The Alpha's Protective Mate

32

Charlotte Sanguinite

It’s the wetness against my cheek that makes me stir.

Groaning, I open my eyes and see Robert’s face. For a brief moment, I feel confused and dizzy. And then, I register the pain. Along with the pain come the memories of what happened.

I try to sit up, but Robert holds me down. “Easy. Not yet. You’re in no condition to move.”

“I have to—I have to see the damage.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He strokes my hair. “I’ve taken care of it. You need to rest.”

“Arabella?”

“Gone. I didn’t kill her.” Robert’s eyes harden as he tells me that. I let out a sigh of relief, and he gives me a strange look. “She was going to kill you, Charlotte.”

I close my eyes, my heart heavy. “I’m a fool.”

“I won’t disagree with you right now,” Robert murmurs, but his tone is soft and gentle. I want to bury myself in his arms and hide away from this cruel world and my crueler fate.

There’s a knock on the door, and I open my eyes to see a young woman peeking in. “Harry called me.”

“Thanks, Maria.” Robert is about to get up, but my fingers dig into his sleeve. It’s an automatic response, but instead of saying anything, he simply moves closer and wraps his hand around mine.

“I’m not going anywhere.” He looks up at Maria. “Can you heal her?”

Maria comes forward, but there is hesitation in her steps. “She’s a vampire.”

“Yes.”

She swallows, and I can see her nervousness. I give her a tiny smile, half delirious from the pain radiating from every inch of my body. “You don’t have to do this. I’ll be fine.”

“No, she won’t,” Robert says tightly. “Can you try to heal her, Maria?”

“I’ve never tried healing a vampire,” the woman says slowly, “but I can try. Can you move back a bit, Robert?”

Robert slides over, but his grip on my hand doesn’t fade.

Maria sets her bag on the ground before spreading her hands over my body, a couple of inches away from my skin. I feel a warm, tingling sensation, and my eyes flutter shut.

“Broken ribs, a bad concussion,” Maria begins to murmur. “Her wrist is badly sprained. There’s also internal bleeding.”

Her hands come to a stop a few minutes later, and she looks me in the eye. “I think I might be able to heal your internal injuries, but I can’t do anything about the external ones or the concussion.”

“What do you mean?” Robert demands. “Her external injuries—”

“They’ll have to be treated like normal wounds,” Maria replies, her brow furrowed. “I don’t know how to explain it. My healing ability cannot work on her exterior wounds.”

“But you can fix the bones and everything else, right?” I ask her.

She nods, a jerky movement of her head.

I can see the unwillingness in her eyes, and I glance at Robert. “Can I have a minute with her, please?”

“Why?”

“Please,” I repeat, already exhausted.

It’s evident that Robert doesn’t want to leave my side right now, but I need to talk to Maria alone. Reluctantly, he steps out of the cafe’s back office, where he must have brought me after I passed out.

“Can he hear us?” I ask after a minute.

Maria checks the small hallway and shakes her head mutely.

“Listen, I know you’re uncomfortable doing this,” I tell her, my expression steady despite the pain. “You don’t have to do anything. You can just tell Robert you tried and it didn’t work.”

I’m well aware of how shifters view my kind. Being forced to heal a vampire might not be something this young healer appreciates. The girl is silent for a moment, and then she says softly, “Are you and Robert close?”

“I—” My answer gets stuck in my throat. “I don’t know.”

“Well, you matter to him,” she says, her voice determined now. “So, I’ll help you.”

By the time Robert comes back, Maria has begun healing me. I never knew that wolf healing magic could work on vampires, but I can feel the bones mending within me. It’s not without pain, but I bear it. Throughout the process, Robert doesn’t ask any questions, nor does he leave my side even once. I can hear movement outside, but I don’t have the strength to ask what is going on.

I don’t know how long it takes for my internal injuries to heal fully, but some of the pain finally begins to fade away. I feel tender inside, but it’s much better than the agonizing sensations.

Lowering her hands, Maria looks at Robert. “I can’t do any more than this. For the external injuries, she’s going to have to let her vampiric healing kick in.”

When Robert glances at me, I don’t say anything. He knows I won’t heal. If anything, I’m going to have to take extra care of the injuries to make sure none of my wounds get infected. My face is hurting, but it’s a dull throb.

“Thank you,” I say, meeting Maria’s gaze.

She hesitates before giving me a small smile. “I hope you get better soon.”

“Thanks, Maria.” Robert gets up to give her a one-armed hug.

“I should warn you,” she whispers. “Harry is pissed.”

“I know.” Robert pats her head as if she’s little more than a child. “Have him drop you off at home. I’ll make sure everything is wrapped up here before I take Charlotte home.”

As Maria turns around, Robert says quietly, “And Maria? Not a word.”

She nods.

He walks her out, and in the meantime, I try to sit up. My legs feel weak, my insides like jelly. Grabbing the side of the couch I’m on, I struggle to stand up straight and look into the small mirror hanging on the wall. My breath catches as I see the reason for the stinging sensation on the left side of my face. There are three deep grooves in my cheek, the flesh open and revealed.

I stare at my reflection, feeling numb.

She scarred me.

There’s no grief right now, no shock, just something heavy blanketing all the emotions. I have a dark bruise on my forehead from where she slammed it against the counter multiple times, and there’s blood on the side of my head. I know there will be contusions all over my body.

“How can somebody hate someone so much?” I whisper, bone-deep exhaustion settling inside me.

I don’t want to cry or scream.

I just want to go home, curl up under a blanket, and be surrounded by silence.

The door opens, and when he walks in, Robert hisses, “You shouldn’t be standing!”

“I’m okay,” I say, my voice a threadbare whisper.

He doesn’t seem to care what I think and guides me back to the couch. “I’m going to get a first aid kit. Where do you keep it?”

“Under the counter out front.”

He strides away, and I stare at the wall in front of me, feeling drained. My face hurts, but my heart hurts more.

It was foolish to entertain the hope that Arabella had any positive intention in her desire to see me. As she demeaned me and said all those vile things, why didn’t I let my brain work? Why was I so desperate to reconnect with her? I haven’t forgotten a single abuse I bore at her hands.

I close my eyes and press my palms against them. “God, you’re stupid.”

“Now that’s just mean.” Robert enters the room, and when I open my eyes, I see he’s holding the first aid kit.

“I wasn’t saying that to you.”

“I know.” He crouches next to me, his voice gentle. “I’m going to clean you up, okay? And no trash-talking yourself, please. You’re not very good at it.”

My lips twitch without warning, and I immediately wince, my torn flesh burning at the movement.

“Easy there,” Robert says, his voice pleasant but his eyes flashing. Dabbing alcohol onto some cotton gauze, he warns, “This is going to hurt.”

Leaning forward, he gently swabs my wound. I squeeze my eyes shut when the contact sets my skin on fire.

“Just bear with it a little.”

He sounds tense, and I open my eyes. “I’m sorry for dragging you into this. Thank you for helping me.”

Robert seems to be contemplating something, and he doesn’t respond straight away. Taking his time, he finally says, “She had every intention of killing you.”

I’m silent.

He meets my gaze when I don’t say anything. “Were you going to let her?”

“No,” I whisper hollowly. “I was fighting back, but you saw how that went. I couldn’t hold her off.”

He appears to be about to say something else and then changes his mind.

“Just because you’re physically weaker than a vampire doesn’t mean you can’t fight them off,” he tells me, throwing away the bloodied gauze and preparing a new one. “You just need to know where to hit them.”

“I’ve taken self-defense classes, karate classes, and any other class I could find,” I begin, but Robert shakes his head.

“Humans teach you how to defend yourself, Charlotte. When you’re facing the kind of enemy you just did, your aim shouldn’t be to defend yourself. You fight to kill.”

His voice is grave, and I freeze.

“You want me to kill?”

Robert looks at me. “You may look human, and you may be like them, little vampire, but you’re not a human. You merely exist in their world. You are still a vampire, and you need to know how to keep yourself alive. If one comes after you, you aim to kill. Always. It doesn’t matter who they are. What matters is your survival.”

“It’s not that easy for me to take a life,” I whisper hoarsely. “Even when Droga and the other vampire attacked you—”

“What?” Robert is stunned. “You knew them?”

“I knew one of them.” I don’t meet his gaze, feeling guilty for not telling him sooner. “He was my brother Clyde’s friend. He constantly harassed me when I still lived in my clan. He and Clyde both. I didn’t tell you because—”

“—because you knew I’d figure out that you belonged to the Nelo Clan,” Robert finishes my sentence, his voice calm. “Or did you think I’d figure out that you are the oldest daughter of the leader of that clan?”