As soon as their eyes met, Darius released all his strength and broke free from the arms restraining him. Emma watched for a few seconds as he tossed chairs out of his way, knocked food from people's trays and pushed everyone out of his way. The fact that all this was obviously in his desperate need to get to her, she did the only thing she could think of. She ran.
Once again she heard that angry howl. This time, everyone seemed to find their voice because the dining hall erupted in noise as everyone moved out of the Alpha's way. She made it to the exit even though people were now trying to stop her, no doubt thinking she was a criminal the way Darius was reacting.
She ran outside, not knowing where to go. The woods, she thought. She was fast. But she was no match for an Alpha or his soldiers, especially in human form. She had barely made it into the woods and was just about to shift when she found herself slammed to the ground.
She gasped and tried to pull herself free, wincing as her shoulder twisted in a painful way. It was all for nothing. He had her pinned. She looked up into Darius's eyes and her breath stopped. His body was still human but his eyes were completely wolf. She was stunned he was maintaining enough control to not completely shift.
"Darius! Darius please listen! Look at her. She's frightened," Lila was saying. Other voices joined in begging their Alpha to let go.
"Darius," Orin said gently, "She's hurt. We need to get her fixed up." He tried to move closer but Darius quickly shifted his body so that he was in between the pack and Emma.
"Emma, sweetheart," Lila tried again, "I know you're scared but that's fueling him. He thinks you're in danger. He doesn't understand he's the one frightening you. You have to talk him down."
Emma took in a deep breath, swallowing a sob.
"Darius? Darius please. Let them help. They aren't trying to hurt us," she said gently.
She watched as his eyes focused on hers and saw some of the panic and fear leave. So she continued.
"These are your friends. Your soldiers, your packmates. They would never hurt you. And I don't think they would ever hurt me," she said, letting her hand reach up to touch his cheek.
There was a chorus of agreement as everyone assured him they meant her no harm. Darius turned so that he could smell her hand. He buried his nose in her wrist and took several deep breaths.
"Is it alright if I get up now?" she asked. "I think I dislocated my shoulder. I need to go fix it."
Darius turned at the sound of her voice and she was relieved to see the wolf was retreating. But she knew he lurked close to the surface.
"You...you...you're hurt!" With that, the human regained full control over his wolf. "Help her!" he cried out.
Emma would have laughed if she hadn't been in so much pain. All she could do was grimace as Orin and Lila ran over and helped her off the ground. No sooner had she stood up than she found herself in the air and crushed across a strong chest.
She looked up to find Darius glaring at Orin who was now backing away with his hands in the air.
"I meant no disrespect Alpha's. I only wanted to help," Orin said with a small bow.
"There's no use trying to reason with him right now," Lila said in a dry voice as Darius turned with Emma in his arms. "Our Alpha's in the middle of a mating frenzy. He won't let any unmated male near her until he calms down. It's probably worse since he hasn't marked her."
Orin and the others turned to Lila as they quickly rushed after Darius.
"I don't understand. Don't mating frenzies happen when mates have been separated? Emma never mentioned meeting Darius before," Orin wondered.
Lila didn't understand either, but she had no doubt that what she had just witnessed was the mating frenzy. It often happened to true mates after being separated for a long time. They had no control over the unending desire to see, smell and touch their mate again. Darius's reaction had been as if his wolf hadn't seen its mate in years. She quickened her pace, not knowing if she should leave the two of them alone yet.
Emma remained silent as Darius carried her into the house. Something told her that telling him she could walk would be ignored. He still wasn't in his right state of mind. Every cell in his body seemed to be focused on protecting her. He sat down in a chair and pulled her closer into his lap and buried his head in her hair.
"Oy, what's all the racket outside," Marcus said as he ungracefully clamored down the stairs, leg cast and all. The whole bloody pack is screaming and dancing. What the hell is going...huh?" he said as he walked into the living room.
"Marcus!" Emma said in relief.
That didn't seem to make Darius happy and he tightened his hold on her. Before she could ask him to lessen the death grip, Lila appeared with a very cranky looking old man.
"She's hurt," Darius said. "Fix her or I'll have your blood."
"What did he say to me?" the old man stuttered.
"Nothing Evan. Nothing," Lila said, shooting Darius a glare. "Darius, put Emma down and leave the room. The healer needs to examine her and I'm sure Emma would prefer it if it was just us girls."
"No."
"Darius, why don't you come with me and explain what's happening. The Doc will be in good hands with Evan," Marcus said, looking incredulously at Darius, then back to Emma.
"Please Darius. I'm in a lot of pain," Emma tried.
"I'll turn my back, but I'm not leaving. You'll run again," he said. "Get to work Evan."
Evan muttered something under his breath as Lila helped Emma lower her dress off her shoulder.
"Well how'd you go and dislocate your shoulder?" he asked.
Emma looked at Darius's back.
"I fell," she said.
"Alright. It's a clean dislocation but this is going to hurt like hell," Evan said a bit too gleefully for Emma's taste, but she nodded. "I'll count down from five."
Emma wasn't surprised when he popped back her shoulder on the count of three. She hated healers like that. She managed not to scream but couldn't help crying out in pain as tears swam into her eyes. She collapsed into Lila's arms and lay their panting.
"Take these pain killers every four hours for a day. You'll be fine. Alright Alpha, you can turn around now, Evan said.
Darius was upon her in a second.
"Gently Darius," Lila said. "Gently or we won't leave you alone with her. Are you in control of yourself?"
"Yes," he said as he picked Emma up as if she weighed no more than a kitten and began to wipe away her tears.
"Alright. Marcus, let's go," Lila said with an encouraging smile directed at Emma."
"Go!" Marcus cried. "You must be joking. It's just about to get good!"
"Out!" Lila growled.
And so it was that Emma was left alone with Darius. She was surprised that he didn't speak for several minutes. She was about to say something when he finally broke the silence.
"I hurt you. Tell me what to do as punishment and I'll do it," he said quietly.
"What?" Emma said, shocked. "I...I don't think you meant to hurt me, did you?"
"Never," he said looking at her with an expression of such sadness that all she wanted to do was erase it.
"Then it was just an accident. It's alright now. I'm fine," she said, her eyes wide.
"Your name?" he asked.
"Emma."
"Emma. Emma?" he said startled. "The healer who saved Marcus?"
"That would be me," she said. "Umm Darius, would you mind if I sat down on the chair?"
"Will you run again?" he asked.
"No," she said. "I'm sorry I ran away but you..."
"I frightened you," he said, now horror mixing with the sadness.
"Well, yes. You did. But I won't leave until tomorrow, as planned. Now can you let go of me?"
It took every bit of control he had to force his arms to let go of her. She quickly scrambled away and put as much distance as she could between them.
"Emma," he said, not knowing where to begin. "Do you feel this too? This feeling that we're connected?"
"Of course. I've always felt it but," she turned pale when she realized what she had just said.
"Always! What does that mean? We've met before? I knew it! I'm not going crazy?" he said as he stared at her.
"Yes. We've met once before," she said, standing up. The pain that was racing through her now wasn't from her shoulder. It was from reliving that humiliation.
He stood up and started walking towards her but stopped when she backed away, looking at the door. He quickly blocked the door from her view
"I don't understand. How could I not remember you? You know. You do know don't you? Emma you're my," he said but stopped when Emma interrupted him.
"Don't! Please don't say anything," Emma said, beginning to panic. "I'll go away again. You won't ever have to see me again. I...Lila!" she cried out when she saw Darius snap again. The wolf was coming back into his eyes.
Lila came racing through the door.
"Go to my cabin Emma. Quickly," she said as Marcus blocked Darius. "Marcus, talk some sense into him."
She followed Emma as she raced to the cabin and left Marcus to deal with their mate crazed Alpha.