Sarah drew in a breath as she silently looked down at the pale, unmoving man before her… her mate. Unlike a few weeks ago… there was now no hope within those eyes of hers because frankly, she didn’t have it in her to bear any more positive expectations. Everyone (including her) had been deeply anticipating the day Damon would recover from his injuries and open his eyes once again… but that day has not come even now nor will it ever.
So whether she liked it or not, it was finally time for her to accept it… to accept the fact that Damon Kalesto was no more.
That was the plain truth.
As such, the big questions whirling around in her mind was… would it have been different if the reinforcements had gotten there a minute earlier? Would it have been different if Katie had shot the arrow in Damon’s direction instead of hers? Would everything be different if she had been the one to sacrifice herself for his sake instead of the other way around?
Perhaps… It would’ve been. No, it definitely would’ve turned out differently. Damon would’ve made it different.
If things were left in his hands, he would’ve undoubtedly done a better job. After all, Damon is the Alpha King, the strongest Alpha there is. But because of her, he has become this…. practically a corpse.
Rubbing her thumb lightly over Damon’s pale hand, Sarah tore her eyes away from him and looked towards the unappealing floor as she dabbed away at her face with the already damp cloth in her other hand. She had been crying nonstop for weeks straight and on top of that she barely liked anything anymore. Everything that she’d enjoy with a smiling face and dazzling eyes, just seemed horrendous now that Damon was gone.
There’s a saying that says you can’t have everything, so maybe happiness just wasn’t for her.
When she was content with her parents by her side, it only took a few short years before they were ripped out of her life. Then she was left alone.
Afterwards, she met Damon and it took a while, but she was…happy. Then just like before, another person was ripped out of her life and once again, she’s left alone. Right now, she only had two sole persons who could manage to bring a smile to her lips… those persons were—
Suddenly, her thoughts paused abruptly, her breath got cut short and her movements ceased completely.
A twitch… she felt it.
Sarah swallowed her accumulating spit and slowly, she began twisting her head back in his direction. But a soft groan prompted her to stop midway. That was undoubtedly coming from his direction. She had definitely felt his hand twitch and she had definitely heard right.
D-Did… D-Did this mean he’s AWAKE!?
When reality finally dawned on her, tears sprang from her eyes as if a dam had burst behind them and with a deep intake of air, she finally tilted her head to look at him. Her mouth instantly parted to release a low gasp and her fingers loosened around the cloth, causing it to flitter to the floor in light ripples.
H-He’s awake…
Damon’s awake!
Damon cursed under his breath at the weird stinging sensation in his throat as his blinking eyes moved back and forth from light to darkness.
When they fully opened, he stared confusedly up at the white ceiling, his fingers unknowingly tightening around the soft tender hand that he didn’t know belonged to Sarah. A second passed then another and another…. then without warning, he felt a large boulder collide with his clothed chest.
He groaned again, his broad forehead filling with pained lines.
His eyes darted down to his chest and he spotted Sarah’s black hair dangling over her teary face as she clung to him for her dear life. He immediately realized that what he thought was a boulder… was actually his mate. Following his realization, the memories of what happened a few weeks ago began swarming back into his mind bit by bit. Each bringing it’s own level of headache.
“S-sarah….” He slipped his dry lips across his face into a tiny smile and managed to stretch his palm down to cover the top of her head despite the odd stiffness of his joints.
The fact that everything seemed to have gone well coupled with the sight of her alive and well, made relief immediately wash over him. Except for how slightly thinner she had gotten, she was practically just the same as he remembered. Her blue eyes, her soft black hair, her pink lips and her wonderful scent… it all was the sa—
Wait… Her scent?
He took a long whiff of the air and surprisingly, he failed to smell a thing. Now that he thought about it, even his hearing had dulled considerably as well. Where the hell did his abilities run off to?
Then it hit him.
His wolf…. his presence was no longer there.
“Liam!” He called out to him internally and in that single word laid a mix of both desperation and worry.
“Liam!”
“Liam!” Again and again, he called out to the nothingness of his mind where his wolf once resided, but to his dismay, there was still no reply.
Could it be? Liam had perished?!
“Calm down, man.” An annoyed voice suddenly echoed through his mind. “I don’t die so easily, dumbass.”
Damon rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless. To think, he was worried about this ungrateful mutt…
“I couldn’t feel you so I thought… you know.” He sighed.
“It awfully sounds like you were worried to death. You’re making me cringe, Damon.”
“I wasn’t worried about you. I was worried about myself. Without you, I wouldn’t be able to shift.”
“Whatever.” Within, the darkness of Damon’s mind, Liam laid his snout on his paw and yawned lazily, obviously losing interest in their current conversation. “Just so you know, I used everything I had to heal your ass so I’m pent up as hell. That’s probably why you barely felt my presence.” He informed. “And because of you, we’ve become a total laughing stock for both humans and werewolves. I’ve never felt so embarrassed in my whole life… Which is why I deserve compensations for my tarnished reputation and heroism, don’t you think?”
Damon scowled, but didn’t object. Obviously, he wanted something and depending on what it was, he’d decide whether to oblige or not. Though the chances of him agreeing to anything he says is just a little over 0.
“What are you getting at?”
Liam grinned at that. “I STRICTLY demand one month of no disturbance with my mate… no jumping in unannounced, no cussing afterwards, no spying and no YOU… Deal?”
Upon hearing his rather stupid sugge-no demand, Damon didn’t even bother to reply. He pushed his wolf to the back of his mind and blocked all contact between them.
That, in other words, was a big fat NO.
Damon could already feel an unsettling void in his chest for some reason and now, Liam said what?…. he wanted to split their time? Maybe after a few weeks he’d consider it, but now?… not at all.
“D-Damon…” A brittle voice pulled his attention back to the woman who’s head laid against his stomach. His gaze became softer as it darted in her direction. She was beautiful… even more so now. He didn’t know what had changed… well maybe nothing did actually. But somehow, her whole face seemed more dazzling. He couldn’t help but smile down at his blurry eyed mate.
“You’re f-finally awake.” Sarah continued to whisper. Her brain scattered into bits while her eyes stayed focused on him. She could barely see through her blurred vision since everything looked as if it was in a fog of tears… but Damon particularly looked as clear as ever. His plump chapped lips, bulky build, pale tanned skin, and beautiful orbs… But the most prominent feature of his was the big scar tainting the skin of his neck. Unless they were about to die, werewolves always healed… whether they wanted to or not. Similarly, Damon did heal… but the scar never left his body completely… even throughout the weeks that he had been comatose.
… That just goes to show the lethality of what happened back then.
“I t-thought–” She sucked in as much air as possible and tightened her hold on Damon’s shirt. “–I th-thought you d-died.” Her soft cries turned into loud sobs and she repeatedly slapped his chest with her powerless palm as her wet tears soaked into his shirt. “Y-You wouldn’t w-wake up…”
His smile grew brighter. “I gue—” He paused his sentence, his face scrunching up at the stinging sensation on his tongue and at the back of his throat. Sarah was quick to jump into action, grabbing the bottle of water that she had brought for herself and settling it at his mouth after quickly twisting the cap.
Damon swallowed a few gulps before pulling his lips off the plastic and smiling slightly. “I guess…we’re good now since you aren’t mad anymore….” He said croakily. “I never thought it’d take something like this to get you to put it pass you.” He grinned, but it quickly faded when he received nothing in return. She obviously wasn’t in the mood for jokes.
“I’m as good as new… see?” Grunting, he carefully propped himself up on one of his elbows while still laying on the bed and gently creeped his fingers further into her hair, soothingly raking through the stands as he stared at her.
“The pain’s completely gone…and I can move around. I’m perfectly fine…” He assured.
His words were barely convincing, yet Sarah found comfort within them. She was desperate for something…anything to soothe her and that just happened to do the trick.
Earlier, it didn’t strike her at all that he was talking about their little argument that occurred just before it all went downhill… Frankly, nothing striked her at the moment. It was as if everything around her was the background of a large picture while Damon resided at the forefront.
“How long have I been out?” Damon decided to ask the question he should’ve probably asked long ago.
But he already knew that the answer wouldn’t please him. Her hair had grown tremendously and she had lost a bit of weight. Weeks must’ve passed or even months…
Sarah creeped her head further up his chest to where his soothing heart beat was the loudest. “It’s–” she hesitated a second and looked over at the wall sadly. “It’s been weeks.”
His fingers paused running through her hair, his eyes widening. “Weeks? That’s un—”
His words abruptly got cut off when a grinning figure rounded the corner at full speed. “Daaaaamonnn!”
Damon cringed, his ears twitching at the screeching voice that thundered through the whole building. “Jason, what the hell?” He cursed, turning a solid glare to his best friend who was literally bouncing on his feet in joy.
But despite the unwelcoming words he sprewed, a smile still embraced Damon’s features. He was happy to see his best friend… for a first. He didn’t know exactly how long he was out, but it damn well fell like years rather than weeks.
“I thought I was hearing things!” Jason exclaimed, breathing a sigh of relief. Rushing to his side, he grabbed Damon’s hand from Sarah’s hair and wrapped his own around it while bulging his eyes out in a somewhat pitiful yet frantic manner. Sarah took a brief glance at him, before returning her full attention back to Damon, hugging around his torso as she laid atop him with her last line of tear drying on the skin of her cheek.
“How do you feel?” Jason asked worriedly. “Do you need water? Food? Are you uncomfortable? Do you want to sit up?”
He attempted to reach for the bed lever, but before he could touch it, Damon pulled his hand out of his own and swatted him away. “You sound like my mom. Get off me, will you!”
Jason pulled back, giving him a half-playful half-annnoyed frown. “Is this all I get for stressing myself over your sorry ass and keeping your stupid spot on the throne vacant? I was even nice enough to finish those paperworks and signing all the documents you left behind.” He remarked rather dramatically. Now, he was beginning to sound like a secretary who was fed up with his employer’s shit.
“I should’ve left with my damsel when I had the chance. You’re lucky Sarah here is such a darling… No… wait…” He backtracked through his words. “Did I just say ‘darling’? I take that back. She’s a monster.” He placed a huge amount of emphasis on the last word.
Damon’s eyebrows quirked up in confusion. “What are you even saying?”
“Fine, don’t believe me. But let me warn you… Never, and I mean never touch her Nutella…. otherwise, you’d better get ready to play hide and seek with flying knives.”
Damon rolled his eyes. Jason must be more out of it than he was. There was no way he’d believe that. His little mate wouldn’t even hurt a useless fly.
With that thought, he turned his eyes back to Sarah, intending to catch up with things, but was shook to see a light, embarrassed blush coating her cheeks.
His face immediately twisted in disbelief. “You threw knifes at him?”
She shook her head vigorously. “No!… I mean yes! But its not like it’d hit him or anything. My aim is not the best,” She tried to justify.
Damon reclined in the bed, his eyes still holding astoundment. “That’s hard to believe.”
Jason grinned. “Pregnancy does a lot of things to the soul. Now, she’s even more dark than you.”
Damon stilled, his wide eyes quickly shifting to Sarah’s flat stomach…though he could hardly even see it with their current position.
Pregnant? Pregnant? PREGNANT?
Thinking back to the day when everything went down, there were two persons that he feared for even as his eyes fluttered shut. Obviously one of such was Sarah… while the other… was their unborn pup. How could he have forgotten the fact that there was a mini version of them both inside her stomach?
He should be ashamed to have forgotten about it’s existence after all that happened. Even now when it wasn’t even born yet, he was already beginning to portray himself as a bad father. So then, imagine how things would be when they’re finally face to face? And adding to that, he knew nothing about pups…. in fact, he never liked the thought of them running around him and creating havoc. But oddly, now he wanted to be in the center of it…. whether they’re running around like ants or crying like hyenas. That being said, would he be a good father to his pup? Would he–
“I can hear more than one heart beat!” Liam piped in after pushing to the forefront of Damon’s mind, his voice overloaded with excitement. “It’s two! Two little pups!”
“Two?” Damon felt his lips twitch over to one side. It wasn’t one but two?
Realizing that he had gone deep into his own little world while staring at her stomach, Sarah quickly swiped at her cheeks with the back of her palm and eased off his body, hesitantly walking over to the left side of the bed where she gently seated herself beside him.
It felt weird to be in his presence after so long, but she tried not to let it show.
Damon wasted no time in sitting up and settling his large hand over her stomach, running it slowly along the slightly protruded bump in a stupid, awkward manner.
“It’s twins.” Jason informed, staring from the sidelines with a soft smile covering his lips. “Congrats.”
Damon muttered a soft ‘yeah’ that probably no one even heard. He then pushed his hands further around her stomach and pulled her closer to him, taking a long whiff of her scent while he continued to rub her stomach. He tried straining his ears to hear the rhythm of their heartbeats, but his ears could barely even pick up the sound of Sarah and Jason’s breathing.
He sighed in disappointment. “I know nothing about kids.”
Sarah looked down at her lap and parted her lips to answer. “That’s what makes me more excited… especially since you’re here now.”
“You thought I’d die from such measly wounds? I heal faster than any species there is.”
“You were pretty close to it though.” Jason commented, rolling his eyes.
Ignoring him, Damon pulled Sarah closer to the point where she was almost seated on his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist. His breath tickled her sensitive neck and she shivered against him as goosebumps rose on her skin. “Its good to see that you’re okay…” He mumbled softly. “… all three of you. I can’t imagine what I’d do if I woke up and you weren’t here.”
It was the pure truth. Her dying while he was left alive wasn’t appealing to the mind at all. In fact, he despised such a thought. If that were to happen, he didn’t know what he’d do nor if he could take it. The lonely life he was living before he met her was now seen as a horrible phase that he didn’t want to go back to…nor experience again.
Sarah didn’t comment on his words, she simply slipped her own arms around to his back, hugging him ten times tighter than he did her. Embarrassment was already creeping into her cheeks, she couldn’t manage to shame herself anymore by attempting to reply to that. So she kept herself tangled in his arms, while happiness consumed her being more and more by the second.
“So…” Jason started up again. “I’m beginning to feel like a total third wheeler. Should I just leave or—”
Before he could finish, Sarah had grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him into the hug swiftly.
And surprisingly, Damon didn’t push him away, instead, he patted his back and sent a barely visible smile over at him…
Jason blinked then blinked again. It was a first time in years for him… both the hug and that genuine smile. He could definitely get used to this…
His bestfriend was finally back!… well sort of.
Either way…this whole new Damon was all thanks to none other than his Luna; Sarah Fibb…the human who unexpectedly changed the fate of the war not too long ago and the human who brought back the life into his best friend’s eyes.
Humans actually aren’t as useless as he thought…. But then again, he could only vouch for Sarah.
The bond between mates is truly an unrivaled power…it’s only a pity that he hasn’t gotten to experience it… Though truthfully, he didn’t really want to.
If anyone asked, he’d say he already had a mate…one that was neither provided by the moon goddess nor fated to him since birth….
The woman he wanted was chosen by him, and by him alone. She is his mate…. And no one can ever tell him otherwise.
His only hope is that what they have would actually come close in comparison to what Sarah and Damon seemed to have right now:
…. endless love.