Chapter 136

Raphael woke with a jolt, and groaned from the sudden awakening.

Thomas had sat on the bed, it was more like he had jumped on the bed and woken Raph rudely.

"Hey, good afternoon buddy." Tom said as he stood and walked to the foot of the bed.

"Why are you here?" Raph asked squinting his eyes that were still adjusting to the bright light.

Thomas hung his head and spoke in a serious voice, "Well, I figured if you saw me at my worst, I'd get to see you at your worst. So now we're even." He finished with a shrug of his shoulders, "And I also had a late wedding present for you guys."

"Hmm," Raph hummed while massaging his temples, "Speaking of which, where's Brooke?"

"Ah, your bride is at Alpha and Luna's.

They both paused when they heard a knock at the door, after a few more seconds they heard another.

Thomas walked to the window and opened it letting the chilly air in, "Oh, hey! Lilla! How you doing?" He heard Thomas ask.

A faint feminine voice replied, "A little cold, I'm here to check on Beta." The healer announced.

"Oh, yeah. Well come on up, the door should be open." Tom called down.

"Thanks, Gamma." She said and Tom closed the window as Raph heard the front door open.

Raph gave him a look and he shrugged his shoulders, "What?"

Raph raised an eyebrow, "Inviting someone into my house."

Thomas jutted his hands to the doorway, "Yeah, but it's Lilla."

He sighed and frowned. He felt so touchy recently.

They heard a knock and Lilla came in, "Good afternoon, Beta, Gamma." She smiled pleasantly.

"Lilla." Raph nodded.

"How've you been feeling Beta?" She asked as she set her coat down.

"Other than normal chest pain from having broken and bruised ribs, fine." He answered.

"I see. And have you been keeping up on your exercises?" She asked checking his pulse.

He raised his eyebrows, "Exercises?"

"Yes, I told Gloria to tell you which ones are best for when you're recovering. Breathing exercises, walking exercises. And what has your diet been like?"

Raph sighed, "I'm afraid I didn't know about the exercises, my diet is pretty…" He scratched his head, "Well, Brooke pretty much spoils me."

She smiled, "James spoils me too, he's the chef in our house."

"Speaking of James, how is the big guy?" Thomas asked, still standing by the window.

"He's visiting with relatives. But, Beta, you have to understand that since you're not exercising, even though a Lycan's metabolism is higher than a human's you still want to be eating healthy since your resting. The exercises are also to help build your ankle and legs strength."

She turned and pulled out a folder from her bag, "These are some foods you should try to be eating." She handed him the folder and he opened it.

Inside was a list of soups, vegetables, quinoa and other grains, chicken. He doubted Brooke would be too happy about this list.

As he was perusing the foods he heard Lilla speak, "And may I ask, Beta, why you are staying on the top floor? It's not the best for mobility."

He smiled as he put the folder down, "Well, this is where I woke up, and as you can probably see, this floor is pretty spacious."

She swallowed, "Yes, yes I see. I just need to check your ankle then I'll be out of your hair."

~~~~~~~~

"Well, that was awkward." Tom said once Lilla had left.

"What?" Raph asked as he sat on the bed to reach for his crutches.

"You clearly were not happy with her being here. And you practically threw away her food suggestions." He stated as he gave the two crutches to him.

"Yeah, well. I knew Brooke wouldn't like the meal plan so…"

"Really man, Lilla was just trying to be a healer, you didn't need to be so rude."

Raph didn't reply, he knew that he had been a little stiff with the healer but it just kind of rubbed him the wrong way with her giving him the meal plan and saying that he'd been put on the wrong floor. It wasn't her job to care for him. It was his mate's, and he didn't want anyone else to care for him.

He shuffled to the door and his ribs objected with every movement, the ibuprofen had already stopped working as effectively so now he was taking a cocktail of mainly Tylenol and ibuprofen, with a few other painkillers in there.

After opening it he sat down on the couch and Thomas turned on the TV.

"So… how's it been?" He asked while flipping through channels.

"Fine, fine… yeah." Raph replied.

~~~~~~~~~

I walked home my head filled with what we'd just discussed Thresh's office.

The Elves may have one of those stones.

I swallowed and stepped through my front door.

"Aaahhh!" I yelped and covered my mouth.

I stared at the wall across from me.

I could've sworn that I saw an Elf there. No, there was an Elf there.

"What?!" I heard someone call from upstairs, I quickly recognized that Thomas and Raph were up there.

I blinked and gasped, "Uh-uh, I, uh… I dropped something, scared myself."

I blinked again and moved to put my coats in the closet.

After recovering from that near heart-attack I walked up the stairs and found Raph and Thomas sitting and watching Die Hard. I shook my head and smiled, "I thought that that was a Christmas movie." I said as I sat down next to Raph.

"Hm, apparently Thomas didn't get the memo." He said as he wrapped his arm around my neck.

I giggled.

"So, how'd it go over there?" Thomas asked munching on some butter toffee covered peanuts.

"Hey! Those are mine!" I said as I reached for them.

He held them up in the air, "Oh, yeah. Real mature." I said as I stood on the couch and grabbed them from him.

I smiled sitting back down with my peanuts.

"So, how did it go?" Raph asked tickling my ear. I felt my skin begin to heat up. I cleared my throat and brushed my skin.

"Uh… um." My mind went blank, what did we talk about again?, "Oh! Right." I exclaimed remembering.

"We think that-that the Elves may have one of the stones."