Marcus stroked her ebony black hair as she slept. He’d kept replaying the scene in his head. If he’d gotten there sooner, she’d be alright. If he’d stayed at the coffee shop across the street instead of the bistro, he’d have seen her come out and would’ve been there to accompany her home.
He’d remembered the conversation he’d had with Henry and Sophie a few days before.
“What did she mean when she said she’s human?” Marcus had asked as they waited for the surgery on Lia to finish. The bleak white walls had unnerved him.
“Exactly what it means,” Henry replied.
They were all sitting on the blue chair, Sophie had been crying and Will placed his arm around her, Henry was sitting with his elbows on his knees, slouching, while Marcus sat opposite him.
“She didn’t go through her first shift, or any shift after that.” Henry looked down as he tried to explain the situation.
“She’s got the same blood as the two of you.”
“And we’re wolves, same as you. But she’s not.” It was Sophie who answered. “We don’t know why, but she was never able to shift.”
Now that he did think of it, she’d never shown any signs of it, of having the speed, or hearing, or any of the enhanced senses that werewolves only got after they’ve shifted. That’s why she couldn’t even tell that Elise was a werewolf.
But that wasn’t possible.
Absolutely not.
Unheard of.
And yet, there she was.
He looked at his hand, her blood coating them.
It reminded him of just how much she didn’t have left.
“You okay in here?” Henry’s voice pulled him out from his thoughts. He slid the sliding glass door closed as he entered the room.
“I don’t know.” Marcus replied. “Until she wakes up, I don’t know.”
Henry approached the opposite side of the bed, and they both looked at Lia, the beeping of the heart monitor assuring them that she was still there, still alive.
“My sister’s always been afraid, you know.”
Marcus looked at him. “Of what?”
“Of finding you,” Henry hadn’t torn his gaze away from Lia just yet. “Of finding a mate.”
They were both silent.
Marcus was surprised that he knew, because he was quite sure that Lia didn’t tell him anything. “Why was she afraid?”
“Because of the fact that she’s human.” Henry replied, taking his sister’s hand. “You see, Alpha, we grew up in a pack that made us believe that mates were something deserved, that you have to do kind acts, follow the Alpha’s orders and all that bullshit to get a mate.”
Marcus’ jaw was clenched. That wasn’t true. “It’s a very old belief, that one. But you sound like you don’t believe it, like you’ve never believed it.”
“I never have,” Henry replied, looking at him. He didn’t elaborate, so Marcus kept silent. “To my sister, never having the ability to shift was a disgrace and a shame. A curse. She always thought that she never deserved a mate.”
That angered Marcus. She didn’t deserve a mate? She did not deserve a mate? It was more like he didn’t deserve her. And, he knew, if everyone got what they deserved, the world would be an utter place of shit.
“We’ve finished moving everything,” Henry said as he gently squeezed Lia’s unresponsive hand. “I doubt she’ll be happy about it, though.”
“She’ll be mad, I’m sure.” Marcus gave a small smile. “But her safety is my number one priority.”
Come to think of it, he bet Henry had known that Lia was his mate for a while now, especially with how Marcus had been acting, he was a dead giveaway.
“I completely agree with you. Lia doesn’t take her safety as seriously as she should, and she needs to be better protected, especially with her position now.”
There was something about Henry’s words, and Marcus was quite sure he wasn’t just talking about Lia being the Luna of the Cerulean Pack. But he didn’t want to dwell on it now.
“And Sophie? How’s she settling in?” Marcus brought her hand to his face, needing the contact.
“She’s doing alright… She, uh, really likes the room you placed her in.”
“That’s good, very good.” Marcus gave a small smile once again.
The conversation remained light, and after several minutes, they just stopped talking altogether. The tension in the room was too heavy.
Marcus awoke to the sound of clicking.
He sat up in panic, glancing at the machines.
Nothing was wrong.
He heard it again, and only then did he look at Lia.
Her eyes were open, and her lips were moving, trying to say something. He quickly moved to her. Even with his hearing it was hard to hear what she was saying.
But she wasn’t saying anything. She was just trying to talk.
“Shh. Don’t talk.” He said as he grabbed her hand. “Are you hurt?” He didn’t think that she could move anything just yet, so he said, “Just blink once for yes, twice for no, okay?”
Yes.
“Are you in pain?”
There was a moment of hesitation. No.
“Do you need anything?”
Yes.
“Something to eat?”
No.
“To drink?”
Yes.
“I’ll have to ask Lorraine first, alright?”
Yes.
‘Slow sips, extremely slow and in very small amounts.’ Lorraine had replied through their link once Marcus had told her of Lia waking up. ‘I’m on my way there.’
Marcus reached for the glass of water on the table beside her, a nurse had brought it for him earlier that day.
“Would it be alright if I move the bed so that you’re sitting up?”
Yes. She smiled.
He reached for the remote of the bed and set the glass down, making sure that she was comfortable with her position first before letting her drink.
“Slow sips, or you might upset your stomach.” He said as he tilted the glass to her lips, making sure she was taking it in small amounts.
She finished the whole glass after several minutes and smiled at him as he put it down.
“Thank you.” Her voice was still weak and raw, barely a whisper.
“Anything else?”
“No,” was her whisper.
“I’m going to tell Lorraine to get here now, okay?” He squeezed her hand and kissed her temple.
“No.” She whispered and tried to shake her head, but found that it was slightly stiff. “I… I want to… I don’t want to see other people just yet…”
Marcus was silent for a moment. “Alright.”
He reached for the chair and sat down, holding her hand, the right one, the one that she could still move freely.
They were silent for a while, with Marcus simply relieved that she was awake. His mind was running with plans to take her home already, to assemble the security team that he was assigning to guard her. It took him a moment to notice that she was crying.
He shot to his feet, panic running through him. “What’s wrong? Are you in pain?” He checked the monitors, but nothing had indicated that there was anything physically alarming. He cupped her cheeks and tried wiping the tears away. “Please tell me what’s wrong, Lia. I don’t know what to do.”
“Why would she do that?” She whispered as more tears slid down her face.
Oh.
“Lia, I need you to calm down first, okay? The stitches might open up with all the crying. I know you need it, but you can’t cry right now.” He didn’t want to say it. He knew she needed to cry right now, she needed to let her feelings out, but he didn’t want to risk it. He couldn’t. “Could you please do that for me?”
She nodded, and slowly, her tears stopped flowing, but the sniffing was still present.
“Good girl,” he said and kissed her forehead.
He took a seat again, and took her hand in his, kissing it.
“She said that they were all dead. The Alpha, her son, the whole pack. Dead.” She whispered, taking deep breaths to keep from crying. “I… I thought she cared about me… I thought…”
“I know you trusted her, Lia, and if it means so much to you…” It made him mad to say it, because what that woman had done had her knocking on Death’s door. But she needed to hear it, she needed to know it. Because it was true. “I don’t think that Luna Terri should be held responsible for her actions.”
She looked at him and fresh tears flowed down her face once more, but she swallowed the lump in her throat, and took a deep breath.
“Losing a mate can take a very huge toll on someone, Lia.” He knew first hand that it could drive someone crazy just being so close to that possibility. “It could drive someone to depression.” He thought of his mother and how long it even took her to talk again after her own mate had died. “To madness.” The hollowness of Luna Terri’s eyes had indicated at it, her unresponsiveness to anything was another proof of it.
They sat in silence, and Lia withdrew her hand from Marcus’, bringing it to her left shoulder, ignoring the pain that attacked her. She pulled at the hospital gown’s neckline to have a look, seeing the medical gauze over it, her skin had a yellowish tint to it, and she wondered what it was.
There was a sliding noise, and they heard Lorraine’s voice, and Lia looked up. “Ah, good. You’re awake.” She entered and slid the door close.
“Why’s my skin yellow?” Lia asked as soon as Lorraine came closer.
Lorraine laughed, lightening the atmosphere immediately. “That’s the iodine, it kills bacteria, but it’s a headache to wash off.”
“How long have I been here?”
“About two days,” Lorraine replied, as she brought the chart that she was holding up to take a look through it. “You had a one inch laceration on your left shoulder that was through and through, the one on your abdomen was about three and a half inches deep, cutting through the stomach lining.”
Lia and Marcus were both silent as Lorraine spoke. Translated into words, her ordeal hadn’t seemed like such a big thing, especially with the very calculated way that Lorraine had spoken in.
“The primary problem had been the blood loss, it’s a good thing that Alpha had the same blood type as you.”
The words were unspoken, but it hung in the room. Or else you would’ve died.
“Now, what’s odd is that you, uhm,” Lorraine hesitated, becoming slightly uncomfortable. She took a deep breath and exhaled. “What’s odd is that you don’t heal as fast as werewolves due to you being human, but with Alpha Baron’s blood, you’ve been healing relatively faster than humans, about a fourth or maybe a fifth of the time faster, it also might be because of your own werewolf blood, but I can’t be sure.” She paused and placed the chart down. “This is the first case I’ve ever faced with this kind of situation.” She was looking at Marcus now, clearly, she was unsure of how to proceed.
“Go on,” Marcus nodded.
“My time tables aren’t adding up, and I can’t be sure what stage of healing you’d be in for the next couple of days, or if you’ll even face the same complications.”
“So what do we do?” Lia face was stoic, and Marcus couldn’t tell what she was thinking exactly.
Lorraine looked to Marcus first before answering. “I’ll have to run more tests to prove my theories so far.”
“Then run the tests,” Lia replied before laying her head back down.
She didn’t like it. She didn’t like being reminded of her own anomaly. As if she hadn’t been through that already. Closing her eyes, she just wished that sleep would take her, momentarily taking her away from her problems. But no, she sighed, the Moon Goddess was there, too, reminding her of the responsibilities now placed upon her.
Lia heard the door slide close, indicating that Lorraine was no longer in the room. She felt Marcus take her hand and squeeze it gently. She opened her eyes and looked at him.
“You’ll be fine,” he said, kissing her hand again. “I’ll make sure of it.”
Her chest hurt at his statement and tears filled her eyes. “How could you still care for me even when you know of what I am?”
He looked directly at her, his expression serious and his lips set in a thin line, as if he were angry. She knew, then, that he’d leave her, and more tears came spilling out.
“Listen to me, Lia, and listen well.” He squeezed her hand and she forced herself to look at him, blinking away the tears in her eyes. “Human or not, you are the person I am destined for, you are the person that I am meant to be with.” He closed his eyes, and bowed, bringing the back of her palm to his forehead. “I’d never leave you, even if you beg me to. And I’d be damned if you ever try to walk away from this.”
She was so shocked by his statement that she stopped crying. In a moment so spontaneous, that she was shocked by it, she ignored the pain and reached out both her hands to his face, making him look up as she brought his face to hers, closing the distance between their lips.
It was simple, just their lips touching, no exploring or tasting. Just connecting. She wasn’t experienced at it, and she hoped that he knew what she wanted to say by it.
Their time together was short, yes, for a human that is. But for werewolves, that was a very long time to even get there, and she felt bad for being the one to hold them back, but she knew he didn’t mind.
When she pulled away, she laughed at his dazed face, but stopped because of the pain that shot through her.
God, recovery was going to be a bitch.
“What was that for?” He asked, grinning as he placed her left hand back down to her side to avoid the pain it was causing her.
She smiled as she settled back down. “I’m just happy that you’re my mate.”
“I hope you’re always that happy,” he kept her hand in his, needing the calm it brought him. She made his heart race, and he’d been quite surprised by her action, but was nonetheless pleased by it. His heart had flipped when she acknowledged their bond, his grin widening as he realized the implications.
Oh, how he loved her.
Lia was discharged three days later, on Sunday morning.
Sophie and Henry were all smiles, with Elise just giving off a satisfied smirk. Something was definitely suspicious.
Her younger siblings were excited about something, and yet they looked at each other nervously, which was quite odd as it was.
She was surprised that Henry had already known that Marcus was her mate, which she had decided to tell him when they had visited her after she woke up.
“Henry… Marcus is…”
“Your mate, I know,” Henry laughed at the expression on her face. Shock. “It’s quite obvious, you know.”
A blush crept up her cheeks when she realized that he was right. It was quite obvious with how Marcus was acting. How they both were acting.
She looked down, abashed. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
“It’s fine, Lia. I understand.” He replied hugging her, careful not to hug her too tight.
“You guys are acting extremely suspicious.” Lia said as they wheeled her out of the hospital, her left arm was in a blue sling. She was wearing a simple yellow tube dress that flowed to her knees and black flats.
Marcus had refused to let her even walk just yet. It was either the wheelchair or face the embarrassment of being carried out by him.
The black sedan was waiting for them at the front of the hospital, with their own red SUV behind it. The black sedan, the one Marcus had been driving the first night they had met, was being driven by Nolan, while the SUV was being driven by Steven.
“Hey, Lia, ready to go home?” Nolan asked as Marcus had placed Lia in the car.
“It’s good to see you again, Nolan,” Lia smiled widely as Marcus placed her seatbelt on, kissing her on her temple as he did so. “And yes, I’d love to just go home.”
Lia saw Nolan smile, but there was something odd about it. It was like Henry and Sophie’s smiles, Elise sat beside her, and Marcus sat in the passenger’s seat, directly in front of her. Henry and Sophie were to ride in the red SUV.
“Is everything ready?” Elise asked Nolan as they were on their way back.
“Of course.” Nolan was grinning as he drove.
He looked at his rearview mirror to see that Lia had fallen asleep, Elise took a pillow and placed it between her head and the window to make the girl more comfortable.
“Thanks, Mom,” Marcus smiled, appreciating the fact that his mother and Lia got along quite well.
“Has the room been prepared according to the specifications Sophie, Henry and I told you?” Marcus asked, quite excited that he just couldn’t say it through their mind link.
“Yes, and I’m sure she’ll love it,” Nolan rolled his eyes.
His cousin was whipped.
By the time Lia had opened her eyes for what she had expected to be a short drive, she found that they were driving through the forest.
The route was familiar, and she remembered it despite the fact that she had only gone through it once. “Why are we here?”
“You’ll see in a moment,” Marcus replied, a smile on his face, though he was slightly nervous.
They entered the clearing in which the pack house was in, and Lia was surprised a great deal by the number of people in the clearing.
There were circular tables spread over the clearing, with white cloths covering them, and a smaller purple one on top, with flowers as centrepieces. The cushioned chairs were a beautiful gold colour with a purple ribbon around the backrest.
There was obviously a celebration.
“What in the world?” Lia whispered, her eyes wide as she took in the size of the people.
The whole pack was probably there, all looking at the car.
The car stopped at the edge of the clearing, as it was impossible to get to the house without bumping the tables and chairs, or people.
Once the car was parked, Marcus, Elise and Nolan got out, but Lia couldn’t move because of the rapid beating of her heart.
Marcus opened the door and chuckled at the expression that she looked at him with. “Come on.” He offered her his hand for her to get out of the car.
She grabbed it and he helped her stand. She wasn’t on her feet long, however, as he hooked his arms on the back of her knees and placed the other around her waist, carrying her.
“What’d you do?” She whispered nervously at him.
He chuckled and merely looked at his pack.
She looked at all of them and blushed.
They were all bowing their heads. Even Elise and Nolan, even Henry and Sophie, and Steven, too.
“Welcome home, Luna.” They all said at the same time.
“Welcome home, mate,” Marcus whispered in her ear, making her shiver.
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Well, admittedly, this is a lighter chapter compared to the others, I just kind of wanted to show how Lia's accepted the bond and all that. Hope it wasn't too boring for y'all :D
Vote, comment and fan... please? :D
Love always,
Ophelia