"Ah!" A nurse cried when she noticed that the injury she was bandaging was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye from the moment magical glitter touched the warrior's flesh.
"Oh… Ah… Eh…" Sounded everywhere from nurses and patients. The wounds were closing, the bruises faded, the pain was diminishing, and everyone felt more energetic.
Talia's light dimmed rapidly, and her hair changed into copper-colored in one swift wave. She slumped on Damon, who was quick to catch her.
"Don't overwork yourself, kitten," Damon said with concern in his voice.
Talia smiled. "I don't feel bad doing this for our people. I will be fine after a bit of rest."
Damon shook his head in disapproval, but he couldn't scold her more. She was a wonderful Luna, doing what she thought was best for their people.
The only thing Damon could do was to support Talia and treat her well. Damon reached to carry her princess style.
Travis rushed toward them as soon as he heard Damon's summon through the mind link.
Seeing that Damon was carrying Talia, Travis went to check on her, but Talia raised her hand to stop him.
"Don't worry about me. I was hoping you could take a look at my father."
Travis' eyes widened. Talia's father? It took him a few long seconds to recover and wave at the nurse to take Valerian upstairs.
Valerian lowered his head in shame. There were injured warriors everywhere, and he was being treated as a priority. He wanted to protest, but he knew it would be in vain, and he decided to keep quiet.
Valerian was wheeled into a private room, and two nurses started working on him. They took basic vitals, blood samples, and gave him fluids via IV.
During this time, Damon was mind-linking with pack members to understand the situation and issue orders. Talia was on the phone with Kai and Meg to touch base on happenings in the Midnight Guardians pack.
"Shouldn't they help the wounded ones?" Valerian asked Travis while gesturing toward nurses.
Travis shook his head. "Thanks to our Luna, our workload is cut in half. I am the main doctor, but I am not the only one." Travis' brows came together as the first blood test results arrived on his tablet. "Can you tell me how you ended up in this state?"
"I was imprisoned for a long time."
"About two decades," Talia said from the side. She was on the phone with Kai and Meg, mind-linking Trisha and Rose to prepare a room for Valerian in the packhouse, but she was also paying attention to what was going on around her.
"I need to go," Damon said, and Talia quickly ended her phone call.
"Where?" She asked.
"George is swamped on our Eastern border, and we need reinforcements on the South."
Their opponents were not strong, but they were many, and they used guerrilla attacks of starting skirmishes and retreating quickly, which caused warriors of the Dark Howlers pack to thin out their defenses. Also, it's been ongoing for hours now, and allied forces were getting fatigued even with the witches' help.
Talia didn't want to leave her father, but the idea of Damon fighting on his own was unacceptable. "I'm coming with you."
"No," Damon responded with finality. "Stay here and take care of your father." Seeing that Talia was about to protest, Damon cupped her cheeks and kissed her on the lips. "I want Travis to check your condition also. After that teleporting and healing you did, you are weakened, and I don't want to risk anything happening to our pup. You did a lot already. Rest, kitten, and let your man take care of the trash. I will be back before you know it."
Talia's chin shook. "What will I do if you disappear again?"
"I promise not to leave the territory of the Dark Howlers pack. I am only going to ease the load of our warriors. However, if I disappear, I know you will find me," Damon said with a smile and kissed the tip of her nose.
Talia stared at Damon, and only when he looked down did she realize that she was fisting his shirt.
She released a long breath while loosening her hold on him. "Take care and come back soon."
Damon hummed in agreement. "Travis! I will leave Talia in your care."
"Yes, Alpha!" Travis responded right away.
Talia pressed her lips into a line while the door closed after Damon. 'Keep the mind link open!' Talia told Damon.
'Yes, my Luna,' he responded obediently. 'You do the same. Let me know what Travis says. Try to rest until I return.'
Talia turned to Travis. "What can you tell me about his condition?"
"Nothing is conclusive," Travis said cautiously. "The patient is underweight and dehydrated. Beyond that, I will need to do more tests. We will take him to do a full CT scan and start from there."
"But you can heal him, right, just how you did me."
Travis gave her an encouraging nod and responded politically, "I will know more in about one hour once all results are in. I heard from Alpha you are exhausted. Do you feel any discomfort?"
"No. I just need rest."
Travis gestured toward the sofa. "Then, please rest while we are in radiology. It shouldn't be more than ten minutes. Make sure you drink plenty of water, and I will get a nurse to bring you some food and vitamins..."
In radiology…
"Doctor?" Valerian called to get Travis' attention.
"Yes?"
"What did Natalia mean when she said you can heal me just like you healed her?"
Travis was not sure if it was his to say, but he had already heard that the man in front of him was Valerian Moonrider, Talia's father, and he thought that as long as he didn't disclose confidential information, it would be fine.
Travis was one of the few people who knew the full story about Talia because he worked with Damon on getting her better.
Travis dismissed two nurses, and when it was just him and Valerian in the room, he said, "Alpha Damon found Luna Talia in the Red Moon pack. When she came here, she was severely malnourished, bruised all over, she had some old fractures and scars, and her wolf was barely holding on."
Valerian looked at Travis with confusion obvious on his face. "How could the Red Moon pack do such a thing to the Alpha of the Midnight Guardians pack? Was there no retaliation?"
"Uhm… at that time, Luna Talia looked more like a wolfless she-wolf than an Alpha. No one knew that she was from the Midnight Guardians pack. Alpha Damon worked on tracing her history to find out from where she came, but the Red Moon pack didn't have documents related to her. I'm not sure how they connected that she belongs to the Moonrider family, but I guess it has something to do with her cousin, Axel."
"Are you saying Natalia didn't know about her origins?"
Travis shook his head. "She was in the Red Moon pack since she was a toddler."
Valerian wanted to ask more, but Travis interrupted him with, "Please. I fear that I have already said more than I should. To be honest, I don't know more than that."
Valerian nodded in understanding. "I will talk to Natalia."
"About that… she was physically and mentally abused for many years. You are her father, and I'm not saying you shouldn't talk about it, but maybe allow her to bring it up first."
Valerian's head was spinning. She was abused? How was that possible?
