She was dreaming. Her heaven had consisted of warmth and loud noises. Then she thought she might have been in a zoo because for a brief moment she could have sworn there was a bear staring at her. Then she didn’t remember anything else. If it was heaven, it wasn’t as nice as she expected. There were no clouds, no angels. She’d at least thought she could meet her father. Didn’t she get some kind of free pass?

Then there was pain. Different sorts. Her shoulder, her lungs, even her hand. They didn’t last because they were replaced with a warmer feeling that flowed through her veins. She was in a fog, hearing things through layers and layers of cotton wool in her ears. She was so comfortable she wasn’t sure if she was breathing. But then why would you need to breathe in heaven?

The voices she kept hearing were far away. They were insistent, she could tell that much. They were speaking to her and around her.

It was a little annoying, they were disturbing her rest and it was rude.

“Poppy, love, open your eyes.”

The voice was little more insistent this time. It sounded deep and comforting. She wanted the voice to continue, it soothed her. It was Zane, she thought. She had to hear it again to know for sure.

“Enough is enough, you’ve slept long enough, baby. I need to see those pretty eyes of yours. Some of your sisters are here. They want to meet you.”

That was nice. Family, her mother. She wondered if her mother was there. But why would they be in heaven with her?

“Poppy Woodall, you open your eyes right now before I lose my shit. You can’t leave me, I just found you. So open your eyes so I can send home the hundred or so people here waiting to see if you’re okay. They don’t even know you and they’re worried about you.”

Poppy was liking the soft place she was, but Zane wanted her to do something. She needed to do what he wanted. She owed him so much. He’d been kind to her, he loved her, and they were dynamite in bed. All things in his favor.

Digging through the layers of fog and comfort, she tried to climb towards his voice. She just had to get close enough to the warmth of his voice and she could tell him she was okay and that he didn’t need to worry. Besides, as far as deaths went, this one barely hurt at all.

* * *

Zane was holding her hand and cupping her face with his other hand. The doctors had said that it looked like there was a small bump on her head from something glancing off her and hitting her shoulder. It didn’t dislocate it, but it was badly bruised. The doctors assured him that the head wound was superficial. That her unconscious state was probably from the lack of oxygen and general trauma. They seemed confident her current state was temporary.

He didn’t want temporary, he didn’t want her in the hospital at all. He’d barely made it to her in time. There could have been a dozen different scenarios that could have ended without him being able to still touch her and talk to her. Khain could have killed her outright. He could have kidnapped her to Pravus. He could have done any number of things that would have had her out of his arms and out of his life forever.

As he spoke to her, he kept up a banter. He wanted her to know that shiften she had never met were worried about her, and anxious to hear if she was alright. Her half-sisters Cerise and Dahlia had stopped by, but once they saw the state that Zane was in, they decided to give him some space. He knew he was growling and probably couldn’t look more angry and aggressive than he was in that moment. His mate was injured and until she looked at him and gave him that sweet smile he wouldn’t stop worrying.

He couldn’t live without her softness and love. He knew that for certain. He’d had a taste of what he had been missing. Everyone deserved a piece of heaven.

“Come on, I know you can hear me. I won’t stop talking until you open those eyes.”

Focusing on her lips and her eyelashes he waited for a sign. She was breathing steadily and they had moved her off the mask to a nasal cannula. Leaning over, he placed a soft kiss on her mouth. Her warm breath tickled over his lips.

Leaning back, he saw her eyes twitch, then twitch again. “Thatta girl, you’re almost there,” he encouraged. Her mouth opened a tiny fraction and then closed. She was trying her hardest, he could tell.

Holding his breath, he saw her eyes flutter and start to open. She blinked a few times then focused in on him.

“There she is.”

“Zane?”

“Who else would be staring at you and ordering you around?”

“True, you are the bossiest bear I’ve ever met.”

“I’m the only bear you’ve ever met.”

“True. Where am I? I thought I died. It was fluffy where I was,” she said with a small smile.

“Fluffy? I’m thinking that might be some of the medication they have you on, sweets.”

“It’s nice. I like it,” she said trying to close her eyes again.

“No, no closing your eyes. The doctors need to come check you out. Then you have some visitors.”

“Is my mom here?”

“Yes, she seems to have accepted the situation better than most.”

Poppy smiled. “She’s probably happy she’s been proven not clinically insane.”

“Well, either way, the doctor says you’re going to be fine. I’m going to go get them.”

“You’ll come back, won’t you?” She looked genuinely worried.

“Baby, there isn’t anything that could keep me from you.”

Zane left to get the doctor. He spoke loud enough to the assembled masses after the doctor went to check Poppy.

“She’s awake. Thank you, everyone. I can’t tell you what it means to me.”

Tex came up and gave him a clap on the shoulder. “Not all wolven are that bad. Well, except Mac.”

Zane had heard about him and he understood the joke. He was glad he could smile. He felt like he still had a chance with his mate. He had more time to get her to love him.

Poppy’s sisters Cerise and Dahlia passed by in him a flash on their way to the room. That was a reunion he was going to stay back from. He wasn’t even sure how to deal with introducing them to her. He was going to pull the man card and leave it to them.

An SPD officer came up to him then that he hadn’t met before. “Sir, they found this at the fire. Does it belong to your mate?”

Zane took the phone and even through the soot and smoke he could smell her scent on it. It looked intact. He turned on the screen and checked her log. Her last calls were to him. Conri had returned his phone that he’d left in his car earlier. Pulling it out of his pocket, he opened the screen and saw he had text messages.

Backing up to the last time he talked to her, he started reading through them. One after another, she’d poured her heart out to him. Telling him how she felt, what he meant to her. Finally he saw the video she had sent. He hit play in the waiting room that was slowly starting to empty. Poppy came on the screen. She was crying and scared, she told him the things she’d said in her text. The sight of her terrified and leaving him her last words brought him to his knees. Sliding to the floor, his knees hit the tile and he leaned over with a wail.

An arm came around him and he looked up to see he was surrounded by bearen and wolven that didn’t question his pain. Some of them knew his feelings of grief first hand. He’d almost lost his mate as many of them had before. Except they didn’t get to take their mates home. They’d lost them forever.

Zane was overwhelmed with sorrow and gratitude at the gift he had received. He wasn’t going to lose his chance again.