The Oddball Alphas

Chapter 4

Jake

It had been four hours and there had been no change in my mate’s condition. She looks dead, sounds dead, and appears dead. I barely hear her breathing or her heart beating. I want to scream at the goddess about how unfair she is being towards my brothers and me. She gives us a mate, then she takes her away! It is like she is rubbing it in our noses. What kind of goddess have I been praying to all these years? It is beyond torture for me to sit here and try to read to her only to stop and look at her forlorn.

I am lost in a sea of pain and sadness, hoping it ends soon. She needs to wake from this slumber, so we know that she is alright. I hold her hand, feeling its coldness while I fuel her with my warmth. I send soothing waves to her hoping she realizes that she has mates for her to cling to life. I hope it makes her healing go a lot faster and makes my beast leave me alone.

Hernon, my Lycan, is calling me an i***t for believing my mate is dead. Only the goddess and the mate bond can say that. I cannot say that I disagree with his assessment. I should have known better. She would have been put in the morgue and woken with the other dead bodies if not for divine intervention or whatever made her take that breath. That is not something I would have forgiven myself for. She would be traumatized by it and believe that I do not care for her.

That is furthest from the truth. I remember Emily saying that she protected her from the Hunters trying to kidnap her. That is my future Luna and mate, but I did not want her life to be stolen from her before I could get to know her. We should have had children and gone on trips together, marked and mated, and had many laughs before her life was taken. But now, she lies here flitting between the living and the dead, worrying me senseless.

I glanced at my brothers, seeing the worry causing wrinkles under their eyes. Ramsey is still not touching her. It is his fear of losing control once he feels the bond with her. He did not want to hurt anyone, but he did not know that I would direct him to the Hunters. They did this to our mate. Ted looked like he was ready to cry any minute. I wanted to hand him a tissue, but I knew he would reject my offer. He needed to step away and hit a punching bag no different than I do. His anger is underneath the sadness, waiting for the right moment to strike, and I would send him after those b*****d, too.

Matt, did you send Venus to give a warning to the Hunters?

Yes, Alpha. How is your mate?

The same.

I closed the connection, feeling my pain starting to gather strength. I wanted to cry and plead with my beautiful baby to come back to me. This is taxing my nerves to their last end, and I want to do something other than sit here hoping she wakes up, but if I leave her, I will hate myself when she wakes up and sees that I am gone. I want her to see me when she wakes up. I want her to know that I will be there every time she gets hurt. I want her to know that she is safe as long as I or my brothers are there.

“Do you really have to do alpha business while we’re with our mate?” Ted demanded angrily. "We're supposed to be concentrating on healing her."

“I am doing both,” I said through gritted teeth, "but if you must know, I had Matt send Venus out to give the Hunters a warning. One that says, ‘you f**k with my mate, I f**k with yours’. I know that I'll be receiving a call soon from the head of the organization."

“Good,” Ramsey huffed, which drew Ted’s wide-eyed look of shock. I am not as shocked as he is. Our brother has a temper that he hides underneath his playful façade and smiles. It waits to be unleashed to wreak hell and havoc on those responsible for our mate’s condition. “And don’t think that I will not be torturing those men downstairs. My hands are going to be bloodied by the time I get done.”

I only nodded while Ted just continued to stare. Our baby brother does not participate in the torture of the prisoners. He abstains because he does not like getting dirty. I think it makes him squeamish, and he is afraid to admit it. He probably thinks we will make fun of him, but the reality is that only a handful of people can tolerate those methods. Not everyone is able to withstand hurting someone to get information.

“Why not go eat?” I suggested softly. “I’ll stay here, and then when you two are done, I’ll eat.”

“Fine,” Ted huffed.

He kissed her hand lightly and then laid it on her stomach before getting up from his seat. Ramsey leaned forward to brush his lips on her forehead, which almost shocked me. However, they did not connect with her skin. I shook my head, wishing that there was a way to get through his head that he would hate himself if he did not connect with her. I know it is useless to say anything right now while he is like this. He will brush it off and mope before he comes to his senses.

“Are we going to talk about our mate’s scars?” Ted asked as he took a seat at the table near the door.

My brows rose as I looked at him, wondering why he wanted to discuss that now. Our mate is not awake to tell us what happened to her face or her body. We found the other scars when we washed her of the wolfsbane that leaked onto her skin. We assume that her wolf pushed it out. I don’t want to add more fuel to our misery and anger.

I sighed and turned my head to look at the Luna Suite, trying to drum up something to deviate from the topic. Nothing was helping me. Instead, I made a list of things that she might want. The brown-paneled walls are barren of any decoration except for a silver-framed mirror. She may want posters or something on the walls to make it less bland. Then, there is her vanity in the corner across from the round table and chairs. It has nothing in it, which means that we will be going on a shopping trip soon. A built-in electric fireplace is on the left with two sofas and a lot of pillows, but they are powder pink or light blue. It looked tacky, which made me question my sanity. The closet, the flat-screen TV, and the players seemed to be the only good things. Then, there is the bathroom, which is spacious with a large tub and shower stall for the four of us to share.

There were only a few things that needed fixing, but it was nothing that my brothers and I could not handle.

“Are you drifting into your a**l-retentive world, again?” Ted asked curiously.

“This room needs sprucing for our mate,” I defended myself, getting just as angry. “I was just making mental notes, or do you really want her to be in something barren?”

That shut him up quickly as he, too, looked around the room while he ate his cold meal. Mom had brought it over an hour ago, but we could not bear to leave our mate’s side for a moment. Every little thing held our attention. It gave us hope that she would wake up. We knew it was not possible for any wolf who had wolfsbane in their body. It will take them quite a few hours or better to push it out. We are just holding onto hope that we can help her get rid of it sooner.

Then, I felt her hand twitch in mine, jerking my attention towards her. My eyes turned red with Hernon entering them excitedly. I licked my lips as I felt her skin become warmer. It looked like she was gaining a rosy glow on her face. I was not sure, so I stared at it a little longer before flitting my eyes all over her body. I needed another signal that she was waking. A leg movement or a moan or something, anything that says she has regained consciousness.

My heart is pounding with this need. I chanted in my head for her to do or say something. She has got to wake up, to end our torment before we do something irrevocably bad. I know it is on Ramsey’s mind. Our bond tells me that he has something dark growing inside him. Ted is lost and me… I yearn to see our mate come to life, proving that the goddess cares. She cannot be so cruel, and right now, she is proving her graciousness as life seems to be coming back to my baby.