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Artem

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After I had told Doc everything that I had learned about Star and that messed up family of hers I decided that I should go to see my sister. I had checked on her before I went to save Star, and I knew that she was going to be alright, but I still wanted to see her.

Before I left the room though, I made Doc promise not to leave Star\'s side. I didn\'t want to chance that she would come to while I was gone and then she would wake up in the room alone and scared.

I made my way down the hall to Chay\'s room, the door of which was still cracked open slightly, most likely from when Doc left it earlier. Bailey had showered and was sitting in the chair next to the bed when I came in, his head raised and his eyes drooping.

"You need to get some sleep." I told him as I walked closer to my sister\'s side.

"I will be fine. I want to be here for her when she wakes up." He sounded so serious when he spoke just now.

"Who said you wouldn\'t be here if you slept? Can\'t you sleep in here with her?" I noticed Bailey\'s eyes pop at my words, like he thought that I had just spoken some previously undiscovered language. "Oh drop the act Bailey, you\'re mated and I know that you\'ve slept together already. Don\'t think you can hide it from me. Just know that if you hurt my sister I will kill you."

"No, I would never, I-I l-love her, I\'d never hurt her." He sounded so scared right now, it was actually helping me to calm down a little.

"I\'m messing with you Bailey. I know you\'re a good guy. Just treat her right, OK. That\'s all that I ask."

"Definitely." That one word was filled with so much conviction and honor that it made me appreciate the guy that much more.

After having my fun with Bailey for a minute I knelt next to Chay\'s bed. I put my hand on her head and brushed her hair back from her face. I knew that she was sedated and wouldn\'t wake up, which was why I was able to do this right now, if she wasn\'t incompacitated then I couldn\'t treat her like the kid I still tried to think of her as.

I saw that the bruises and shallow cuts were already fading and she was getting some color back to her cheeks, after healing from the blood loss. She had been injured so badly, broken ribs, broken arm, broken leg, fractured left cheek bone, several deep and shallow cuts, a concussion. Any of these alone would have been easy to heal from. But Chay had so many and it was taking her a little long to heal them all. Still, her body was doing its job which was good.

"Chay, I wanted to let you know that Star is home. She is home and safe and she is not hurt any more at all. You don\'t have anything else to worry about." I spoke in a calm and soothing voice as I rubbed her hair back in a tender familial gesture. "I know you will want to see her when you can and if I know Star at all she can\'t wait to see you either. You\'re both still sleeping now though, you lazy bones." I laughed at the weak joke just so I could stop myself from tearing up again. "I love you Chay, you\'re the best sister I could have asked for and you\'re always my voice of reason and wisdom. Thank you for being there for me this morning, and I am sorry that I got you into this mess."

I felt the tears begin to sting my eyes then. I had been crying so much during this last day. Well I guess today was a different day now, as it was long after midnight but it hadn\'t been a full twenty-four hours, so it was still the same day in my opinion.

I didn\'t want Bailey to see me crying, I couldn\'t have that happen to me right now. So, with my head turned away from him I rose to my feet.

"I will leave her to you for now, Bailey." I could hear how thick my voice was with the emotions. "Take care of her for me. I will be back later."

I didn\'t wait for a response, I just turned to leave the room, all the while hiding my face. Once I was in the hall I walked quickly to my room, right across the hall from Star\'s room. I barely had the door shut before I leaned back against it and slid to the floor with my head held in my hands.

All of this was my fault. I had ruined my chances of ever having Star love me. I had stupidly believed that she was in love with me this whole time. I had actually made her my slave because of that stupid talisman she has on. Now I don\'t think she will ever trust me again. Was there anything else that could possibly make this already bad situation even worse? I didn\'t think so, to me it felt like it was already the worst.

All I could do was sit there, crouched as small as I could make myself, and cry. I cried for my sister and the pain that I had caused her. I cried for Star and the fear, pain, and anguish that I had caused her. And I cried for myself, the man who made his mate hate him. There was no fixing my situation and that thought alone brought a fresh wave of the embarrassing salty water works. My heart was broken and would never be whole again without my mate\'s love.

I don\'t know how long I sat there on the floor and cried. I know that I kept trying to think of positive solutions while I cried out all the emotions that had built up in me from this whole crazy ordeal. If I was lucky, I would have cried all the tears I would ever have for the rest of my life.

I needed to get up though, I needed to get back to Star. I wanted to be there when she woke up, but I needed to get this out of my system before then. I didn\'t want to break down in front of her, I didn\'t want her to see this weak side of me. I wanted to be there for her as the man she can count on for the rest of her life.

I went into my private bathroom after I got to my feet and washed my face in cold water. I needed to make sure that my eyes weren\'t red when I went back into Star\'s room. I couldn\'t let her see that, but I also didn\'t want Doc seeing me like that either.

After freshening up I walked solemnly back across the hall. Doc was sitting in the same chair next to the bed with a book in his hand. It was one of the books that I had gotten for Star when she first got here. I had seen her reading it before and I knew she liked it.

"Hey Artem, I thought I would read to pass the time. Is Chay still doing good?" Doc was in the process of standing up while he was talking. Once he was on his feet he set the book aside and looked at me with his overly observant eyes then he spoke again in a concerned voice. "You don\'t look good. Are you sure you\'re OK?"

"I will be fine. I just need Star to wake up for me to be all better. I need to know what she remembers from this whole ordeal."

"Don\'t press her too hard when she wakes up." He warned me in a firm voice that clearly said \'don\'t stress out my patient\'.

"I won\'t, don\'t worry. I just need to see her wake up mostly. I can\'t live without her."

"Yeah, I wouldn\'t know anything about that. I don\'t have a mate. All you lucky kids have found yours and I am here all alone."

"I hope you find yours soon Doc, it\'s the best feeling in the world." I could tell that I didn\'t sound so sure about that when I spoke.

"Looks like it\'s been kind of hard on you." He clapped a hand to my shoulder then and squeezed it firmly. "Take it easy man, and just know that you\'re a good guy. Star knows that, we all do, so there is nothing for you to worry about."

"I hope so."

With that Doc left and I went back to the chair I had been sitting in earlier. I was feeling exhausted so I kicked off my shoes and propped my feet up on the chair that Doc had been using earlier. I didn\'t know how long it would take for Star to wake up, but I vowed that I was not going anywhere until I saw that she was awake.

I drifted into an uneasy sleep then, I had multiple dreams of Star leaving me. I dreamt that she ran away and hid from me forever. There was a dream where Howard was still alive and she chose to go back to him. There was a dream where she and the others called me a monster and I was forced to leave the pack while Star stayed here, forever out of my reach.

Over and over I had these nightmares but not once did they wake me up, the dreams just kept morphing into something else. I don\'t know how long it all would have gone on if I hadn\'t heard someone say my name.

"Artem?" That voice was like an angel\'s, and I would know it anywhere.

"Star?" I jumped up in my seat, sitting up so fast that I almost fell over. I looked at her where she was still laying on the pillow I had rested her on.

Her eyes were open. She was looking at me. And she looked so confused.