Alpha Raphael’s Second Chance Mate

Chapter 7

RAPHAEL

I kept my eyes on her as Daniel finished up with the cannula and cleaned the blood off her hands. She glanced over at me for the third time and looked away again just as fast as her eyes met mine.

"You are doing well. Nothing to worry about as long as you take your medication on time," Daniel said, checking the drip line before stepping back and turning to me. "She is ready to be discharged whenever you say so, Alpha." He gave a short bow and headed for the door.

The room felt different the second it closed behind him. She was restless in a way she was trying not to show and I watched her without pretending I was not watching her.

"You clearly have things you want to say. Go ahead and say, them," I told her and she exhaled, pulling herself upright and fixing her eyes on me.

"How did I end up in this place? The last thing I remember was those people chasing me in that forest," she said. Her voice was more steady than I expected from someone who had been unconscious for days.

"The mate bond brought me to you," I answered simply. She held my gaze the entire time I said it.

I looked at her closely,as she tried to adjust and fit into the bed. My wolf had been pushing me desperately towards her,since the moment she opened her eyes and I was doing my best to keep him where he was.

The only thing I want right now, is to ask her what happened in the forest, how she ended up there and who those people are.

"Raphael," I said. "That is my name." She went still at the sound of it, her body stiffening slightly as she shifted back and gave a small nod.

"Those people in the forest. Who are they and what do they want with you?" I asked, watching her face.

She went quiet. Her fingers went into her hair and she pulled at it a little,she seemed worked up by the question.

"You do not have to get into it right now. If it is too much then leave it. What matters is that you made it and you are here and nobody in this pack is going to put their hands on you. I will make sure of that from here on," I told her and she looked at me for a long moment without speaking.

I was not entirely sure if those words came from me or from the part of me that had been waiting for her for a long time, but either way she settled a little after I said them. The tension in her shoulders came down slightly and she stopped pulling at her hair.

Her scent reached me from across the room and my wolf went quiet in a completely different way.

"You are almost back to full strength. Discharge will not be long now," I said, keeping my voice very low.

She nodded and looked at me sideways again, something clearly sitting behind her eyes that she had not decided whether to let out yet. She was chewing on it. I could see her working through it, her fingers moving against each other in her lap.

"Go on," I said quietly.

She paused and looked at my face like she was checking something. Then she said, slowly. "I have nowhere to go after this." Her voice dropped on the last word and she pulled her knees up toward her chest and let out a long breath.

Her hair fell forward with the movement and I noticed it without meaning to.

"You are coming back with me. You will stay in my pack. You are my Luna," I said and she let out a short sound that was almost a laugh.

"Alpha Raphael, I understand what the mate bond means and everything that comes with it but I am not ready for all of that right now. I need time before I can fully step into any of it."

"I am not asking you to step into anything tonight. Coming to my pack does not mean claiming or titles or anything official between us. It means you have a safe place to land while you sort yourself out. That is all I am offering right now," I told her before the worry on her face could build into something bigger.

She was going to be mine eventually. That was not in question. But not like this. Not while she was still fighting battles I did not fully know about yet and carrying weight I had not yet been given permission to help carry.

If she was crying for her pup in her sleep then there was clearly more going on than what the surface showed and I was not about to pile my own expectations on top of whatever that was.

"You were calling out for your pup while you were out cold. Did something happen to the child?" Her whole body pulled tight the second the question left my mouth and I wished immediately that I had chosen a different moment to ask her, about her pup or whatever that child has to do with her.

"We will deal with getting out of here first. Take your medication now and eat something before we leave," I said, passing the tablets to her before she had to sit with the question any longer.

Her fingers touched mine when she reached for them and the contact sent cold shivers through me that I did not try to examine out loud. Her reaction told me she felt it too even if neither of us said anything about it.

"Thank you, Alpha Raph," she said and the shortened version of my name coming from her mouth makes my heart beat unexpectedly. No one has ever called me Raph.

She swallowed the medication and leaned back against the headboard, her eyes staying on me as she settled. The fear that had been all over her face when she first woke up was mostly gone now.

She was still watchful but the shaking had stopped and she was looking at me differently from how she had looked at me an hour ago.

She coughed once and I was on my feet before I had made the decision to stand and I nearly tipped forward and she made a sound that was close to a laugh.

"Alpha Raph, I am fine. It was just a cough. But can you please get Daniel to process the discharge? This bed is making me restless and I need to be somewhere that is not this room," she said.

The way she spoke to me forced my chest to tighten.

It was straight and easy, like she had known me long enough to be comfortable, which nobody outside my own family ever was with me. Especially not someone from a different pack.

"You want to leave here?" I asked and she nodded without hesitating.

"Daniel, get yourself up here. She is done with the hospital bed and I need her discharged," I pushed through the mindlink and Daniel scoffed on the other end.

"Already? Or is it you who cannot wait to have her out of here and closer to you?" He sent back and I did not respond to that.

"My name is Nora," she said before I could come back from the mindlink. "People close to me call me Noran."

Daniel walked in a few seconds later with that look on his face he always had when he thought he knew something.

"Nora, let me take a final look at you and we will get you sorted," he said, using her name before I got the chance to, and he caught my eye over her head with that same expression.

"Of course. And thank you for everything, I am sorry for the trouble I gave you when I first woke up," she said to him directly.

"Not even worth mentioning. As long as you are walking out of here in one piece," Daniel said, and turned away before I could say anything to wipe that smile off his face.