CHAPTER 5: SILENCE OF THE SILENT

Maya's POV

I crouched back behind a huge rock and let the old doctor who resembled Dumbledore in more ways than one, frantically search for me along with two female lycans who looked like nurses.

Violent explosions could be heard overhead but they were nothing compared to the panicked shouts of the doctor searching for me.

“Good heavens, how did she escape from here in that condition?” He asked, trying to track my scent. “I shouldn't have left my scent inhibitors by the table,” he berated himself. Thank goodness for my medical training, I was able to identify those pills in a jiffy and hide in the nick of time.

“She must have escaped from here when we were out of the cave and you were with His Highness,” one of the nurses replied.

“But how could she run away from here? It is physically impossible!” The experienced doctor exclaimed, puzzled. He was right, I couldn’t bear to carry my own weight, leave alone run away in this unknown, dangerous place in the dark. “The King is going to be furious when he finds out that I lost her. What will I tell him? Oh, goddess, I didn’t keep an eye on her for ten minutes and this happened,” he shook his head, clearly disappointed with himself.

“We should run in separate directions. We might still be able to catch her,” the second nurse suggested.

“I hope so. You two head towards the opposite bank and split from there. I will scout the area on this side of the river. Now run out of here you two before anyone else comes here. We will meet at the palace’s infirmary if we don’t find her,” the doctor instructed and left the cave for good.

I leaned back my head against the rock and closed my eyes in relief. Phew ! That was close. Sweat trickled from my forehead as I tried to breathe as painlessly as possible. Taking out the syrup bottle that I stole from the medical kit, I drank directly from it before panting breathlessly to catch my breath.

I needed to get out of here, and soon. The goddess knew why the King of this strange place wanted me. I did not want to be a slave to a wicked man, or worse, a prost*tute.

Tearing a narrow strip of cloth from my sweat-soaked, beige gown, I wrapped it tightly around my thigh, clenched my teeth as tight as I could, and stabbed the syringe from the stolen kit into the soft part of my thigh. I, unfortunately, had no time to lose and that was the most effective spot for instant relief. The pain medication wouldn’t wear off for another five hours and that was all the time I needed to get to the nearest human town or no-man’s land.

However, I made a huge discovery that rendered me speechless, both, literally and figuratively!

 When I splayed my fingers on my abdomen and tried to talk to my baby－ to assure the little munchkin that mommy was fine and she was not going to let anything happen to him again, no words came out of my mouth! Only a desperate choking sound made it out of my parted lips which made my eyes tear up due to the pressure on my larynx (voice box).

I tried again, but no luck. Instead, I found myself in a coughing fit.

Oh, no! How was I going to make it to a human town, and make a life there for my baby? How was I going to provide for the two of us?

‘First things first, we need to run away from here Maya,’ my wolf, Coco weakly said, still reeling under the duress of the rejection and betrayal of our mate, or rather, ex-mate. ‘Save our pup,’ she desperately said.

Thank god, the mind link didn’t depend on my vocal cords and I could communicate with my wolf.

‘Can you shift, Coco?’ I worriedly asked, while taking off from the place, downhill- away from the horrors of the palace above. When no reply came, I got frantic. ‘Coco? Coco? COCO?!’ I frantically screamed, but alas! No reply came.

As a pack doctor with considerable experience, I knew that rejections were hard and sometimes, the wolf couldn’t make it through, but I knew that Coco was cut from a different cloth. She was a strong she-wolf who never let any adversity make her bow down.

‘Coco please?’ I desperately called out for the last time. When no answer came, I understood that I had either lost my wolf or she had gone dormant.

I was on my own. A mateless, wolfless, pregnant omega with no roof to my name, and running away from unknown enemies in the middle of a dark and dangerous rain forest. Little did I know that my life was going to turn around. Sooner than I thought!

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my stomach, but I ignored it to make every second of the next five hours count. I was high on adrenaline from the large dosage of the pain medication, and I needed to get to a safe place before my limbs gave out.  

I looked up at the glowing, white moon in the dark sky and remembered my mom, who would say, “You are not a survivor, but a warrior. You are a fighter, not a quitter. And above all, you are a conqueror, not a worrier!”

I had to lose my fears and solely focus on my goal if I had to survive. For that, I needed to stay calm and just … run.

Steeling my resolve, I determinedly thought, ‘Alright baby, don’t worry. Mommy might have lost her pack, family, mate, wolf and voice, but she will never lose the fight to live, till you are there. You are my greatest strength, baby. We will surely get through this.’

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Maya’s POV

After three straight days of running and surviving solely on wild fruit and stolen strawberry-flavoured cough syrup from the good old doctor’s medical kit, I finally made it to a large, bustling human city that could swallow any individual in its densely populated crowd.

The change of pace from a majorly peaceful, quiet forest setting to a mega, chaotic urban jungle, made my head spin, especially when no human spared a dirty, pale woman like myself a second glance, and instead rushed from one point to another with a cell phone in one hand and a beverage in another!

My cheeks flushed and my eyes moistened when no one could hear me speak, or even notice my desperate state. They walked by me as if I was invisible, and for the first time since my arrival in this no-man’s land, I felt the elated feeling of freedom slip into the dark despair of helplessness.

No wolf could harm me here, but no human was ready to help me either!

When my body couldn’t keep up as I walked along a huge glass building, I slipped against the front door, trying to hold on to anything that could help me keep my balance. One could safely say that cough syrup and wild fruits were not enough to fuel the body, which ran non-stop for the last 60 hours, especially when they had to feed for two.

Soon enough, the world around me spun and double vision turned into blackness. But not before a gentleman decked in white, caught me by my waist and I read the sign, ‘Welcome to Lenox Hill Hospital, New York,’ behind him.

“Oh my goodness, what do we have here? We need the emergency team here. Stat!”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *