"Silent that alarm!"
There was someone that should be dead, but who…
"Tachycardia, charge the paddles!"
His head was going to explode, why wouldn't it come?
"Clear!"
The jolt of power radiated through his whole body. He felt himself bow off the bed. The image finally broke through, with his beast right behind on a roar of rage. Cailean was back! Somehow, he was alive and here and was strong, stronger than he should be, stronger than he was. He had threatened his mate…Maggie!
"Normal sinus rhythm, excellent job everyone, way to hustle."
That's why the voice was familiar, it was her! His beast prowled inside, wanting out, wanting to mark his mate as his own. He felt a warm gentle hand on his wrist and something tightening around his arm. He released the chains that he usually kept on his wolf, just enough that he would wake. He had to protect her.
"Blood pressure is a little high, but that's likely the pain." He felt a gentle squeeze on his shoulder. "I'll have the nurses come and give you more morphine."
"No." He managed to croak. He could feel the wolf just below the surface of his skin, writhing and clawing to get to her. The terror he could smell and plainly see told him that would not be a promising idea.
"This isn't possible, you can't be awake," She was backing away now. "What's wrong with your eyes?"
Three days ago…
Shaw sits by the fire and watches as the shapes dance and flicker within, this was familiar at least. He'd gone to look for his brother Bran, who was supposed to be here when he woke. But this is a strange world he'd woken to big metal beasts that people climbed into and raced to wherever they needed to be. Lights everywhere, powered by something he had no knowledge of. So fast, everything here was so fast, and he thought he saw one of those large metal beasts flying in the sky, he would think magic except this world was almost void of it. Even his beast suffered the effects and felt weak.
"Welcome back, Shaw." The voice was cold and menacing.
Shaw turned slowly and looked into eyes that were lifeless, but for the evil swimming in them.
"I thought you were dead." Shaw stood and watched as he prowled around the campsite. Turning as Cailean moved to never take his eyes off the danger that had invaded.
"Sorry to disappoint, Shaw." Cailean said flicking imaginary lint off his black jacket. "You and I, we've unfinished business."
"Cailean, I have no business with the likes of you." Shaw spread his legs, preparing for battle, his hand clenching and unclenching, missing his sword.
"Oh, we have business you and me and your pretty little mate." Cailean smiled then, more of a sneer really and continued. "Have you seen her yet, Shaw? She's just as beautiful as she was then. I might just sample her myself, maybe I'll let you watch before I kill you both."
"Don't touch her you sick son of a bitch!" Shaw jumped at him, intending to tackle him at the waist.
Cailean moved with impossible speed and caught him mid-jump. Shaw struggled and fought but couldn't break free.
"You can't beat me, Shaw," he said. "I'm more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
"I'll beat you Cailean." Shaw relaxed in his hold and called on his beast and found—nothing.
"You understand now?" Cailean chuckled. "Magic is almost dead, and your inner beast is silent, you can't beat me, I've already won."
Cailean threw him then. Shaw felt nothing, but air beneath him as he fell over the cliff. He felt a warmth stir deep inside and prayed to the Gods. He prayed as he fell that his beast would come, that his beast could come and save him from certain death when he hit the bottom.
***
Whumpa whumpa whumpa the sound pierced through the blackness that was his world now, and then the explosive pain. The darkness was better, no pain, no strange sounds, no fear… if he could just get back there.
"Dammit! He's coding!" He heard the shouted words, along with a high-pitched squeal. More pain exploded through his body as a rhythmic pumping began on his chest, and something forced air into his mouth and nose. "I'll ride, you bag! Move it people let's get him down to the trauma center!"
The darkness blanketed him once more in peace.
"Doctor, damn he's coming out of the anesthetic again!"
The pain returned worse now. There were hot pokers inside him. He was burning from the inside out. Was this some sort of torture? Had the humans figured out what he was and were killing him slowly?
"What the hell, Dennis, I'm up to my elbows inside this guy trying to stop the bleeding and you can't do your job! Keep him under for Christ sakes, I can't have him waking up and moving while I'm trying to take out his spleen!"
The angry voice so familiar. But how was she inside him? Is she the one that has lit his insides on fire? There was that high-pitched squeal again. They must have something squeezing his head too.
"Shit! Get the neurosurgeon in here, his EEG is spiking, he's seizing, there must be a bleed there as well."
"It will be a miracle if we save this guy doc,"
"Yeah, I'm due for a miracle, I think."
He floated into the abyss again, he could stay this time.
Beep beep beep. The steady sound brought him out of his peacefulness once more. The pain wasn't so bad this time. Like an after-thought, or a fog that caressed his body with a slight chill.
"How did you say you knew the patient?" There it was that familiar voice again. Who was she?
"I already told you," The exasperated voice responded. "He's, my brother."
He would recognize that brogue anywhere, Bran was finally here. Guess that meant he wasn't being held captive, except for in his own body.
"And how is it that you discovered him here? Because you obviously weren't with him when he went off that cliff."
Her voice sounded accusatory. Did she think Bran had something to do with his injuries? He wanted to shout no; it wasn't him! But his voice wouldn't cooperate.
"I really don't like what you're insinuating, doctor."
"Well, then explain to me how it is that you manage to be here, before he's even out of surgery, claiming to be his brother!"
That familiar voice was angry again. He wished he could place where he knew it from. But it wouldn't come, in fact it hurt to think too hard.
"I was meeting my brother, for a camping trip, I got held up at work and was late, something I will never forgive myself for. I showed up to find them loading my brother into a helicopter, it wasn't hard to deduce they would bring him here. It's the best trauma center around."
"Alright, I'm sorry. It's been a rough night and your brother's injuries were severe." Her voice was soft now, caring, and sounded like music to his ears. "He had massive internal bleeding, two collapsed lungs, two broken legs with one piercing the femoral artery, the other with a dislocated hip and a skull fracture that caused a cerebral edema, he coded three times, seized on the table during surgery, he's lucky he's alive and he may never walk right again."
"Will he wake up doc?"
"There's no way to know yet, he's in a coma." He heard shuffling papers and a feminine sigh. "I'll be honest with you. It doesn't look good. We have stopped the bleeding in his brain and placed in a stint to help keep the swelling down, but there's extraordinarily little brain activity. If he wakes, and this is a big if, he will have brain damage, he won't be the brother you knew."
"With all due respect doc, you don't know my brother."
He felt the warmth of love for his brother, so much faith Bran had in him, he wouldn't let him down. If he could just call forth his beast, it would help to heal him. Shaw reached within and winced, nothing, his beast was gone, or buried so deep beneath these injuries he could sense or feel him. This may take longer than he thought.
"With all due respect, sir, I don't need to know your brother, I know medicine and those are the facts."
He heard the door shut behind him, and quiet steps moved closer to the bed.
"This isn't good brother mine." He felt Bran's breath whisper off his ear. "I don't know what happened up there, bloody stubborn arse, probably stumbled off that cliff yourself since you're to damn impatient to wait for me."
He could hear footfalls again, it sounded as though Bran was pacing around him. Then a crash as though something fell or was thrown. Knowing Bran, it was the latter. Shaw heard the door again and a new voice spoke.
"Is everything alright sir?"
"Oh aye, I just tripped over the table."
Shaw could hear clatter again. His brother was righting the table. The door closed again without another word.
"Shaw, I know you can hear me, I can still feel your faint presence in my own head. You need to understand something. Magic is almost gone, destroyed by science and technology and the lack of belief in what you can't see. If you want your wolf to come, you're going to have to fight for him. Please fight mo bhrathair."
His brother sighed. He felt his arm lifted and gripped in a warrior's handshake.
"Remember who you are, this is a fight you'll have to win without your broadsword. I need to meet with Cole, he's making sure your bloodwork doesn't show any anomalies that would draw attention to us."
Shaw wasn't sure what his brother was talking about, but knew he was protecting the clan. If there was still a clan. Things were different now. The sounds strange and unfamiliar. Bran said he would have to fight for his wolf to come, with all this strangeness was it any wonder his wolf was absent and in hiding?
Bran had thought that he had stumbled off the cliff on his own. That wasn't it, there was something he needed to remember, someone he needed to remember. If he could just get out of this fog that was surrounding his brain. Every time he poked at it though his pain got higher, and that beeping sound got faster. He had to try though. Something told him that it was imperative to his survival and his family that he remember.
The pain and pressure in his head were excruciating. The beeping he could hear was almost one long screech now it was so fast. He remembered thinking about how fast this world was with roaring beasts that people rode inside of. The fire danced with colors and shapes as he watched and waited for his brother. A voice spoke…
Present day…
Just then the door opened, and Bran and Cole walked in. He growled a warning.
"Bloody hell!" Bran snarled back. "You couldn't have waited until she was gone to let the wolf come out and play. Cole, get Barnabas, that English bastard owes me a favor. And she needs to forget ever seeing those glowing eyes."
"Who the hell are you people? I'm calling security!"
Shaw exploded off the bed with a snarl and roughly grabbed his Maggie before she could leave the room.
"Mine!" he snarled.