MATEO’S P. O. V.
Ash and Callum finally release me and I run to her. She isn’t moving. I see her breathing but it is hard and irregular. Her beautiful white fur is covered in blood. I knew something was up when that little swipe seemed to hurt her way more than it should have. Then I saw it, a glint on her paws. She fucking dipped her claws in silver. Dirty fighters do that. No wonder she thought she was going to win.
She’s dead now, but I still want to kill her for the pain that Lila is in. I run my hands over her fur trying to comfort her while the medic comes. He is fast but not too fast. Tears start to fall, I can’t even control them at this point. The medic finally comes and he tries to take her from me and I growl at him.
“Alpha I have to take her, I need to help her. It looks like it might be silver poisoning. I have to get her back to the clinic fast. You need to follow.” He takes her from me and I relent.
I follow closely. I don’t want her out of my sight. Ash tries to get my attention but I don’t give a shit at the moment. All I care about is Lila. It took a few guys to lift her. Her wolf is massive. All I see is the blood on her body. She isn’t shifting back. Why isn’t she shifting?
I don’t notice anything around me. I don’t even realize that we have made it to the clinic. All I can think about is her pulling through. She has to make it. My eyes are trained on Lila. I want her to be ok. Our doctor starts working on her. He hooks up an IV pushing fresh blood into her system. He pulls me out of my transe. “I want you to lay next to her Alpha. She is your mate, correct?”
“Yes.” I barely choke the words out.
“Get on the bed with her. She needs you close. It’s going to help her heal.” He pushes me towards the bed. Climb right behind her wolf combing my fingers in her fur. The doctor cleans the cuts. Some don’t look that deep, it was all the silver. Slowly she starts to shift back, it looks like it is agonizing. Her body slowly moved her bones around for the shift. As her fur receded I covered her body. I don’t want others looking at her.
After hours the doctor comes back to dress the wounds. That’s how long it took her to shift back completely. Once he’s done he asks, “Should I get a gown for her or do you want to leave her like this?”
I know she is modest but I don’t want her wearing one of those gowns. I link Ash to bring some of her clothes. “We’ll get her changed, doc. Just dress her wounds. How is she doing?”
“She will pull through. But I think this was her first kill, she isn’t handling it well. Sure the poisoning was pretty bad, but it’s like she doesn’t want to wake up. She should be stirring a little by now. You being here has helped tremendously. Thank the goddess she found her mate.” He smiles at me and pats my shoulder. “Stay close. She isn’t done yet.”
I hold her close. Not too close because I don’t want to hurt her. I become lost in her scent until Ash pulls me out of it. He hands me some clothes and turns his back. “How is she doing?”
I started dressing Lila. She seems so fragile right now. “The doc said she is going to pull through, but she still has a lot of healing to do.”
He coughs a little. “This probably isn’t the time to bring this up but her mother called again.”
“What did she say?”
“She asked to talk to you, but it was kind of right when Luna got hurt. So, I hung up on her. I said sorry.” He sounds really regretful about it.
I sigh. “I’ll call her back. I am going to have to face the music at some point. Is the guard keeping her wolves from the field? I don’t want them sniffing her blood and knowing she’s here. Not only here but hurt.”
“Yeah, but they are trying to find out what happened. I think the Luna got worried when she heard fighting and wanted it checked out. We have kept them back from the area though. I have some wolves cleaning the area and they have burned Alyssa’s body. They burned it right in the spot she laid so that burned out most of the blood scent too. We still aren’t taking chances.”
“I want my Luna safe. I want her to wake up. The doc said she should have woken up by now. Something about it being hard for her mentally. Her first kill and all.”
“I remember how you were after you killed your father. You were much the same. I was worried you wouldn’t pull through, but you did. And you didn’t even have your mate.” Ash is trying to help, I know he is, but it really doesn’t help.
I have her dressed now and I am pulling her to my chest again. “She just needs to wake up.” Then I realize I have forgotten something very important. “Where is Callum?”
“He’s in the waiting room. He won’t leave. I think he wants to see her too.”
I nod to Ash. “Bring him in. Maybe it will help her too. I know she loves the little guy.” That brings a small smile to my face. I know she loves him as much as I do. I saw it the way she made him lunch the other day. It has just gotten more over the days. She didn’t even want him to see the fight. She cares like a mother would. That makes me love her all the more.
Ash disappears and brings Callum in. He runs to the bed and hugs us both. He doesn’t look concerned. Just sad. I pat his head. “She’s going to pull through buddy. Don’t worry.” He buries his head into her chest. I hope he isn’t hurting her, but she doesn’t stir. I wasn’t so sure that the bed would hold the three of us, but I tried. I pull Callum up so that he is nestled in her chest and I am spooning her back. Thankfully these beds are designed to hold wolves not men so it works out.
Then I see it. It is a little flinching but I see it. Her fingers curl into Callum. She holds him closer. I let out a breath that I didn’t even know I was holding. She is coming too. I brush her hair out of her face. “It’s ok, pet. It’s over now.” I whisper to her. I want her to open her eyes for me. I want her to look at me. She doesn’t though. She just holds Callum. I wish she was holding me but at least it is something.
I decided it’s time to call her mother. I have to have a story but that’s fine. I’m not going to tell her that I found her daughter yet. I look and Ash is sitting in a chair across the room. “Dial up the Luna for me. I’ll talk to her.”
“Are you sure now is the best time?” Ash still does as I say.
“I have to tell her something. Better to get it over with.”
I listen as Ash dials up the phone and someone answers. “Hello, this is Beta Ash of Moonridge. I have my Alpha here to talk to Luna Jasmine. She called him earlier.”
I wait for a moment. “Oh, I see. Well, I am sure it would be fine if my Alpha speaks with you.”
I look at him confused. He passes the phone over. “It is Alpha Gabe. He insists that he speaks with you, says the Luna is busy.”
I nod and take the phone. “Hello, Alpha Gabe. How can I help you?”
“My Luna was calling to see if we could arrange an ambassador to meet with you and possibly come to a treaty of sorts.”
“At this time it would not really be a good time. As your Luna may have told you, we were having a bit of a problem here earlier, it has caused a few of my wolves to be injured and we have to deal with the situation first before I can leave or have dignitaries here. Perhaps in a few days.”
“I really must insist that we do this as soon as possible. After what happened with my daughter we are seeking as many allies that we can get. We still haven’t found her and I am afraid we may have to move our search further out. You can understand the urgency.” His voice is leaving no chance for debate.
“Can you give me until Monday for my wolves to heal, then I will be glad to travel to your pack and discuss this?”
“That will be fine. We will expect you on Monday midday then.”
“Yes, Alpha Gabe I will be there.”
“Thank you so much Alpha Mateo.” He ends the call.
Ash looks at me concerned. “You know they are going to scent her all over you.”
“I know, I planned on calling them that morning anyway to tell them that I found her. I will just tell them when I get there. I’ll say she was injured and can’t travel for a couple of days. Now it’s the truth. It was going to be a lie.” I hand the phone back to Ash and bury my head into her neck. It looks like Callum has fallen asleep. We are like a little family. I like it, but I wish it wasn’t in the hospital. Or with Lila in pain.
Ash pats my arm. “It will all even out. Don’t worry. He has to understand he did way worse to get his mate.”
“Jasmine wasn’t hurt like this.”
“Yeah, that was worse, her mate did that to her.” Ash cringes. He has always wondered how Luna Jasmine made it through that. He would never do such a thing to his mate. Hell, neither would I. I could never imagine hurting Lila like that.
Ash sits back in his chair. “Don’t you think it’s weird that she doesn’t know what her step dad did before he was Alpha? It seems like she knows what her dad did. Doesn’t it seem worse than what Alpha Gabe did?”
“Maybe they tried to keep the whole thing from her. You know how packs talk though. Hunter was from their pack, he was easier to talk about. We heard all about it up here. Our pack isn’t exactly in the mainstream of conversation. I am sure she has heard something.”
“Still, he hid it pretty well from her. Is he worried that she won’t love him if she finds out?”
“Doesn’t matter we aren’t telling her, that is for her daddy to do.” I hope she isn’t listening now. She will start asking questions. I just want her to wake up.