Chapter 9: Will She Ever Wake Up?!

Alpha King Caspian's POV:

I looked from her over to where Maxwell was standing out of the way over by the wall. He stood there for a moment longer, watching the doctor and all the various Aides get into position before he looked back at me. Then, without a word, he nodded to me and turned to leave the room. I then turned back so I could focus my undivided attention on my Mate, who was now curled up into a ball, lying on her side in the center of the bed.

My heart felt heavy just standing here watching her intently as to where I had previously laid her just a moment before. I then walked up to the side of the bed and placed my hand on her head. She was burning up! I could even start to see the small beads of sweat forming on the top of her head. I looked over at the doctor who was starting to raise the blanket in order to give her a visual examination.

In the back of my mind, I didn't want anyone to touch her while here in my presence. However, I wasn't sure where to begin, let alone what I was going to say at that moment. It was then, I could not help the low growl that started to ring out from deep within my throat as the doctor set the blanket back down and cut her eyes up at me, before she slowly started to lift her head to match the level of her eyes.

"Your Highness?" She started to ask, then paused before continuing. "I'm afraid I have to ask you to step out into the hall for a brief moment."

"Under no circumstances will I do such a thing!" I raised my tone as the doctor took a step back.

It was like she expected such a reaction. When I snapped at her, it caused my Mate to whimper a bit in fear at my outburst at the doctor's request. I was not prepared to hear what she stated.

'Who does she think she is, asking you to go out of the room, and for what reason? This is Mate!' (Cash voiced his opinion.)

"Your Highness," the doctor began to say once more in an even lighter tone than before. "I am going to have to check her out. Some of the things I am going to do are not going to be pleasing to the sight of your Wolf." I narrowed my eyes at her. "However, I assure you, I will be swift in my examination yet thorough." She took a breath and added, "When I am finished, I will call you back in promptly."

I could not shake the feeling that my mind was spinning with the thought of having to leave my Mate in a room where I was not. I didn't know how to react to what was going on right now. Without another word, I turned and headed toward the door, despite the rejection from Cash, who more than wanted me to stay by her side. I couldn't help the growl that was emitting from my throat as I walked out and closed the door behind me.

I needed to know how bad her condition was, but I knew that whatever the news turned out to be, it wasn't going to be a good report. As much as I wanted to know the extent of her injuries, from finding her in that questionable situation earlier that morning, I didn't know what to think next. To keep my mind off things, I decided to pace back and forth in the hallway. No matter how much walking I did, dodging others as they made their way down the hall, none of it seemed to help.

For a morning like this, it didn't seem very busy, so there weren't many people walking in the hallway except for the Aides who were checking things they needed to do, in order to complete their tasks. As I continued to pace, I would watch the door as I walked back and forth up and down the hall. Occasionally, I would look over at my Beta, Maxwell, who remained stationary, standing guard at the entrance of my suite. He was like a statue, refusing to move except when he occasionally looked over at me, then returned to his position of looking across the hall.

All of a sudden, the door to my suite opened gently, causing me to nearly jump out of my own skin, which was not something I ever did. Well, I was not expecting the examination to be concluded that soon, or so it seemed. Technically, it was about 10 minutes later while we were waiting out in the hallway, but it seemed like an eternity with every passing second I had to wait for an explanation as to what I was going to be informed about.

When the door opened enough for the doctor to walk out, I swiftly made my way over to her. She stepped to the side, allowing the other Aides to leave the room as she had yet to look up at me. Some of the Aides walked out of the room, pushing their trays and carts back to where it was they had come from. I watched the Aides for a moment longer, all before I focused my attention back on the doctor herself, waiting for her to speak. My thoughts were going a million places at once, and I wanted to know what the verdict was.

'Mate? What happened to Mate?' (Cash asked nervously.)

"Well?" I asked without wanting to wait another moment to check on our Mate's condition. "How bad is her condition? What is the news about my Mate?!"

"Your mate?" The doctor asked me in a hushed tone, shocked by her expression, as I could tell when she looked up at me from the clipboard she was reading in her hands. It was obvious that she did not like my expression, as to her reaction. "Forgive me, Your Highness, I meant no disrespect. What I mean to say is, I am pleased to hear that you have found your mate. However, I give you grave news."

'How could she not know that she was Mate? Who else would we be carrying into our room?' (Cash asked, interrupting me.)

'Patience Cash. I'm sure she didn't mean for it to come across like that.' (I responded.) 'She did apologize for it after all.'

"What do you mean by that last statement?" I asked her, without wanting to wait another moment for her to continue.

"What I mean is, she is very weak," she started to say before she paused again. "These next 24 hours will be crucial. Mind you, I have her hooked up to a few different machines. I need you to try to control your Wolf when you first lay eyes on her. He won't like the matter of seeing her in that state. However, it is crucial that she remains hooked up to the leads I have her on. One is a heart monitor, allowing me to track her heart rate. Her pulse is very weak due to her frail current condition."

She paused briefly, waiting for me to acknowledge her. Suddenly, I looked down for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, she seems to have been starved, and her muscle tone is very minimal, not to mention extremely weak. She has numerous lacerations and several broken bones. Although I will not know how many until I get an X-ray to determine that. However, I want to wait for those until I've had a chance to get some fluids into her. She is extremely dehydrated on top of all her other conditions."