52. Stay Awake

The atmosphere in the hospital waiting room was stifling, a heavy pall of tension and worry blanketing everyone present. The fluorescent lights overhead buzzed quietly, an undercurrent to other families and patients' low murmurs of conversation. But in one corner, Gideon, Avla, and their pack sat in almost complete silence, the weight of the situation pressing down on them all.

Gideon stood slightly apart, his tall frame silhouetted against the window pane. Outside, the inky sky was punctuated by the rising crescent moon, its silvery glow painting a soft luminescence on the world below. He sighed deeply, his fingers instinctively going to the back of his neck, massaging the tense muscles there.

Hearing the sigh, Avla rose and approached him. Without a word, she wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her cheek against his back. The quiet gesture, full of warmth and comfort, was a small island of solace in the sea of their current turmoil. Yet even as she held him close, she could