The Solitary Mate

Chapter 24

The air felt tense and although I knew it was over no lighthearted manner, I couldn't keep the smile off my face as Don examined my leg. The injury was worse than I had imagined but it was the last thing on my mind as I remembered the last few hours lying in bed with James in my arms.

 

The feeling of his hands occasionally drifting along the skin of my exposed arms, the way his breath gently fanned against my neck, his lips occasionally grazing the pulse below my ear. The first time I thought it was an accident but after the third, fourth and fifth I knew it was intentional. A shiver accidentally made its way through my body and Don lifted his hands with an apology on his lips.

 

"I'm sorry, did that hurt?" Concern coated his features and James stood behind him looking ready to rip him out of his chair at a moment's notice. I pulled myself out of my own fantasy and shook my head while responding.

 

"No, no I'm fine. Please, continue." James relaxed his stance slightly but watched Don's every move as his hands found their way back to my injured leg. I bit my tongue as the slow burn began to spread throughout the area as he worked diligently.

 

Don had been the first person to enter the room and James, as if sensing his approach, had quickly removed himself from me before our moment could be seen by others. Don had hardly paid James any mind upon entering the room and immediately fell into a fit of apologies before beginning to work on my leg.

 

"I still don't know how they got past our outpost, let alone how they decided to attack you. It doesn't make any sense. There was no reason to target you and in such an obscure spot. They shouldn't have known..." He trailed off likely now thinking to himself as he diligently continued to work on my leg.

 

"There's only one answer, a mole." James' voice was dark and when I glanced at his features they were equally so.

 

"James is right." Don stopped what he was doing and turned his attention to the door. I followed his Gaze to the sight of Luna Penelope and her mate, Alpha Gerald. His voice had raised the tension in the room to a new level. Penelope raced to my side and I avoided looking at James, not wanting to know which of us his eyes travelled to more.

 

"Grace, darling, are you okay? You've been out for days." She crouched by my side, shooing away the chair Don offered her. Her bump seemed to have grown in the short amount of time I had been away, and it grazed against me as she leaned in and captured my features in her hands.

 

Her bump was warm, like her, and I felt a small kick extend out from it. As if the baby was offering me comfort in sync with its mother. I couldn't help the way I leaned into Penelope's embrace. She just had that way about her.

 

"I'm okay." My voice betrayed me, coming out hoarse and broken. I cleared my throat and attempted to speak again but only emitted a small cough in response. A cup appeared before me and the hand holding it belonged to James.

 

"Drink." His eyes remained locked with mine as I drank. He held the cup for me like he had before, refusing to allow me to hold it myself. When I finished drinking and he stepped away I took the risk of glancing at Penelope and her features looked like that of a child on Christmas. She was grinning from ear to ear. Her grin only fell when her mate continued the previous topic at hand. A mole.