The Silver Siren

Chapter 10

Allie

“Allie. Allie..... I’m back!”

“Lana!” I said, “We’re alive? Are you ok? Am I ok?”

“Yeah, I’m fine now, still a little weak but better. And you’re fine too,” she said. I still had a gazillion questions to ask her.

“Mate! Mate is here!” she squealed.

“What? Wait, where are we?” I said, confused.

I took a few moments to remember what had happened. It was my birthday. Then I shifted for the first time in the forest. I remember talking to Melissa at home, and then…. My parents, something about sirens, and a white witch. And the rogues. There were so many. Lana had fought hard, and I remembered that we were shot. And then it all went black. I tried to find all the memories, but my head was painful and fuzzy. A delicious scent of sweet lemons filled the air, blocking out any rational thought I was having.

“Mate! Mate!” Lana cried again.

My eyelids felt sore and heavy, but very slowly, I opened them. At first everything looked blurry. A few blinks later and things were coming into focus. I could see medical equipment on one side of the room. An IV was in my hand, hooked up to bags of fluid at the side of the bed. On the other side of the room I saw Melissa asleep on a hospital bed. At first, I thought she was injured, and my stomach dropped, but she was wearing all white and had no IV or other equipment nearby. Wait, what day is it? How long had I been here? And who was holding my hand? I looked down at my hand to see a man holding it with both of his. I’m pretty sure I should have felt a little concerned that there was a stranger clutching my hand, but I felt strangely calm. So this must be my mate. His head was lying on its side gently propped up on his muscular arm and he was sleeping soundly, soft breaths making his shoulders rise and fall slowly. He had chestnut brown hair that was longer on top and long strands flopped down his forehead. His face was beautiful, but grey shadows under his eyes told me he hadn’t been looking after himself. His skin was tanned, and his nose was perfectly straight. His, quite frankly, amazing cheekbones structured his face into the most handsome face I had ever seen. Kayla would be truly jealous of those features, I thought to myself. Thick dark eyelashes and full lips completed the look. As I stared at him, I couldn’t help thinking he looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place him. I felt the urge to touch his face and before I knew it, my hand was moving towards him. I realised what I was doing just in time and snapped my hand back away from him. Stupid mate bond!

“Mate! Mate!” Lana kept repeating.

“Yes, I know!” I snapped at her. I needed her to calm down so I could think, but it was hard to. My head felt like there was a bulldozer in it and his hands on mine were making me feel glorious, almost dizzy. I closed my eyes and took some deep breaths. I looked over at Melissa and thought about that night. I was so angry at her, but was it her fault? Could I blame Melissa if I turned out to be this extinct rare werewolf? It was just so impossible to believe! Tears welled up in my eyes and I closed them.

“Don’t cry, Allie. We will be ok; we have got mate now. We are safe,” Lana said. I looked down at me mate, still peacefully snoozing, still clutching my hand. And I did feel safe, but that is probably the mate bond. How do I know if I really feel safe around him, without the mate bond?

“How can she be a witch, Lana?” I asked, sadly.

“She sure doesn’t look like a witch. But white witches are good,” she said.

I wasn’t sure what I was expecting a witch to look like, I had never met one before. Although witches and werewolves are both supernatural creatures, we don’t mix that much. I started thinking about everything that Melissa had told me on my birthday. I had no reason not to believe what she said about my parents. I can totally understand that she wanted to shield me from the awful truth of their deaths. But the whole siren thing seemed a bit far-fetched.

“Do you think we could be a siren, Lana?” I asked.

She paused for a moment before she said, “Well, you can’t deny that we are fast!” she giggled, “And we killed some of those rogues before they shot us,” she said.

I remember the moment the bullet hit us. The impact knocked us back. I pulled back the hospital gown from my shoulder, but there was nothing there. I was sure it was this shoulder. I checked the other shoulder, making sure I didn’t wake my mate, but there was nothing on that shoulder either. I had no pain anywhere except my head, and no visible wounds that I could see. Where were the bullet wounds? I can’t have healed that quickly. Then I remembered what Melissa had said about sirens having accelerated healing powers. And I had no idea how long I had been at the hospital. I guess I would have to ask someone when they woke up.

“Yeah, I suppose,” I said to Lana. If it was true, and I was a siren, what does that mean for my future? I don’t know how to be anything but a normal, regular werewolf. And now that I had a mate too, I wondered what my life was going to look like from this point. It was a lot to take in, and my head started to throb.

My mate started to stir. He moved one of his hands up to his neck and rubbed the back of it, then he opened his eyes and blinked a few times before lifting his head up towards me. He looked shocked at first, but quickly said, “You’re awake!” he let out a sigh of relief and brought my hand up to his lips and kissed it. The contact of his soft lips on my skin sent a bolt of electricity up my hand and I jolted it away in surprise. He looked instantly heartbroken.

“Who are you?” I croaked and instantly started coughing. My throat felt like I had swallowed a thousand thorns. He quickly jumped up from his seat and poured me a glass of water, plopped a straw in the glass and brought it to my lips. I drank half the glass, and my throat felt better. So did my head. “Thank you” I managed to whisper to him.

My coughing outburst had woken Melissa. She rushed over to the bed, looking worried. Before she could say anything, the door opened, and the doctor came in. “Ah, Allie. You’re awake. I am Doctor Stevens,” he said smiling, and pushed his glasses back up his nose slightly. He checked all the monitors and checked my vitals quickly. He took a look at the IV in my hand and said, “I think that can come out now.” He expertly removed the IV and dabbed a cotton pad gently on the small bead of blood that appeared at the site. The bleeding stopped almost immediately, and he discarded the cotton pad. “There, all done”, he said, smiling again. “How are you feeling?”

“I feel fine,” I whispered, without choking this time. And I did feel fine, physically. Even the pain in my head was started to fizzle out and it was making it easier to think.

“Can you remember what happened?” asked Doctor Stevens.

I opened my mouth to answer, and Alpha Spencer and Luna Lily came striding into the room. I bowed my head. At well over 6 feet tall with broad shoulders, Alpha Spencer’s aura was powerful. His face looked concerned though, showing fine wrinkles around his eyes. I wondered why he was here and then he said “Reece” and walked over to greet my mate. Lily smiled sweetly at me.

Oh no. It can’t be! He’s the Alpha’s son? This is bad. No wonder he looked familiar. I didn’t even want a mate, and now my mate turns out to be the Alpha’s son, due to take over the pack, making ME the future Luna!! A future of my own making seemed to be getting further and further away. Lost in my own thoughts, I looked up to find the Alpha speaking to the doctor.

“So, how is our future Luna doing?” he asked looking over at me, smiling kindly.

“Doing well, Alpha,” said the doctor. They continued to talk about me as if I weren’t in the room. This was a nightmare. I had to get out of here. As soon as the Alpha left, I would leave and go home with Melissa. I needed some time to think.

“Excellent”, said the Alpha, cheerily.

“Allie, what do you remember about the night you were attacked?” the Luna asked, turning to me.

I cleared my throat nervously, “I was in the forest. I ran for a while and stopped at a small creek to drink. I saw the boundary markers. Then I smelt rogues and started running. But there were so many of them. I kept running but somehow, they trapped me and started to attack. I killed a few but then I was shot, and that’s all I remember,” I said slowly.

“Reece said you summoned a forcefield before you blacked out. It knocked all the other rogue’s unconscious,” said the Alpha, “and it saved your life, and probably the lives of several of our warriors.” My mate was nodding in agreement. What were they talking about? Forcefield? Isn’t that something that only magical creatures can summon? I don’t have magical powers. Reece must be mistaken.

“Um, I don’t think I did, sir” I told the Alpha. Melissa moved closer to the bed slowly.

“We think that the power to summon forcefields is one of your gifts, sweetie,” she said softly.

I blinked. “One of?” I questioned, “you said sirens only get one gift?”

Doctor Stevens filled in the blanks for me explaining that he thought I was immune to silver too. “How long was I asleep for?” I asked, “What day is it?” I really had no idea.

“About 24 hours,” said Reece.

Woah. My hand went to my shoulder. So I definitely had accelerated healing powers and the doctor was probably right about being immune to silver. The fact that I had healed completely from the bullets was a big clue there. But the forcefield thing? They had to be wrong. And wouldn’t I remember summoning one? I was going to ask them about it when Melissa said, “Allie, I’m so sorry I upset you, but there are other things you need to know. Important things.” I didn’t like the sound of this.

She hesitated before she said, “The banished Alpha who killed your parents is still alive. He is living as a rogue, and we think he is living in neutral forest in the North of the country.”

“We think he sent the rogues into our territory,” said Reece, “To kill you”.

Straight to the point. Panic erupted in my chest. And fear, my hands started to shake. The wolf who killed my parents was now trying to kill me. This was too much! Why is this happening to me? What if he tries again to kill me? What if he attacks the pack, or Melissa? What if we can’t stop him?

I knew I was panicking but I couldn’t calm down. “Allie! It’s ok, you’re safe,” Melissa said trying to soothe me, “Try and calm down honey, please, your eyes are glowing. You haven’t learnt to control your powers yet. You could summon another forcefield, it’s dangerous!” she begged.

I tried; I really did. But tears were now streaming down my face, and I started to hyperventilate. The room started spinning, making everything blurry. I felt Reece grab my hand quickly, and start gently caressing it, rubbing slow circles on the back of my hand. I felt instantly better, and the room stopped spinning. The sparks from the mate bond snaking across my skin drove away the last of the panic in my chest. Lana was purring with delight, and I was able to breathe again. Despite me not wanting a mate, I was glad he was here to help.

“Allie, you are perfectly safe here,” Lily said reassuringly.

“We have our best trackers trying to locate Lucien, and we are working hard trying to get information from the captured rogues,” said the Alpha.

“Is he going to try again? To kill me?” I asked, wiping away my tears from my cheeks.

“We don’t know yet, Allie,” he answered honestly. “I wish I could tell you he won’t, but I can’t do that right now. The best thing you can do right now is to leave it to my team and get plenty of rest. You need to regain your strength, and Reece will look after you,” he said, smiling.

I didn’t need him looking after me, I thought indignantly. I could look after myself.

“Melissa is going to be working with us too, to try and locate him and neutralise some of the dark magic that he might be using,” said the Alpha.

I looked at Melissa. I had never seen her look so worried, or vulnerable. “Please can I talk to Melissa? Alone.” I said, firmly. Despite looking a little shocked at my request, the Alpha nodded. “Of course. We will step outside.”

“Gentlemen,” he commanded. Doctor Stevens smiled at me and made his way out of the room followed by Alpha Spencer. Reece was still holding my hand, and it didn’t look like he was going anywhere until the Alpha called to him, “Reece, out now” he demanded.

He reluctantly released my hand and moved away, looking bereft and angry at the same time. I felt the sparks go with him and Lana howled to show her displeasure. Get a grip, Lana! I had bigger things to worry about right now, and I needed her to focus.

When the men had cleared the room, I let out a big sigh. My eyes met Melissa’s, and I noticed a sprinkling of fine wrinkles around them which I had never noticed before.

“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” she gushed, almost sobbing, “Please forgive me. When you left and I couldn’t find you, I was so worried. I thought I’d lost you.” From the moment that she dropped the bombshell, I had been trying to find something to blame her for. But, in all honesty, I couldn’t find a thing. She had not done anything to intentionally hurt me. And it wasn’t her fault that my parents were sirens, or that I look to be one too. She had only done what she thought was the best thing in a hopeless situation, and she had protected me and cared for me my whole life. There was no other option than to forgive her. “Of course I forgive you,” I said, “I’m sorry I ran off.”

She reached for me and hugged me tightly. We stayed like that for a long time, crying and comforting each other, until I heard a soft knock on the door. Reece quietly popped his head in and asked, “Can I come back in?”

Ok, so subtlety wasn’t his strong point. I nodded and he sailed back in. Melissa grabbed us some tissues and we dried our eyes, and Melissa checked her hair was still in place.

“I’m going to see how I can help Alpha Spencer” she said, “I’ll check in on you later.” She leaned in and gently kissed my cheek. I watched her walk away and realised I would be left alone in the room with my mate. He came over to my bedside, sat in the chair and reached for my hand. I moved it away as he got close. He looked horrified by what I did. And Lana wasn’t too happy either.

“So,” he said, recovering quickly, “Are you ok?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Thank you,” I said quietly. I didn’t know what else to say, and things felt awkward.

“You’ll be safe here, Allie. I will make sure of it,” he said.

“I can’t stay in the hospital forever,” I pointed out.

“No, I meant the packhouse. The hospital is an extended wing off the main packhouse, though,” he said, smiling. “Once the doc discharges you, you’ll be staying in the packhouse with me. It’s the safest place in the territory.”

Lana was swooning at the thought, my earlier sins forgiven. He had to be kidding! I didn’t want to leave my home, or Melissa. This was getting a little too much. I took a deep breath.

“Look”, I started, “we need to talk. I don’t know how to say this, but I won’t be staying at the packhouse. I’m really not looking for a mate.”

“What do you mean you’re not looking for a mate? You have a mate. Me!” he said.

“I don’t want a mate,” I answered. He looked dumbfounded and confused by what I was saying. Why did my mate have to be the future Alpha of our pack? It would have been so much easier if my mate was a low-level regular werewolf, then I could reject him and get on with my life. But things had gotten really complicated, really quickly. And the mate bond, and Lana, were making thinking clearly really hard. I tried to explain to him.

“It’s not you. I’m sure you’re great. It’s just I have things I want to do with my life, and being Luna isn’t part of the plan. I’m sorry,” I said. I had a feeling I was just making it worse, though, because he did not look happy. He stood up and walked slowly away from the bed and started pacing around the room. I remained silent.

After a few seconds he turned to me and said, “The Moon Goddess has paired us together for a reason, Allie,” he said, not so calmly, “It is your destiny. I have been waiting a long time for my mate, and now that I have found you, I don’t plan on giving you up now. Are you forgetting the danger you are in right now?” His voice was getting louder. He was pretty pissed. “All the things you supposedly want to do with your life will mean nothing if you’re dead.”

Ok, so he was a jerk! And a smart ass. I crossed my arms in front of me, preparing for battle.

“For your own safety, and the safety of this pack, you will stay at the packhouse,” he ordered. And with that, he turned and stalked out of the room, slamming the door loudly behind him, leaving me alone in the room. I lay there in the bed, waiting for the anger to come. But it didn’t, I didn’t feel angry at all. I should have but all I felt was guilt. I had clearly upset him. It was the strangest thing; I didn’t even know him. He was a complete stranger to me but all I was concerned with was how I had made him so angry he had stormed out and left me. I knew it was the mate bond making me feel so bad for hurting him, and I had hurt him because I felt his pain. I lay there cursing the mate bond, a single tear fell down my cheek, and I started to want him to come back.