“I thought this would be all right, there aren’t organized Packs in this area. Most are from the Pacific Northwest through Maine, and across Canada. These rogues, they can be anywhere. It’s probably best if I stay out of sight.”
“You’re in no shape to go dancing, my love,” I said as I kissed her head.
“I’m healing already, we heal faster than humans. Give me a week and I’ll be good as new.” She pulled off one of the bandaids, showing how the small cut was already scarred over.
“Cool. Any more superpowers?” Doc was busy inspecting the healing wound.
“Night vision, great hearing, stamina, a wolf form and mates.”
“Mates? You mean like life mates?” My stomach was turning over.
“Yes. The Moon Goddess granted us soul mates, the perfect other half. It’s rare to find one, but it’s the best thing ever if you do. Most don’t wait, they choose someone they love, much like you humans do. When you find your mate, they bite you on the neck when you both orgasm while making love; it forges a bond that can only be broken through death. You can feel their emotions, you are bound together, your hearts beat as one. If one dies, the other often follows.”
I’d never have that with her, I realized. “I’m sorry,” I said.
“If I could, I’d choose you, love. Now I can’t, he took that away from me. He raped me, bit my neck as we came, and he bonded himself to me for the minute we both lived. He ripped away the bond, he took away any chance I might have of finding my fated mate, then he tore my heart out.” She started crying into my shoulder. “My wolf is howling in grief. Even though he was my rapist, he hurt me, he still formed that bond and I HATE IT. I hate that something meant to be so beautiful, so deep and meaningful, was done to me this way. I’ll never be the same. I’m going to have mood swings, depression, even suicidal thoughts. It’s what happens when your mate dies, and I can’t stop it. Plus, mating kicks off the heat cycle.”
“Heat? Like with a dog? Your parts swell up and every dog in the neighborhood starts hanging out outside your door?”
She laughed a little. “Not that far off. It only happens in the spring, and lasts about a week. Our sex drive is supercharged, my scent will call to other werewolves. Normally, you and your mate go somewhere remote and bang the shit out of each other, hopefully getting you pregnant. Now? Without relief, it’s horribly painful and difficult.”
“I’ll help you,” I said.
“Damn right you will. By the time I’m done with my week of heat, your boa constrictor will be a garter snake.” I laughed heartily as she smiled. “We can talk more about that later.”
I heard the sound of motorcycles outside, followed by a truck. Viper looked at the clock. “We need to load up the trailer and hit the road,” he said. “I got the gist of it. We’ll get you loaded in the truck, then you can stay in the hotel until it’s time to head back home. I’ll make sure we have a couple people around you for protection at all times.”
“Thanks, Pres. I’m sorry I’m all this trouble.”
He got up and walked over, kissing her forehead. “You’ve got nothing to feel sorry for, DeWalt. You’re family, and we protect our family.”
“And so do I,” I said as I hugged her head to my chest. “I won’t let you get hurt again.” I buried my nose in her hair. “Ever.”
Doc gave her another shot, not as strong this time. I picked her up to carry her outside, finding our entire group there waiting for us. “We already stopped to pick up your bikes,” Tiny said as he tossed me the keys. “Load up, let’s go home.” I carried her to the passenger seat, setting her inside. The others took a moment to talk to her or give her a hug as Doc was settling our bill.
“Let’s go,” Viper said as he mounted up. I followed behind them as we headed south. I looked over at Vivian, she was smiling as she fell asleep.
I was going to find a way to make this work.
*************
Vivian’s POV
I woke up hungry as our group pulled into the parking lot of our hotel near Jacksonville. Snake put it in park and looked over at me. “Don’t move, I’ll get you,” he said. He had barely unlocked the doors when Teri, Katie and Taser were at my door, opening it up.
I assured them I was doing all right, and Snake gave Kelly his room key and asked her to run ahead and open things up. I winced a little as he picked me up; he was trying to be gently, but it pulled at the wounds on my back and butt when I moved. He stopped, but I just leaned my head on his shoulder. “Keep moving, it’s going to hurt no matter how slow you do this,” I said. He walked us across the lot, as I was surrounded by what had become my family. Kelly had propped the room door open and turned down the bed by the time we got there. He sat me on the edge.
Viper kept everyone else out but Doc, he came inside with his bag of supplies and my first aid kit. “We need to check the wounds, then I want to take a shower,” I said.
Kelly closed the door and went to go. “Kelly, please stay,” I said. “I’ll need help later.” She closed and locked the door as Snake returned with some towels. He laid them out on the bed, then helped me take my shirt off.
Kelly went pale. “Holy shit, I didn’t know it was this bad,” she said as she looked at the patchwork of bandages that was my body.
“Yeah, this is going to hurt,” I said. I had Doc open my kit, inside was a bottle of Tylenol 500’s with codeine. I palmed two as Kelly got me some water out of the fridge. “I don’t need the morphine any more, I need my wits about me,” I said. They started tearing off bandages, starting with the smaller wounds. If they were scarred over, they just left them alone. Kelly came back with some wet washcloths to clean up the blood that came with ripping off some of the scabs.
The deeper wounds, the ones that were stitched, were just starting to close up. “Shit, that’s fast,” Doc said. “Normally it would take a week to get to this point.”
“Like I said, healing is accelerated.” Kelly looked at me funny. “I’ll explain it all to the rest of the club soon.”
I couldn’t see most of my wounds, but Doc said they were good enough to take a quick shower. I asked Snake to go get me some lunch, I was going to need a lot of food for my healing. I also wanted to tell the rest of the Club what was going on before I was sleepy again. I had Kelly help me into the bathroom so I could do my business; she stripped and joined me in the shower, helping clean me because bending over would hurt too much, and I couldn’t reach my back.
I felt a lot better when I returned; Snake and Doc had left fresh clothes on the counter for me. I dried off and put on a robe, while Kelly got dressed. When I came out, the guys had sandwiches and cokes waiting for us. I kissed Snake and sat on his lap at the small table as we ate. “Everyone will be here in ten minutes,” Doc said. “Are you sure you don’t want me to dress your wounds first?”