Chapter Twenty-Four
Melinda jerked awake. Something had startled her. She blinked her eyes several times until she realized she was at the hospital and she’d fallen asleep sitting in a chair with her face resting on Mimi’s bed. She held Mimi’s hand clutched in hers.
But the thin fingers were no longer lying limp; they were squeezing Melinda’s back gently.
Melinda lifted her gaze to find Mimi looking at her. She stood abruptly to lean over her grandmother’s frail body.
Thank goodness. Mimi had been lying there for over twenty-four hours. It was late afternoon on Monday. Her inability to regain consciousness had begun to scare Melinda to death.
Mimi was the most important person in Melinda’s life, outside of her mates. The woman had raised her and her brother alone. After her mother, Joyce, had been banished from tribal land and the pack when Melinda and Miles were only three, Mimi had taken care of them.
Even though Joyce and Laurie had grown into their abilities over the last months, neither of them were as strong a shaman as Melinda, who had learned everything from her grandmother and honed her skills over her entire life.
Mimi licked her lips and opened them as if to speak.
Melinda brushed the thin strands of Mimi’s hair from her face. “It’s okay, Mimi. You’re okay. You’re in the hospital.”
Mimi blinked and glanced around.
“You had a stroke. But we got you here as fast as possible. It will take time for you to get your strength back.” The truth was no one knew how much Mimi would be affected by the stroke.
The doctor was a shifter, which helped. But there were too many unknowns. Normally, a wolf shifter would simply change forms in order to speed the healing process. But occasionally that wasn’t possible, especially if the injured or sick was unconscious or too weak to make the shift.
In Mimi’s case, she was growing older, and strokes had the ability to cause permanent damage that wasn’t reparable. Shifters weren’t immortal. In fact, their lifespans often weren’t longer than a regular human’s. They simply didn’t spend their lives in casts and stitches. Bones and cuts healed quickly. Cancers might be slower growing in their bodies, but they could kill. And strokes could be damaging to the brain in a way that wouldn’t respond to human medicines or shifting.
In any case, Mimi was in no condition to shift. She was too weak.
Joyce and Laurie hurried into the room. Melinda didn’t have to turn around to know they were there. It had been months since the four of them stumbled upon and then honed the ability to communicate with each other in human form.
While most shifters could only speak telepathically in wolf form, the female descendants of Mimi had recently come into the ability to converse between each other in human form also. And their senses were so sharp, they rarely needed to reach out telepathically to know when one of the others was in distress, awake, or any other strong emotional state.
Mimi glanced beyond Melinda toward her daughter and her other granddaughter. It was a good sign. But then she squeezed Melinda’s hand tighter and tugged her closer. “Go.” The one word came out so softly it was almost inaudible.
Melinda furrowed her brow. “Go where, Mimi? I’m staying here with you. We need to help you get your strength back.”
Mimi swallowed and shook her head slightly. “Go.”
Laurie took her other hand. “Mimi? It’s Laurie. How are you feeling?” Laurie tried to distract their grandmother from her distress.
Mimi didn’t break her gaze from Melinda’s. “Land… Go… Meet…”
Melinda attempted to piece her urgent message together. “I know the land is disturbed. It has been for years. This time is no different. We’ll figure it out.”
Mimi shook her head. Her eyes grew wider. “No… Go…”
“To the meeting? At the high school?”
Mimi nodded, her body relaxing into the bed. Her chest rose and fell heavily, but she slowed her breathing.
“You want me to go to the meeting?” Melinda repeated. She had no desire to leave Mimi’s side. She’d done so yesterday for several hours and didn’t care to repeat the stress it caused her.
“Now…” The older woman squeezed Melinda’s hand with more force, far more force than Melinda could have believed possible.
She nodded. What else could she do? If her grandmother thought it was important for her to be at the meeting, there was a reason.
Joyce spoke from behind Melinda. “It’s okay, honey. Laurie and I will be here. You need to be at the meeting. I can feel the same urgency in my bones.”
A man behind them cleared his throat as he entered the room. “Oh, great. Ms. Bartel. You’re back with us.” The voice belonged to the doctor. Melinda didn’t need to turn around to see him, either. He was a shifter. And a godsend when one of them needed hospitalization.