Stray Echo

Be Proud

POV: Echo

A light knock on the door broke me out of my thoughts as Atlas called out, “Come in!”. A slightly flustered-looking Cordelia pushed the door open, carrying her case with her as she bustled into the room.

“Alpha, Luna,” she greeted us with a low nod of her head. “I hope that you’ve been resting?” She asks, with a pointed look at me.

“Yes!” I said, nodding. “I’ve been asleep for the large majority of the time I’ve been out of the hospital!” I explained in response to her doubtful look.

“Good! Your body needs it to finish healing!” She says as she looks me over. She makes a clicking noise with her tongue as she looks at my ankle cast. “I was right to use a waterproof cast! I suspected you guys might get it wet!”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the way she pretended to scold me, and I felt Atlas’s gaze on me and turned to look at him. He smiled widely at me before giving Cordelia a sheepish look.

“Yeah… by the time I remembered about the cast, she was already in the tub, so I just kind of had to hope it was waterproof at that point!” Atlas says, and Cordelia chuckles before examining me.

“Everything seems to be healed nicely! I suspect we can take the cast off your ankle tomorrow or the day after!” She says as she takes her leave. I stared at Atlas in surprise, having thought it would take at least another couple of days before we could even think about removing it.

‘Tala, how did you heal my ankle so quickly?’ I asked, realizing she must be the one who had something to do with it. ‘The more you rest, the stronger I become. Once the rest of the injuries were healed, it took nothing to finish the ankle!’ She explains with a shrug.

Atlas just smiled and seemed to hesitate for a moment.

“Are you feeling up to getting dressed and going downstairs for breakfast with me?” He asked tentatively, and I froze for only a second before reminding myself that this was not the Red Stone pack.

I have only met a handful of the wolves from the Blood Moon pack, and they had done absolutely nothing to warrant my being afraid to meet more from their pack. Squaring my shoulders, I nodded, and Atlas smiled at me proudly.

“I… I might need some help to pick some clothes out though,” I whispered, remembering how difficult I’d found it the day before.

“Of course! Let’s go get you dressed!” He says and kisses my temple.

Picking something to wear was surprisingly simple, with Atlas’s help. He’d helped narrow down options considerably by asking the right questions, such as if I wanted to wear a dress or pants, and when I said dress, he asked what length, and then showed me a couple of casual knee-length dresses. From there, I just picked the one I liked best, and he helped me get dressed.

The dress was gorgeous, but I’d almost refused to wear it once I realized it had spaghetti straps. I hadn’t even checked the top of the dress as I’d been so enthralled by the brightly coloured sunflower pattern contrasted by the deep green of the fabric.

I’d barely looked at the other dresses before I picked it, but when I went to put it on, I could see varying scars peeking out the top of the slight V cut of the bodice. When I used the multiple mirrors in the room to look, I could also see the top 1/3 of the word PROPERTY peeking over the back of the dress as well.

I’d tried to put it back and pick out something else, anything else, but Atlas had stopped me. He told me I should be proud of my scars, as they show everything that I have been through in my brief life. That my pack would be proud of a Luna who could pull through everything I had been through and live to tell the tale.

His words had filled me with warmth and made me feel more confident, and I found myself less bothered by most of my scars. However, I couldn’t stop myself from trying to pull the back of the dress up constantly as I was trying to braid my hair, trying to keep Brady’s claim on me fully covered. Without saying a word, Atlas ducked into my closet and came back with a short-sleeved shrug that matched the dress perfectly. He helped me into it, and I couldn’t help but smile at my appearance.

The shrug didn’t cover the scars on my chest, arms, or legs, but those didn’t bother me. The scars on my back were covered, my hair was in a braid that ran down my back, and my lips were finally soft as Atlas had dug out a tube of chapstick for me when I’d mentioned my lips were dry.

I slipped on a plain black flat, seeing that the cast was too big to put one on, and spun slowly in front of the mirror. I had never looked this healthy or happy. Being in the hospital and receiving iv fluids, and Atlas told me, being tube fed while I was unconscious, had allowed my body to gain just enough weight that I didn’t look skeletal anymore.

The best part about the dress? It had pockets! Which I made sure to show Atlas with a giggle as I slipped my chapstick into one of them. Atlas couldn’t tear his eyes off me, and he pulled me into a light kiss, knowing I wasn’t ready for anything more.

“You’re gorgeous, Little Mate!” He growled in my ear, and a heat I wasn’t expecting shot to my core, making me gasp. He nipped at my ear and neck, making me blush, before pulling away and grabbing my hand. We made our way to the lift, and he laughed heartily at my expression as he closed the gates.

I stepped out of the lift onto the main floor, only slightly less shaky and uncomfortable than I had on the way up the day before. Atlas laughs again at my expression and wraps his arm around my waist, making me sigh contentedly.

The lift opened into a hallway, with the door we’d entered through at one end, and a massive staircase leading up to the other floors at the far end. There are several doors in the hallway, each labelled with a decorative plaque.

Straight across from us is a set of double doors reading the ‘Dining Room’. Giving my hip a gentle squeeze and hesitating just long enough to give me a chance to chicken out, he grinned as he pushed open the doors and guided me inside.