Helyo

Chapter 1

Serk

            I was almost at the end of my morning jog, a routine I particularly enjoyed considering it was one of my only “me” moments.  My lungs were working to their fullest and the scent of the pine trees coming from the nearby forest made me smile. Today no one had tried to reach me to signal a problem, allowing me to put my mind on “off” mode. I slowed my pace to finally walk, arriving in front of the main house, stretching my back and inhaling deeply, trying not to think about the paperwork I had to do.

            I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply once more, feeling the warmth of the rising sun on my bare and wet skin, savoring the cool breeze on my face. The sky was almost entirely blue, with only a light touch of yellow and orange touching the top of the trees far away. I took in all the noises I could hear: the birds chirping, the dry grass under my feet, my own breath that had slowed to become regular again, the wind in the trees and on the leaves of the plants growing beautifully in the gardens…

            “SERK!”

I sighed. So much for a moment of peace. I opened my eyes to see Jace running towards me, looking somewhat concerned.

            “Hi ‘J’, what’s going on? Please don’t tell me the kid is already up”

            “No, but this would have been easier to deal with” he started, as I frowned, waiting for more information. “We found a girl by the lake. She’s unconscious.”

            “What? How did she end up here? What was the night patrol doing last night?!”

Every. Damn. Day. Every day I was finding myself dealing with weird stuff, but that one… Yep that one was new.

            “We asked them about it, but none of them seem to have seen anything suspicious. We didn’t move the girl yet, we wanted you to see her first. I tried to mind-link you bu-“

            “Yeah, I was running. *Sigh*. Fine, show me”.

            We jogged to the lake, were a dozen of my men already were, some of them were from the night patrol and others had just woken up by the looks of it. However, every single one of them was looking at the same point, at the border of the lake. As I arrived with ‘J’ preceding me, they turned around and bowed their head at my sight, saluting me. I nodded at them, and they cleared a path for me to see what that entire ruckus was all about.

             I didn’t understand what was in front of me in at first, but after a couple of steps, I saw. The human-size mass on the shore was indeed a girl, dressed in ripped black leather clothes. She was laying on her side, soaking wet, her head on the sand. From where I was, there was no way to be sure she was breathing. Long, very long dirty hair was covering her face and a part of her left arm that was next to her head. They were probably light-colored underneath all the mud, the sand and the blood, but there was no way to be sure about it either.

             I kneeled next to her, inspecting what seemed to be injuries, but all I could find was torn clothes opened on dark bluish bruises and blood that had mixed with muddy water, meaning she had healed. I took a deep breath to smell her, and caught a faint but still present scent of a wolf. It explained the healing, but not why on earth she was lying here, unconscious and on my territory while no one had seen her come in. I carefully took her pulse on her wrist: it was weak. I frowned and tightened my lips together, thinking about what to do with her. I couldn’t let her here, but taking her in our clan would be dangerous if she were to be a rogue… I turned my head in to the lake, looking around slowly, for a clue, a trace, anything that could explain her presence.

            The men around had gathered, a few steps next to me up the shore, looking at this new discovery with interest. My eyes came back to her body and with the tip of my fingers I delicately pushed away her hair from her face. My hand stopped abruptly when it reached her ear, as I gawked at her, my face changing from a concerned look to an astonished one. F**k.

            “..Sh-she..”

            She was my mate.

            An overwhelming sensation of warmth grew in my chest and all my senses became even more alert. I suddenly became more aware of my fingers on her skin and I couldn’t take my eyes off her, for her sole presence was shaking my core and my mind, making me want to protect her at all cost. The traces of her now healed wounds made my heart boil in rage: no one was to hurt her ever again, I promised to myself, letting out a rumbling growl. I felt the eyes of the others on my back and looking at her, realizing what had just happened.

             I picked her up from the ground into my arms as gently as I could, and turned around to bring her to the infirmary. All my men had bowed their head, showing their neck in submission and avoiding her. The slightest idea that another unmated male could take a look at her made my inner self mad, for I was the only one that had the right to do so. I quickly walked to the doctor’s office, ordering my men around.

            “Shift the guard and make sure no one comes in. I want the morning patrol to keep me informed every hour.” I instructed with my Alpha tone. I wouldn’t let anyone disrupt me today.

            “’J’, come with me, I might need you”

            He followed me, while all the others were acting upon my orders. As we arrived near the infirmary’s entrance I noticed that some people had gathered, alerted by the presence of an outsider in our territory, but I didn’t really care. I had to bring her to Murkan, our healer, and make sure that she was alright. The thought of her being hurt made my heart ache in a way I never felt before, and I found myself practically storming inside the room, calling out for help.

            “MURK!” I shouted.

            He emerged from a corridor that was leading to his office, looking as surprised as the nurses around when he spotted the body in my arms, his eyebrows up and his mouth half-opened.

            “What the… who’s that?” he asked.

            A quick glance at me made him understand right away and he led the way to a room with a bed and some medical machines that were probably used to monitor the patients. I laid my mate on the bed taking as much precautions as I could while ‘J’ was shortly explaining the situation. As Murkan started to examine the girl, a possessive feeling seized me, and while not really intended, I growled at him. ‘J’ tried to ease my mind by patting my shoulder, making me focus on something else than the hands of our doctor on the skin of my unconscious protégée.

            I leaned on the wall behind me, next to the door we had closed to get some privacy. I let out a deep breath I didn’t know I was holding, and took a moment to study the girl. She was a bit taller than average, but not by much, and she was strongly but graciously built. She had long hands, with the fingers of a musician, yet she was dressed like a warrior coming back from war. Her face had been washed off a bit in order to check if there was anything that needed treatment, and fortunately, her skin seemed unharmed.

            Her complexion was pale, even thought you could tell that she was normally tanned by working outside. She had light and barely visible freckles on her nose and under her closed eyes, eyes that were gifted with long blond lashes. Her lips were full and still blue from the cold water she came out from, but they had a lovely heart shape that made me want to kiss them softly to wake her up. I wanted to warm her up in my embrace so bad, I had to fight with myself not to take her back close to me.

            “Well, she’s exhausted, but she’ll heal” announced Murkan, getting me out of my thoughts.

            I was profoundly relieved and the smile that grew on my face eased the tension in the room.

            “However, she’ll probably need some days to rest. I suggest I keep her here in observation until it’s safe for her to settle in the house, or at least until she wakes up”

            “What? No!” I exclaimed. I couldn’t possibly let her out of my sight now that I had found her!

            “Serk,” began Jace, with a contrite look on his face. “I know you don’t want her away from you but considering her condition, she’d better stay here under supervision until we’re sure there’s nothing to fear. It’s only a matter of a day or two, man.”

            A whimper grew in my throat, but I held it in. I knew he was right but still… I hated the fact I couldn’t take her back with me right now and take care of her by myself. I closed my eyes for a second and frowned, taking in a deep breath and releasing it slowly before agreeing with what sounded the best for her at the moment.

            “Alright.” I complied unhappily, biting my lower lip. “But as soon as she’s well enough she moves in with me.”

            Both Murkan and Jace nodded their head and smiled, half-relieved from my responsible decision, half-proud of my ability to contain myself from stealing her away from this place to my own bed, knowing how much it cost me.

            All my senses were suddenly on alert when I heard the beautiful creature that was my mate whimper with a broken voice on her sleep, frowning slightly. I rushed to her side in a second, my wolf taking control abruptly. I put a hand on her cheek and brushed it smoothly with my thumb, trying to ease her from a possible pain.

            “Shh, I’m here. Don’t worry it’s alright, I’ll be there now.” I whispered next to her. I wanted to protect her from any threat, any pain, really anything she could ever have to face.

            She let out another moan, a bit louder this time, and I started to freak out internally.

            “What the hell is happening?” I blurted out. I realized I had spoken louder than I intentionally wanted to when I caught the guys flinch from surprise.

            I was kneeling next to the bed, begging with my eyes for Murkan to let me know what was going on and tell me she was fine, when she literally sat up on the bed, gasping loudly for air, her eyes wide open.

Hell. She was awake.