Jacob's Lament
1370 Words
Jacob POV
We didn’t know what was wrong with Zahraa.
She’d passed out in front of the central pack house, woke up a few times shouting incomprehensible things, but would inevitably fall back asleep in seconds. It had been like that for days.
Father had given me a pass from work under the circumstances, and I set up a cot in her room. I hadn’t left her side, having omegas bring me food and drink. The infirmary rooms had bathrooms with showers, so I was able to successfully hole up in her room without breaks.
“So, this is her?”
My sister’s voice snapped me out of a light slumber. I’d fallen asleep with my phone in my hand, scrolling through my socials. None of the lighthearted memes or uplifting stories from my packmates could distract me from my worry.
I wiped my mouth, worried I’d drooled. “Yeah,” I replied, feeling dumb. “You haven’t met her yet, have you?”
Jada moved into the room, exposing those behind her. I wasn’t surprised to see Amalia with her, but I was surprised to see Luna Jasmine. I stood, vacating the only chair for her. “I wasn’t expecting you to visit,” I blurted – it wasn’t directed at my sisters, though it was broad enough that they might’ve thought as much. My eyes locked with hers.
She broke the stare as if she were disinterested in taking me in at all, her gaze roaming to land on Zahraa. “She’s beautiful,” the luna declared. She moved to her bedside and adjusted her blankets, then swept her hand over Zahraa’s forehead, like she might her own daughter. “You are lucky to have received such a lovely mate. I’ve heard a lot about her.”
I hated the way she made it sound like I didn’t deserve her.
“She’s pretty great,” I said, unsure of how to respond to that. Or, more accurately, to her.
Jasmine huffed and took the recently vacated seat.
“So, what’s wrong with her?” Amalia asked, speaking softly. She crept forward and touched Zahraa’s hand lightly – almost like she was worried the woman on the bed was a ghost.
I grabbed Amalia and lifted her onto my hip. She was getting big enough that this was growing more difficult, though she was still far from the limit of my supernatural strength. “We don’t know,” I replied in equally soft tones. I opened and shut my mouth as if I might speak again, but words failed me.
“It’s sleeping sickness,” Jada announced. “Sometimes adults get so tired, they just have to sleep it off for a while. Like you do when you get the flu.” She poked Amalia’s nose and forced a smile. Jada’s eyes trailed up to meet mine, and that smile faltered. Returning her attention to Amalia, she added, “Why don’t you run along and play?”
Amalia continued staring at Zahraa. “She’s like sleeping beauty, then,” she proclaimed. She patted my chest to signal me to let her down, and as I always did with Amalia, I obeyed. She walked to the bedside, took Zahraa’s hand and offered it a little kiss. “It would be better if it came from you, but you can’t kiss her, can you?”
Those words pierced my heart. “No,” I answered. “I can’t.”
Amalia held my stare for a moment, then meandered off to play. Without her watching, I sighed, releasing all the tension in my shoulders. “Regalia isn’t sure why she’s like this.”
“Regalia is a nurse,” Jasmine said, as if I didn’t know. “Has a doctor examined her?”
“Several,” I sighed. “The central pack house doctor thinks it’s neurological, so he sent her to the pack hospital to get some scans. The scans show nothing that could cause this – though some of her anatomy is different from ours. He said that’s to be expected in supernaturals. A few specialists have examined her case, but the general consensus is that everything looks fine. Since we don’t know what she is, they’re assuming it’s a race thing.”
“Wow,” Jada remarked. “That’s…”
“Have your intentions changed?” Jasmine asked. Her eyes were cold when they cut to me. “Are you still planning on accepting her as your mate?”
“Yes,” I replied, without hesitation.
She hmphed as though she didn’t believe me, and stood. “Well. I told your father I would check in on you in his stead. You seem to be just fine, so I’ll take my leave as well.” Jada didn’t watch her mother leave, and I didn’t flinch at her rudeness.
Luna Jasmine couldn’t stand being nice to me, after all.
“Sorry,” Jada said, as if she thought it was somehow her fault.
I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it.”
A long and unhappy pause followed. It felt strange to stare at her while she slept, but my eyes landed on my mate all the same. She whimpered in her sleep, and twitched, the hand Amalia kissed fell off the bed. I took a section of sheet, wrapped my hand and returned her hand to her side.
Jada’s lips twitched in their frown. “Have you made any headway on the curse?”
I shook my head. It was a useless endeavor explaining that curse had already been struck down as a possibility a long time ago, when the witches had examined her. “We have two undesirable leads right now. Some guy that might be what she is that wants to meet with her alone, and hypnotherapy.”
“Hypnotherapy?” Jada repeated, “What’s that going to help?”
“Maybe there’s a clue in her past they can uncover,” I replied with a shrug. “Maybe there’s… I don’t know. Something.”
She crossed the room and settled into the chair. “Sounds like you should call that guy. If the doctors are thinking it’s a race thing, maybe he’d be able to help.”
“Already did. Five times, in fact.” I grumbled at the memory – I’d called and called and called, leaving only a single voicemail.
Because after that, my numbers had been blocked.
I had Alex out and about trying to find the bastard, but from what I’d heard, it wasn’t going well. Either way, I continued, “He’s making himself scarce.”
“Do you think he… did something?” Jada asked, carefully. “I mean, they said that she was a suspect in the factory thing because of her powers – do you think that he has the same? Maybe he was f*****g with us.”
I covered my mouth with my hand, trying to pretend I was just scratching my stubble. “I can’t discount it, I guess,” I said, hesitantly. “I mean… what’s the motive?”
She shrugged. “I mean… who knows. What’s his name? I can look into him a little, if you want.”
I loved my sister for this reason. She would have made an excellent, strong alpha. She was always working hard, always reaching for more to do, more to help with. More than anything, she reminded me of myself – extremely competent, but relegated to mere busywork. I let out a breath that I’d been holding back. “Yeah. That’d be really helpful, Jada. If you could contact him, even, that would be great. The name is Zain something. His card is on my desk in my office.”
“Cool. And hey-” she clapped me on the shoulder, shaking me around a little. “I’m sure everything will be fine. Any mate of yours is bound to be strong, right?” She slipped from the room without awaiting an answer. And that was wise, because I didn’t have one, and I wasn’t sure.
Considering how often those mated to my family fell to illness and bad decisions.
I certainly hoped she was, though.
- Writer
