movement.

"Does it hurt anywhere else?"

Sol opened his eyes and looked back at the doctor. "My shoulder is a little sort but it doesn't hurt as much as my stomach."

The doctor nodded and took a few moments to take notes on the piece of paper. "That is expected," the doctor spoke as he continued to scribble down notes on the clipboard. "Since you physically through yourself out the window of a moving car."

Sol chuckled but stilled as his stomach started to ache painfully. "It was either that or die."

The doctor hummed in agreement. "Well, you've been unconscious for about a day now." Sol's eyebrows raised in surprise at that. "It would have been at least another day if you were a regular werewolf but since you're an Alpha, its speeded up the process quite a bit. I'm sure you'll heal up nicely too within the next two days but I do recommend bed rest for at least another day."

"Tell me, how much do you remember." The doctor asked, watching his patient intently. This was standard procedure.

"Of the car crash?"

The man nodded.

"I remember there being a truck that seemed to be determined to drive over us. I know," he paused to wince at his stomach pain. "I know that I jumped over to the back seat and threw both myself and Artemis out of the window. I don't know how Apollo managed to get out but he joined us a few moments later."

The doctor nodded and started to take notes again. "Do you remember anything after that?"

Sol sighed and racked his brain. He could remember, but things were a little fuzzy. "I know that the lorry stopped, but it had already crushed my truck. I-everything is a little fuzzy but I think there was a fight of some sort." Sol nodded, almost as if he was trying to convince himself. "I remember tackling the humans that were in the truck."

The doctor nodded. "Good. There doesn't seem to be any problems with your memory."

"Even though I don't remember anything?"

The doctor smiled. "That's expected after such a traumatic experience. I'm sure the memories of the accident will come to you soon, most likely after you get some more rest. But if you any questions or if there's anything wrong even in the slightest, don't hesitate to contact me."

The doctor then prescribed him some medication for the pain that Sol had initially refused but then very quickly very gladly accepted when his stomach started throbbing again.

He assured them that he would be back soon to check on Sol. S

Sol nodded and didn't say anything, waiting impatiently for the doctor and his nurses to leave the room.

As soon as they did, he grabbed Artemis' wrist and pulled her down on the best next to him while ignoring her protests.

"I'm going to hurt you." She protested, carefully trying to pry herself away from him.

"You could never hurt me." He smiled widely.

"Sol!"

He chuckled but stopped as the pain in his stomach caused him to double over, clutching his mid-section.

"I told you!"

Sol grunted and breathed through the pain. Leaning his head back against the headboard, he rolled his eyes to the side and looked at her. Even when visibly tired and wearing the same clothes from the previous day, she was the most beautiful creature he had ever set his eyes on.

He smiled and patted the space on the bed next to him.

Sighing, Artemis frowned but got on the bed and stretched her legs out in front of her after having pulled the thin white blanket so it was now covering both of them.

Stretching out his arm, he wrapped it around her shoulder and brought her closer to him.

"I'm going to hurt you," she protested but made no move to get away from him.

"You're not going to hurt me by just sitting there." He smiled. "I was out for a whole day?"

She nodded, "yeah."

"What happened?"

Artemis sniffled. "Like you said, that truck clearly intended to run us over. After you threw us both out of the car, Apollo soon joined. He said that he had thrown himself out the passenger side, only a few moments after you had jumped over me." She paused and Sol nodded, his eyes following her every movement.

She fisted her hands in the blanket and looked up at him, a few tears pooling in her eyes. Sol reached forward and brushed them away before trailing his fingers over the side of her face, silently urging her to continue even though he knew that he wouldn't like what he heard.

"You were right when you said that there were humans in the truck. But what you didn't say was that they were the same humans from when we were in the forest last month." Sol's eyebrows raised in surprise at that. "They were wearing those same lab suits and the masks. They came out and started to fight. It was outnumbered since there were only three of us while there were about fifteen of them. But I guess it helps that we're all werewolves." Artemis chuckled darkly at that.

"When you threw us out the car, the glass must have shattered and a large piece of it must have got lodged in your abdomen. I don't even think you realised it was there because it seemed that as soon as we were on the ground, we were back on our feet to protect ourselves. We did manage to kill them all, probably because I don't think they expected Apollo, a third werewolf to be with us."

"But anyway, they were clearly very well equipped since they fought with both guns and knives. We-"

Sol cut her off, worried. "Did you get hurt?"

"Listen." When he made no move to interrupt her again, she continued telling the story. "Like I said before, we did manage to kill them all but they did manage to get a few hits on us. Apollo got a few scratches. Same with me but I also got shot on the shoulder," she paused briefly when Sol's arm around her shoulders tightened, but she was quick to continue, not wanting to upset him further. "But it's pretty much healed now. There's not even a scar." She assured him. "You took the brunt of it all. They must have realised how powerful you were last time because it seemed that their main priority was taking you down. You did dodge a few bullets but one of them stabbed you in the stomach, very close to where the glass was lodged." The tears started pouring then. "By the end of it, you were bleeding so much. There was so much blood and your heartbeat were so faint I wasn't even sure that you were still alive." Tears streamed down her cheeks faster than she could brush them away.

"How did we get to the Valour pack?"

Artemis sniffled and dabbed at her eyes. "Apollo mind linked his Alpha so some of his pack members did meet us along the way and they drove us the rest of the way. But Apollo and I didn't want to wait around the crash site with you bleeding out on the floor, so I had to pull the glass out of you." She hiccupped, taking a brief moment to collect herself. Sol rubbed her back and pulled her body into him, pushing her face in the crook between his neck and his shoulder, ignoring the way his abdomen protested.

Artemis was more important.

"I don't know what happened but I managed to stop the blood." Artemis pulled away a little and held up her hands. Sol looked at them but he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. "I don't know what I did but I pushed down on your wound to stop the bleeding and it-it actually stopped. We carried you for a few miles before some warriors from the Valour pack picked us up in the car and drove us the rest of the way."

Artemis shook her head. "I don't know how you're still alive."

Sol didn't say anything. He just pulled her to him and pressed his lips against her forehead, allowing her to cry her pain away.

He didn't know what she meant by being able to stop him bleeding and frankly, he didn't care. He was just glad that they were both safe though he did worry about those humans that didn't seem capable of leaving them alone.

The doctor came back in shortly after Artemis had finished telling him what had happened to change his dressings. He didn't approve of the way that Sol wasn't getting enough rest so for the rest of the day Sol spent his time in the hospital bed with Artemis present to keep him there.

-

You can wait for the next chapter which will be uploaded on 26/11/2019

OR

You can read the rest of the book, including bonus chapters, for free on Inkitt! Just search 'Solomon [COMPLETE]' or use this link: https://inkitt.app.link/RA__illuminating_

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Layla Knight

27.08.18