I should be your Beta, not your Mate

25 - Christmas presents on New Year's Eve

Caring I placed my hand on his cheek and stroked his stubbly three-day beard with my thumb. If I imagined how he would be tormented because of our bond. No, I didn't want to imagine it.

»I got treated and now I'm here. And the fact that my leg feels numb comes probably from the aftereffect of the wolfsbane, but I'm fine. Well, a little headache but nothing more,« I said quickly.

He nuzzled himself against my hand, closed his eyes and sighed in despair.

»Don't scare me like that? Never again.«

Firm he opened his eyes and frowned so hard that I feared wrinkles would stay on his forehead. Slightly smiling I pushed his forehead smooth again and met his eyes in amusement.

»I can't promise that but I will try my best to not get involved in something dangerous,« I said teasingly – he wasn't happy at all.

»Stop joking about that, Kyran. You could have-«

»And it isn't my first dance on the small line between life and death. I know how to handle that.«

He shook his head and then laid his head back into his neck.

I pulled the blanket to the side and eyed my leg that was thicker than normal and my thigh was wrapped into a thick bandage which made my leg even thicker. It was definitely swollen. For the next time I could forget walking on my own.

»Is it already decided when I could leave? I mean, I can't miss Christmas,« I said and pulled the blanket over my legs again. I needed to use a wheelchair for some time so I was kind of used to it – it wouldn't be a problem to use one again for the time being.

Uncomprehending Cas stared at me and I tilted my head.

»What's wrong?« I asked.

»Kyran, you overslept Christmas. Today is New Year's Eve.«

Blinking, I stared back at him before I lowered my head.

»Wow, I just overslept Christmas. Even though I already planned everything,« I mumbled. Damn it. I could seriously summon disaster.

»Don't blame yourself... Doctor Taylor already said that it's normal that you slept that long. Your body needed to fight against the wolfsbane. And don't worry about Christmas. It was more or less canceled for us. We all were here, your family, my parents and your friends. Together we handed out our presents here and hoped that it would be a Christmas miracle that you would wake up. Well, wrong hope...«

Surprised, I pulled up my brows before I nodded quietly.

»Still, I wanted our Christmas to go in another way,« I grumbled and shrugged my shoulders. Then I needed to change my plans.

»Is Flora okay? And how about the others? What happened with that man?«

Smiling he stroked my hair before he let his hand drop into his lap again.

»Flora got away with a little shock. But more because of you than because of that man. As I heard, he was a witness of a rogue attack some time ago. His brother or someone like that got attacked and killed. After the rogues were finished with tearing his body apart, they transformed back into their human forms and the man saw it. Now he sits in our cells and mumbles crazy stuff all the time before he starts screaming and then quietly mumbles again. Mom said with a kind voice that the guy has a screw loose. In the next few days, we are going to let a witch change his memory or we put him into a psychiatry, but I think we tend to choose the first option. Well and if we come to the others. We all were pretty shocked and fearful because of you. Your Mom had a mental break-down and should only visit you after you woke up. By the way, your father is here too. Your friends are at the house because they got sent away.«