The Blood Moon

Miracle?

Jasper

Everything happened so quickly. Before I knew it, the healers were gently moving my mate. They said they needed to get her to the nearby hospital as soon as possible and they would update me when they knew more. I nodded at them and they were gone.

The two figures from the cliff had made their way down to me. The woman was sobbing, clutching on the man who was looking at me with a dead stare. He blamed himself. It was obvious.

I walk over to them. Bryce is on the phone.

“So what happened here?”

The man shakes his head and clears his throat.

“Alpha Regent, my name is Kyle Moore. My mate, Amber, and I were escorting our, uh, friend to the college to spend the rest of the week there with a packmate.” He stops. He looks like he doesn’t know how to continue.

“Yes, ok that’s great,” I reply coldly. I can sense something is off here. He’s lying to me, his alpha regent, about my mate! “What’s the real story?”

Kyle looks at me and sighs.

“Sir, it's a very long, and complicated story. I should call my Alpha and let him know what has happened.”

I shake my head. “No Kyle. We still have quite a walk to the hospital. You can tell me on the way.”

“That was Talia,” Bryce says as he joins us. “Something happened to her friend that was coming to see her. She hung up and now isn’t answering the phone.”

Kyle’s face is white. Amber is covering her mouth with her hand. They both look shocked.

“What’s the problem guys?” I ask.

“Alpha Bryce, sir, did you say Talia?”

“Yes,” Bryce replied, narrowing his eyes at Kyle. “She’s my mate. She was waiting for her friend to arrive from home.”

“Sir, Raine is her friend,” he sputters out. “The girl who jumped, Raine, is her friend.”

Bryce goes pale and immediately picks up his phone.

“Talia, baby, there’s been an accident involving Raine. She’s on her way to the college hospital. Go now. I’ll explain everything when I get there.” He hangs up with a soft goodbye. He looks up from his phone. His eyes are blazing with rage.

“You have a lot of explaining to do you piece of s**t,” he growls.

“Woah,” I say to Bryce, putting my hand on his chest. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“Raine is the friend that needed help. We were planning to offer her safe haven in my pack,” he explains to me, the rage still rolling off him. “She was being abused by her alpha!” He’s shaking now, almost like he’s going to shift.

“Hey Bryce take it easy brother. Calm down or walk away. But don’t you dare shift this close to me.”

He turns and immediately walks away. A few moments later he is shifting. His wolf turns and bares his teeth at Kyle. He turns and runs down the beach. I assume he’s headed to the stairway that leads to the college.

I turn to Kyle, motioning to him to follow me. I can feel the anger in my voice as I demand, “start talking.”

******

Kyle is still talking as we approach the college hospital. My heart is torn in two. Half aching for my little mate, the other half on fire with rage that she was treated in such a violent way.

“And that’s when she bolted. I didn’t know what she was doing at first, but as soon as I saw the cliffs I knew.”

It is clear that Kyle has grown to care for Raine over his tenure as her guard. It’s why he stopped that piece of trash Pierce from marking her and why he didn’t turn around as soon as he heard Talia’s plan through the phone. He was conflicted. I wasn’t going to excuse his actions. He had watched for months as my mate was abused. But I felt I needed to take his last few hours into consideration as I decided his fate.

I stop as soon as we reach the hospital entrance. I take a deep breath.

“Thank you for sharing all of this with me Kyle,” I say. “I need you to call Pierce and tell him that Raine had an accident while hiking along the cliffs. She fell. She did not jump. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Alpha Regent,” he responds.

I turn to enter the hospital and he begins to join me.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Alpha Regent, I would like to see her. She is my future Luna.”

I laugh. He has to be joking.

“She is not your future Luna Kyle.”

“But Alpha Pierce said she is his mate!”

I feel my wolf rush to the surface. I take a deep breath. I’m still in control.

“He is lying to you Kyle,” I reply coldly.

Kyle stares at me. “How would you know that?” I don’t like his tone. It’s condescending and almost accusatory. My wolf has had enough. He comes screaming to the surface.

“BECAUSE SHE’S MINE!” I snarl at him, baring my teeth. I rarely lose control anymore. This whole situation has me on edge. I need to be more careful.

Kyle hangs his head, understanding my outburst. He whispers an apology and turns with his mate to call Pierce.

I snarl. Pierce. I remember that piece of s**t from school. I did my first year of college with him. Since he was not a Regent, he was required to spend only one year at college, vs my two, before he was able to become alpha to the Harvest Moon Pack.

I remember the rants he used to go off on in our leadership seminar. He believed pack members should be controlled through punishment and subjugation. They didn’t deserve to be heard or understood. They only lived to serve the alpha. I remember the instructor held him after class that day. He didn’t say a word the rest of the semester.

Another memory hits me like a brick wall. I remember him talking about Raine. He told us all that his mate was back home and would be turning 18 while he was at school. He was obsessed with her. He talked about her endlessly, and how he couldn’t wait to claim her when he got home. I remember feeling angry at him and sorry for her. I wonder if I subconsciously knew she was made for me.

I shake my head to get rid of those memories and walk into the hospital. I need to see my mate.

***

Four days later

I’ve had time to talk to Bryce about what I was told, and we shared information that he received form Talia. Obviously Raine will not be returning to the Harvest Moon Pack. More than likely, she would come home with me to Blood Moon. But it was ultimately up to her.

Kyle had called Pierce and told him what happened. Apparently he “forgot” what I had asked him to say. He received quite the chewing out for that ‘slip’ up. Pierce was furious. Kyle told me that there were some problems at home, but Pierce would be coming any day now to collect Raine and take her home. I assured him that wouldn’t happen.

Talia hadn’t left Raine’s room. I know she feels partially responsible. The first time she noticed Raine’s bruising she chewed her brother out and threatened to go to Bryce (this was before she mated to him). He laughed at her and called her out. And then limited Raine’s access to Talia to only when he could supervise them. Raine always wore long sleeves and turtle necks on their calls. Talia couldn’t prove anything until a very malnourished Raine was allowed to call her. She went straight to Bryce, and that’s how they met.

I make my way through the college campus and to the college hospital. There were so many doctors and nurses in training here. I couldn’t think of a better place for Raine to be taken. New treatments were constantly being tested out here, all the new models of healing were invented here. She was in the best place possible.

I think back to my conversation with the Moon Goddess. She said she had been pulling strings to make this work in Raine’s favor. Is this what she was referring to?

I head to the third floor of the hospital and as I’m getting off the elevator I hear a commotion towards the end of the hall. It’s coming from Raine’s room. I race down the hall and throw the door open. Doctors and nurses follow behind me. What I see makes my heart stop.

She’s finally awake, but she is clinging to Talia, sobbing so hard I can barely understand her. Talia is crying and trying to calm her down. The nurses approach her and start trying to access one of her IVs and she freaks out. I’m frozen in the doorway watching my sweet mate being sedated to help her escape from the panic attack she’s experiencing.

She’s passed back out before I can get to her. I look at Talia, who is losing it, and pull her close in a tight hug. I remember seeing Bryce like this when we were younger and it was hurting my heart just thinking of it.

She sobs against my chest. I know I’m not her mate, and I won’t have the calming effect he would, but Bryce isn’t here and Talia is completely breaking down. I rub her back and shush her gently. I tell her it will be ok, but she shakes her head. After a few ,minutes I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn my head to see Bryce and I relinquish his mate to him. She starts calming down in his arms and tells him what just happened.

Bryce shakes his head at me and whispers, “What the hell are you going to do?”

I shake my head and walk around them and finally get to look at my beautiful Raine.

She looks peaceful now. Her long, midnight black hair slightly tousled but falling around her shoulders. She is thin, almost too thin. I notice dark circles under her eyes and how her cheeks are slightly sunken in. I notice the bruising on her neck and arms. I feel myself tensing just thinking about what Pierce had done to her. I’m certain that I don’t even know the full extent of her abuse, only the times that Kyle had witnessed it occur.

I take the seat that Talia had been using and tell them to go rest. Talia needs a break. And maybe my mate needs me.

“Alpha Regent, may I speak with you about Ms. Alder?” A young doctor approaches me with respect in his voice.

“Oh, of course doctor. What do you have?”

“As you know it’s been several days since Ms. Alder jumped off the cliff. Her progress is remarkable. Her wolf must be working over time to heal her because she is almost back to her normal self. She’ll be sore for a few more days, that’s for certain, but the majority of her injuries have healed. She’ll walk out of here with nothing more than a sore back.” He sounds astonished.

“You seem surprised, doctor?”

“Truthfully sir, I am. She shouldn’t have survived that fall. Werewolves are more hardy than humans, that’s a fact we all know, but we aren’t invincible. Death should have taken her that day. It’s still a mystery to us why she survived.”

I nod my head at him, swallowing the anger rising in my throat. “And her mind?”

The doctor stops and looks at me.

“We know what she has been through. At least some of it thanks to you. She will need time. She will need care. Victims of domestic abuse are often broken to their core. It takes a lot of intervention, patience, reassurance, and guidance to help them off that ledge.”

I nod at him again and thank him for his time. I turn my attention back to my beautiful mate.

I pick up her soft hand and instantly feel the warmth from our bond. It’s stronger than before. That’s good. She’s healing. I hold her hand up to my mouth and gently kiss it as I watch her breathe deeply in her sleep. I want to take away all her pain and all her trauma. I know we have a long road ahead of us. I lay my head down in her lap with her hand still pressed against my cheek. I close my eyes and fall asleep praying to the moon goddess for guidance.