Never Leave, A Human Mate - (Book 2 The Mist Series)

~Chapter 9 -Sickness and A Human~

Dawn trembled in my arms, a fragile bird caught in a storm. The nightmare had wrung her out, leaving her pale and gaunt. And the sickness… that insidious ache mirrored in my own soul. Leukemia. The word was a death knell, echoing the finality that hung heavy in the air. How could Donte and I have been so blind? So consumed by the dizzying heights of finding our mate that we’d missed the shadow creeping over her? Was our joy so blinding that it made us block out the truth?

Louise had sensed it, of course. Luna’s intuition, honed by survival. She’d mentioned a faint, metallic tang during dinner, a subtle death-note only someone intimately acquainted with mortality could detect. Someone like her, who’d stared cancer in the face and clawed her way back, thanks to Tyrone’s love, unyielding in waking Faith early. Without his dedication, we might have lost her too.

“What are we going to do?” Donte asked, his voice a raw scrape of grief in my mind. Our bond pulsed with his fear, an icy wave threatening to drown me.

“I don’t know,” I confessed, running a hand through Dawn’s tangled hair. Her skin felt too hot, almost feverish and clammy. How had I not noticed?

Unlike Louise, Dawn was human. No inherent wolf healing, no miraculous shifting to mend broken cells. No magic cure, no advanced medical treatments available. Even my future mate mark, the symbol of our eternal bond, would only offer a temporary reprieve, a brief extension on a rapidly shortening timeline. Now, on top of the looming war against Maddison and Salista, the ever-present anxiety gnawing at me about Maddison’s whereabouts, I had this. A silent, invisible enemy stealing away the woman I was destined to love.

A mental summons cut through my despair. “Beta Reece, Alpha Hugo, and Alpha Zhan are here…” Alpha Joseph’s voice, laced with urgency, crackled through the mind-link.

The war. It loomed large, a vital necessity for protecting Mist and all the neighbouring packs. Maddison’s lust for power threatened to engulf us all. I needed to be there, to strategize, to prepare the warriors for the fight that lay ahead. But this woman in my arms… this beautiful, vulnerable creature needed me more. My mate needed me.

A beat of silence hung in the air, heavy with unspoken understanding. Then, Alpha Joseph’s voice, laced with a surprising gentleness, broke the tension. “I’ll have Gamma Kingston and Beta Tyrone relay the plans to you once the meeting is over.”

“It’s for the best that Reece stays with Dawn,” Gamma Kingston added, his typically boisterous tone subdued. “The less she knows, the better.”

“Thanks, son… Alpha Joseph.” I replied, relief flooding me, but it felt like a betrayal. “Make sure Alpha Hugo is sticking to the outlined training routine. He improvises, which only confuses the new warriors. And monitor Alpha Tyson. He’s more stubborn than usual.”

“Will do, dad,” Kingson replied, a hint of his usual bravado returning. “I got this.”

A new, targeted message pinged in my mind, Louise’s intuitive touch slicing through the official channels. “How sick is Dawn?” Her bluntness was a directness I desperately needed. “What are her symptoms?”

I swallowed, adjusting my hold on Dawn, her warmth against me a contrast to the icy dread gripping my heart. She was asleep again, in a fitful, uneasy slumber. The nightmare must have been truly terrible. I longed for Josie-Anne’s gift of perception, the ability to see the horrors plaguing Dawn’s dreams, to shield her from the darkness.

Dawn tensed in my arms, a barely perceptible tremor that sent a jolt of panic through me. I tightened my hold. A silent vow to protect her from whatever tormented her, even if that torment was her own body.

“What in the world are we going to do?” Donte whimpered in my head, his fear amplifying my own. The question echoed, unanswered, in the silent spaces between our thoughts.

“Just be honest with the pack,” Donte urged, his voice deeper, more resonant than usual. “Luna Louise is the one to trust.”

He was right. Secrecy would only breed suspicion and misinformation. Louise was the key, our anchor to reality in this swirling vortex of fear. “Luna Louise,” I called through the mind link, focusing solely on her. “Dawn has… leukemia…”

The silence that followed was thick, heavy with unspoken understanding. I could almost feel Louise’s empathy washing over me, a tide of comfort in the face of devastating news. “I’m coming,” she replied, her voice firm despite the tremor I could sense beneath the surface. “Keep her comfortable. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“What about the meets?” I asked.

“They’ll be fine without me,” she replied. “Besides, I’ll be quick. I just want to have a closer examination of her. Take it from someone who’s been through it.”

“Okay, Luna Louise, thank you.” I shifted Dawn carefully, laying her gently on the bed. Every movement seemed to amplify her fragility, a reminder of the battle raging within her. I brushed a stray strand of hair from her forehead, and my heart trembled at the force of love I was feeling for the woman I had only met a few hours ago.

Louise wasted no time. She arrived within minutes, her presence a calming balm in the chaos. Tyrone was at her side, a silent sentinel, his face etched with concern but his eyes filled with a quiet strength. He had had lived through this with Louise. They were a united front, a testament to the power of unwavering love. A love I desperately hoped to cultivate with Dawn.

“Beta Reece,” Louise said, her voice low and steady as she entered the room. “Let me look at her. I’m no doctor, but ever since I was sick, I have this…awareness. An unsettling ability to gauge how close someone is to the edge.”

I stepped aside, feeling utterly helpless. “She’s asleep, but she’s still having nightmares.”

She glanced down at Dawn, her brow furrowed in concentration, her gaze lingering. When she was finished, Louise turned to me, her expression grave. “That sickly sheen to her skin… it brings back memories that still haunt me. It’s… advanced, Reece. Dawn has a fever and is very pale. Faith feels she’s got maybe a year, two at the most. These are the moments I wish Docter Anderson was here.”

“What can we do?” Donte pleaded in my mind, linking it to Luna Louise, his voice cracking. “There has to be something.”

Louise sighed, a weariness etched onto her face. “The difference between my illness, and hers, is that’s she’s human. Our options are limited. We can try to boost her immune system, make her comfortable. But…” she trailed off, the unspoken words hanging heavy in the air. There was no cure.

“What about the mate bond?” I asked, clinging to the last shred of hope like a drowning man to a piece of driftwood. “If I marked her in her sleep, will it help?”

Tyrone shuddered visibly at the idea. “Beta Reece, if anyone knows what happens during the mate bond, marking her in her sleep seems wrong… invasive.”

“I know you want to help her,” Luna Louise said, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. “But consent is paramount…”

I lowered my head in shame. Of course I knew that. But my desperation, the raw, primal need to keep her around, to defy the inevitable, was gnawing at me. “I don’t know what else to do.”

Luna Louise hesitated, chewing her lip. “It might offer a temporary respite,” she admitted. “A surge of energy, a boost to her healing abilities. But it won’t cure her, Reece. It’s not magic.”

“Can we wait a little while?” I asked, my voice barely a whisper. “To see if she grows stronger? To get to know her a little better? Maybe I can win her over and claim her at her own will.”

Louise nodded, understanding in her eyes. “Of course, Reece. It’s your decision. But don’t wait too long. Time is not on your side. Faith and I will speak to Agatha and see what we can do to help. She’s closer to humans than we are.”

With a wary smile, Luna Louse, and Tyrone left the room, closing the door behind them. I slipped back beside Dawn, and pulled are against me. I refused to let her leave me. She was my mate, and somehow I was going to keep her.