Chapter Fifty-Nine

“Stay with me, baby.” I heard my father’s worried whisper in the darkness. I was floating in this nothingness. There was no light, no sound, nothing except my father’s soft whispers. “Please don’t leave me. I don’t think I could go on without you, never mind ever facing your mother again.” I wanted to reassure him.

It’s okay, Daddy. I made my choice.

“You saved that family, even the parents. They are still touch and go, but they made it to the hospital. So you have to make it too.” His voice grew stronger, and I smiled.

At least they made it.

I tried to sit up, roll over, or move, but I couldn’t move. I was stuck in this darkness. Is this death? Is this the afterlife we have all heard about? Where was the Goddess? Where were my wolves?

We are here with you, Amy. Nix’s voice was still with me. I closed my eyes and focused inside, and they were where they have always been, even when I didn’t know it.

You’re here.

Of course, we are. Megan’s bright voice made me smile, her snout pulling into a smile. We would never leave you, Amy.

I felt a wave of relief hit me. At least I wasn’t alone.

“Come back to me, baby. I need you to wake up.” My father’s voice called to me.

I can’t, Daddy. I’m sorry. I called out to the abyss. I searched the darkness for anything, or any way out, so I could get to him, but I was stuck here.

“Who says you are stuck here?” A sweet voice called from the darkness.

I don’t know. I assume I am because I died… I trailed off when I heard a sweet, melodic chuckle.

“Oh, young one. No one is ever stuck if you have the right outlook, and this is not the afterlife.” A flash of white blinded me, and there she was in all her glory—the Goddess.

Why have you come? I questioned as I floated in the abyss.

“For you, dear girl. I came here for you.” I gasped. “Why are you so surprised? You have seen me before…”

I know, but it is not something you can ever get used to. I watched her come closer to me, but even still, I was cast in darkness. Why would a Goddess, the Goddess, come to me?

“Because you are important, my girl.” She smiled down at me, and for the first time, I could feel my body. But when I looked down, there was nothing. I was nothing. “Don’t think that. You are something. You’re someone, someone that people are already grieving for.”

Why?

“Because you made a difference, not only to the families you saved but to the entire pack. If it wasn’t for you training the women, then your father’s pack would have fallen today, and this chance would never have come to be.”

This chance? What do you mean? I was confused.

“You aren’t dead. You are in a coma, or something like it. You can choose.” The Goddess came closer, and the darkness lit up even more.

Choose?

“Yes, if you wanted to, you could move on, or you could go back. It’s your choice.” The Goddess held out a hand to me, but I didn’t have a hand. I looked down at her hand, and I wanted to reach out.

I don’t want to move on. I still have so much to do.

“Yes, you do.” Her smile was radiant, and she reached closer and grabbed my hand. “Yes, you do.” She pulled me up. I went from being stuck in the abyss, with nobody, to being fully formed and in the light with her.

“I’m back.”

“You never left.” She giggled. “Now, let’s get you back to your body.” She spun me around and flung me—the Goddess flung me—and I flew through the abyss, gaining speed until the world burst into color.

My eyes snapped open, and I took a breath around the tube in my throat and choked. My dad’s eyes snapped open, and he called for the doctor as I gagged. The doctor rushed in.

“Calm down, Amy. Stay calm. I’ll take it out, but give me a second.” I thrashed against the tube, and my dad held my hands down as the doctor worked the tape from around my mouth. He counted down and pulled the tube from my throat, and I could take my first gasping breath.

“Amy, baby girl, are you okay?” My dad grabbed my face and kissed my head. His hands still shook as he wrapped me in his arms and held me. “I was so worried.”

“The pups…” my voice rasped out.

“Are perfectly fine. They are with their parents, who were also saved, I might add.” The doctor waited. “Alpha, let me check her over.” My father’s growl was swift, but I patted his back.

“He needs to check me over.”