The dark moon

Chapter 27•• A mate is like a soulmate

Alex POV

I’ve been sitting here staring at my unconscious mate since I brought her to the pack hospital 12 hours ago. The doctor said that she is malnourished and dehydrated, so she has been set up with a drip. She also said she had three broken ribs, a fractured cheekbone, and a deep cut on the back of her head. The bones will heal ok but her head needed stitches. My poor mate has been through hell.

Cam stopped by her room after the doctor had left telling me to take all the time I need with her, he understands that it will probably be a huge shock to her, the fact that she was almost sacrificed to a demon and the fact werewolves are real and she has one for a mate, so I’ve put a block up so no one can mind link me, I need to be ready for when she wakes up and not have any distractions or anyone whispering in my mind whilst I’m trying to focus on her and making sure she feels safe.

An hour after Cam left, I heard a small whimper come from her. I stand up and walk to her bedside. Her eyes open wide, she bolts up into a sitting position and looks frantically around the room.

“It’s ok, you're safe now,”

I try to soothe her by talking calmly and softly. I reached my hand out to place it over hers to try to comfort her, but she snatched her hand back, pulling it to her body.

“Where am I? Who the fûck are you?”

She’s feisty, that's for sure.

“I’m Alex and you're in the hospital.”

“No shít Sherlock.” she snaps, her words sting me a little, but she’s been through a lot and we don’t even know the half of it.

“Look, I’m sorry for being harsh. I’ve seen shít that no one should see.”

Her eyes started to fill with water. I hated seeing my mate looking so sad. All I wanted to do was take her in my arms and let her know everything would be ok, but she would probably run for the hills if I did that.

“That psycho killed my best friends in front of me. She tortured and killed them like it was nothing!”

Her voice cracked, and the tears started to roll down her face. I didn’t care if she would freak out. I needed to comfort her. I wrapped my arm around her and pulled her into my hold.

“Shhh, it’s ok. I’m sorry,” I whispered softly.

She didn’t pull away from me. In fact, I felt her grip on to my shirt as she cried into it. She let me give her a little bit of comfort. Tingles ran up my arms and across my chest from the contact with her. She abruptly pushed me away from her, wiping her eyes with her delicate-looking fingers.

“Don’t touch me!”

My heart shattered at her last words. The urge I’m feeling to comfort her, to make her feel better, is strong. I can feel it pulling at me inside, but she won’t let me get close, she won’t let me do what feels natural to me.

A few hours later and she had fallen back to sleep, I sat in the chair watching her. Every now and then she would thrash from side to side like she was fighting an invisible enemy. The truth is she was fighting an invisible enemy. Her memories will forever haunt her and the guilt she felt for surviving was eating her up. I could feel it. When she started to thrash, I would very gently lay beside her. She would instantly calm down, and this gave me hope. It meant she was feeling the same thing I was.

I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I knew I was hitting the hard, cold floor.

“Fûck!” I muttered.

“What the hell do you think you are doing?” She seethed at me.

“I was trying to comfort you!”

“I don’t need your comfort. I need answers! I’ve been going over this in my head and I know I’ve been through something traumatic, but I’m not crazy. You, you were a wolf… then you turned into… YOU!” She moved her hands frantically up and down in front of me.

“What are you and don’t lie to me!” I took a deep breath.

“I’m a werewolf!”

I waited for her to scrėam and run from the room.

“Ok…… why do I feel so at ease with you? I should be freaking out right now but I feel… safe with you.”

I was doing my happy dance inside right now.

“Weirdly, I feel like I know you like you will protect me and now I do sound crazy. Look, I think I need some more sleep”

She was talking really fast now. Her eyes went big and her head shook from side to side. I couldn’t believe how beautiful she was.

“It’s because you're my mate,” I say.

She looks at me and tilts her head to the side, confusion was written all over her face.

KNOCK KNOCK

“Come in,”

Alisa pokes her head in and gives us both a megawatt smile.

“Are you one of them as well?”

Alisa looks at me and then back to the bed with my mate in waiting for an answer

“Um.”

Alisa looked at me again, but all I could do was shrug.

“Do you mind if I come in? I’ve brought you some sandwiches,”

Alisa holds up a box and my stomach growls in response.

“Sure Lis.”

She walks over, handing us both a sandwich, and pulls the other chair over to the bed. I notice my mate giving Alisa daggers.

“Hi. I’m Alisa. I’m that dorks cooler cousin,”

She flashes her biggest smile again.

“Hi, I’m Chloe, so are you the same as him?” She asks again, coćking one eyebrow up.

I can’t believe I never thought to ask her name either. I am such a moron.

“Yes, I am the same.”

Alisa looks at Chloe. I can see her studying her, trying to calculate what she is thinking.

“You have nothing to be afraid of Chloe and I’m sorry for what you had to go through. I can’t even begin to imagine what your feeling right now but I can promise you this, my cousin will love and cherish you until his dying breath, he would never in his wildest dreams think of hurting you like you have been already, he would gladly give his life if it meant yours was safe and so would I.”

Chloe looked at Alisa, her eyes were big and her lips parted but no words came out, she was stunned by Alisa's words so was I, a tear trickled down her cheek. Alisa reached forward and wiped it away with her thumb, and I saw Chloe’s eyes soften.

“I’m going to leave you two now, but I'll come back soon.”

She leaned over and kissed Chloe on her forehead and walked out of the room, closing the door softly behind her. I sat looking at the door. Alisa is going to be a fabulous Luna. Chloe cleared her throat so I turned my head to look at her.

“Is that true? Everything that your cousin just said?”

“Yes,” I answered honestly.

“And you say I’m your mate. What is that?” She asked.

“It’s like what you would call a soul mate. You are the stars to my moon,”

“Wow! Ok, so what happens now then?” The truth is I didn’t want her to leave my side, but I can’t say that to her. She will definitely leave if I do.

“I think you should stay here for a while, it’s not safe for you out there and Scarlett knows where you live, the house is protected they can’t get in here,”

She was quiet for a few minutes I could see her thinking over what I had said.

“Ok, and where exactly will I stay?”

“With me,”

I answered without thinking, saying the first thing that popped into my head. Her eyes went wide, and she leaned back away from me. Shít.

“I can’t stay with you, Alex. I know you're my soul mate and all, but I’m not ready for that just yet… You seem like a really nice guy and I do like you, it's just… I’m not ready yet.”

Her voice was soft, it sounded like she was pleading with me. I just didn’t know what she was pleading for.

“I’m sorry I meant you can stay in my room. I will stay down the hall, so if you need me for anything and I mean anything. Just shout and I'll hear.”

“Ok thank you Alex.”

She grabbed my hand and squeezed it to show her gratitude. She didn’t need to thank me for anything. I would walk through the fires of hell to save her.