I stirred in my sleep and the movement of my body caused dull ache through my body and I let out a tiny moan. I felt like I had been out all night drinking and I had a terrible hangover now. I did note that I was laying down on something soft which I assumed was my bed but I couldn’t remember getting into my bed. In fact I couldn’t remember much of last night after meeting Rose and Harvey it all seemed to be a blur in my mind. I feel a throb of pain go through my head as I try to remember how I had come to be in my bed. I groan to myself as I slowly open my eyes. I blink a couple times as my eyes adjust to the sunlight streaming in through the window.
I hear movement near the edge of my bed and I look quickly to see Jane curled up in a chair. I stare at her in confusion wondering why she is sleeping in a chair at the foot of my bed. When I try to sit up I let out a loud moan before I fall back into the mattress the ache in my body turning into a small burning sensation. That seemed enough to rouse Jane from her sleep. She blinked a couple times as if trying to remember where she was and then he body jolted upright as she took note of me on the bed, “Oh your awake Lun—Scarlett.” She proclaims almost as if she believed I would never wake up.
I give her a weird look as the fire in my body slowly dulls, “Yeah, that’s usually something people do when they sleep. I’m more curious about why your camped out at the foot of my bed…”
“Right!” She says in a serious tone like a soldier, “I was told by Alpha Noah to watch over you until you woke up and when you woke up I was supposed to give you these—“ I watch her reaching into the pocket of her jeans and fished around, “Oh wait, wrong pocket…”She says more to herself and switches her hand to the other pocket, “Here we are—“ She pulls out two blue tablets and holds them out towards me. I hesitantly open my hand and let her drop them into my palm. I look at them, “What are these? Tylenol?”
“I’m not sure—Alpha got them from the pack doctor.” She shrugs.
I look at them for another moment before I open my mouth and throw them in swallowing quickly. I would give anything to relieve the feeling in my body, which was beginning to grow increasingly uncomfortable and hot by the moment. I let out a sigh.
“Can I ask question?” Jane asks.
“You just did.” I comment back as I close my eyes against the throbbing in my head. She grows quiet and I let out a sigh clearly people around here had no understanding of sarcasm, “What’s your question Jane?”
“Is it incredibly painful to be marked?” She sounds like a girl asking if it hurts to lose your virginity. I chuckle, “I wouldn’t—“ I feel my good humor quickly dissipate and my eyes popped open. I looked towards Jane who was looking down at me expectantly waiting for a reply. I swallow hard against the onslaught of emotions that ripped through me. Memories of last night racing through my brain. I move my hand to my neck and shakily touch the spot and I wince at the tenderness.
NOAH! I growl loud in my head knowing he could hear me. You marked me?! How could you? He didn’t respond to me but I knew he had heard me loud and clear. I was going to kill him the next time I saw him.
“I’m sorry. If it’s too personal—just pretend I didn’t ask.” She says shyly shaking her head. I look back to her breathing in slowly trying to calm myself down, “Why do you want to know?” I ask trying to turn the conversation away from things that would upset me. She tucks some of her hair behind her ear, “It’s just I found my mate—he doesn’t know yet cause I’ve been hiding from him. It’s just that I am afraid…”
I don’t know if I’m the right person for her to talk about this with but I pushed myself up in the bed moving a little bit easier thanks to the medicine. “What are you afraid of? Is your mate a bad person?”
She looks to me with big eyes and shakes her head, “No—at least he doesn’t appear to be. It’s just I’m afraid he won’t think I’m good enough.” She bites her lip. I understand her feelings completely as I had been rejected by David—I was surprised to find that I didn’t feel the familiar ache in my body when I thought of him. I waited a moment but when nothing happened I couldn’t help but feel a strange relief. After two years I was finally free from the burden of rejection.
‘I told you that I would take your pain away Scarlett. It’s the least I could do for you’ Noah’s voice echoes through my head and I feel a strange fluttering in my stomach at his voice. I know my face grows hot and I quickly push through the strange feelings in my body, ‘Yeah but now I’m in pain because of you—what you did was wrong—forcing the bond on me. So don’t think I’m going to forgive you just because you saved me from David’s rejection.’ I thought back to him and he didn’t say anything more and I sighed feeling sadly disappointed for some odd reason.
“Scarlett?” Jane calls me.
I look to her shaking my head, “Sorry, you were saying?”
“What if he rejects me?” She continues to bite her lip. I give her a reassuring smile, “I doubt he’ll reject you Jane. Only an idiot would reject their mate.”
“I don’t know—I’m not a very strong or smart. He’s so popular and he’s so important to the pack. I doubt anyone would even notice if I wasn’t around.” She says her head hanging low.
“You’re wrong. I would notice.” I say to her. She looks up at me with raised eyebrows, “You’re just saying that. You don’t even know me—“
“That’s true but then again you don’t really know me either.” I suggest, “You’ve been very kind to me since you met me Jane and you didn’t have to be. I think you just don’t give yourself the credit you deserve.” She seems to warm up at my words and I can since her wolf stirring proudly at my praises. I know this is the power of the Luna. She is supposed to look out for her pack. To protect and nurture them.
I feel a warmth rush through me and I know that it’s coming from Noah. I try not to acknowledge him but I can’t help the butterflies in my stomach knowing that he’s proud of me. ‘You are going to be a wonderful Luna’ He says as if responding to my thoughts. I frown, Stay out of my head you creep! I shout at him before I forcibly close the door in my mind hoping to keep in out for a while. I didn’t like the fact that he could peer into my mind whenever he felt like it. I wanted my feelings and thoughts to be private, especially since he was a practically a stranger. I didn’t know anything about him other than apparently we were mates.
I look to Jane when I saw her body tense up out of the corner of my eye, “What’s wrong?” I asked before there came a knock on the door.
“Luna?” I heard Dane’s voice on the other side. Jane was looking at the door frantically before she dropped to the ground and to my amusement and surprise pulled herself under my bed. It didn’t take me long to put two and two together. I cleared my throat, “Yes?”
“May I come in?” He asks. I can smell Jane’s anxiety and sigh a little, “Jane you have to calm down or he’ll know your here—I promise I’ll keep your secret for now okay? But he’s going to find out eventually.” There was a small space of silence before she whispered back to me, “Thank you Scarlett.”
“Do you have to?” I ask back even though I know Noah ordered him to come here to check on me since I blocked him out of my mind. What a baby!
“I’m sorry Luna but the Alpha has asked me to personally check in on you and to give you some more medicine.” His last words are all the encouragement I need. “Come in—“ I say exasperated. He slowly opens the door and pokes his head in as if he was afraid their might be a fire breathing dragon inside. I try not to smile with amusement as he enters the room with caution.
He comes closer to the bed but stops and tilts his head to the side and sniffing the air. His eyes darken and he starts to look around my room frantically but when he doesn’t see anyone else in the room he releases a growl.
“Is something wrong?” I ask trying to pretend as though I have no idea what is happening.
“Who else was in here?” he asks me clearly forgetting his initial reason for coming to my room. I tilt my head to the side thoughtfully, “I don’t know. I woke up alone but there was some tylenol on the side table—could have been anyone.” He growls again closing his eyes and breathing in deeply clearly trying to calm himself down. He turns to leave the room but I clear my throat, “You said you had medicine for me?”
“Oh, sorry—“ His voice is hoarse as he marches over to the side of my bed. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out two blue tablet just like the ones Jane had given me not long before. He sets them down on the side table, “I have to go report back to the Alpha but I will return shortly to check on you.” He says with assurance and I smiled softly, “Okay, but only if you bring me more of those magic pills.”
He stands motionless by the bed for a moment and I feel myself growing tense. Please do not look under the bed! He looks down at me, “Are you sure you don’t remember anyone else being in here? maybe you woke up for a moment and saw something or talked to someone…” I felt slightly guilty keeping him from his mate but I wanted to protect the small friendship I had built with her. I gave him an apologetic smile and shook my head, “no—I’m sorry.”
“If anyone else comes in here let me know. The Alpha was clear he wanted to minimize the people coming in and out of here—so anyone else that wants to visit will need authorization.” He says to me. I try not to roll my eyes at him, “Yes sir! Now run along back to Mr. Alpha. I’m suddenly very tired and bored of this conversation…” I say. Dane paused for one more minute before he turned and left the room clearly much tenser then when he had entered. I waited a minute or two to make sure he wasn’t going to come back and demand I tell him. I could tell he knew I was keeping something from me but because I was the Luna he didn’t want to press his luck.
“It’s safe to come out now.” I say dryly.
Jane popped up beside my bed a couple seconds later her cheeks tinted red and her breathing heavy, “Thank you so much Scarlett—“
I stare at he for a moment longer before I sighed and looked away, “He’s going to find out soon—Now that he knows your scent Jane he is going to do everything in his power to find you. Which is quite a lot of power considering he’s the Beta.”
“I know! I don’t know what to do—I want to be with him but I’m afraid. Please just keep my secret for a little while longer Luna Scarlett. I’ll do anything…” She pleaded with me. The sound of her plea made my heart ache. I might not feel the sting of David’s rejection but that doesn’t mean I forgot the feelings that had tormented me for so long. I looked back to Jane, “He is not going to reject you Jane—if he even thinks about it I’ll cut his balls off and give them to you as a trophy.”
She scrunches up her face in disgust and then lets out a small laugh, “I appreciate the sentiment Scarlett.”
“Good, now you better get out of here before he comes back.” I say quickly wanting to be alone. Feeling the strong urge to sleep—I’m thinking it’s part of the blue pills. She nods her head and rushes towards the door but stops and turns back to me, “I’m glad you showed up Scarlett—Claire used to be my best friend—I’ve missed her terribly.” I watched her eyes grew teary but she held herself together, “I was nervous about meeting you after Alpha Noah told me about you—but when I met you I felt like it was possible for us to be just as close as Claire and I had been—is that weird?”
I feel a lump in my throat but I swallow it and shake my head, “Not at all. I hope that we can be friends.” I reply softly. She smiles brightly before she quickly turns and leaves the room. I sink down deeper into the bed and let out a sigh. It seemed as though Claire’s death left a whole in the whole pack not only Noah. I had serious doubts about being the right girl to fill those shoes.