Chapitre 118: 38. Juliet and Joonathan.
When Mimi finally fell asleep and the panic subsided, Damon sighed, and the weight of his soul lifted. He looked at Mimi's withered form and went to sit at the computer for a moment. There was still work to be done with her and it was still time to be an efficient clinician, no time to be a loving husband. It was ironic how Damon could not see the forest from the trees but he had been Mimi's doctor for so long that it was an easier role to assume than being her husband, there were other doctors in the pack too but this was what he chose.
He tapped the keyboard, wrote a referral to her blood tests, and started to plan treatment plan for her. Oh, that he could get Mimi to trust him, to show him those complete files, to tell him, to share, but how he had now had to put Mimi in a total panic so that she was shaking. How had she ever trusted him again? He knew he had to help somewhere in between so that Mimi wouldn't be so frightened by the procedures, and the key to that would probably be to erase the memories.
He had no idea how much Mimi had been awake during the time she had been tortured and how hard it had been for her mentally. He could see physical problems, but she shielded her mind, so he had no idea about how distressed she was. It had been hard for him, but he had been out cold, so he had no recollection of what had done to him. But he had seen shuttles, shed session devices, and the mere thought that Mimi would have put in those made his blood boil.
Damon knew that if they'd had their bond, this would have gone as differently as it could have. But for now, he just had to move on and try to get Mimi's body to recover and rehabilitate, get the heat on, and start the breeding season once in a pack and for a long time. He longed for some kind of bond with her and in his mind, this would be something. He did not think it through, not really, and he did not look into the future. He acted on impulse as always and focused his mind on being Mimi's doctor.
He stood up and saw Mariella returning from her lab with a basket full of blood tubes for him. So he went next to Mimi, took a little stool and table, and collected blood tests. Tube after tube was filled and Mariella patiently took those filled ones, put them in various analyzers, and started the machines once they were loaded. Tests were taken in a certain order. Damon had taught her that so she had given him tubes in the right order, everything was done in a very specific way and like Damon wanted. So the most important values would be ready first.
As he took the samples, he thought about breeding as a pair. Damon knew or felt that this would be a good thing. They would be a couple. He'd get to keep Mimi safe because he knew boundaries create safety. Of course, it was more natural for him to think that way as he was in his base species lion, and pride of lions there are alpha pair who breeds and other females will help care for cubs. He once again, did not think of Mimi being a jaguar and this might not be perfect for her.
There was so much in Mimi that he had never thought of. Not really and now as he thought, seeing her once again, thin as a rail, pale and cooled down in before him he could not help to think that how could a creature who can't die, who is always hurting and something nasty is happening to her. Who has to go through so much? Who knows that there is no limit to what she can't do, ever feel safe? How could he give Mimi a sense of security, show her he will care for everything, and be trusted when the reality is different?
He is not that strong and for him to be stronger than Mimi; he had no idea how to do it. How could he prove to her he is strong enough for her that she doesn't have to manage alone, to be alone, but he is and will be there for her? It was a dichotomy that bugged him, his need to be that person for her, but then again reality set in as Mariella walked close by, her scent of peach, and white wine bringing him a sense of love and lust.
He sighed in his mind as he realized when his cock strained in his jeans, just by the mere presence of Mariella, made him viscerally want to fuck that he would ever be that to Mimi. She can't trust him any more than that because he might end up fucking Mariella and he would end up fucking Mariella and ignoring everything else around him, and that doesn't bring security.
But if he could make this breeding season work and keep Mimi in check, then maybe he could at least make some headway. Besides, he wanted to try this, and he was as jealous as ever and wanted to keep Mimi to himself. The smell of Charles's apple scent still present in Mimi's skin made him want to wash her.
He was jolted out of his thoughts when Mariella said, " The first results are in."
He stood up as he had just gotten the last of the tubes filled; he covered Mimi warmly and walked back to the computer after disposing of his trash and washing his hands. He did not use too much hand disinfectant but water and soap as there were all kinds of nasties in those disinfect gels for hands.
He sat down and started to scroll through the results and how they affected his treatment plan for Mimi. Some of the blood test results had already come in, and Damon sighed when he saw them.
That girl had been in terrible shape to leave the hospital, and that she could push herself so damn hard wasn't always a good thing because Mimi had no self-preservation instinct per se. She almost always took it so damn far. There should be a block to that thing, but how, what? She had always been resilient and one thing that she knew was that she was used to using everything that she had at her disposal. There was no limit to that.
Mimi was damn strong. She knew how to use her powers and everything she had available to her, and then this was the result. Now, they couldn't even put nearly everything they needed to drop right away because she was too weak to absorb it. Plus, this was hypothermic. Her sugars were as low as they could go. She really used up her strength.
He had to modify his treatment plan a bit and hope that she would start to get stronger; she was as weak as possible and drugs were needed, well they lowered her temp, it was not ideal but it was mandatory as she had so bad panic reaction and even Charles had kept her in his arms, her panic had set in enough to flood her blood full of cortisol. And this level was sky high. He hoped it would start to come down, but she would have to be kept in a coma, fully unaware of anything, and they could just hope that it would help.
Damon drew up a plan for what to drip and how much. What values should you watch for, and what tells you that something is safe to drip? This would take time, and it would take patience from all of them. He also wrote about how to keep her in a coma and what came to his mind, fully clinical. If he wanted that reproductive period, then Mimi would have to be fit and in good shape. Of course, you can fill during heat, which helps, but then the breeding season would require fitness and well-being.
Damon wondered if the whole heat plan should be postponed to the future. He felt like hiding far away, throwing his hands up and saying fine. Not forcefully, then. Nothing ever seemed to work. But then again. He was impatient to exist. He was very impatient, and he would just have to wait. Learn to be patient. It was not easy for him to be patient and only time would tell if it would be time for breeding time yet. It was in any case several months away and how it all would work out, again; he had no idea.
Mariella took everyone to dinner once Mimi had been put on the initial drip. She had been put in an incubator, covered up so she was in the dark, safe, asleep, recovering. Damon had done what he could and only time would tell where they would end up. And what their relationship would be.
Charles was already awake, and Mariella had explained it to him. Charles told her he had been giving Mimi energy transfusions for a week when he felt how fragile she was. He told her that Mimi had been awake part-time and told him stuff. Something in Charles's expression made Mariella a little wary.
Charles said to Mariella, his voice filled with concern, "Come here. I need to tell you something, and I am not sure how Damon will take it."
Mariella's brows furrowed in worry as she followed him. They entered a dimly lit bedroom, and Charles closed the door, sealing them inside. Mariella could feel a sense of heaviness in the air, as if the room itself held a secret.
Looking into Mariella's eyes, Charles spoke softly, his words tinged with anxiety. "Mimi confided in me that she was awake when they brought in men. They tortured Adam with artificial intelligence, but Damon was treated as a mere plaything. They subjected him to cruel sessions in shed machines, leaving him battered and broken. The tormentors found it amusing to see what shape Damon would be in next."
Mariella gasped, her hand instinctively covering her mouth in shock.
Charles continued, his voice trembling, "Mimi kept this information hidden from Damon. I'm not sure if he should ever know the extent of his suffering. It might be better for him to believe that they were studying him, too. After Mimi escaped, she called in a group of skilled individuals to cleanse and secure the area. There was another facility nearby, ensuring that escape was nearly impossible. Mimi has kept all the results and tests hidden, but she endured the torture without revealing her awareness of Damon every time he would be near her. She needs time to recover, especially with Damon's plans for breeding and the forced treatment. I thought it best for Damon not to know."
Mariella shook her head, determination in her eyes. "No, I will handle this. Damon needs to know the truth, but I will be there to support him. Thank you for telling me, Charles. I know you feel like you betrayed Mimi, but she requires more specialized care."
As they spoke, Charles realized Mimi had sensed the presence of strangers and had unconsciously improved her condition, fighting to escape. It became clear that Mimi hadn't been in good shape from the start. Samuel, being compelled by Mimi's strength as a vampire, had allowed her to go.
The pack had strategized ways to control Mimi's powers, preventing her from masking her condition indefinitely, as the protector's radar was always vigilant. However, if the protector was otherwise occupied, they wouldn't detect her.
Mariella exited the room, walked up to Damon, and took him to one bedroom. She told him about the shed session devices, about another facility on the other side of that rail so escape would not be possible and it had been more or less almost a miracle that they escaped. She told him about fleas destroying those facilities for good and Mimi having all the data and she had read it all.
Damon cursed out loud, once again Mimi had gotten more information in her mind, more nightmares to plague her and when Mariella had told him that Mimi had been much more awake and remembered so much more than he had originally assumed, guilt was almost too much. But there were so many other feelings as well, reeling in Damon's mind.
He knew that one thing would be to prevent Mimi from masking her condition so well. They hadn't figured out a solution yet, and the foursome concentrated on caring for Mimi while Mariella took a very stressed-out number one to unpack in bed.
Damon had changed in that he wasn't quite so cruel and ruthless anymore; he had emotions at play, and things got interesting. He felt so much about Mariella's revelation; he felt what it is to be the victim of those machines, how dirty it made him feel, how weak and then thought Mimi seeing him tortured, again he was weak where she had been up and fighting with everything she had and he had put to sleep just by drugs.
Damon wanted to help Mimi heal too, mentally as well. Because Damon felt and felt hard, he didn't want to make Mimi shudder in horror, but he had to keep her just sedated at first to taste her blood to know the right cocktail of drugs.
If he hadn't tasted Mimi's blood, he would have given her far too potent a cocktail, and in Mimi's condition, well, he didn't know if she had hibernated or just slept for a really long time. Anyway, Mimi's meds would have to be watched to make sure she slept as profoundly as possible, to give her body time to recover, and while it would all take time.
Damon was impatient and genuinely wanted to see Mimi well and happy. In those three months in that facility, he had never felt so powerless, so incapacitated, and always seeing Mimi in such terrible shape. He had seen the equipment, the instruments, the platinum surgical instruments, and all of it had given his rage a genuine power. He hadn't even told Mariella everything yet, and it would take time for her too to go through it all, accept, learn, maybe, and then move on.
Now that he knew so much more made it all explore out of him almost and that explosion went into packbonds, or a hive mind of salvatores, and infected them too. So there was fuckfest going on more or less, and Mariella had her hands full. Adam, Charles, and the boys took care of Mimi while three other ladies were trying to unload this bomb of exploded salvatore rage.
Damon was all over the place. Rage burned through him and feelings made him feel all sorts of stuff. He had his doubts as could he be the husband of Mimi, an alpha male, even as pack leader. But in the breeding season, he wasn't sure of his ability to be an alpha male. Would he have the stomach for it? Would it go wrong again, and Mimi have yet another experience she wasn't supposed to breed in a pack? But if it worked, it would be so perfect, such a bonding experience again, that Damon didn't know what the right thing to do would be.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone